Can You Really Use Google Play Credits to Buy on Amazon?

Google Play credits are gaining traction nowadays; they can be redeemed, given, and loaded to one’s accounts for use in the ecosystem of Google Play. But, can you use this balance outside of Google Play and in global marketplaces like say, Amazon?

Is a Google Play balance as useful as a credit card in Amazon? Let’s find out.

Google Play and Amazon

Google Play is a product of Google while Amazon is, well, owned by Jeff Bezos. They are two separate entities, as emphasized in this Google Play Help Forum answer.

The particular question in the forum concerns whether Amazon credit can be transferred to a Google Play store. The response goes that Google Play and Amazon are two different companies and their credits work differently and outside of each other’s scope.

Notwithstanding the above question, the matter that lies before us has to do with the ability to spend at Amazon using Google Play balance.

The Answer Is Yes But No ….

Yes, you can use your Google Play balance for in-app purchases through an Amazon product.

But no, you can’t use it to buy stuff at Amazon.com, the e-commerce site.   

Sounds confusing? Let’s clarify.  

Kindle is an e-book reader owned by Amazon. The Google Play Store has the app that may or may not allow Google Play credits to be used to purchase e-books.

Anyway, you can download the Google Play Store app on your Amazon Kindle, download any apps from the Play store, and then use your Google Play credits to buy content for those apps.

Google Play Credits

The terms of the Google Play credits are pretty much laid out here. Essentially:

• Purchases. They can only be used to buy eligible items on Google Play. By eligible items, they may be digital content – apps, games, ebooks, songs, Newsstand subscriptions. However, the items you are allowed to purchase using your Google Play balance depend on where you live.

If you are in a member country of the European Economic Area, you can’t use it to buy Newsstand subscriptions. Furthermore, you can only tap your Google Play balance for purchases in the same currency, e.g. redeemed gift cards in USD can be used for USD-based content.

• Balance. You can replenish your Google Play balance by redeeming Google Play gift cards, digital gift codes, and promo codes. When you redeem a gift card or a digital code, it will be reflected on your Google Play balance. To redeem, go to Google Play Store app > Menu  > Redeem > Enter code > Hit Redeem
• Usage. The balance is not convertible to cash or other forms of credit, reloadable, refundable, and transferable in value, except as allowed.
• Expiration. Google gift cards and credits don’t expire or require fees

As it stands, your Google Play balance is a wallet that you can conveniently carry around when you are shopping for digital content on Google Play.

But this shopping is clearly limited for the time being. Your Google Play credits can’t be used to buy anything at Amazon.com and other global e-commerce sites for that matter.