Recently, a friend recommended a book called Entreleadership by Dave Ramsey and after a bit of research, I was able to find it on Audible.com. Now, I usually prefer the audio version of the book over physical copy since it does not strain my eyes and I end up finishing the book easily over a week. However, due to budget constraints, I’ve put my Audible membership on hold. Fortunately, I received a $50 Amazon gift card for my birthday, so wondered if I can use an Amazon gift card for Audible. After all, both are essentially the same company.
Can you use Amazon gift card for Audible?
After a bit of research and talking to Audible customer care, I found out that unfortunately, you cannot use an Amazon gift card to purchase an Audible subscription or even an audiobook on Audible. Not just that, you can’t even use an Amazon gift card to purchase Audible gift cards.
As of today, Audible only accepts credit or debit cards from four major card companies – American Express, Visa, MasterCard, and Discover. There are no other payment methods, including Paypal, or Amazon gift cards.
But, There’s a Workaround
While there is no way to use an Amazon gift card on Audible, there’s a workaround that will help you to listen to your favorite book. The trick is to purchase a Google Play gift card with an Amazon gift card and later use the money in your Google Play wallet to purchase an audiobook on Google Play Books. I know, right! This means that you would have to listen to the audiobook on Google Play Books app.
Just like Audible, the books that you buy on Google Play Books are yours to keep forever, and can listen to them on any device — smartphone, laptop, or web. Most audiobooks are also priced the same on both Audible and Google Play books i.e. $15. In fact, in my case, I wanted to listen to Entreleadership which was only $13 on Play Books compared to $15 on Audible. A bit of saving is always welcomed.
However, there are a few disadvantages of using Google Play Books over Audible like:
- You can’t transfer the audiobooks from Google Play to Audible
- You may not find every title listed on Google Play
- Echo Sync doesn’t work with Google Play audiobooks
- You would need a US Google Play account
- You have to buy a gift card for $25 and above
How to Buy Google Play Gift Card With Amazon Gift Card
Here’s how to use an Amazon gift card to purchase audiobooks on Google Play Books.
The first step is to purchase a Google Play gift card from Amazon.com. Go to Amazon.com on your web browser or app. Search “Google Play gift card” on Amazon. The minimum amount that you can buy a gift card for is $25. Keep in mind, these are US-only gift cards, therefore you will need a Google Play account that’s registered in the US. If your Google account is, say registered in Canada, you won’t be able to redeem the gift card. If you don’t have a US Google account, you can easily create a new one and set the country to the US while using a VPN.
Enter the amount that you wish to redeem on Google Play. Add the email address on which you would want to receive the gift code. Proceed by clicking Buy Now.
If you have an Amazon gift card, then make sure to set it as the payment method. Click Place your order to proceed and check out.
Buy Audiobooks on Google Play
You would instantly receive the gift code in the email ID’s inbox that you provided while purchasing the gift code. We’re going to redeem it before purchasing the audiobook on Google Play.
1. Open Google Play Books website in a web browser. Click this link or navigate to the Settings page > Payment methods and select Redeem code.
2. Enter the redeem code that you received in the mail and click Redeem.
3. Now you will see the gift card balance on your account.
4. Go ahead and buy the audiobook that you want. Click Buy audiobook to proceed.
4. Make sure you select Google Play balance as the primary payment method and proceed.
That’s it. You can now listen to the audiobook on Google Play Books. You can access the audiobook on the web browser, iPhone, or Android. The Play Books app is different from the Play Store so you’d need to install that app first.
Can You Use Amazon Gift Card for Audible
The short answer is no but you can still buy an audiobook. This was a short how-to on using an Amazon gift card to purchase an audiobook albeit on a different platform. The main caveat is that Audible doesn’t support gift cards as a payment method which means you can’t use Amazon gift cards there. However, you can use Google Play gift card to purchase the audiobook and pay for the gift card with Amazon gift card. It’s a crude way of doing things with many disadvantages but that’s the only way right now. What do you think of this method? Let me know on Twitter.
