Swagbucks is a great place to earn extra money by doing things like taking surveys, playing games, and searching the web.
In this post, I’ll go over what Swagbucks actually is, all the ways you earn can rewards, and whether or not it’s worth your time. Plus, see how much I’ve earned over a three-month period!
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Swagbucks Overview
If you’ve been looking for ways to make money online, chances are you’ve heard of Swagbucks.
Swagbucks is a rewards and loyalty program based in El Segundo, California with over 20 million registered users. It was launched in 2008 and rewards people for doing things like taking surveys, playing games, watching videos, and shopping online.
In this Swagbucks review, I’ll go over the program at a high-level, how much you can earn, and whether or not it’s worth your time.
6 Ways To Earn Money On Swagbucks
There are 6 different ways to earn “Swagbucks”, or “SB” for short, which are points that you can redeem for cash or gift cards. We’ll go over how to redeem them in the next section.
For now, here are the 6 main options for earning Swagbuck points. You can access each section under the “Earn Your SB” menu:
1. Take Surveys
You can earn SB by answering surveys. Once you enter some of your basic demographic information, Swagbucks will match you with companies that would like your opinion.
You choose what surveys you want to take and each survey will list how long it will take along with the amount of SB you will earn:
You won’t qualify for all surveys available – it depends on whether you fit the profile of someone they want an opinion from.
But there’s a bunch of surveys available at any given time. As of this writing, I have 167 surveys I can choose from!
2. Shop Online
Swagbucks also has a portal that lets you shop online at your favorite stores and earn cash back based on the amount you spend.
For example, by starting at Swagbucks and being transferred to HomeDepot.com, you can earn 8% back on your total purchase. A $100 purchase will earn you $8. This is on top of any other coupons or discounts you’re using.
This is getting free money from buying something you’re already planning to purchase!
It’s one of the many cash back sites available. You can learn more about cash back sites in this post that provides an overview on them.
3. Discover Special Offers
Special offers provides a way to earn a lot of SB very quickly. In fact, it’s one of the main ways I rack up a ton of points fast.
This site has posted some of them, like:
- Earning 6,000 SB ($62 profit) With LifeLock
- Getting 10,000 Points ($90 profit) With Vuse
- Buying $132 Worth Of Wine For Just $11
There are in-store deals too where you’ll earn bonus points for buying everyday products such as toilet paper, laundry detergent, and cereal.
4. Watch Videos
Although you won’t earn a lot of points, Swagbucks will give you SB points for watching various videos, commercials, and news clips.
Most videos will offer 1 or 2 SB.
5. Search The Web
Swagbucks also has its own search engine that will reward you SB points for using it. You can expect 10 to 20 SB points for every 10-20 searches – the points vary depending on the search queries. Considering the average person conducts three to four searches a day, points from searching using Swagbucks can really add up.
The search quality is pretty good too because Swagbucks uses the Yahoo! search engine.
6. Play Games
The last way to earn SB points is to play games. Yes, Swagbucks will give you points for having fun!
They have popular games like Wheel of Fortune, Angry Birds, Solitaire, and Bejeweled.
Some games give you up to 10 SB points just for playing, while others will award you 4 SB points for every dollar you spend.
How To Redeem Swagbucks
Now the exciting part! You’ve been using Swagbucks and earning all those SB points from the various activities mentioned early – now it’s time to redeem them!
Head over to the “Gift Cards” menu and click on “Redeem your SB” to get started. Don’t be fooled by the menu name. This section includes redeeming SB points for cash too and not just gift cards.
How Much Are Swagbucks Points Worth?
Swagbucks operate very similar to credit card cash back programs. Typically, 1 SB point is worth 1 cent – so 100 SB points is worth $1 dollar.
So think of Swagbucks as a “credit card” that earns 1% cash back. The only difference is that it’s a program and not a card card.
Having said that, there are opportunities to redeem them at a higher value.
Swagbucks Redemption Options
Cash Options
If you want cold hard cash, you can redeem your points directly to your PayPal account. This method gives you the standard 1% value I wrote about (100 SB points is worth $1 dollar).
You can see from the screenshot below the redemption value is consistent no matter how many points you’re redeeming. 500 SB points will get you $5 and 2,500 points will give you $25.
Swagbucks also offers Visa gift cards and sometimes they have them on sale. This Visa $25 reward card normally needs 2,500 SB points to redeem, but as of this writing you can use just 2,175 points to get the reward card – a savings for 13%:
Gift Card Options
Along with the cash option, Swagbucks also gives you the ability to redeem points for gift cards. They partner with many popular brands, including Amazon, iTunes, Target, and eBay.
I usually prefer the cash option, but if there’s a gift card sale at places I shop at like Amazon, then I’ll redeem my SB points for stores instead to maximize my value.
Be careful though, not everyone gift card denomination is on sale. The screenshot below shows the $5 Amazon gift card at the normal redemption price while the $25 Amazon gift card is 12% off:
Other Reviews:
- Seated: Get Paid For Taking A Picture Of Your Restaurant Receipt
- Freebird: Earn Money For Every Uber Or Lyft Ride You Take
- Fetch Rewards: App Pays You For Scanning Your Grocery Receipts
How Much Can You Earn?
How much you can you earn on Swagbucks depends on what types of activities you perform on the site. If you hit the big SB point offers like I do (taking surveys, shopping through their portal, and going for the special offers), a few hundred dollars every month is typical.
In the last 3 months, I’ve received over 155,000+ Swagbucks points, which is equivalent to $1,550 in cash.
What if you’re casual user who likes to do a few surveys along with a special offer or two? I’d expect “going out” money in that case, around $50 to $100 for minimal effort.
Is Swagbucks Worth It?
Swagbucks is definitely worth checking out, but you should balance how much time you spend on it – it certainly can become a little addicting.
I’m all for using it when you need to search something on the web or buy something from a participating retailer. After all, you might as well earn something if you’re going to be doing something anyway.
Taking surveys is a good idea too because you can earn a lot of points that way.
However, I wouldn’t spend my entire day watching commercials and advertisements though. It’s not really worth my time to sit through 30-second videos to earn 1-2 SB points.
This isn’t a criticism of the site, but merely friendly advice because Swagbucks offers so many things to do – checking out all of them will take hours. By the time you realize it, Swagbucks is taking up all your free time just like Facebook or Instagram does.
The Bottom Line
It’s impossible to go over everything in one Swagbucks review post, but hopefully you’ve gotten a pretty good idea of what Swagbucks is all about.
Earning a few hundred dollars worth of cash or gift cards is not that hard to do, but again, be wise about how you spend your time. Go for the easy-to-do things like using Swagbucks’ search engine, taking surveys, or participating in one of their special offers. Try to keep watching videos at a minimum.
Anyone already using Swagbucks? What has your experience with it been like?
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