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Swagbucks is one of the most popular rewards sites out there, and that’s why we’ve decided to write up this Swagbucks review. Earn cash for online tasks that you already complete on a daily bonus.
Right now they’re offering a $5 sign-up bonus, and registration is completely FREE. Already using Swagbucks? Let us know about your experience in the comments below.
With that said, let’s get started with the review.
Table of Contents
What Is Swagbucks?
As mentioned above, Swagbucks is one of the most popular rewards sites (if not the most popular rewards site) currently on the web. They have one of the widest range of activities that you can partake in to earn free cash online.
With that said, let’s get started with a quick list of pros and cons:
Pros:
- An incredibly wide range of activities to partake in
- Right now they are offering a $5 sign-up bonus (sometimes as high as $10)
- Great referral program – earn 10% of friends’ earnings
- 100% free – never join a rewards site that asks for your payment information
- Most of the tasks are incredibly simple to complete
Cons:
- May take up to a few days to receive your reward
- Sometimes there’s no sign-up bonus
What Tasks Can I Complete With Swagbucks?
Here’s a quick list of tasks that you can complete with Swagbucks to earn free cash:
- Watch Videos
- Play Games Online
- Shop Online
- Clip Coupons
- Take Surveys
- Participate in Polls
- Refer Friends
- Complete Free-trial Offers
How Does Swagbucks Work?
Each time you complete an activity, points are rewarded which can be used to enter drawings for gift cards or to buy gift cards. These points are called “Swagbucks.”
After you receive a certain amount of Swagbucks (100 minimum), you can use them to redeem for Amazon gift cards or other great stores of your choosing. For me, I’ve found a great method to spend less than half-an-hour per day on the website and rake in about $10 – $20 extra dollars in gift cards. It personally helps me save a lot on groceries.
Is Swagbucks Worth It?
It really depends on how much your time is worth. If you’re simply trying to earn as many points as possible and you value your time, the answer is no, it’s not worth it. Swagbucks can consume a lot of your time if you’re on there for extended for long periods of time only to make money.
However, if you’re bored and have nothing to do, can spare a few minutes each day to earn 77 Swagbucks in under 25 minutes (see below), then of course it’s a great way to earn some extra cash. Some of the best ways to earn money are the Swagbucks TV App and by referring a friend.
The TV app doesn’t consist of you spending any extra time. You simply set the app on and let it run, automatically giving you 50 Swagbucks a day. You don’t have to watch the videos if you don’t want to, but I do recommend it. Otherwise, you’re violating their TOS.
Referring a friend gives you 10% of all their points, and all you have to do is send them a link. Yet to find the best methods of making money with Swagbucks, scroll down to see the best method to make money without spending a large amount of time.
How Do I Make Money with Swagbucks?
To make money, build up as many points (called Swagbucks) as possible with Swagbucks so that you can enter drawings or redeem your points for gift cards. There are many ways to earn points, which are covered one by one below.
Daily Goal – 24 Swagbucks Daily
When you log-in to Swagbucks, there is a sidebar to your left called the “Daily Goal.” The Daily Goal consists of 4 daily tasks that can completed. The points in this section are low, but are a surefire, steady way to build up your point meter.
1. Daily Crave – 1 Swagbuck
Recently added to Swagbucks, the Daily Crave consists of watching two short 1 – 2 minute videos. After the videos are watched, you rate the videos on whether you liked it or not.
Only one Swagbuck is given for this activity since it takes a short time of about 2 minutes.
Can you skip through the videos? Yes, you can. This can dramatically reduce your time. You won’t be giving an honest your honest opinion when rating the video, but can cut you down from 2 minutes to almost 30 seconds.
2. Toolbar – Maximum of 20 Swagbucks
To use the Swagbucks Toolbar, you have to install an add-on to your web browser.
The add-on simply lets you make searches with Swagbucks. Once you have the plugin installed, simply make searches that you would normally (just like Google Search), and every once in a while points will be rewarded.
There is no concrete system as to what searches will get you points or how often points are rewarded, but I can tell you that I rarely walk away with 20 points per day. A lot of searches have to be done before you can build up the maximum points with the toolbar.
That’s why I only recommend it for searches you might make otherwise instead of deliberately trying to get points. This way you’re not wasting any extra time and earning points at the same time.
3. Daily Poll – 1 Swagbuck
By far the fastest way to earn a point is the Daily Poll. You simply fill-in a 5-question poll and 1 point is awarded to you. Easy as pie.
4. NOSO – 2 Swagbucks
NOSO stands for no obligation special offers, which is what it sounds like. Click the “Start Here” button and NOSO will take you through 5-6 offers. You don’t have to say yes to any of them. I usually click “Skip” before the page even loads, as I’m trying to only get Swagbucks. I don’t need anymore junk mail.
This task usually takes about 30 seconds, so it’s also another quick way to earn some points. In conclusion, the Daily Goal can earn you from 4 – 34 Swagbucks depending on if you use the toolbar or not. It will take a minimum of about 2-3 minutes.
Watching Videos – 150 Swagbucks Daily
Click on the “Watch” tab at the top of the page to be directed to Swagbucks Television. Here you can earn points by watching videos.
Each time you watch a certain number of videos (roughly 30) you will earn 3 Swagbucks. You can see your progress by watching your Swagbucks Meter at the top of the video. Once you reach 100% you are rewarded your Swagbucks.
You don’t have to actually watch the videos to get the points, but the video must be playing in the background. If you watch the same video twice in one day, you will not be rewarded twice. Each time you must choose a different video to watch.
Each video takes about 3 minutes long and only gives you about 2% – 5% on your Swagbucks meter. From personal experience, the SB Meter builds up very slowly. It’s also great if you have a lot of time or are feeling bored. There’s a lot of different categories you can watch, ranging from entertainment and health to sports and comedy.
The maximum amount you can earn in one day is 150 points from watching videos on the Swagbucks website. Let’s cover a more efficient way to watch videos below.
Watch Videos Using the Swagbucks Television App – 50 Swagbucks Daily
The App works just like the Watch Television portion of the Swagbucks website, but each time a new video starts, you don’t have to click anything.
You can earn up to a maximum up 50 points per day watching the app.
What I do is have the phone sit on my desk while I’m working on the computer. 2 hours pass and I’ve already earned 50 points. What a great way to earn Swagbucks but without wasting any time. This is by far my favorite method.
Surveys – No maximum points
You can even get points for completing surveys. The one thing I appreciate about Swagbucks from this section is that they are pretty honest about how long a survey will take and how many points you will get. You can do as many surveys as you want, but once you complete them, they won’t come back, and may at times find your survey list empty.
The inconvenient part is that if you start to answer the first few questions and find out based off of what you answered that they don’t need you anymore, they might terminate your survey and not give you any points.
There are many different surveys available, and there’s even a section in which you can have surveys emailed to you.
Tasks – Low Points
These tasks are often incredibly boring, so I’m not going to cover much on this section. The points are so low to even be worthwhile.
You complete tasks which are usually like a small quiz. Once you complete the quiz, IF you get a passing grade, you are awarded Swagbucks, which can sometimes be as low as 2/5 of a point. In my opinion, simply not worth the headache.
Play Games – No Maximum Swagbucks Stated
Like to play games? Might as well get played to do so. I never really found the games they have to offer on here very entertaining, but if you have some time to kill it wouldn’t hurt to earn a few extra Swagbucks.
The cool part is that you can compete with others to earn extra points. If you’re really good at a game and get first place, you could be awarded additional points. If you get a really high score in a game, Swagbucks might offer you points anyways.
Online Shopping – No Maximum Points
The Swagbucks online shopping system works like cash back. Every time you make a purchase by first going through the Swagbucks website, you can earn Swagbucks back on your purchase.
There are some great stores that give you cash back, but I usually don’t find better deals than the website I prefer to use for cash back which is Ebates.
Furthermore, Swagbucks only awards you in Swagbucks, and I personally prefer to receive cash instead of gift cards. It doesn’t hurt to look at both Ebates and Swagbucks before deciding to make a final purchase.
Note: Before making a purchase, make sure to clear all of your cookies and then go back through the Swagbucks site. Swagbucks will not reward you first if they find out that another affiliate site was the one who referred you to a shopping website. Click here for a full guide on Ebates.com.
In order to avoid this, clear all of your cookies, go to Swagbucks, find what you want to purchase and make the order. Don’t go to other websites in the meantime that may conflict with Swagbucks detecting your purchase.
Completing Offers – No Maximum Points
The front page is filled with many different offers that can earn you Swagbucks quick. Simply click Swagbucks Home and look at the list. The amount of points you can earn is stated on the offer and there’s usually no maximum.
For higher offers (such as 10,000 Swagbucks), they usually require you to purchase something. I usually don’t even bother checking something out unless it’s under 100 Swagbucks and I don’t want to make a purchase.
Refer a Friend
By far the best method to earn points is to refer a friend. Each time you refer a friend, every time they earn 10 Swagbucks you earn 1 Swagbuck, a 10% trade-off. It’s not a bad deal considering the only work you have to do is send your friend the link.
If you would like to show your appreciation for this article that I have written, you can sign-up for Swagbucks under my referral link here. It would be greatly appreciated!
Best Way to Quickly Earn Points Each Day – $281 Extra a Year
Here’s a summary of what I do each day, and it only takes me 10 minutes total.
1. Fill out the Daily Poll – 1 minute for 1 Swagbuck
2. Pass through the NOSO offers – 2 minutes for 2 Swagbucks
3. Watch the Daily Crave – 2 minutes for 1 Swagbuck
4. Turn on my Swagbucks TV app and let it run – 1 minute to set up and log-in. After two hours I’m awarded 50 Swagbucks.
5. Play games or videos during dead time or when I’m bored – I usually can get about 3 points after 10 minutes.
6. Use the toolbar for searches that I would’ve made anyways – 20 points
After all of these methods are said and done, I can make about 77 points a day after spending 25 minutes. I don’t count the toolbar in the time as I would have made those searches with another search engine like Google anyways.
If you do this every day for a year you will earn 77 x 365 = 28,105 points which can be converted to approximately $281 dollars in extra cash a year. Not bad for almost doing nothing.
Where Do I Redeem My Points?
Here is the reason we came to Swagbucks in the first place, to get our cash!
Usually 1 Swagbuck is equal to 1 US cent, but the best deal they have to offer is a $5 Amazon.com Gift Card for 450 Swagbucks. Almost all of the other $5 gift cards are for 500 points.
To get your gift cards, go to the Rewards tab found at the top of the page and click on the card you want. If you want to enter drawings to earn a gift card with only a few Swagbucks to give up, that is also an option.
Swagbucks has its pros and cons, but I consider it a great way to make an extra $10 – $20 in gift cards a month for no extra work. Enjoy, and let me know if you have anything to add in the comments below.
