In this full Specpan review, we’re going to provide you with the full details of what it takes to really earn with this online survey site.

Before you dive right in, it’s important to know what you’re getting yourself into and if this site is a scam or legit.

Here’s a brief outline of what we’ll be covering:

• What is Specpan?
• How does this survey site work?
• How much can I make?
• Is it a scam or legit?
• Final thoughts

Specpan Review

With that said, let’s go ahead and get started on our full Specpan review.

• Join Specpan

What is Specpan?

SpecPan is one of many top survey sites on the web that pays you for your honest opinion.

They offer an easy, fun paid survey experience to help you bring extra cash through your computer or cell phone!

Your answers as a consumer help companies shape the way they create products to service the general public.

You will answer paid surveys on a variety of topics like:

• Purchase habits
• Product brands
• Products you use
• And, more!

You take surveys, earn points, and then you can start redeeming rewards for cool prizes.

That’s how the process works, in a nutshell.

How Does SpecPan Work?

To get started, first you register for SpecPan.

Registration is completely free.

During registration you will answer questions about yourself which help them match you with surveys.

You can update this information on your profile, by just logging into your account.

Here’s what you need to know about it:

• It’s legit (mostly)
• It’s easy money
• It’s time-intensive
• You can’t make a full-time income
• You can receive money, rewards, or gift cards

Surveys are Legit

This one depends on the opportunity because sadly, like some things on the internet, there can be scams that exist.

To identify a scam, you want to follow these rules of thumb:

• Never pay to join online survey sites
• Never give out too much personal information (name, address, gender and related information is fine but social security number and other sensitive information should not be required)

Online Surveys are Easy Money

Are they easy money?

Of course! You don’t need specialized skills, background or education needed.

It’s purely based on your honest opinion.

You’ll be answering questions, sharing your feedback and opinions and that’s really all there is to it.

But, keep in mind, just because it’s easy, does not mean it’s fast.

Surveys Are Time-Intensive

Some require 20 or more questions to answer, that can take 30 minutes or longer to complete.

And, you might not think it, but this process can be exhausting. 

That’s why you’ll want to follow our best practices for making the most money, that will be shared further down in this article.

It Won’t Make You Rich

Do not be fooled here.

It may seem like this method may be a pool of unlimited income potential.

And while that might be true to an extent, you simply cannot bring in a full-time income with this method.

They usually pay a few cents to dollars (up to $50 each or more) and the higher paying ones are few and far between.

So, even if you dedicated a full working day (8 hours) five days a week, you still wouldn’t land even close to earning a full-time salary.

Hopefully that doesn’t burst your bubble too much.

They are still a great way for an easy cash reward and a cool side hustle that doesn’t require much effort and you’ll like SpecPan because they pay up to $10+ per survey!

You Receive Cash in Various Ways

Lastly, online surveys pay in a few different ways, such as a free cash reward, an Amazon gift card, and more.

SpecPan offers a simple way to voice your opinion.

It’s a straightforward process to earn $10+ per online survey legitimately online. 

If you’re looking for a way to receive free money online that offers flexibility to work around your current schedule, you’ll want to read our full review.

Be sure to bookmark this post so you can come back to it later.

When Will I Get Surveys?

You will be notified about surveys that you qualify for.

This is based on the information you provided in your profile.

As SpecPan receives more offers, if you’re a match, you’ll be notified by email of surveys available to take.

In short, there’s no exact way to tell when you will receive new ones to take.

How Do I Take Surveys?

First, you must qualify.

If you meet the requirements, you’ll get an email with a link to start right away.

In What Countries Can I Use Specpan?

This website is available to the U.S. and Canada.

Advantages

• Flexible way to earn extra money
• Work from home using your cell phone
• Independent work
• Take surveys 24/7

Disadvantages

• Surveys are assigned to you based on your profile match
• You get paid in rewards not direct deposit or PayPal

Is SpecPan Worth It?

If you’re looking for ways to earn extra money, there’s no easier way than getting paid for your opinion.

No experience needed, no degree needed, no specialized skill or technical knowledge required.

It’s an easy way to bring in some extra cash on the side.

Why Take Surveys for Extra Cash?

People are swooning over survey-taking because it can be a fun way to get paid to share your opinion.

It’s flexible, independent work where you can work from home, when you want, using your cell phone or computer.

This is not a get rich quick scheme but you can receive real money sharing your opinion with paid survey companies, like SpecPan.

Extra money is always a great thing to have in your back pocket.

And, you can use it toward doing things like:

• Growing your emergency fund
• Paying off credit card debt
• Building your retirement account
• Saving toward your child’s education

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Is SpecPan available outside the U.S.?

SpecPan is available to people in the U.S. and Canada.

2. Why is my personal information needed?

You will never be asked about vital information like your social security number, but you may be asked questions about you, like gender, age, and related questions so SpecPan can find offers that match your profile.

3. Who does SpecPan conduct surveys for?

They work mostly with manufacturers and retailers who are seeking consumer feedback so they can make future decisions on their products or company.

4. What Are Some Similar Sites?

Just because you’re earning a lot with Specpan doesn’t mean you have to stop there.

Here are some of our other favorite sites to bring in extra cash online via taking surveys:

• Survey Junkie – One of the top survey sites in which you can bring in anywhere between $5 – $18/hour via a Target or Amazon gift card or PayPal cash
• Swagbucks – An GPT site that gives you a $5 upon registration and pays you to watch videos, take polls, share your opinion and more
• Vindale Research – One of many popular online survey sites that gives you a flat $3 per survey

Final Thoughts

Here’s the final verdict.

SpecPan is a legit company that pays pretty well for your honest opinion.

The surveys you can land can be higher paying but the frequency of receiving surveys will keep you from earning consistently.

That’s because surveys are matched to your profile and you’ll only be notified of survey opportunities when there’s a match.

I still think this is a great survey company to join and keep in your back pocket.

You can use it to bring in more money using these best practices we recommend for all survey companies:

• Create a schedule
• Get organized
• Set up a separate email address for surveys
• Treat it like a job

Creating a Schedule

You want to think about this like if you were given the authority to make your work schedule.

Keeping this mindset will help you to maximize your earnings while on a schedule.

Here are some examples:

• One hour daily during the week after work
• Saturdays/Sundays for 2 hours each day
• 30 minutes of your lunch hour during a work day
• Mondays and Wednesdays in the evening after dinner, from 7pm to 9 pm

You have full control here and can craft any schedule you’d like.

Getting Organized

Getting yourself organized is another trick I’ve personally used to maximize my earnings from survey taking.

You can do this by doing things like creating a separate email address (more on this below), putting yourself on a schedule, checking specific survey companies at set times to discover opportunities and more.

Setting Up a Separate Email Address

This is optional, like all the tips shared so far but if you have a dedicated email address strictly for surveys, it is a big time saver.

It can help you save time from trying to sift and sort through survey emails in your primary email inbox.

This means you’ll be able to spot survey opportunities faster and respond to offers quickly, which helps you take advantage of time-sensitive offers.

You can get a free email address with Google (Gmail) and create an email account in under 5 minutes.

Then, just use that email address when joining SpecPan (and any other survey companies you might join).

Treat Survey Taking Like a Job

If you treat survey taking like it’s your job, you’ll likely get better results, with this little shift in mindset.

It’s like if you’ve ever worked from home and felt the difference between wearing pajamas and wearing work slacks or jeans, at the very least.

This can help you with focus and productivity, which can amplify your survey earnings.

You can test this and see if you notice a difference but I think you will.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this Specpan review. You might also find the following articles useful:

• Survey Junkie Review: One of the Best Survey Sites on the Web
• Giftloop Review: Scam or Legit? (Make $2/Day Passively)
• ReceiptPal Review: Scam Or Legit Cash Back App?

The post SpecPan Review: Scam Or Legit Paid Online Survey Site? appeared first on Frugal For Less.

If you’re looking for one of the easiest and more entertaining ways to earn income from your smartphone, Giftloop is one of the best apps out there.

They pay you for tasks that you already do on a daily basis, and that even includes charging your phone and watching gifs.

You can easily earn on the go just by spending a few extra minutes per day on your smartphone.

The best part? This app is 100% FREE to use.

In this Giftloop review, we’re going to cover how this app works, how much you can make, tips for maximizing your income and whether it’s a scam or legit app.

With that said, let’s get started.

• Direct Link to App

How Does Giftloop Work?

They pay you to:

• Watch videos
• Play games
• Swipe through funny gifs
• Download Apps
• Take Surveys
• Charge Your Phone
• Unlock Your Phone Screen
• Refer Your Friends
• Completing the 7-Day Streak

Each time you complete one of the above tasks, you earn a certain amount of coins. These coins can be exchanged for a gift card of your choosing to popular retailers such as Amazon, Google and more.

The amount of coins you earn depends on the task that you’re participating in. We’re going to break down the tasks and tell you how much you can earn with each one.

Unfortunately, this app is currently only available to US users and only available for Android.

Registration is absolutely free.

Why Would The Giftloop App Just Give Me Money For Free?

Although the app is giving you money for free, they also make their fair share of money.

For example, let’s say you complete a survey. The answers that you provide will be used to help companies improve their products and services.

Researchers and brands give money to Giftloop for your opinion. This cash is then shared with users in the form of coins.

Not to worry. All data that you submit is kept completely anonymous, so there’s no way to trace it back to you.

Same goes for watching videos. Companies want to promote their products, so they partner with Giftloop in order to get the word out.

Pros And Cons Of Gift Loop

Let’s take a quick look at the pros and cons of gift loop:

Pros:

• 100% free to register – never give your payment information to a rewards app
• Earn income through uncommon methods – downloading apps, watching gifs, charging phone, locking your screen
• Lots of different ways to earn cash with plenty of activities
• Earn gift cards (lots of retailers to choose from) and cash prizes
• Not a scam – I’ve always been paid out on-time

Cons:

• Using coins as a currency may be a bit confusing
• Sometimes coins for watching videos aren’t rewarded immediately
• Some surveys may be a lot more low-paying than others

How Do I Start With The Giftloop App?

Getting started is incredibly simple. However, we’re going to break down the process step-by-step in order to ensure that you don’t miss any details.

1. Installing the app

Installing the app is incredibly simple that can be done from both the Google Play Store and App Store. In order to sign-up, all you will need is your name, email and to create a password. There’s no need to verify your email address.

2. Start earning

When you log-in, you’ll automatically be directed to the home screen with a list of tasks to complete in order to earn coins. These coins can be exchanged for real cash prizes.

Earn more coins by completing more tasks.

You can also click on the “Earn” button on the bottom-left-hand corner of the screen to see current tasks.

3. Cash out

When you reach a minimum of 200,000 coins ($10 USD) in your account you can cash out for a gift card of your choosing or you can donate to causes.

These gift cards include Amazon, Target and other major retailers. In fact, I recently just cashed out for a $10 Amazon gift card.

There are also cool cash gifts.

Don’t forget to check your earnings history to see where you’ve earned the most coins.

4. Refer your friends

Referring your friends is a great idea if you’re interested in earning extra cash. Each time you refer a friend, you and your friend both receive a bonus of up to 11,000 coins.

If you’d like to support us, we’d appreciate it if you’d use our refer.

How Much Can I Make With Giftloop?

And now comes the most important question: how much can I earn?

While we can’t give you an exact amount, we’re going to do our best to give you a sound estimate.

First of all, we need to note that when you complete tasks you’re given a certain amount of coins. A minimum of 200,000 coins is required to cash out for a $10 gift card.

Therefore, we can conclude that 20,000 coins is equivalent to $1 USD. With that said, let’s dive right into the tasks:

Invite And Earn

The Giftloop referral program is probably the best way for extra cash. Each time you refer your friend, you have the chance to earn up to 11,000 coins.

While the amount isn’t that great ($.55 cents maximum per referral), it’s still a great way to earn cash.

That’s just because the task is so easy. I can usually get a few sign-ups just by making a quick post on Facebook or Twitter.

For this reason, we recommend referring friends. You can find your referral link under “Account” and then going to “invite and Earn.”

7-Day Streak

I love it when money making apps give you free cash just for logging in daily. Open the app for a consecutive 7 days and get a bonus of 2,500 coins. Easy peasy, so we definitely recommend it.

Installing Apps

Installing apps is definitely one of the fastest ways to earn. The amount they pay is quite high for the amount of effort that goes into it.

When I first signed-up, I was amazed at the abundant amount of app install offers they had. I counted around 20 when I first checked.

Not only that, but new offers will come through as well.

You can earn anywhere between around 1,000 to 5,000 points per install (a rough average). It’s not a lot of money, but the task is incredibly simple.

All you have to do is install the app and open it from your phone.

Once that’s done, you can uninstall it or keep using it. We recommend you leave the app open for at least 30 seconds before uninstalling in order to ensure that you receive credit.

Such an easy task with so little effort – definitely recommended.

Note: Keep in mind that some apps will pay you to sign-up for a free 7-day trial. These apps usually pay out a bit more, but you do need to enter in your credit card information. Just remember to cancel your trial if you don’t wish to continue.

Swipe & Earn

This is what I absolutely love about Giftloop. You can literally swipe through funny gifs and earn cash for it.

Simply select “Swipe and Earn” from the homescreen and swipe away. Don’t forget to hit “collect coins” when you view each gif or video.

Now, I have to admit that this is one of the easier methods of earning with the app. However, the payout is pretty low in comparison to the other tasks on this list.

With that said, if you’re looking at the app from a purely financial point of view, you will want to complete some of the featured offers that show up in between the gifs to make it more worthwhile.

However, if you’re just looking for a lazy and easy way to earn coins while still having fun, this is definitely the way to go.

Note: Keep in mind that coins for watching videos might not be rewarded immediately.

The Offer Wall

The offer wall consists of a bunch of different tasks that pay you to:

• Take Surveys
• Complete Quizes
• Sign-up For Free-Trials
• Watch Videos
• Install Apps

In fact, most of these tasks are almost identical to the ones found on the main screen. Giftloop wants to give you even more offers to ensure that you never run out of ways to earn free cash.

We suggest completing these offers when you get bored with the other ones mentioned, or when you run out of those offers. This is because the payout is quite low.

When it comes to surveys, it is a bit difficult to determine how much you can earn since the offers vary so much.

Yet what I can say is that they tell you how much you can earn and how long it will take before you actually take the survey. From the image below, you can see that you can earn 1,300 coins in just 2 minutes.

Some surveys pay quite low, and some pay decently. Stick to the higher-paying ones to maximize your earnings.

Keep in mind that surveys can somewhat be tedious as well. For this reason, we do not recommend survey with Giftloop unless you enjoy taking surveys already.

Locking Your Phone

Since you’re already unlocking your phone on a daily basis, with the app installed you’re now getting paid for it. When an ad comes up on your locked screen, an ad will appear. Engage with it if you’re interested or swipe away to go to your home screen.

This is already a task that you’re doing multiple times per day, so no extra effort is involved. For that reason, it’s highly recommended.

Charging Your Phone

When you leave your phone charged and set on lock screen, Giftloop will automatically pay you to let ads run on your phone while you charge it. It’s never been easier to earn with a phone.

The amount isn’t huge, but this can be an incredibly easy way to earn overnight or when you’re simply not doing anything.

This section is recommended due to the fact that you literally do nothing.

Is Giftloop Legit Or Scam?

Giftloop is not a scam.

They have always paid me on-time and the right amount. Furthermore, their customer support is of top-notch.

Don’t want to take my word for it? Here are a few other reviews to take a look at:

• Fishering states that it’s definitely a legitimate app and goes into detail about how the app works.
• Reddit users have left plenty of Giftloop reviews consistently praising the app for a quick and easy to earn from your phone. As of yet, no one has reported being scammed out of their money.

Is Giftloop Worth It?

This question really depends on your personal needs. The fact that you can get paid to play games and complete tasks while on the go is pretty cool feature.

As mentioned above, you can earn cash for essentially doing nothing – charging your phone and unlocking your screen. Not bad for doing nothing, and it also makes a great addition to our passive income apps list.

Now for the other tasks. If you look at it purely from a financial standpoint, only downloading the apps is going to be worth your time. This is because this task takes little time and has a decent payout rate.

The other tasks don’t earn as much, but they are also simple and fun to complete. I haven’t yet found another app allows me to earn free money to watch gifs in my spare time.

If you’re looking to make the most money, there are plenty of other apps to make money. However, this one still has a high enough payout rate (depending on the tasks) to where we can say it’s worth it.

Just don’t put all of your eggs in one basket and choose other apps as well.

Other Apps Like Giftloop To Help You Win Real Money

Just because you’re earning with the Giftloop app doesn’t mean you have to stop there. Take a look at some of our favorites.

1. Ibotta

• Registration Bonus: $10 after redeeming your first offer
• Join Ibotta

Ibotta is one of the most popular apps out there. Get paid to take pictures of your receipts from your smartphone.

This includes purchases from electronics and groceries to prescriptions and alcohol. Simply match the offer on their app with what’s on the receipt and receive anywhere between $.25 cents and $5 in cash back.

Claim more than one offer per receipt to stack your offers and make more. You can also combine this with other receipt scanning apps to increase your earnings.

Ibotta also has a cash back feature that allows you to get cash back by shopping through their partner retailers.

For example, click on the Groupon link in their app to be redirected to the Groupon site or app. From there, make your purchase like you normally would, and receive 10% in cash back on your total purchase price (rates my change).

When you sign-up you get a $10 bonus when you scan your first receipt.

Read our full Ibotta Review

2. Rakuten

• Registration Bonus: $10
• Join Rakuten

Rakuten is an app that gives you cash back for your online purchases. They’ve partnered with over thousands of retailers across the web.

When you open the app, search for the retailer of your choosing. Next to that store will be listed the amount of cash back you get on your purchase.

Click on the “Get Cashback” link to be redirected to that retailer’s page. From there, receive cash back on your total purchase price.

I find that I can often earn an average of 7% on all of my online purchases through Rakuten.

Not only that, but Rakuten is the only cash back portal that is currently offering in-store cash back. Link your credit card to the app and get cash back when you make purchases at certain stores.

When you sign-up, get a free $10 gift card as a sign-up bonus.

Read our full Rakuten Review

3. Drop

• Registration Bonus: $1 when you link your first credit/debit card and use promo code frugal4less
• Join Drop

Drop is one of the newest cash back apps out there. Link your credit or debit card to the app and earn cash back on certain purchases.

No receipts. No coupons. Nothing. Simply make your purchases and earn real money.

When you first sign-up, you get a choice of 5 retailers to earn cash back at. Some of these retailers include Walmart, Walgreens and more.

Make a purchase with your linked credit/debit card and you receive a certain amount of points in your Drop account. Cash out for a gift card of your choosing.

When you use the promo code frugal4less at sign-up, you get a bonus of $1 in your account.

Read our full Drop Review

Survey Sites

If you’re still looking for additional ways to make money outside of Giftloop, we suggest looking into survey sites.

My favorite survey site is Survey Junkie since you can usually earn a decent amount of cash in a short time.

Swagbucks also pays you to take surveys, watch videos, play games and much more.

Final Thoughts

Giftloop recently made some changes that restrict earnings from charging to 1 device per user. At the end of the day, they also have to keep advertisers happy and needs real users to do so.

Not everyone was happy with this, but the new features they added such as the lock screen now make it much easier to rapidly earn coins for the average user.

Let’s recap on the things you can do for extra cash with this app:

• Play games
• Watch gifs
• Watch videos
• Download apps
• Charge your phone
• Unlock your screen
• Refer friends
• Logging in daily

In short, you’re getting paid to play!

Stick to the higher-paying tasks to maximize your efforts. We suggest referring friends, logging-in daily, charging your phone and downloading apps.

For those who just want to have some fun while earning some extra cash, you can also get paid to watch gifs or a quick video. In any case, we suggest giving it a try to see if it’s right for you.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this Giftloop review. If you have anything else to add, let us know in the comments below.

The post Giftloop Review: Scam or Legit? (Make $2/Day Passively) appeared first on Frugal For Less.

Our ReceiptPal review covers exactly what you need to know about this receipt scanning app.

Although it has evolved a lot since its launch, the concept of scanning receipts for cash and points is one of my favorite ways to earn money.

I don’t use receipt apps to pay bills, though if you are diligent enough you might be able to. Instead I look at it as a perk for shopping. Spend some money and get money back.

Plus, there are loads of receipt apps that will give you cash back on normal purchases you were planning to make anyway.

Our Full ReceiptPal Review

I’ll go over how the app works, how to get started, what you can expect and whether or not I think it’s worth the download.

Keep reading below for all the details.

• Direct Link to the ReceiptPal App

About ReceiptPal

ReceiptPal was created by The NPD Group, Inc (NPD). NPD is a market research company that provides marketing services to help companies with their business decisions regarding product development.

NPD has been around since 1966 and is one of the top ten market research companies in the world.

ReceiptPal was launched in 2013, initially as an iPhone only app, but now it is available on Android platforms too.

NPD is known for their expertise in the food, fashion and technologic industries and helps businesses with product development by connecting them with users on a global scale.

Which is why they came up with ReceiptPal.

NPD uses ReceiptPal as a way to collect market data.

It was also a way to get consumers to hold on to their receipts in order to collect rewards.

Don’t worry, the information collected from your receipts is still private. So NPD won’t be sharing or seeing your personal information.

With ReceiptPal, any receipt is accepted. And I do mean any! These receipts could be anything from a restaurant bill to a Target haul.

The receipts can either be digital, if you connect your email address so that online purchases can be accounted for. Or you can upload receipts directly as a hard copy.

How ReceiptPal Works

With ReceiptPal, you earn points every time you scan a receipt. And as an added bonus, all of your receipts are stored on the mobile app so you can keep track of your spending too.

When out and about, all you have to do is snap a picture of your receipt and upload into the app. You’ll get 25 points for each receipt you share.

The mobile app is set up by point cards. Every time you complete a card you will get 100 points. You need to snap a picture of four receipts to complete one card.

Getting Started With ReceiptPal

Joining ReceiptPal is really easy. For me the downloading this app was fairly quick and it took maybe all of two minutes to complete my registration. It’s currently available for both the Google Play Store and the App Store for iPhone users.

Signing Up

Joining ReceiptPal app is completely FREE. If I have to pay for an app, I’m generally not interested in trying it. Unless paying for it unlocks some really cool features.

In general though, if you are just trying to make a few extra bucks in passive income, look for the free apps.

The minimum age requirement for ReceiptPal is eighteen. When you initially open the app you will be prompted to provide an email address, date of birth, gender and zip code. It is a minimal amount of information.

Once you are set up, you’ll see that the app is simply designed and easy to navigate. You’ll have your points on display, along with your punch card.

Along the bottom of the screen are the tabs for Receipts, Rewards, Messages and Account.

The Receipts tab is where you’ll see your points and punch card. Rewards will list your points and the rewards value, so you know what you need to work toward. You’ll also see your sweepstakes entries here and when the next drawing is scheduled for.

Messages will have anything ReceiptPal may send you, such as your sign-up welcome message, when you have earned points, or if a receipt you uploaded was invalid for some reason.

And finally the Account tab will have your receipt log, where you can track your receipts and spending, your refer-a-friend option, an app tutorial and frequently asked questions section.

Earning Points

Get Over 1000 Points Right Away

There are a few steps you can take to earn up to 1,000 points pretty much within minutes of downloading the app. And you don’t have to scan a single receipt to do it.

The first step is to link your email account with ReceiptPal. You will be required to login directly to your email via the app.

ReceiptPal will then peruse through your emails and validate any recent e-receipts that they find. You’ll earn 650 points just from connecting your email address.

Next, you will want to connect your Amazon account. Yes, those Amazon purchases and e-receipts count too! Again you’ll have to login to your Amazon account this time via the app.

ReceiptPal will give you 300 points for linking your Amazon information and validating any recent purchases too.

Just note that the process of connecting your email and Amazon account can take a few minutes as the mobile app is working to look for any receipts that they can find and delegate points for.

Finally, you can take a quick demographic survey for an additional 100 points. This survey will ask for all the information that the initial sign-up didn’t.

You’ll be asked to provide your household size, income, occupation, education, whether you have a dog or cat, and finally whether or not you are the main shopper for the household. It’s a really quick survey and takes around two minutes tops.

And there you have it. Ten minutes after downloading the app you’ll be halfway to having enough to cash out for your first payout.

Scan Receipts

This is probably the most important part of this entire ReceiptPal review since the primary way to earn extra money with ReceiptPal is to submit receipts. Once your sign-up is complete, you can start uploading your most recent receipts. These receipts cannot be more than a week old and best if they fall within what ReceiptPal considers a purchase week which is Sunday through Saturday.

You can submit receipts up until the following Tuesday. Receipts can be submitted only once and you can’t try to submit duplicate receipts.

When snapping a photo of your receipt, make sure the store name, purchase date, and purchase amount are clear or you’ll get a notification to resubmit the receipt with a valid photo.

Receipt validation can take up to 72 hours for e-receipts and 24 hours for photo submitted receipts. For me I’ve had receipts validated within just a few hours after scanning a photo and about 24 hours with digital receipts picked up in my email.

No matter the length of time, your points are automatically added to your account once the receipt has been approved.

What Kind of Receipts Does ReceiptPal Accept?

The best part about this app is that you can earn cash scanning receipts from any store. With other receipt scanning apps you typically have to submit receipts from particular retailers. Not ReceiptPal!

Referrals

Sometimes the ReceiptPal app has a referral program. This is usually a limited time offer and you never know when it is going to go away.

Currently as I write this, they are allowing referrals. For every friend you refer to ReceiptPal you get 250 points when they sign up up and connect their email.

ReceiptPal allows you to earn up to 6,250 points per month in referrals! I’d sign up ASAP to take advantage of this as it’s a super easy way to get extra points and quickly.

Sweepstakes

Whenever you upload a receipt, you will be entered into ReceiptPal’s weekly sweepstakes. This is an opportunity to win a $250 gift card.

Every validated receipt counts as an entry. They draw three winners every week. Winners are notified via email, so make sure you check your junk mail so you don’t miss out on an opportunity.

Maximize Your Earning Potential

Scan Receipts Frequently

The primary way to earn money on ReceiptPal is to scan receipts. The more often you upload a receipt, the more often you can earn points.

And keeping things frequent means you can accumulate points that much faster.

When you open the app, you will see punch cards. Each card earns you 100 points after you scan four receipts.

You have five total punch cards to fill out at one time. After which you’ll get extra cash rewards and sweepstakes opportunities. ReceiptPal rewards the users using the app the most frequently.

After filling out your five punch cards, you will get three additional punch cards every week following. You should be able to earn at least a few extra dollars per week with this method.

Bonus Games

After completing a card, you have an opportunity to play a game. These games can reward you with points or extra sweepstakes entries. You’ll have to follow the onscreen instructions to see what your reward will be.

You can get a maximum of five bonus games each week. You can accrue these and they will remain active for whenever you want to play them. But you can’t accrue more than five at a time.

But, if you go 90 days without using ReceiptPal, you’ll lose your accrued bonus games.

Earn With ReceiptPal

Okay, now that I’ve talked about all the details, you probably want to know what kind of reward system ReceiptPal has.

Obviously they work with a point system. This means you’ll need to earn enough points to then exchange for something of monetary value. Or in this case, e-gift cards.

While earning direct cash would be much easier, you have to work with what you get and the point system isn’t too bad with ReceiptPal.

In the app, all of your points are clearly indicated in the top left of the screen, followed by your current point card front and center.

The card displays little check marks that will fill in when you scan a receipt and it meets approval. On this card is a little camera, which you click on to snap a photo of your receipt. It is really easy and simple.

Also, one thing to note about e-receipts is that PayPal purchases don’t count. I don’t know why but these purchases don’t and some companies aren’t accepted either. This is primarily an issue for e-receipts and not paper receipts.

Cash in Your Points for Rewards

Once you earn enough points you can cash out for rewards.

ReceiptPal has their cash rewards broken down by levels, which are defined by a certain amount of points. Currently, Level 1 rewards are a $5 Amazon e-gift card or a $5 Retail e-gift card, which you can select for a favorite retailer of your choice.

Right now, Level 1 rewards are worth 2, 200 points. But like their referral program, ReceiptPal can change this amount at any time by either increasing or decreasing the point requirements.

Level 2 rewards start at 4,000 points for a $10 e-gift card and 9,250 points for a $25 e-gift card. These are all Amazon gift cards or to other retailers also.

Level 3 is the highest level and offers $50 Amazon gift cards for 17,250 points or $100 Amazon gift cards for 32, 250 points.

An Extra Way To Earn Rewards With ReceiptPal: Sweepstakes

When I first downloaded the ReceiptPal app, there were nearly 200K in sweepstakes entries and the number was only growing.

So while winning the sweepstakes would be awesome, don’t put too much hope into getting that $250. There are several other people gunning for it too and they only select three winners each week.

But the good news is that it is a weekly drawing, so you get four chances every month to win. And as I said before, the more receipts you scan, the more entries you get into the sweepstakes.

If you complete all five of your punch cards, you can start earning 2x the sweeps entries.

The more you use ReceiptPal, the more the app will reward you. 

Remember to Keep Using the App

There are a lot of positives to using ReceiptPal, the main being that it is such an easy way to earn points and get rewards.

That being said, there is one thing you have to remember with the app and that is to keep using it.

I’m not saying you have to upload a receipt every day or even once a week, once or twice a month would suffice.

This is because if you do not use the app for 90 days, then all your earned bonus games and all of your points will go back to zero.

Since most people probably buy at least one item once a week, whether it is a latte from Starbucks or toothpaste from CVS, those receipts with just that one item count. So scan it.

If you find scanning at the moment too tedious, you can always set up an alert on your phone to scan all your valid receipts from the week on Saturday before the start of ReceiptPal’s new week.

Pros and Cons of ReceiptPal

Pros

• FREE to Sign up
• Minimal sign up information needed
• Clearly defined point system: 4 receipts =1 card = 100 points
• Option to earn additional points by taking surveys or playing games
• All receipts are accepted: restaurants, clothing stores, groceries and more!
• Weekly sweepstakes where you could win $250

Cons

• Sporadic referral program
• Can’t earn or redeem direct cash; gift cards only
• Can take up to 72 hours for e-receipts to be validated
• Can lose points if inactive for 90 days or more
• Will take a long time get the points needed for a bigger payout.

Like any points app, there are always pros and cons. Fortunately I like more about ReceiptPal than I dislike. Though I do have a few complaints.

My biggest gripe with the app is that you don’t get points for every receipt scanned. Instead you have to wait until you have four receipts just to earn 100 points.

I would prefer a system where you earn points based on each receipt and then on the amount, as receipts with a higher amount should net more points.

But, it is convenient to be able to scan a receipt that has only one item on it and have it count toward your points card.

Another complaint I have is that there can be a fluctuation of changes within the app. Like their referral program. It’s not always available.

And though this next complaint hasn’t happened to me, I’ve read that sometimes the points required for a reward can change, usually increasing per NPD’s discretion.

Is ReceiptPal Legit or a Scam?

You’re probably wondering if the ReceiptPal app is a scam or legit.

ReceiptPal is a legit app that’s been around long enough to have a good reputation and solid customer base. The points are real and so are the gift cards they reward their members with.

ReceiptPal currently has a 4.6 rating and a ton of excellent reviews. For me personally, I’ve always received my payouts in the correct amount and always on time.

I rate this app as a legitimate way to make money online from your phone.

A lot of people blame ReceiptPal for not paying when in fact it’s the user’s fault because they didn’t submit a receipt with the store name, purchase date, etc.

Be sure to take a picture of the entire receipt to avoid missing anything.

Is ReceiptPal Worth Your Time

The answer to whether or not ReceiptPal is worth your time is both a yes and a no for me. I love that they made earning points so ridiculously easy!

But, speaking of points, fair warning it feels like it will take forever to get the points needed for a reward payout. With only five points cards to start with, you have an opportunity to earn 500 points in the first week.

To get that 500 points you need to submit 20 receipts! 20 is a lot and I doubt anyone is doing that kind of shopping, unless you literally go to a couple of different stores and buy one or two items.

That would get exhausting fast. For some users it took around 4 months to accumulate 4000 points.

As long as you don’t think of this app as a super money maker then you will be fine. Accumulate the rewards in your own time and cash in your points when you can. While $5, $10 or $25 may not seem like much, every little bit counts. Of course it’s not the best way to earn money, but it does help add a few dollars to your pocket along with free gift cards at no cost to you. As far as we’re concerned, we haven’t come across any weekly limit when taking pics of your receipts.

Alternatives to ReceiptPal

We gave you a lot of details about how to earn some extra cash scanning receipts in this ReceiptPal review.

But there are a lot of other money making apps out there to make money online.

Some of them are grocery store specific, while others, like ReceiptPal, let you shop at multiple retailers.

I also like that some of them are cash based earnings where you really see money accrued and have a chance to deposit into your bank or PayPal account for extra money.

If ReceiptPal doesn’t work out for you, I highly recommend trying some of these.

At the most, you can use them in conjunction with ReceiptPal and greatly increase your earning potential.

• Ibotta: $20 sign-up Bonus and you can scan receipts or shop online via the app to earn cashback instantly! You need $20 to cashout to PayPal. By far my favorite cashback app. Check out our full review.
• ReceiptHog: referral code zuss1319 for 5 free spins. When you upload your grocery receipts you’ll earn rewards and spin opportunities.
• Fetch Rewards: bonus code HH3MN for $1.50 bonus. Scan any grocery receipt from any grocery store and earn points. Fetch Rewards is quickly becoming a very popular money making app that pays to upload receipts. Check out our full review.
• Makeena: No sign-up bonus, but it is very similar to Ibotta but steered for more health conscious and organic foods. You need $20 in order to cash out.

Cashback apps work similarly, except most of them require you link a debit or credit card so that when you make qualifying purchases, you can get a percentage back.

Which Is Better: ReceiptPal Or ReceiptHog?

We often get asked if ReceiptPal or ReceiptHog is better if you want to make money taking photos of your receipts.

In terms of earnings, you’re probably slightly better off with ReceiptHog since the process is quick and straight forward.

If you’re looking for a friendlier and more fun user interface, ReceiptHog also tends to be better.

I tend to use both so I can double dip my earnings and receive even more extra money.

Both pay via PayPal and free gift cards.

Final Thoughts

We hope you’ve enjoyed our full ReceiptPal review.

Scanning receipts is probably one of the easiest ways to make money on the side.

You don’t have to worry about clicking through surveys, watching videos or playing games. I usually find that I can make a few extra dollars per week in extra money.

It usually takes a bit to cash out for the gift cards.

I do think Ibotta is a similar app that’s a better starting point when it comes to using receipt apps, but ReceiptPal is still a good one to download and try.

If you do decide to try ReceiptPal, I would commit to it for a good four months to get the most out of it and a clear idea of how it works.

If at that time you dislike the app, feel free to delete.

If you have anything you’d like to add to our ReceiptPal review or know of any other clever ways to earn cash, feel free to let us know in the comments below.

The post ReceiptPal Review: Scam Or Legit Cash Back App? appeared first on Frugal For Less.

If you’re looking for a money-making app that takes no effort to work, then HoneyGain is for you.

You simply download it on all your devices and computers and let it run, then when you’ve reached the payout limit, claim your money.

It’s that simple.

First a little history, HoneyGain was just released recently in May 2019 and already has over 100,000 Android downloads in 2 months.

Let’s review this easy money-making app.

• Direct Link to HoneyGain

1. What is HoneyGain

HoneyGain is a crowdsourced network company that lets other businesses to gather information, data intelligence and perform market and business research.

It’s available to download on Android and Windows, and soon will be available for iOS devices. The simple function behind Honeygain is you get paid for sharing your unused internet and the more devices you have this app installed on, the more you’ll make.

2. Share your Internet

All you have to do is go to Google Play and download the app, or go to Honeygain.com and sign up for a new account.

Data scientists uses Honeygain’s platform to connect to the internet and Honeygain manages all these connections with strict safeguards to protect all these connections. The data scientists then use your unused data for their market and research purposes.

You’ll know your app is working when you’re using Android, you’ll see a small, green notification in the notification bar, while the one on Windows, you just hover over the little bee icon in your notification tray.

Again, the more devices you have this app on, the more money you’ll make.

You can use up to 5 devices on a single network at the same time, but to have the best revenue potential, you should have 1 device per IP address.

They don’t limit the number of devices connected to your account but they do suggest spreading them across several internet addresses for effectiveness.

3. Ways to Make Money

There are 2 ways to make money on HoneyGain.

The first is by installing the app. Currently, there’s only an Android and a Windows app.

They’re currently working on an iOS one.

For example, if you have an android phone and a Windows laptop like I do, then download it on both of them for twice as many earnings.

The other way to earn money is by referring friends.

You can invite your friends with your own personalized link and 10% of their daily earnings will be added to your account. If your referral reaches $50 a month you earn an extra $5!

You can share your link on Facebook, Twitter, Email, or copying and pasting it anywhere.

4. Protect My Internet

Now you may be concerned about your internet safely or personal data.

First, HoneyGain ensures that all of your personal data is safe.

They do not keep any data from any of their clients. The only data they’ll have is what will be necessary for the service. This includes your email address, your IP address, how much traffic you make per month and your chosen payout method.

Secondly, HoneyGain has options in place where you can limit how much of your data plan the app can use. You can turn off the mobile data usage in your Honeygain app settings menu.

Or if on Windows – right-click the HoneyGain bee icon and select “quit” to turn off the app.

You can expect usage of up to 2GB per day, although depending on your network speed, the app can reach a maximum of 15GB per day.

If you’re using the Android version, HoneyGain recommends that you use the Android data usage notifications.

You shouldn’t feel any difference with our app running in the background.

HoneyGain states they never use more than 10% of your available network bandwidth.

5. How Much can you Earn?

The amount you can make depends on how many devices you have the app installed on and how much unused data you have.

You earn credits for every KB of data you bring in, and after collecting enough credits, you can convert them to cash.

Honeygain has an online calculator to estimate your earnings. They estimate your approximate earnings based on the hours you have Honeygain up and running and the longer you have it on, the more you earn.

They state that if you run Honeygain for 24 hours a day, which is 720 hours a month, you can make $50 a month.

This is a fair monthly income just for letting an app run in the background.

6. How Do you get Paid?

As mentioned earlier, you earn credits for every KB of data. The conversion math is 10 credits equals 1¢ USD. The minimum payout is $20 USD.

Currently, Honeygain only pays through PayPal. But are working on adding bank deposits and gift card options as well.

The payout waiting period will depend on the payment type you choose. Right now PayPal payments are usually paid in 24 hours.

Your credits don’t expire as long as you run the app. If you turn off the app and become inactive then your credits expire 6 months after inactivity.

7. Real Data

Now to show you some data from my own Android and Windows experience so you can see how feasible this can be for you.

Android:

I’m a very minimal Android user, I don’t use my phone much at all some parts of the month. I downloaded Honeygain on July 8, 2019, and chose not to “share mobile data” and this is how it went:

• July 8 – 131.84 MB gathered
• July 9 – 246.96 MB gathered
• July 10 to July 12 – 0 MB gathered (I was not using the phone at all)
• July 13 – 103.74 MB gathered.

Windows:

I installed the Windows version of HoneyGain on July 13, 2019, which is the same day of this writing. In just a few hours I’ve already gathered 37.65 MB.

Referrals:

I’ve only shared my link once on my Facebook page and currently only have one friend that signed up. So that’s $5 I will be receiving.

According to HoneyGain that’s 52.87 MB gathered which is 5¢ for just 3 days of gathering. Plus the $5 friend referral.

I made $5.05 in 3 days!

7. Pros & Cons of HoneyGain

Let’s look at the pros and cons of installing HoneyGain.

Pros:

• Easy to use – Download on all your devices and run
• Simple Dashboard – Clear and easy to understand member dashboard
• Easy to Contact – Customer support is easy to reach with their contact form
• Safe – Strict protocols are in place and no personal information is used.

Cons:

• Eats your Plan – If you’re on a limited data plan, HoneyGain can eat up that data and cost you.
• Battery life – Based on age of your device the app uses about 5%-8% of battery life per day.
• Requires Activity – If you don’t use your phone or internet much, you’ll earn less (as you saw from the 3 days of my phone inactivity).

Final  Thoughts

My personal review on HoneyGain is to go ahead and try it. I lazily made $5.05 in three days. So, imagine how much that’ll be in a month, or if you’re a very active phone user.

Check out these other passive money-making apps to download:

• Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel ($50/year)
• SavvyConnect ( $180/year)
• ScreenLift ($60/year)
• Acorns ($5 sign-up bonus)

The post HoneyGain Review: Earn Passive Income Doing Nothing appeared first on Frugal For Less.

Here on FFL, we’ve already written a long list of receipt scanning apps. These free mobile apps pay you to purchase products that you buy on a daily basis and take a picture of your receipt. Now we’re adding a new app to the list called Fetch Rewards App.

Earn points each time you scan your grocery receipt and exchange them for real cash prizes. In this Fetch Rewards review we’ll cover how the app works, if it’s a scam or legit, how much you can potentially earn and whether it’s worth your time.

• Direct Link to App (bonus code HH3MN for $1.50 bonus)

What Is Fetch Rewards And How Does It Work?

As mentioned above, the Fetch Rewards App is a free mobile app that gives you cash back for taking pictures of your grocery receipts. The main difference between Fetch Rewards and other receipt scanning apps is that it doesn’t matter where you buy your product.

For example, the most popular receipt scanning app Ibotta requires you to buy a specific product at a specific store. With Fetch Rewards, you’re only required to buy a specific product. As long as your offer appears on a receipt at any grocery store, you’re going to earn cash back for it.

Keep in mind that since Fetch Rewards is a fairly new app that their offers might not be very abundant. However, they’re rapidly expanding, so you can be sure to expect them to have more offers quickly. Fetch Rewards is currently only available to US users.

Right now I currently have roughly 25 offers available. From what I’ve seen thus far, some of the more common items include beer, ketchup, mustard, jello, coffee, frozen foods and other common grocery items. I suggest scanning your receipt as soon as possible so that your offer doesn’t expire.

The reason that Fetch Rewards is able to pay you is because they use your receipt for market research. They take this information and sell it to companies so that they can use the data to help improve their products and services. All of this information is kept anonymous, so there’s no way they’ll be able to trace if back to you.

Register using the promo code HH3MN and earn a $1.50 bonus after scanning your first receipt.

How Much Can I Earn With The Fetch Rewards App?

Each time you scan your grocery receipt your given a specific amount of points. The amount of points you earn depends on the offers that are on your receipt. Have more than one offer? Scan your receipt and earn cash back for both of them.

A quick look at the app will show you that you can expect to earn anywhere from 250 to 2,000 points per offer. Since 1,000 points is equivalent to $1 USD, you can earn anywhere from $.25 cents to $2 per offer. If you have more than one offer per receipt, then it is possible to go over $2.

The points you earn can be converted into real cash prizes such as gift cards to popular retailers such as Amazon, CVS and Target. You can also choose to donate your earnings to the Red Cross. You need a minimum of 3,000 points ($3 USD) to cash out.

Keep in mind that you have only 14 days from your purchase to scan your receipt. If you wait longer than this, it’s most likely that your receipt won’t be valid.

You cannot use the same receipt more than once. Receipts typically take up to a maximum of 48 hours to process. If you find that your account hasn’t been rewarded within 72 hours, contact their support team at support@fetchrewards.com.

How Should I Take A Picture Of My Grocery Receipt With The Fetch Rewards App?

In order for your receipt to be validated, your receipt must include the store name, items purchased, date of purchase, total amount and store address. This may sound like a lot of information, but as long as you take a picture of your entire receipt you won’t have to worry about it.

Be sure to hold your receipt on a flat surface. If the image comes out blurry or skewed, they might have trouble reading your receipt and you may have to scan it again. For those that have an extra long receipt, not a problem. Fetch Rewards allows you to take multiple pictures of your receipts in sections if you need more space.

Keep adding sections until the entire receipt is captured. You’re only allowed a maximum of 4 pictures for your receipt. If you find that this isn’t enough, try zooming out to gather all of the information. In any case, just be sure to lie your receipt on a flat surface so it’s easy to read.

Earn Bonus Points

The points you earn per offer are called base points. Base points are received for each specific offer. You can increase your earnings by taking advantage of special offers and receiving bonus points along the way.

You can earn bonus points if your item price exceeds the app’s target price, and sometimes you’ll receive these points at random for completing certain tasks. For example, you may receive 200 bonus points just for scanning your receipt for the first time.

How Do I Get Started With The Fetch Rewards App?

Getting started with the Fetch Rewards App is quite simple. However, in order to make sure you don’t miss a step, we’re going to walk you through the process in detail.

1. Register.

You can register for the Fetch Rewards App for free by clicking this link here. In order to setup a new account, all you need is to create a username or you can connect your Facebook account. When they ask for a referral code, type in promo code HH3MN to get a $1.50 bonus after you scan your first receipt.

2. Browse offers.

You can browse current offers on the home screen once you log-in. Click on the offer to see how many times the reward can be claimed. Sometimes there may be specific requirements to earn your cash back, so be sure to read carefully.

3. Scan your receipt.

When taking a picture of your receipt, make sure it’s on a dark, flat surface with plenty of light in the room. If the image comes out blurry, Fetch may not give you points if they can’t read your receipt. In order to make sure that you have all of their required information, just take a picture of the entire receipt to avoid any problems.

It can take anywhere from 24 – 48 hours to receive your points. If you have to wait longer than 72 hours, contact their support team.

4. Cash out.

You need a minimum of 3,000 points ($3 USD) to cash out. Since you can earn anywhere between 250 points and 3,000 points per offer, you should be able to reach this amount quite quickly. Prizes currently include gift cards to popular retailers or cash donations to the Red Cross charity.

Each time you claim a reward, you’ll be given further instructions via email on how to obtain it. Rewards are usually given immediately and require you to enter some sort of gift card code upon checkout. These codes can typically be used in-store as well.

5. Refer your friends.

Want to earn even more points with the Fetch Rewards App? Refer your friends for even more cash prizes. Each time you refer a friend that uses your promo code, you and your friend both receive a $1.50 bonus. Keep in mind that you’ll be given this reward once your friend scans their first receipt.

If you’d like to support FFL, please use our referral code HH3MN – we’d greatly appreciate it!

What Are Some Other Popular Receipt Scanning Apps?

Just because you’ve ran out of offers with Fetch Rewards doesn’t mean you have to stop there. If you’re looking for more receipt scanning apps to give you cash back, take a look at the list below. All of these apps are 100% free to register and to use.

1. Ibotta

• Registration Bonus: $10 when you claim your first offer
• Sign up for Ibotta

Ibotta is a long-standing veteran in the receipt scanning app world. They were one of the first apps of its type created and by far one of the most rewarding.

The best part about this app is that if you just want to give it a try, you can earn a $10 bonus after scanning your first receipt.

While they once started out as an app that only pay you for scanning grocery receipts, they’ve recently expanding to other items such as electronics, prescriptions, restaurants and more.

Not only that, but you can earn cash back by shopping through one of their partner apps such as Groupon, Walmart and others. Simply open the Ibotta app and click on one of their partners where you’ll be redirected to that store. Make the purchase and earn a bonus of anywhere between 1% – 10% in cash back.

With Ibotta, you’ll never run out of offers. Since they’ve been in the game for so long, they’ve partnered with hundreds of retailers, meaning you’ll have near 1,000+ offers to choose from. You need a minimum of $20 to cash out.

Read our full Ibotta Review

2. Checkout 51

• Registration Bonus: None
• Sign up for Checkout 51

Checkout 51 is the second longest-standing in the receipt scanning app world. While their offers aren’t as abundant as Ibotta, you can often find things you wouldn’t find on other receipt scanning apps.

The great thing I love about Checkout 51 is that they often have produce offers. It’s quite common to earn cash back on vegetables and fruits.

Offers are updated weekly every Wednesday at midnight. Since there aren’t that many offers available, I only check the app once each time it’s updated. You only need a minimum of $10 to cash out, and points can be claimed for a gift card of your choice.

Read our full Checkout 51 Review

3. BevRAGE

Note: The bevRage app is no longer in service.

BevRAGE was meant to stand out from other receipt scanning apps by giving cash back on just one type of offer: alcohol. Earn cash back when you purchase wine, beer or liquor at convenient stores, restaurants, or any other store.

Earn a $1 bonus when you sign-up using promo code FRUGAL and scan your first receipt. The great thing about BevRAGE is that a lot of its offers are very generic. For example, I can earn $3 in cash back on any 24-pack type of beer no matter what the brand.

There are also location-specific offers, so be sure to type in your correct zip code when you first register. Offers are updated quite frequently, and from the first time I checked the app they’ve expanded immensely.

Stack Receipt Scanning Apps For Even More Cash Back

The great thing about all of these receipt scanning apps is that they can be stacked. What this means is that you can use the same receipt for more than one app.

For example, let’s say there’s an offer with the Fetch Rewards App for $3 cash back on a 24-pack of beer. It’s possible that you’ll find this same offer on Ibotta for only $2. Once you’ve finished with Fetch Rewards, open up the Ibotta app. And once you finish with Ibotta, open up the BevRAGE app since you can earn $3 in cash back on any 24-pack of beer.

In order to maximize your earnings, go ahead and check out our list of receipt scanning apps. The only thing you can’t do is use the same receipt per app.

Further Reading: 101 Free Money Making Apps to Earn Cash While on the Go

What Are My Personal Thoughts And Reviews On The Fetch Rewards App?

The first thing I noticed about the Fetch Rewards App is that they are currently lacking offers. However, I understand this is quite common with new apps. Fetch Rewards is quickly expanding, so I expect to see more offers in the future.

While the amount you receive per offer with Fetch Rewards may not be the high, the amount of time you’re actually putting into the app isn’t that much. Opening the app and scanning your receipt usually only takes me around 60 seconds at most. Even at the lowest offer of $.25 cents, I’m still earning at a rate of $12/hour (and most likely more since all offers aren’t this low).

As for the receipts I’ve scanned, I’ve always received my points on-time. For this reason, I can conclude that the Fetch Rewards App is not a scam and is therefore legit. So far I’ve only cashed out for a $3 gift card. It took only a few hours to arrive in my inbox with instructions on how to use it.

The great thing I love about Fetch Rewards is their referral program. This is a great way to earn some extra cash, and by posting my referral code on Facebook I’ve already gotten 1 referral bonus. Posting a sign-up link with your promo code is a great way to get some extra sign-ups.

Final Thoughts

Using receipt scanning apps is one of the easiest ways to earn some extra cash as a side hustle. They take a short amount of time to use and can quickly add up. Just be sure to stack multiple apps to increase your cash back earnings.

Have you used the Fetch Rewards App before? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below, and we hope you’ve enjoyed this fetch rewards review. Thanks for reading and happy frugaling!

The post Fetch Rewards Review | Scam Or Legit Money Making App? appeared first on Frugal For Less.

As we all know, starting a business is one of the best ways to make money.

The only problem is that if you don’t have a lot of cash or a background in business, launching a successful home-based business can seem too difficult a feat— but it doesn’t have to be.

That’s why today we’re going to be reviewing Cratejoy, an online marketplace and e-commerce platform that makes it simple and easy for budding entrepreneurs to launch their own subscription box business.

Want to know more? Then read on and let’s get into the details.

• Join Cratejoy

What Is Cratejoy?

Cratejoy is an Austin-based subscription box company that was founded back in 2014 by Alex Morse and Amir Elaguizy.

If you haven’t heard of subscription boxes before, they’re basically boxes of goodies that are delivered to your door every month.

The contents change from month-to-month, but there’s usually an overarching ‘theme’. For example, a ‘world snacks’ subscription box might have snacks from Mexico one month, and Sweden the next. They make great gifts too!

Cratejoy functions kind of as 2 separate businesses— two ‘strands’ if you will. It’s both:

1. An online subscription box marketplace (for customers)
2. A SaaS (software as a service) and e-commerce platform provider (for subscription box sellers/businesses)

The Cratejoy marketplace is kind of like the eBay of subscription boxes. Customers can browse hundreds of subscription boxes listed on the marketplace and subscribe to any that they like.

The Cratejoy software service/e-commerce platform is aimed not at customers but at sellers. Cratejoy sells its own software and design service to help would-be subscription box sellers to create their website and launch their own successful online business.

As Frugal For Less is all about making money, we’re going to be focusing on this second function, and talking about whether or not its worth using the Cratejoy software to launch our own businesses and start making a passive income online.

How Cratejoy Works

Before we talk about whether Cratejoy could be a worthwhile investment, let’s look at how it works, for both the customer and the seller.

For Customers

Here’s how Cratejoy works for customers broken down into basic steps:

1. Head to the Cratejoy website
2. Pick a category of subscription box that you might be interested in (such as books, beauty, art, novelty, etc)
3. Browse the listings until you find one that you like the look of
4. Click the listing to see pricing information, further details, and reviews from other customers
5. Sign up to the subscription and pay your first month’s payment.
6. On the specified delivery date, you’ll receive your first box of goodies.
7. You’ll continue to receive a new box of goodies every month until you end your subscription

It’s simple, it’s cool, and it’s a lot of fun!

For Sellers

Ok, moving onto sellers (that’s us). Here’s how Cratejoy works for those looking to start selling their own subscription boxes.

1. Decide what kind of subscription box you want to sell, and how much you’re going to sell it for (make sure it’s profitable)
2. Sign up to Cratejoy’s all-in-one subscription e-commerce platform
3. Use the Cratejoy software to create your own subscription store
4. Customize your store using the Cratejoy website builder and custom templates
5. Start selling your boxes and scaling your recurring customer base

There’s no need to pay for a server as your website will be hosted through Cratejoy’s own server. They also take care of other things like providing you with analytics, referral programs, and other tools you need to run your business.

They pretty much do everything for you other than the fun stuff, like designing your storefront, boxes, and packaging. This takes the hassle out of launching your business so that you can focus on the creative side of things.

How Much Does Cratejoy Cost?

The all-in-one e-commerce platform subscription service that allows you to design and launch your own website costs $39 per month. That price bags you things like customer management tools, your own website, access to responsive themes, and advanced payment and shipping management features.

On top of the $39 per month, Cratejoy also takes a cut of any sales you make, but it’s not a huge amount. Their cut is the sum of 1.25% of the sale price + $0.10 fee per transaction.

In practice, this means that if you were to sell a subscription box for $50, you’d end up paying around $0.73 per subscription to Cratejoy.

If you don’t want to pay the $39 per month, you can also just sell your subscription box through the Cratejoy marketplace for free (except for transaction fees). This could be worth doing if you don’t want to invest in a monthly subscription as the marketplace still gets a lot of traffic (4 million page views and other 30,000 sales every month).

It’s probably worth mentioning that if you do sign up to the all-in-one e-commerce platform, it includes a box listing on the marketplace too for extra traffic.

$39 per month isn’t exactly a huge amount, but it’s still money that we’d rather not waste, right? And you could probably build and host your own website through WordPress and Bluehost for a little less than that, so why choose Cratejoy? Let’s explore that question…

Benefits of Selling Through Cratejoy

Here are some key benefits of selling through Cratejoy, that you just wouldn’t get if you chose to go at it alone and build your website from scratch.

1. It’s Great for Beginners

New entrepreneurs who don’t have a lot of business experience can benefit from Cratejoy as it takes a lot of the hassle out of the process of launching for you and can help you to get your business off the ground.

You might have a great idea for a subscription service but might not have the business knowledge to know how to begin. Rather than get bogged down in learning a bunch of website design and business skills (and end up losing momentum), you can just get going straight away through Cratejoy.

2. Advanced Analytics

Another benefit of Cratejoy is that it comes with tools that can help you to get a better understanding of how well your subscription business is performing.

Their analytics tools allow you to track things like your monthly page views, conversions, and more. You can see where your sales are coming from and use all that data to better optimize your subscription box and listing to drive profits.

3. Easy Traffic

One of the biggest challenges associated with launching a new business is getting the traffic you need to make sales. The great thing about selling through Cratejoy is that it can provide a lot of that traffic for you.

According to Cratejoy, 4 million people view the site every month – that’s a lot of potential buyers. All you have to do is create something awesome that converts those visitors to paying customers. Of course, as with all new products and services, marketing is still pretty important, but it will at least be less critical in the start.

And speaking of marketing…

4. Built-in Marketing

While the marketplace traffic alone might be enough traffic for your business, you can bolster your traffic even further using the in-built marketing tools that Cratejoy offer. They have referral programs, email marketing, coupons, and other discount tools that you can leverage to promote your product.

They also have pretty nifty social media integration so you can link up your Cratejoy business to push social traffic too.

5. Support

Sellers that operate through Cratejoy get access to a lot of support to help them to learn, grow, and scale their business. For technical issues, you can contact the Cratejoy support team through live chat or email.

They also host webinars and provide a ton of educational resources on their blog to help you to learn how to become more profitable and make more money as you go.

6. Customizable Subscriptions

One of the great things about Cratejoy’s e-commerce platform is how flexible it is. You’re not forced to stick with one subscription box renewal date and can, instead, allow your customers to set their own calendar renewal dates.

This is really important for subscription box sellers as a one-size-fits-all approach to selling doesn’t always work. Some customers need that flexibility and you might lose sales unless you can offer it. You can also do things like setup discounts for prepayments, and more.

7. Great Product Pages

The product pages on Cratejoy are something special. They look great, have plenty of support for various product images, a space for customer reviews, and more. All these things help you to create a listing that looks and feels super-credible and drives sales.

They also allow you to list variations so you could, for example, make your subscription box available in different sizes and allow your customers to choose from different size options.

How Much Money Can You Make With Cratejoy?

You’ll be using Cratejoy to help you start and launch your own subscription box business, so how much you can make really depends on how successful your business model is. Some factors that will affect how much money you make include:

• Your profit margins
• How popular your subscription box is
• Your marketing effectiveness (how many sales you can drive)
• How large your expenses like shipping and packaging are

As well as other factors. To help you get a rough estimation, though, let’s look at an imaginary example.

Let’s say you sell a $30 per month subscription box with a 40% profit margin (you’ll be making $12 per box after all expenses and shipping). Now let’s imagine that after a few months, you grow a recurring customer base of around 50 customers.

In this scenario, you’d be making around $600 per month in profit. If you can double your subscription base, that figure doubles to $1200 per month. Double it again and it’s $2400 per month. See where I’m going here?

To make a lot of money, it’s all about scale. You’ll need to reinvest some of your initial profits into marketing efforts if you want to make big bucks but, eventually, if you’re successful,  you could be making a full-time income. What’s great is that it will be a totally passive income too!

What Should I Sell On Cratejoy?

One of the best things about the modern world is how large the online business marketplace has become. With so many customers out there shopping online, there’s a potential market for almost everything- we can get really creative with the things we sell.

When choosing the kind of products you’d like to stuff in you’re box, it’s worth having a think about what your potential customers might want that they don’t have access too.

For example, if you live in Canada, you may want to consider creating a Canadian snack box that would appeal to your countrymen in the US, or something else along these lines.

Other things that sell well on the site include handmade craft boxes stocked with the type of items you might find on Etsy, cosmetics, and self-care boxes. Most self-care boxes are marketed towards women and include items like books, mugs, tea’s, etc.

If you’re struggling to think of ideas for your box, think about what skills you have and consider making some unique items by hand. Alternatively, just choose a certain demographic and center your box around them.

For example, you could choose to make a bridal box, a new mom’s box, or a box full of children’s collectibles.

It really doesn’t matter what you choose as long as your box is marketable and stands to make a profit.

How Much Should I Sell My Cratejoy Subscription Boxes For?

The amount you should charge for your boxes really depends on the type of items you’re looking to fill your boxes with. On the Cratejoy marketplace, boxes really do vary in price with some boxes costing $20 or less and other costing upwards of $40.

As a result, choosing the right price for your box can be quite difficult. There are a number of factors that you’ll need to account for before setting a price such as:

Shipping

Depending on where you plan to ship to, your customers could end up paying a lot for shipping. If your shipping costs are too high and the customer is footing the bill, then it could discourage people from purchasing your box.

For this reason, it’s important to ensure that you’re getting the absolute best rate on your shipping. Cratejoy offer guidance on estimating shipping costs and also have shipping partners, Pirate Ship, and ShipStation, which supposedly offer better rates than some competitors.

Box Costs

Aside from the cost of the items you put into the box, you should also consider how much the actual boxes themselves will cost. Cratejoy partners with a company called BoxUp which can help you to get your hands on boxes complete with your own personal design.

Some Cratejoy discounts are available if you order through BoxUp, but, you may be able to get cheaper options elsewhere.

Fees

When selling with Cratejoy, your profits may be impacted by some fees. The main fee you should account for is the credit card processing fee, which for most credit cards stands at 2.9%. You should also consider your yearly fees and percentage cuts if you decide to use the SAAS subscription.

If you’re new to this industry, then this all may seem like a lot, but by the looks of the website, Cratejoy is pretty good at helping their sellers work everything out and get started. They even offer a downloadable budgeting tool and startup calculator to help aspiring box sellers.

Tips For Making More Sales With Cratejoy

Once you’re up and running, and you’ve decided how much you’re going to sell your box for, you will then want to make sure that your box is drawing in as many customers as possible.

For some people, this will be the hardest part of making money on Cratejoy, but there are some things you can do to make your box more appealing to potential buyers, such as:

Be Unique

The more unique you box items are, the more likely your box is to stand out from its competitors. For example, if you choose to create a cosmetics box, try to make sure that your items are exciting and different from what you may be able to find in a regular drug store.

Having a unique selling point will help you to make sales and ensure that your customers are happy with their products and leave good reviews.

Have a Really Great Listing

The quality of your listing will greatly affect how well your box sells. In order to make the most of your listing, be sure to spend time taking high-quality, eye-catching images of your box. It’s also necessary to have a good description of your box so that potential customer can find out everything they need to know without having to ask.

Add Videos To Your Listing

Another way to increase your sales and attract customers is to add YouTube videos to your listing. This will help potential customers get a more in-depth look at what they’re purchasing.

Give out Free Samples

Giving out free samples of your box can really help you to reach a wider audience of customers, and potentially bring more customers onto the platform.

A lot of subscription box services will gift free boxes to popular creators on YouTube and Instagram that fit their niche in exchange for a review if the box. Marketing like this is highly targeted and when done right, it can be extremely worthwhile and convert to a huge increase in sales.

How to Sign Up for Cratejoy

Signing up to be a Cratejoy merchant starts in much the same way as most things online. You will need to put in your name, email address and create a password.

Once you’ve done this, you’ll be entitled to a 14-day free trial of the all-in-one subscription business solution that Cratejoy offer and you can then begin creating a listing.

As I mentioned earlier, you do not have to sign-up to the paid all-in-one subscription business solution to sell in the marketplace, but it does offer some features that might help to make your business more profitable.

Once you’ve signed up, you can start to craft your marketplace listings and prepare your boxes for shipping. You’ll be given a range of options such as:

• Add a Product
• Name Your Store
• Customize Your Website
• Connect Payment  

If you struggle to get to grips with the software, Cratejoy offers a range of YouTube tutorials and blogs that can help new merchants to get their account up and running.

Alternatives to Cratejoy

When it comes to subscription box marketplaces, Cratejoy is pretty unique in that it’s really the only one of it’s kind. However, if you’re looking for alternatives to their all all-in-one subscription business solution, some sites to consider include:

• Subbly
• WooCommerce
• Shopify

Cratejoy also has a partner company, Platejoy, which offer a free meal planning tool and grocery delivery services.

If you’re looking for ways to create your own online business, but you’re not sure about subscription boxes, you could also consider:

• Selling products on Etsy
• Start your own affiliate marketing blog
• Publish an E-book on Amazon

Frugal for Less is packed full of ideas for making money online, but you can find a list of low-cost online start-ups here.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Cratejoy seems like a pretty interesting and legit way to make money online. If you’re a crafty person or someone who loves to shop, then it could end up being the ideal career for you.

In terms of their business solution, the overall cost of using it is reasonable, and the company gets good reviews, making it a safe investment for anyone looking to get into the subscription box business.

The post Cratejoy Review: Scam Or Legit Subscription Box Company? appeared first on Frugal For Less.

Spare5 Review

Want to earn some extra cash on the go? The Spare5 app pays you to complete small and easy tasks directly from your smartphone. In this Spare5 review, we’re going to cover how much you can earn, how much time it takes and whether it’s scam or legit.

Registration with the Spare5 app is completely FREE, and they will never ask for your payment information.

With that said, let’s get started with the review.

Update: Spare5 is now available for your web browser, meaning you can now access it from your Desktop or Android devices.

• Direct Link to Program

What Is Spare5 And How Does It Work?

Spare5 is a free mobile app that’s currently only available for iOS devices and it’s now available for web browsers. This means that if you have a desktop computer or an Android device, you can access it from your device’s browser.

Although they’ve been out for a while now, they still haven’t come out with an Android app version. However, they are currently working on it. You can find out more details here.

Spare5 pays you for completing micro-tasks directly from your phone while on the go. Their main intention is that you can use the time waiting in line, riding the train or waiting for a friend to earn a bit of spare cash in your time.

Not only that, but the tasks will never use that much of your phone data. The great thing about Spare5 is that it’s considered an international money making app, meaning you can use it in other countries outside of the US.

When signing-up, I noticed they had a wide range of options to select which country you’re from. Registration is 100% free.

What Are The Pros And Cons?

Here’s a quick list of pros and cons with Spare5.

Pros:

• Minimum $1 to cash out
• Registration is 100% free (never pay for a rewards app or website)
• Cash outs to PayPal means you actually earn cash
• Earn at a rate of $8 – $12 per hour with up to $20 per hour (more information below)
• Refer friends for extra cash
• Not a scam – legit app that will pay you the right amount and on-time
• Earn XP points to increase earnings

Cons:

• No Android app available, but it’s in the works
• Only PayPal cash out option (contact Spare5 if you can’t do PayPal)
• Maximum of $20 to be earned through referrals
• Sometimes not very many tasks available

How Come Spare5 Is Able To Give Me Free Cash?

The reason Spare5 is able to pay you is because each time you complete a small task, they earn a bit of cash from advertisers and other companies. Companies use the answers that you provide to help improve their products and services.

Instead of them keeping all of this money to themselves, Spare5 gives a portion of it back to you for being an active participant. Not only are you earning a bit of cash, but you’re helping improve the products of everyday consumers.

How Much Can I Earn With The Spare5 App?

The amount you can earn with Spare5 is dependent on a few things:

• Location
• Demographics
• Time Spent on App

Location

As mentioned above, you can use Spare5 in more than just one country. However, if you’re from an English-speaking country, you’re more likely going to have more surveys than countries that don’t.

The reason for this is because the majority of companies that partner with Spare5 come from these countries.

Yet we don’t want to discourage you. Even if you’re not from one of these countries, we suggest you at least give Spare5 a try to find out if it’s worth it for you. For the purposes of this review, we’re going to state how much you can earn from a US perspective.

Demographics

Before you can complete any tasks with the Spare5 app, you’re required to fill out a quick 10-question introductory survey. The survey will reward you with $.10 cents, and will ask you questions regarding your current demographics.

We highly recommend being as honest as possible with these questions. Spare5 will determine what future surveys to give you based off of the answers you provide in this survey.

Not only that, but if Spare5 finds that you’re giving inconsistent answers from survey to survey, they may suspend your account or stop giving you surveys. Again, it’s important to be honest when completing tasks.

Time Spent on App

Obviously, the more time you spend completing tasks, the more money you’re going to earn. Yet this doesn’t mean you can consistently complete tasks with Spare5.

There’s only a limited amount of tasks available per user. From my personal experience, I usually log-in about once every few days to check for new tasks.

If I log-in every day, I often find that there aren’t any new tasks available. The amount of tasks they give you also depends on your demographics and location. Therefore, you’ll have to keep using the app to see how often they give you new tasks to complete.

So How Much Can I Earn With Spare5?

As mentioned above, we’re going to break down the earnings with the app from a US perspective. If you’re in another country, keep in mind your earnings may be different.

Most of the tasks on Spare5 are incredibly short. In other words, don’t expect to spend more than a few seconds on each one.

The reason for this is because Spare5 wants to gather information without you having to spend a lot of time or using a large amount of phone data.

I find that most tasks have a payout rate of anywhere between $.01 – $.20 cents. Every once in a while I’ll find a task that pays up to $.50 cents.

With our best estimation, we find that you can earn at a rate of anywhere between $8 – $12/hour. Keep in mind that this amount is our best guess and may not be completely accurate. Furthermore, if you’re from another country, it may be different.

For those who are extremely active and have earned a lot of experience points or XP (more information on this below), we’ve heard that it’s not difficult to make at a rate of around $15 per hour. Again, this is for more active users.

Earnings are paid out automatically every Friday to your PayPal account. When you first sign-up, you’ll be required to enter your PayPal address.

The best part about this app? There’s no minimum payout. This means with as little as $.01 cent they will deposit money into your account.

Does This Mean I Can Use Spare5 As A Full-Time Job?

Absolutely not. The reason? There aren’t enough tasks to go around.

However, Spare5 is a great way to earn some extra cash as a side hustle. Although it can’t replace your full-time job, we find that it’s worth it for those who need extra money and can spare 5 minutes or less (hence the name Spare5).

Refer A Friend For Extra Cash

Want to earn even more money with Spare5? Then refer your friends.

When your friend signs-up uses your link and earns their first $10, you get a bonus of $2 and your friend receives a bonus of $1. This continues until your friend reaches $100 in earnings or their first 180 days using the app – whatever comes first.

If you don’t have a share link in the Spare5 app, this means that you haven’t used the app for long enough. Keep using the app to receive the capability of referring friends. Unfortunately, there’s a maximum referral bonus of $20.

If you’d like to support FFL, you can use our referral link here. We’d greatly appreciate it!

What Type Of Tasks Do I Have To Complete With The Spare5 App?

As mentioned above, most of the tasks with Spare5 are incredibly short and simple. The very first task requires you to fill out your profile information and will give you a bonus of $.10 cents for doing so.

Other tasks may include listening to audio, describing a movie scene or captioning a funny image.

Most of the time, the tasks will be completely random. The more tasks you complete, the quicker the app will give you new tasks to complete.

The very first task for example consists of a short survey regarding some details about your life. The payout is $.20 cents. This task has to be completed in order for more tasks to appear. Most of the tasks that you complete will consist of short surveys on your phone, but sometimes you’ll need to take a phone survey also.

The tasks are limited, but pay quite well given the amount of time they take to complete. A survey can only take 1 – 2 minutes but still pays you $.20 cents. At this rate you could be making up to a maximum of $12 per hour, which isn’t a bad rate at all.

Spare5 sends out earnings automatically every Friday using your PayPal address, so be sure to type it in when you first register. If you happen to forget, you can always go into their settings tab and change it.

My favorite thing about this app is that there’s only a $1 minimum payout.

Spare5 Now Has A Web Browser Version!

Don’t want to use Spare5 from your phone? Spare5 now has a web version that can be accessed from your browser.

Sometimes the tasks will be a bit different, and I often find the tasks on my browser are more abundant than from my phone.

How Do I Get Started With Spare5?

Getting started with Spare5 is incredibly simple. However, in order to make sure you don’t miss any details, we’re going to walk you through the process step-by-step.

1. Register.

You can download the Spare5 app for free by clicking this link here. You can register using Facebook, Google, LinkedIn or email. Right now the app is currently only available for iOS devices.

2. Complete your welcome survey.

When you first log-in, the only task you’ll be able to complete is your welcome survey. This will pay you $.10 cents and will ask you questions about your demographics.

Be sure to be as honest as possible when filling this out. Not only will Spare5 use this information to determine which tasks are suitable for you, but if they find you giving inconsistent answers it could lead to a suspension of your account.

3. Complete tasks.

Once you’ve finished your welcome survey, Spare5 will provide you with a list of tasks to complete. Tasks typically take under a minute to complete and pay you anywhere between $.01 – $.50 cents.

4. Receive cash automatically.

When you sign-up, be sure to enter in your PayPal information. You can always enter in this information later on if you happened to forget. Payouts are made once a week automatically on Fridays.

You can also choose to donate your earnings to charity. For more information, check out the Spare5 FAQ.

5. Refer a friend.

Earn even more cash by referring a friend. When you refer a friend and they earn their first $10, you receive a bonus of $2 and your friend a bonus of $1. This goes on until they earn $100 or have used the app for 180 days.

You can earn a maximum referral bonus of $20.

The Spare5 XP Program

When you complete tasks with Spare5, you’re given experience points (XP). The more tasks you complete, the more points you’re given.

More XP points means you’ll be given earlier access to tasks, will be given more tasks with the chance to earn more rewards and higher payouts.

Spare5 currently comes with 6 different XP skills:

• Annotation
• Categorization
• Phone Survey
• Rating
• Research
• Writing

If you earn enough XP in a certain task, you can “level up.” When you level up, you’re more likely to receive a task in that category along with a higher payout rate.

Keep in mind that not every task leads to earning XP. The amount of XP you earn per task depends on the task and your current XP level. The higher level you are, the more XP you’re likely to earn.

We’ve heard that those with extremely high experience levels can easily earn at a rate of $15 per hour or more. For more information, checkout the Spare5 FAQ.

Is The Spare5 App A Scam?

This is one of the more common questions we receive about the Spare5 app: Is Spare5 a scam or legit?

Based on my personal experience, Spare5 is not a scam. I’ve always been paid the right amount and on time – every Friday funds are automatically sent to my PayPal account if I have a balance of $1 or more.

However, don’t take our word for it. Here are other reviews and what they have to say about the Spare5 app:

• The Wise Half states that Spare5 actually pays with the ability to earn up to $12 or more per hour with the app. The also state that the biggest downside with the app is that it’s only available for iOS users. Fortunately, with their new desktop version, you can easily access it from your Android device’s web browser.
• Katy Kicker wrote a full review on Spare5 and states that she’s earned over $70. At times, she even states that she’s earned $.45 cents per minute from England, meaning she’s earning at a rate of $27/hour! Keep in mind that these sort of tasks aren’t very common.
• Ordinary Reviews gives payment proof of the app and states that they typically earn anywhere from $.01 – $.05 cents per task. Furthermore, they’ve always been paid on Fridays and find that the tasks are quite simple to complete.

What Are Some Other Great Rewards Programs?

Just because you’ve started earning with Spare5 doesn’t mean your money making adventures have to stop there. Here are 3 of our other favorite rewards programs on the web.

1. Survey Junkie

• Registration Bonus: 250 points
• Join Survey Junkie

Survey Junkie is by far one of the best Survey Sites out there. Although they have a small sign-up bonus, they have quite high-paying surveys – just be sure to pick to the higher-paying ones.

As long as you avoid the low-paying surveys, you can make anywhere between $10 – $15 per hour, and sometimes more.

The great thing about Survey Junkie is that even if you don’t qualify for a survey, they’ll still give you a few points for participating, and they usually tell you within the first few questions to save you time.

Once you reach a minimum amount of points, you can cash out to Target or Amazon gift cards or direct deposits to PayPal.

2. Vindale Research

• Registration Bonus: $2
• Join Vindale Research

Vindale Research is one of the more popular and higher-paying survey sites. Expect to earn at a rate of around $12/hour, and sometimes they even have surveys that pay up to $50 (these are more uncommon).

The great thing about Vindale Research is that sometimes you can take the same survey multiple times per day. You even get a $2 bonus just for signing-up as a new user.

While you do need a minimum of $50 to cash out, I usually find that I can reach this amount quite quickly. If you’re going to choose a survey site, let this one be it.

Read our full Vindale Research Review

3. Swagbucks

• Registration Bonus: $5
• Join Swagbucks

Swagbucks is one of the most popular rewards sites and rewards apps out there. Earn free cash playing games, shopping online, clipping coupons, filling out surveys, participating in polls and more.

I usually find that I can earn a quick $5 just for completing a 30-minute survey. This program has a desktop version as well as an Android and iOS version.

Right now they’re currently giving a registration bonus of $5 just for signing-up as a new user, but keep in mind that this amount changes frequently. I’ve seen it as high as $10 and as little as $0.

You can cash out once you reach a minimum earned balance of $5 for a gift card of your choosing or directly to your PayPal account.

Read our full Swagbucks Review

Final Thoughts

Spare5 is a great mobile app for those who want to earn some cash on the go without using any intensive data. While they currently don’t have an Android version of the app.

Recently came out with a browser version. This means you can access it from your desktop computer or Android device.

Although the tasks payout a very little amount (typically between $.01 and $.20 cents), the amount of time they take to complete is very minimal. On average, we expect you to earn at a rate of $8 – $12 per hour, and sometimes even at a rate of up to $20 per hour!

If you’ve tried Spare5, we’d love to hear about what type of tasks that you’ve completed. Thanks for reading and happy frugaling!

The post Spare5 App Review: Scam Or Legit Money Making App? appeared first on Frugal For Less.

You may recall I’ve recently written reviews on the HoneyGain and CoinPop apps.

I now have a new money-making app for you to check out.

It’s called the Dabbl app and it’s available for both Android and iOS devices.

Do be careful though as there are several “Dabbl” names on the internet – an investing company, and a former online radio station.

The basic premise of the Dabbl app is to let you earn money by playing games, answering quizzes and watching videos.

Let’s get into the specifics.

• Join Dabbl

What is Dabbl?

The Dabbl app is a free money-making app where you “turn your downtime into gift cards” as it’s advertised.

You earn by answering trivia questions, watching short videos, answering short surveys, and by playing short interactive games.

Dabbl was created by the AdJoy company which works in mobile advertising, loyalty marketing, digital advertising, and media delivery fields.

Adjoy was founded in 2015 and has offices in Tampa, FL, and San Francisco, CA.

I tried searching for Adjoy’s original website and it seemed to be unavailable until I did some online research.

I found Adjoy’s old Facebook post from December 2017 stating that Adjoy is now changed to Dabbl and they’ve changed everything to be under the app’s site.

How to Get Started

Dabbl is available on both Google Play and the iTunes store.

Here’s how to get started on both Android and iOS:

1. Go to Google Play and download Dabbl
2. Open the app and you’ll see the Welcome screen and a mini tutorial
3. Once you’ve swiped through the tutorial, click “Get Started”
4. The app will then request your phone number and birthday (you must be over 13 to use Dabbl)
5. Confirm the phone number in the pop-up screen
6. Wait for the confirmation text, then enter the 4-digit number in the Dabble screen
7. Next Dabbl requests either permission to use your location, or to enter your zip code

You’re now successfully signed up for Dabbl.

You then can navigate to your Profile screen at the top left and fill out your personal information such as your first and last names and your email address.

Next, you can choose your preferences such as notification alerts and your location (as requested earlier).

You also have the option to upload a profile picture as well.

What’s Offered on This App?

When you open the Dabbl app it will show your dashboard.

At the top left will be either a blank profile outline, or your profile picture if you uploaded one in your preferences, then on the top right will be your points counter.

Clicking on the points counter opens a new screen showing your earnings in the form of a growth wheel.

The counter only goes up to 5,000 points as that’s how many points you need to redeem a $5 (or $10) gift card.

I’ll explain these gift cards in more detail later in section #5.

Underneath the points wheel are 3 sections – Lifetime points, Dabbl points (meaning current points), and number of referrals.

Next, the main screen shows several titles to scroll through – From Dabbl, Surveys, From the Web, and Extra Savings.

Under the From Dabbl title is where you’ll find “Premium experiences brought to you exclusively by Dabbl”, and it lists various short videos, offers and quick ways to earn – such as the friend referral program.

Underneath the Surveys is where all the short surveys are listed from different survey companies such as Tap Research and Pollfish.

Next is the From the Web listings and this is where you’ll see different quick ads and videos to watch and earn.

Lastly, there’s the Extra Savings list and you’ll find links to additional savings opportunities form Dabbl partners.

After you click on a video, survey, or ad and complete it, there’s a pop-up telling you how much you earned on that task.

Then there’s a quick survey asking if you enjoyed the experience and you simply pick the emoji face that correlates to your experience.

How Do You Earn Money?

Dabbl offers a variety of ways to earn through their app.

As I mentioned in the previous section, there are several ways to earn on Dabbl.

In the From Dabbl section you’ll earn a number of points for watching short videos, answering short quizzes, and watching quick ad videos.

The ones I’ve completed in this section earned me 30 points for an interactive video, 40 points for a video ad, and 40 points for a different video ad.

In the Surveys section, there’s an initial Tap Research introduction survey that earns 20 points.

Now that Tap Research is open you can choose a variety of surveys with different time lengths and points ranging from 25 points to 555 points.

Moving on to the From the Web section, you can earn points by watching quick ads and quizzes, one I just watched was 5 seconds long and had 1 multiple choice question and earning 10 poinits.

In the Extra Savings section is sponsored advertising you can click through for huge savings.

Savings such as $42 off a skincare product, 75% off wellness products at Vitamin World, 50% off CityPASS Attractions, 20% off college football gear from Fanatics, and many more deals.

Lastly, you can earn points with friend referrals.

You earn 1,000 points when your friend completes a Dabbl experience.

But you are only limited to inviting only 20 friends to Dabbl.

The total amount of points available to claim on Dabbl varies from week to week so there’s no definite number on how much you can make on this app.

Dabbl only shows a few options at a time, so there’s not an option to keep continuing for a long period of time to earn much faster.

How Do You Get Paid?

Dabbl has a different payout system than other money-making platforms.

Instead of having options to choose different denominations of gift cards, you are limited to $5 (or $10) gift cards only.

The point counter goes to 5,000 points and once you reach it, you claim a gift card of your choice and then restart from 0 points.

The conversion rate is 1,000 points is $1 USD.

The gift cards you can claim are either $5 or $10 with your 5,000 points, they are:

• Amazon $5
• AMC Theaters $5
• Barnes and Noble $5
• Best Buy $5
• Spotify $10
• Ulta $10
• And 14 others

Electronic gift cards worth $5 are the only option for payouts on the Dabbl app.

Pros and Cons of Dabbl

In the very short period that I’ve been using Dabbl, I’ve come up with a few pros and cons.

Pros:

• Quick and Easy – Good for those who have just a few minutes to spare in a day.
• Clear to Read – Each section of the app is explained and has an extensive FAQ section on their website.
• Savings – Quite some good discounts can be found here.
• Good Customer Service – Customer service was quick to respond to email inquiries

Cons:

• Limited – Not many earning options to perform each time you open the app.
• Payouts – No option for cash, PayPal, or larger denomination payouts.
• Not Original – Ads and Surveys are third parties and can be found on other platforms
• Videos – Videos are not captioned so you cannot watch without sound, or in my case as a Deaf consumer, understand it at all.

Overall, it’s a nice little app, but nothing special stands out to make it unique from other money-making apps.

Reviews by Users

You don’t have to take my word for it, let’s see what others on Google Play has said about the Dabbl app.

Google Play has an overall rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars given by only 382 reviewers.

First, the 5-star reviews:

“I’ve tried so many programs that are similar to this one and they always end up a bust. You end up spending so much time on surveys only to be dropped in the middle of it. Not only do they provide their own surveys, they link you to other types of survey places. I’ve had this app for a short amount of time and I already have $10.”

“It takes a little while to save up the points for a gift but once you place your order for the card it arrives right away. I definitely recommend this app.”

“An amazing app because getting the rewards is actually REALISTIC AND ATTAINABLE unlike many other apps claiming to do the same thing.”

Now for some 1-star reviews:

“The problem I have with this app it never pays for referrals as advertised. I’ve had many people sign up and I never received any credit.”

“I enjoyed it to start getting anywhere from 2 to 10 cents quite often. Now everything is 1 cent meaning it will take a ridiculous amount of time to reach the cash out amount. No longer worth the time. A shame really. “

“Don’t waste a second of your time with this app! Very confident it is a scam with my experience and many other reviews. The amount granted for each survey drastically decreases as you get close to the $10 reward. Started at $0.30 to $0.60 per survey and dropped to around $0.06 per after $9 total.”

So, from reading these reviews, Dabbl has changed a lot since it was created in 2015.

It went from $10 payouts down to $5 and went from 30¢ and 60¢ survey payouts to 2¢ to 6¢.

As for the positive reviews, the cynic in me thinks these people have never been on better paying survey site.

My Experience

I tried downloading Dabbl onto my Android phone on a Tuesday afternoon but never received the 4-digit confirmation code by text.

I emailed the company’s customer service for a solution.

Adjoy’s customer support sent an automated email stating that they’ve received my email and have started a service ticket.

Less than 30 minutes later I started receiving all the 4-digit code texts, so I deleted them all (as they’re expired now), and requested a new code.

A code was texted to my phone right afterwards and I was able to proceed with registration.

I received an email from customer support several hours later asking how they could help me, and I explained the original problem and the flood of texts afterwards.

They responded that it could have been a simple network issue and they were happy my issue was resolved.

When I first opened my Dabbl app I did several short and easy tasks:

First, I watched a short little animated video from Headspace about mediation, answered a short quiz and earned 40 points.

While I was still in the From Dabbl listing, I clicked on the “Refer a Friend” link and shared it to my Facebook page.

Then I took a 15-question opening survey from Tap Research that earned me 20 points and “unlocked” the rest of Tap Research’s surveys.

Next, I watched a 15-second advertisement from Stash and earned 10 points.

Lastly, I found a skincare anti-aging formula deal for only $5 from Hers (Regular price is $47).

So, within 5 minutes of opening Dabbl I earned 80 points (8¢) and saved $42.

I was too busy to do anything with Dabbl on Wednesday, but I continued on Thursday afternoon and earned another 180 points in just 15 minutes.

My total for about 20 minutes work is 260 points or 26¢.

Similar Money-Making Apps

There are many other money-making apps similar to the Dabbl app.

You remember I mentioned two apps earlier:

• HoneyGain – Earn by sharing your unused Wi-Fi or mobile data.
• Coin Pop – Earn by playing games on your phone.

Here’s several more money earning apps:

• MobleXpression – Get a $5 Amazon gift card for signing up on your mobile device and letting it run.
• SavvyConnect – Runs in background to research your online activity, makes about $180 a year.
• Survey Junkie – Make about $5 to $18 an hour answering surveys.
• PointClub – Offers a $5 sign up and you can make about $10 to $15 an hour answering surveys.
• AppTrailer – Make money just for watching trailers about apps, games, movies and more.

My top three favorite money-making apps are:

• InboxDollars – Earn for shopping, surveys, offers, videos, games and more.
• Swagbucks – Many different ways to earn on this site, shopping, surveys, games, videos and more.
• Shopkick – Earn for your shopping, check-ins, product scans and more.

10. The Final Verdict?

The Dabbl app is a legitimate money-making app.

My final say is that it’s not worth the download and here’s why:

• Limited things to do – You can find other apps with much more activities to choose from and even higher earnings, like Swagbucks.
• Limited Payouts – What can you really buy with $5 e-gift cards?
• Low Earnings – Since 1,000 points is $1 USD, the 260 points I mentioned earlier is only 26¢

If you don’t have the time, don’t want to get too “addicted” and spend a lot of time on an app, or want a quiet slow way to earn – then Dabbl is a good calm choice to pick.

But if you’re like me and like variety and choice, keeping things fresh and active then I’d suggest picking a more diverse money-making app like the top three I mentioned.

The post Dabbl App Review: Scam Or Legit Way To Make Money Online? appeared first on Frugal For Less.

If you read Frugal For Less, you know that we love to review survey sites and apps. There are hundreds of them, and some are true gems. You’ll also run into scams and a few options that are so-so. We do the research to find out what legit survey sites are out there.

iPoll is one survey site and app that gets some mixed reviews. You may have heard of it while hunting for paid surveys online. In this review, you’ll find out the facts you need to know. Is iPoll awesome, average, or a scam? Read my full iPoll review to find out.

• Direct Link To iPoll

What Is iPoll?

iPoll started out as a survey site called Survey Head. The website launched in 2008, and it’s gained a fair amount of popularity since then. In 2016, Survey Sampling International took over the site.

It’s now known as iPoll, and users can take mobile surveys through the iPoll app. iPoll is available to survey takers in over 30 countries.

The app keeps a running total of how much they’ve paid out. To date, iPoll says that users have earned $24,408,198 in rewards. According to their website, you’ll mostly answer surveys about the products and services that you use.

Reviews show that surveys are the main way to earn with iPoll, though there are other options as well. You have a few different payment/reward options to choose from.

iPoll Pros And Cons

I quickly found dozens of pages of iPoll reviews through Google. I’ve made a comprehensive list of the common pros and cons I found. You’ll also find a few statistics in the lists, too. This should give you an honest look at what to expect from iPoll:

Pros:

• You can choose PayPal or gift cards for payments.
• iPoll is available in 32 countries.
• Anyone over 17 can sign up.
• iPoll sign up is easy and free.
• The app has over one million downloads to date.
• The app layout is sleek and user-friendly.
• The app has about 20,000 reviews through Google Play; about 65% to 70% of these reviews are 4-star and 5-star.
• The average rating is 3.8 stars – not perfect, but definitely above average.
• In addition to taking surveys, there are other ways to earn money/rewards.
• You’re given a time estimate for each survey before you take it.
• You earn badges for meeting milestones, and get paid a small amount each time.
• There’s no confusing points system – you’re shown how much the survey pays in real currency.
• The amount you earn per survey is shown before you take it.
• Users confirm they’ve been paid and/or posted proof of payment online.

Cons:

• Many users say they’re disqualified from surveys after answering several questions.
• About 22% of Google Play user reviews are 1-star and 2-star.
• It can reportedly take weeks to receive payments/gift cards once you request them.
• Some users say they’ve had problems getting paid through the app.
• The pay per survey can be low compared to how long the survey takes.
• Some reviews say that the app freezes or crashes occasionally.
• Some users say their iPoll accounts were suspended and/or terminated without valid reasons.
• Lastly, iPoll reviews commonly mentioned that it’s difficult to get helpful responses from customer support.

There’s clearly many positive points to consider. iPoll has been going strong for 10 years, has tons of users, and everything is fairly straightforward.

It’s easily accessible, and you get the benefit of choosing cash or gift cards. Lastly, I was pleased to see that the majority of Google Play reviews are positive.

But the negative feedback is also pretty disappointing. Waiting several weeks to get rewards is undoubtedly annoying. A lot of users dislike how often they are screened out of surveys, too. This isn’t uncommon with survey apps, but it’s still frustrating and can feel like a waste of time.

Overall, I think the initial pros and cons are about 50/50. iPoll reviews show that it’s far from perfect. But it’s still being downloaded often, and there are dozens of positive ratings from 2018 alone. I don’t think you should rule iPoll out as an option just yet.

How To Join iPoll

Joining iPoll is really easy and quick. It took me less than five minutes to get matched with my first survey. As long as you’re 17 or older and iPoll is available in your country, the process is simple. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Visit the iPoll website to sign up online or to download the app.
2. Provide your e-mail and choose a password.
3. Fill out the short form on the next screen. You’ll be asked for your name, address, and other demographic details.
4. Answer a few more questions to get matched with surveys. I was asked about my income, living arrangements, and so on.

Again, this took less than five minutes through the Android app. Once I answered the last round of questions, I was matched with a $1.00 survey. The app is very user-friendly, and I haven’t had any technical issues so far.

If you want to get iPoll payments through PayPal, you’ll need to have a valid PayPal account. Set one up now to ensure you get paid as quickly as possible.

Ways To Earn Money With iPoll

All of the ways to earn with iPoll are related to taking surveys. I’ve outlined the surveys and tasks below. The info is based on some of my personal experience and several iPoll user reviews.

Surveys

Surveys are the main way you’ll earn money with iPoll. The surveys are used for market research. This means that companies use iPoll to gather opinions about their products or services. The opinion and feedback given by survey takers is used to improve those products and services.

From what I’ve seen, iPoll surveys mostly ask you about your shopping habits. They also collect demographic information. The second survey I took asked what online services I’m subscribed to – Amazon Prime, Netflix, and so on. It also asked about purchases I plan to make, how many people live in my home, and similar questions.

That 8-minute survey paid $0.50, and my first 15-minute survey paid $1.00. I’ve only completed those two so far. The next section goes into detail about how much iPoll surveys pay.

You’ll see that the reward amount fluctuates a lot. Make sure to read the amounts I’ve listed below. Your individual earnings will vary, but some iPoll user reviews list consistent payment amounts.

Missions

Missions are small tasks and surveys based on your location. The iPoll website says “Get rewards for every iPoll mission you complete. These include fun tasks such as visiting a store, taking pictures and testing products.” I haven’t completed a mission yet, but here’s what I’ve learned about them:

• You need to enable GPS location on your phone.
• Missions take place at major retailers, fast food restaurants, and similar places. I’ve seen Target and Dollar General mentioned in reviews.
• You’ll see missions near you, what stores you need to visit, and how long the missions take.
• One mission I read about required the iPoll user to take photos of a product display at a major retail store. iPoll uses your camera, so taking pictures and uploading them is simple.
• This mission was followed up with a short survey about the iPoll user’s shopping habits.
• The entire iPoll mission took five minutes – excluding travel time – and paid $10.
• Reviews report that missions typically pay $5 to $15.
• Missions have an expiration date, so you’ll need to complete them within the given time frame. The expiration dates seem to vary between a few hours to 1-2 days.
• Some users receive 1-2 missions per month, but others say they only get them every few months.

It’s easy to see that iPoll missions pay a lot more than regular surveys. They seem like a fun way to make money if you don’t mind a bit of travel. The only downside is that missions may be rare. Still, one mission per month will net you about $5 to $15. That’s not too shabby.

Badges

Badges are a pretty passive way to earn extra money through iPoll. Since I’m new to the app, I’ve only received the All Profiles Completed badge.

I received $0.50 and got a notification about this badge once I filled out my profile surveys, which took about 10 minutes total. The other available badges listed on my dashboard include:

• 1 Month Lifetime (earned when you’ve been an iPoll member for one month)
• 3 Month Lifetime
• 10 Surveys in a Month
• 20 Surveys in a Month
• 15 Dollars Earned
• 25 Dollars Earned
• 5 Surveys Completed
• 10 Surveys Completed
• First Redemption
• Join Complete Badge (earned once you’ve joined and completed your first survey)

It seems that you unlock more badges every time you earn one. You’re basically getting free money for completing milestones. The amount of money each badge is worth isn’t listed. But if they’re all worth $0.50 like my first one, you can get an extra $5.50 fairly quickly.

How Much Do iPoll Surveys Pay?

There’s no simple answer to this question. The payment amount for each iPoll survey seems to vary a lot. Of course, you tend to earn more based on the length and difficulty of the survey. iPoll reviews list tons of different numbers.

Since the website has been around for 10 years, there’s a lot of outdated info. I focused on recent feedback and listed earnings from 2017 and 2018 reviews only. This should give you a fairly accurate look at how much you can earn.

• I’ve completed two surveys; one paid $1.00 for 15 minutes. The other paid $0.50 for 8 minutes.
• One user says surveys usually pay between $0.50 to $3.00.
• Another user completed about 50 five minute surveys before reaching a $25 payout.
• One iPoll reviewer earned $5.00 for an hour long survey.
• A U.K.-based user says 12 minute surveys usually pay £0.25 and 20 to 30 minute surveys pay £0.75.
• A daily iPoll user says the minimum he’s been paid for a survey is $0.40. In his experience, 25 minute surveys pay around $1.50 each. He reports earning around $3.50 per day with iPoll.
• An in-depth review states that it’s common to earn $1.00 per 15 minute survey and $1.75 per 30 minute survey.
• In March 2018, a Google Play user reported earning $1.00 for a 20 minute survey.
• Most reviewers say they’re offered at least a few surveys per day. This includes surveys they get screened out of.

Overall, it seems like you can expect to earn about $1.00 per survey that’s 15 to 20 minutes long. That works out to $3 to $4 per hour. While that’s not super impressive, it’s a fairly common hourly rate for paid survey sites and apps.

iPoll Payment And Reward Options

The iPoll payment and reward options seem to have changed over time. Right now, the app and website list three options – a $25 Amazon gift card, a $25 iTunes gift card, and a $25 PayPal payment. The app says you can only redeem with PayPal through the iPoll website.

Some user reviews say that you’re responsible for covering PayPal transaction fees. I haven’t found info to confirm this on the iPoll app or website. PayPal fees are usually about 3%, so you may end up getting $24.25 total.  

Verdict: Is iPoll A Scam Or Legit?

iPoll isn’t the best survey site, but it’s not a scam. The pay is somewhat low, and you may get screened out of surveys at times. Despite this, several thousand people throughout the world use iPoll.

It seems like it can take a long time to meet the $25 minimum. But despite this, people are legitimately getting paid.

In my opinion, the ‘iPoll scam’ reviews are mostly based on the info above. I can see why users get frustrated, but iPoll doesn’t appear to be a scam at all. It’s not a good choice if you want to earn money quickly. If you just want to earn a little cash in your spare time, iPoll may be worth a shot.

• Sign Up For iPoll Now

Final Thoughts

If iPoll isn’t a good fit for you, don’t give up on paid surveys. There are dozens of truly great options out there. You can easily earn PayPal cash and gift cards with highly-rated survey apps. Get started by reading these Frugal For Less posts:

• 20 Best Survey Sites 2018: Earn Free Cash Taking Surveys From Home
• 25 Apps To Make Money Fast For PayPal
• 20+ Best Survey Apps That Will Make You Money (Updated 2018)
• 10 Top Survey Sites That Will Make You $300/Month Or More

As you can see, there are tons of paid survey sites and apps. You can find even more ways to earn money online by checking out our Make Money section. I’m 100% confident you’ll find options that you’ll really like.

The post iPoll Review: Is This A Scam Or Legit Paid Survey Site? appeared first on Frugal For Less.

This post is going to cover a full review of Gamekit – a controversial website which promises users the chance to earn gift cards, games, and even prepaid credit cards for simply playing games.

This is about as close as it gets to free money.

You probably have a few questions before you go signing up.

For example, you may be wondering how on earth any business can make a profit by paying people to play games for no apparent reason.

I was too.

Unfortunately, finding answers to these questions online isn’t easy.

In fact, after searching around the internet for an hour, I realized that getting accurate, unbiased information about Gamekit is nearly impossible.

So what did I do?

I signed up to see for myself first-hand what this platform was all about.

I’ve also thoroughly researched the company, spoke to other Gamekit users, and generally dug a little deeper, all in the name of putting together this in-depth review and answering all your burning questions such as:

• What is Gamekit?
• How does Gamekit work?
• How does Gamekit make money?
• Is Gamekit a scam?
• How much can I earn on Gamekit?

We’ll also be talking about the different ways to earn points on Gamekit and the different rewards you can get.

There’s a lot to cover in our Gamekit review, so let’s get started!

• Direct Link to Gamekit

What is Gamekit?

Gamekit is an online platform, available in 15 countries, which connects gamers with gaming brands looking to reach new audiences.

They do this by rewarding points to gamers for playing games and completing other small tasks.

These points can then be exchanged for rewards or used in giveaway contests.

For the gamer, this point-based reward system provides an incentive for them to try new games and complete tasks, which drives traffic towards a game or website from an audience of gamers.

In this respect, Gamekit functions as a kind of marketing service provider for its clients.

Gamekit delivers traffic to its advertisers and is paid accordingly; users get a share of these profits via rewards, at least in theory.

There’s a little more to it than that, but we’ll go into more detail later. For now, let’s look at how it works.

How It Works

Once a user has signed up to Gamekit, they can start earning points right away.

The user just needs to navigate to the ‘earn points’ page, and choose from one of the many options for earning points (we’ll talk about what these options are later).

They’ll then be shown a screen which tells them the different steps they have to take to complete the offer and earn points.

Sometimes, they’ll need to provide evidence of completion of a task or quest, such as by taking a screenshot which shows their progress.

Once they’ve completed the task, they’ll be rewarded with a set amount of PTS (points) and EXP. The PTS are the good stuff – you can exchange them for rewards on the ‘rewards’ page (again, we’ll talk about what these rewards are later).

The EXP helps to ‘level up’ your account.

This is a cute feature that is basically there to force you to complete more tasks by restricting your eligibility for certain rewards based on your level.

Even if you have enough PTS for a reward, you can’t always get it unless you’ve reached the required level.

There’s a lot of controversy around this particular feature, as some users feel it’s there to prevent you from ever redeeming your PTS, which brings us nicely on to our next section…

Is Gamekit a Scam?

This is probably the most important question in this whole review, so I’ll cut to the chase.

The answer is both yes and no. Gamekit doesn’t seem to be an outright scam, but it’s about as close as it can get to being one without actually being one.

Let’s break it down into the good and the bad, so that you can see how I arrived at that conclusion and maybe draw your own.

The Good

There are three aspects of Gamekit which show us that they’re not a total scam. These are:

1. They have a high Trustpilot score

Gamekit has a Trustpilot score of 8.4. A fact they seem very proud of, having plastered it all over their website, which suggests they might be trying just a little bit too hard to prove legitimacy.

Nonetheless, Trustpilot is a leading review site, and a high score here should go some way towards proving they’re not a scam.

However, it’s worth remembering that it’s possible for companies to manipulate review scores, and some believe TrustPilot is particularly susceptible to this. There’s an insightful article on the topic here if you’re interested.

2. They do actually give out rewards – SOMETIMES.

Suspecting Gamekit of being a scam, I put them to the test. I decided I’d try to earn the ‘random premium steam key’ advertised on their website. It took a while – probably a few hours – but I eventually gained enough points to grab it.

I was surprised to find they actually delivered on their promise. However, the word ‘premium’ was misleading. The game I was awarded was a cheap, low-quality puzzle game – definitely not worth the time I invested into earning the points.

Also, whilst this worked for me, a lot of people don’t receive the games they redeem their points for, and Gamekit’s own terms and conditions reserve the right to refuse to deliver on anything, so take my experience with a pinch of salt!

3. They have SOME genuinely positive reviews

It can be difficult to sort the genuine reviews from the fake ones, but I can say with some certainty that at least some of the positive reviews out there are real. You can usually tell as they’re brutally honest about the bad side as well as the good.

Redditors are notoriously hard to deceive, so it’s worth checking the Reddit forums for the most honest reviews.

All that being said, don’t go clicking away to sign up just yet – there are a more than a few catches that you need to be aware of.

The Bad

Here’s where we get into the ‘scammy’ side of things. Unfortunately, there are more bad points than there are good when it comes to Gamekit. They have a lot of business practices that are dubious at best, and outright illegal at worst.

Here are some reasons that might make you want to avoid Gamekit:

4. Duplicate Games

A lot of users of Gamekit claim to have received duplicate games when purchasing ‘random’ steam keys. Gamekit acknowledges this and states on their website ‘we’re not refunding duplicated games’.

This seems fair until you consider the fact that, if the steam keys were truly ‘random’, the odds of getting a duplicate would be astronomically low. You’d have to be incredibly unlucky to get the same key twice, considering the sheer number of games in the Steam library.

The amount of people that get duplicates despite this suggests that the steam keys aren’t fully ‘random’, but are from a limited catalog of (probably cheap and unpopular) games. This YouTube video does a better job of explaining this than I can over text alone, so check that out if you’re interested.

5. Unfair and Illegitimate Bans

Worryingly, many users claim that they were banned from the system upon trying to redeem PTS for high-value rewards of $20 or more. The sheer number of reviews – like this one, this one, and this one – complaining about the same thing suggests this is no accident.

Gamekit get around this by imposing unbalanced terms and conditions which essentially allow them to ban you for the most minor reasons – such as logging on from two different IP addresses.

They can legally use this to ban you for any reason, even if their real motive is to stop you from claiming your rewards, but that doesn’t make it any less wrong.

6. Misleading Information

Their whole business model is structured around misleading their users. They market themselves as offering gamers the chance to get ‘free money’ but, in reality, this would never work as a business model. Gamers are essentially earning very low amounts of money for clicking ads.

Other examples of misleading their users include promising ‘premium games’, not being specific about the requirements of certain offers up front, and conveniently missing out important information about eligibility requirements for rewards.

7. Changing Goalposts & Unprofessional Support

Another red flag is the way in which Gamekit frequently change the eligibility requirements for rewards.

For example, this review talks about how the user was unable to receive the prize he had won as Gamekit changed the level requirements for redemption.

Conveniently, this happened as soon as the user had reached the previously required level. In other words, Gamekit are essentially moving the goalposts in order to stop users claiming their prizes.

Even more worrying is how the support staff responds to this review, claiming that the user will have to just have to put up with it and that “this is how things work here”.

The same staff member threatened “I suggest you to chill, otherwise we may take measures against your behavior since you are making useless bad publicity about our site.”

This highlights how Gamekit are actively trying to silence the bad reviews about them, even going as far as to threaten their customers. If that’s not a red flag, then I don’t know what is.

8. The value of the rewards aren’t worth the effort

If you do manage to actually redeem your PTS for a reward, it’s unlikely that the reward will be worth your time and effort, as the value of prizes is incredibly low considering the amount of PTS required.

If you’re still interested in trying out Gamekit at this point, there will probably be nothing else that will deter you from here on out. Now let’s talk money.

How Much Can I Earn on Gamekit?

Gamekit is unlike many of the other apps that we talk about on Frugal for Less in that it’s not so much about making money as it is about saving money.

You’re not paid for your efforts in cash, you’re paid in games and gift cards. The closest you can get to real cash is their prepaid Mastercard credit card.

However, being frugal means cutting down on costs where you can, and games cost money. Therefore, if you can get games that you would have been willing to pay for free, you’re saving yourself money.

But for the sake of this question, let’s assume that saving money is the same as earning money.

After all, those games and gift cards do have a cash value, so it kind of is.

Now we can try to work out how much we can earn per hour.

We’re fortunate in the fact that Gamekit gives us a clue as to how much we can earn on their website by providing us with some helpful statistics.

According to their website, there are currently 15 million registered users on Gamekit, with 7 million visits per month. The combined total value of the rewards earned by these users is $2.2 million.

Breaking Down The Numbers

Sounds great right? But wait – let’s break those numbers down a little further.

15 million users have earned $2.2 million in rewards to date, which means we can work out how much each user has earned each, on average, by doing the total reward value by the total amount of users.

We’ve done the math and that works out at just under $0.14 each – not much in most people’s books.

Of course, this assumes that each of their registered users has earned an equal share, which is probably not true, so let’s look at it on an individual basis.

There are lots of ways to earn points, and most people choose to earn them by completing quests on games, but let’s assume for this example that you choose to complete surveys, as it’s the easiest way to calculate earnings over time.

Currently, on Gamekit, there are several surveys that the site estimates will take 18 minutes complete, each of which rewards the user with 174 PTS.

If you were to complete surveys like this back to back, with no breaks in between, you’d earn around 580 PTS each hour.

A €10 ($11.50) steam gift card costs 5,699 PTS, and a €10 prepaid Mastercard costs 6,199 PTS. Therefore, it would take you nearly 10 hours to earn enough PTS for the steam card, and even more for the Mastercard.

Even if we assume the steam gift card has an equivalent cash value of €10, that still means you’d be earning around $1 per hour or less.

With that in mind, if you’re just doing it for the money, it probably isn’t worth it. You can earn 10 times that amount for very little effort on sites like Cambly.

It won’t really work as a part-time income but, if you like to play games, and you’d be playing them anyway, it might still have some worth as you can at least monetize your hobby.

Ways to Earn Points

Remember how we mentioned there were lots of different options for ways to earn points? Well, let’s explore what those options are.

Here are the different ways you can get points on Gamekit:

• Play games
• Take quizzes
• Rate photos
• Offerwalls
• Complete surveys
• Invite your friends (referrals)
• Watch trailers
• Buy points

Of these, playing games to earn points seems to be the most popular choice, which makes sense as Gamekit market themselves directly to gamers.

If it wasn’t for the gaming angle, they’d just be a paid-to-click platform like any other.

However, just because playing games is the most popular choice, it doesn’t mean it’s the best way to earn points.

The quickest and easiest way would probably be to complete surveys but, if you want to go down this route, you’re probably better off using a survey site that pays a little more. We’ve written about those here.

How To Earn Points By Playing Games

If you’d prefer to earn points by playing games, here’s how you go about it:

1. Click on the “Get PTS” tab in the horizontal menu
2. Select the game you want to play
3. Register in the game by choosing a nickname and inputting your email address.
4. Enter your nickname in the game on Gamekit to see your first quest.
5. Complete your quest in-game within the allotted time.
6. Take a screenshot which proves you’ve completed the quest and upload it to Gamekit.

The quests can vary but they usually require you to reach a certain level or another milestone within the game.

Rewards & Giveaways

Now we’ve covered how you acquire PTS, let’s talk about how to redeem them.

There are two ways to redeem points: rewards and competitions.

Competitions are essentially a gambling option – they require a low amount of PTS to enter and offer better prizes, but you’re not guaranteed to win anything.

Your odds of winning can be anything from around 1-in-5 to 1-in-200, and competitions with expensive or popular prizes, like Player Unknown Battlegrounds and high-value steam cards, tend to offer the worse odds.

With rewards, you simply choose the prize you want to redeem your PTS against and it should be delivered to you within a few days.

Most Popular Cash Out Options

There are a lot of options to choose from, but here are some of the most popular:

• 1 random premium Steam key
• 5-10 random Steam keys
• Random $2-$50 Steam gift card
• Various Games (Rocket League, PUBG, Counter-Strike, etc.)
• Game cosmetics or add-ons
• Blizzard Points
• $20 Paysafecard
• Gaming keyboards
• PSN cards
• Donations to charity
• Prepaid Mastercards

To actually redeem your PTS, you just need to click the ‘Exchange Points’ tab on the horizontal bar at the top, and then make your selection.

It’s worth mentioning that you’ll need to receive a text to actually get your prize, which requires you to input a mobile phone number.

A lot of users don’t want to give out this information so, if this is you, don’t waste any of your time earning PTS as you won’t be able to redeem them.

How to Join Gamekit

If you’re still interested in trying out Gamekit for yourself, you can sign up via their website here.

The whole signing up process shouldn’t take longer than a couple of minutes – it’s really easy. You just put in your email address and choose a password, and you’re good to go!

You can also choose to register through your Facebook, Google, or your Steam account if you’d prefer.

Once you’re on the site, a quick tutorial will commence, which you can complete to net yourself a few easy PTS. You can also verify your email address to get a few more too.

Apps Similar to Gamekit

If Gamekit sounds a little bit too close to scam-territory for you, there are plenty of other, more legitimate alternative apps you can use to make money. Here are my top suggestions:

• For more apps that pay you to play games, check out our post here, where we list 11 of the best options.
• For survey sites that pay much more than Gamekit, try Survey Junkie or Zap Surveys.
• For even more earning potential, consider trying a website like Cambly instead, which pays you to chat.

Wrapping Up

That about covers it!

In conclusion, I can’t give my stamp of approval to Gamekit as it misleads its users a little too much and the reward-to-time ratio is just too unbalanced.

It might be worth looking into anyway if you’re an avid gamer – just be careful, and don’t invest too much time and effort into it.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this Gamekit review. If you have anything else you’d like to add, let us know in the comments below!

The post Gamekit Review: Scam Or Legit Way To Earn Free Money? appeared first on Frugal For Less.