A site where you can earn points that you can use to buy online gift cards by doing everyday tasks, some of which you already do every day.
I recently decided to try out Swagbucks to see if it was a reasonable way to make a little bit of money. I've tried other services in the past but most of them are either so glitchy, it is impossible to use or they want way too much time to make it worth it. If it takes me half an hour to finish a survey and you give me 50 cents, I'm not doing it. I've got more important things to do.
Luckily, I first became interested in Swagbucks because I found out that you can get points for searching the web. I do that a hundred times a day. Fast chicken thigh recipe or auto store near me or sore throat headache and fever. It sounded interesting so I tried it out.
I like it enough to keep using it, which is it's own enforcement. The way the website works is you have tons of ways to earn Swagbucks. You can take surveys, watch videos, sign up for various websites, clip coupons etc.
They also have daily goals where if you meet it, you get a few bonus points and streak bonuses for hitting the daily bonus for 7, 14, 21, or 30 days in a row. If you hit the goal everyday, you get over 6 dollars a month in bonuses.
When I first enrolled, I tried out all the various ways to earn the points and quickly earned over five dollars worth of them in only a few days. Each Swagbuck basically equals a penny. As I stated above, I am too busy to spend hours to earn pennies so I after a few days, I focused on the quick or easy ways to earn the points. For me, that was searching the internet, the quick poll, printing coupons, and buying things I would already buy through participating stores (Walmart, Amazon, and a few others).
Easy ways to earn points -
I have two browsers I use on my computer so I decided to set up Google Crome as my Swagbucks browser. All you do is follow the prompts to add their search engine as the default. They use Yahoo so it's not quite as advanced as Google but I still find what I am looking for just as easily. As you search, you randomly earn 5 to 10 points. I do not make a ton of money doing this but it looks like I get about 20 to 30 points each day just searching for things I would have searched for anyway. 25 cents a day adds up to $7.5 in a month. Not a lot but since I don't really try to set aside any time to earn these points, it's free money as far as I am concerned. Plus I can choose the type of gift card (or even paypal) so I can redeem it for a store I know I need something from. Groceries, over the counter meds, cat food, you name it.
The printing coupons and buying through their partnerships are only done as I need them. You can clip coupons and get points for printing them and you can get points for using them. Double whammy. Of course, that's only a deal if you actually use coupons and want the items they have coupons for. Otherwise, it's a waste. Same with buying through their partnership. The way it works is say you decided to buy a coffeepot from Walmart Online. You go to the Swagbuck website and click on the Walmart link. For every dollar you spend, you get a specific number of points. Right now, Walmart is at 7 Swagbucks per dollar. That's basically like earning 7% back on your purchase that you were going to make anyway! And what was the cost? Taking 30 seconds to go to the Swagbucks website before going to Walmart's? Worth it for me.
The quick poll is the only things I specifically set out to do each day and it takes less than a second to do. Each day there is a different question and you just click to answer it. Easy. Of course, with that easiness comes the fact that it's only worth one point so it'd be just as easy to not do.
Time extensive ways to earn points -
I looked at all the options to earn Swagbucks and my least favorite are the surveys. They look like easy pickings because there will be offered for 80 - 300 points for one survey but that is only if you actually get accepted for that survey. In my experience, you spend 20 minutes just to find out you didn't qualify. Worst of all, sometimes they don't even tell you and the survey that would have gotten you the points rolls over to one that doesn't. So you spend all this time on a survey that gets you absolutely nothing. Every once in a while, when I'm close to getting a bonus, I will do a survey or two. If you actually are selected, it's an easy way to meet the daily bonus, I just don't get selected enough to make it worth it.
Another way I won't be earning points is by playing the games. In order to earn points on the games, you must spend money on in game purchases. And they're all normal mobile app games like slots or bingo that you can download for free. If you spend a lot of money on these types of games, it might be worth it for you but it isn't for me.
The video section is kinda a wash. If I had free time, I might watch them but I probably wouldn't. They ask you to watch 6 to 20 short videos for 2 to 5 points. You have to pay at least a bit of attention to them to know when to switch to the next. It's too much trouble for such a small amount of points but if I was close to my daily goal, I might watch them just to get to the bonus.
How to redeem for a gift card -
When I first enrolled, I tried out all the various ways to earn the points and quickly earned over five dollars worth of them in only a few days. Each Swagbuck basically equals a penny. As I stated above, I am too busy to spend hours to earn pennies so I after a few days, I focused on the quick or easy ways to earn the points. For me, that was searching the internet, the quick poll, printing coupons, and buying things I would already buy through participating stores (Walmart, Amazon, and a few others).
Easy ways to earn points -
I have two browsers I use on my computer so I decided to set up Google Crome as my Swagbucks browser. All you do is follow the prompts to add their search engine as the default. They use Yahoo so it's not quite as advanced as Google but I still find what I am looking for just as easily. As you search, you randomly earn 5 to 10 points. I do not make a ton of money doing this but it looks like I get about 20 to 30 points each day just searching for things I would have searched for anyway. 25 cents a day adds up to $7.5 in a month. Not a lot but since I don't really try to set aside any time to earn these points, it's free money as far as I am concerned. Plus I can choose the type of gift card (or even paypal) so I can redeem it for a store I know I need something from. Groceries, over the counter meds, cat food, you name it.
The printing coupons and buying through their partnerships are only done as I need them. You can clip coupons and get points for printing them and you can get points for using them. Double whammy. Of course, that's only a deal if you actually use coupons and want the items they have coupons for. Otherwise, it's a waste. Same with buying through their partnership. The way it works is say you decided to buy a coffeepot from Walmart Online. You go to the Swagbuck website and click on the Walmart link. For every dollar you spend, you get a specific number of points. Right now, Walmart is at 7 Swagbucks per dollar. That's basically like earning 7% back on your purchase that you were going to make anyway! And what was the cost? Taking 30 seconds to go to the Swagbucks website before going to Walmart's? Worth it for me.
The quick poll is the only things I specifically set out to do each day and it takes less than a second to do. Each day there is a different question and you just click to answer it. Easy. Of course, with that easiness comes the fact that it's only worth one point so it'd be just as easy to not do.
Time extensive ways to earn points -
I looked at all the options to earn Swagbucks and my least favorite are the surveys. They look like easy pickings because there will be offered for 80 - 300 points for one survey but that is only if you actually get accepted for that survey. In my experience, you spend 20 minutes just to find out you didn't qualify. Worst of all, sometimes they don't even tell you and the survey that would have gotten you the points rolls over to one that doesn't. So you spend all this time on a survey that gets you absolutely nothing. Every once in a while, when I'm close to getting a bonus, I will do a survey or two. If you actually are selected, it's an easy way to meet the daily bonus, I just don't get selected enough to make it worth it.
Another way I won't be earning points is by playing the games. In order to earn points on the games, you must spend money on in game purchases. And they're all normal mobile app games like slots or bingo that you can download for free. If you spend a lot of money on these types of games, it might be worth it for you but it isn't for me.
The video section is kinda a wash. If I had free time, I might watch them but I probably wouldn't. They ask you to watch 6 to 20 short videos for 2 to 5 points. You have to pay at least a bit of attention to them to know when to switch to the next. It's too much trouble for such a small amount of points but if I was close to my daily goal, I might watch them just to get to the bonus.
How to redeem for a gift card -
In this screen shot, I chose to redeem some of my points on a restaurant.com gift code (Side-note on that down below) but regular gift cards work the same. From the homepage, you click on the link to the rewards store and either search or browse until you find one you want. You verify that you want to redeem your points for this gift card and your points are deducted. At that point, you are told that you may have to wait up to two weeks for the gift card to be available for you. In my case, it's only taken a day or two but that may vary. When it's available, you can see it in your account, like above, and you also receive an email with the redemption link. It's a relatively easy process and you mostly just follow instructions.
Referrals -
You can also earn points by referring other people to the Swagbucks site. I haven't actually had anyone sign up yet so I can't tell you how that part all works but if you have a lot of friends, it might be something to look into.
And on that note, if you are interested in signing up yourself, here is my referral link. Referral Link to Swagbucks or you can simply Google Swagbucks and sign up that way.
Overall Thoughts - I like Swagbucks but I don't expect to hit the Jackpot with it. It's a good way to earn an extra 10 to 30 bucks a month without much effort. I think that trying to get more than that is not worth the cost because you would have to spend hours a day for only a few dollars. I like to use my Swagbucks on the things I am going to buy anyway, like groceries but it's also a nice way to earn money for a monthly date night or the like.
The website and apps are pretty easy to use and I haven't had to deal with many bugs or glitches.
As always, it's one of those things that depends on the person. Some people will love Swagbucks while others will hate it. You do you.
{Side-note on Restaurant.com - Some people hate this site and wouldn't use it if it was the last coupon deal on the planet. I honestly love it 90 percent of the time. Fiancé and I used to use it for our monthly date night at our favorite restaurant in undergrad and then again when we went to Vegas. For us, we consider it a coupon instead of a gift certificate and I think that mindset helps us enjoy it. Assuming you are paying for it full price, this works by you buying a certificate with a face value of 10 dollars for 4 dollars.You then go to the restaurant and get 10 dollars off the bill of 20 or more. You save 6 dollars. There are different values but it's basically the face value times two. So if you buy a 25 dollar certificate, you need to spend 50 to redeem it. Fiancé and I used to use the 15 and under for the two of us and larger certificates for larger parties. The larger the face value, the more you save.
Most complaints I have seen or heard, came from people who didn't understand how it worked and didn't read the restrictions before heading to the restaurant. They thought it worked as a gift card where you could order 10 dollars of food and get it free. I've also heard of a few instances where the restaurant refused to honor the certificate but that has never happened to us. I have exchanged certificates for a different restaurant when a restaurant was temporarily closed and it took only a few minutes.
Anyway, relating this back to Swagbucks, I saw that I could buy a 10 dollar restaurant.com certificate worth $4 for 200 Swagbucks. Since I like this site, that was not only getting me free stuff, but it was also doubling my return. A 4 dollar gift card to say Walmart or Amazon would cost me 400 points but for the coupon certificate, it only cost me half that. Sweet deal!]
And on that note, if you are interested in signing up yourself, here is my referral link. Referral Link to Swagbucks or you can simply Google Swagbucks and sign up that way.
Overall Thoughts - I like Swagbucks but I don't expect to hit the Jackpot with it. It's a good way to earn an extra 10 to 30 bucks a month without much effort. I think that trying to get more than that is not worth the cost because you would have to spend hours a day for only a few dollars. I like to use my Swagbucks on the things I am going to buy anyway, like groceries but it's also a nice way to earn money for a monthly date night or the like.
The website and apps are pretty easy to use and I haven't had to deal with many bugs or glitches.
As always, it's one of those things that depends on the person. Some people will love Swagbucks while others will hate it. You do you.
{Side-note on Restaurant.com - Some people hate this site and wouldn't use it if it was the last coupon deal on the planet. I honestly love it 90 percent of the time. Fiancé and I used to use it for our monthly date night at our favorite restaurant in undergrad and then again when we went to Vegas. For us, we consider it a coupon instead of a gift certificate and I think that mindset helps us enjoy it. Assuming you are paying for it full price, this works by you buying a certificate with a face value of 10 dollars for 4 dollars.You then go to the restaurant and get 10 dollars off the bill of 20 or more. You save 6 dollars. There are different values but it's basically the face value times two. So if you buy a 25 dollar certificate, you need to spend 50 to redeem it. Fiancé and I used to use the 15 and under for the two of us and larger certificates for larger parties. The larger the face value, the more you save.
Most complaints I have seen or heard, came from people who didn't understand how it worked and didn't read the restrictions before heading to the restaurant. They thought it worked as a gift card where you could order 10 dollars of food and get it free. I've also heard of a few instances where the restaurant refused to honor the certificate but that has never happened to us. I have exchanged certificates for a different restaurant when a restaurant was temporarily closed and it took only a few minutes.
Anyway, relating this back to Swagbucks, I saw that I could buy a 10 dollar restaurant.com certificate worth $4 for 200 Swagbucks. Since I like this site, that was not only getting me free stuff, but it was also doubling my return. A 4 dollar gift card to say Walmart or Amazon would cost me 400 points but for the coupon certificate, it only cost me half that. Sweet deal!]
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