What are points and how do you get them?

I'm pretty new here and noticed you can shop for items with "points" instead of coins.
I saw on my account that there is a "collect points" link but it tells me I have no points to collect.

I was just curious as to how these "points" are obtained?

Basically points are earned that allows you to purchase various goodies through the points marketplace. You get points for playing sometime during the day and earn a certain amount for the amount of achievements you have. The more achievements points the more percentage of points you can get each day. From 0.1 to 1.5 (I believe is the max if your account is in good standing and without any infractions whatsoever). What you want to do is 1) Log in to the website. 2) Go to where it says My Account. 3) (When the "day" is new) You will see (In blue) "Collect Points." You will click on that. If you have enough achievement points you will receive points. Now to be able to spend those points you will also see "Store" as an option. Click that. There you will see a list of categories you will need to select. 1) Choose your realm first. 2) Choose your character in whom you want to receive said "goodies." 3) Select points. 4) Select Marketplace. Under those options you will then see a slightly different looking view of what the in game auction house looks like. Works pretty much the same way as well. Pick your good and at the tops of the page you should see a confirmation message that says your character has received said item. Keep in mind that you will have to be logged out of that character to see the mail as sometimes the mail that holds the item purchased may not show up. Hope this helps.

you need 1000 unique achievement points to begin collecting those points. unique simply means that getting the same achi on 2 different characters won't count, but 2 different achi's would.