Swagbucks Review | The Best Way To Make Easy Money Online

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Swagbucks ReviewI’ve always been the person looking for new ways of earning money.

As a kid, I sold baseball cards, raked neighbors leaves, and even considered starting a club that other kids could join – for a fee of course!

This drive for learning new ways to earn money hasn’t stopped now that I am an adult.

In fact, it has gotten stronger.

This is due in part to the internet. There are so many ways you can make money online it is incredible.

But not all of the ways work.

And some are flat out scams.

But every so often, you find a diamond in the rough.

A few months ago I found a diamond and it is working out well.

Amazingly well.

It is called Swagbucks.

I use the site every day and each month, I am earning a free gift card or cash from the site.

And today I am going to show you how you can make money with Swagbucks too.

I’ll run through what Swagbucks is all about and the many ways you can make money using the site.

Then I will run through my strategies to make the most money from Swagbucks in the fastest amount of time.

Swagbucks Review
  • Features
  • Ease of Use
  • Ability To Make Money

Summary

Swagbucks is an online rewards site that pays you to watch videos, play games, search and shop online and more. It is by far one the best ways to make money online and I highly recommend you join for free so you can start earning money on the side. Click here to get started and get $5 in the process!

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My Swagbucks Review | An Easy Way To Make Money Online

What Is Swagbucks?

Swagbucks is an online rewards site run by Prodege, LLC and was founded in 2008.

According to the Better Business Bureau, Swagbucks parent company has an A+ rating and has been accredited since 2010.

In its 10 years existence, it has paid out over $364 million in cash and gift cards.

Swagbucks Paid Out

How Does Swagbucks Work?

Swagbucks works by allowing you to earn swagbucks (SB) for doing various activities on their site.

Understand that earning SB is just a clever way to say you earn points.

These points are then redeemed for gift cards or for cash via PayPal.

The conversion rate for SB is 1 point is worth $0.01.

For example, to get $25 cash from PayPal, you need to have 2,500 SB.

The same ratio goes for gift cards as well.

However, most times gift cards are on sale.

This means you get more value out of your SB if you redeem yours for gift cards.

For example, you might find gift cards are on sale 10%.

This means instead of needing 2,500 SB for a $25 gift card, you only need 2,250 SB.

Click the button below to get started and earn a free $5!

 

When it comes to earning SB, there are 10 things you can do:

#1. Take surveys
#2. Shop online
#3. Play games
#4. Watch videos
#5. Online searches
#6. Coupons
#7. Swagbucks local
#8. Swagbucks discover
#9. Swag button
#10. Swag codes

I’ll run through each of these in more detail in the next section. But if you are short on time, here is a quick video that covers the basics.

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How To Earn Swagbucks

As I mentioned, there are 10 ways you can earn SB.

Here is a detailed explanation of each one.

#1. Surveys

When you take surveys with Swagbucks, it is different than if you join a survey site. This is because Swagbucks is a survey aggregator.

This means they scan various online survey sites and pull in available surveys for you to take.

In other words, instead of joining 10 survey sites, you can just join Swagbucks and have access to many of the same surveys.

When you enter into the surveys section on the website, you will see a list of available surveys to take.

Swagbucks Surveys

There you will see the amount of SB you can earn and how long it will take you to complete it.

On average, most surveys are worth between 50-200 SB, but I’ve seen some worth up to 1,000.

When you pick a survey to take, you first must answer a couple pre-qualification questions.

If you fit the demographics, you can complete the survey. If you don’t you will be rewarded with 1 SB for your time.

Note that you only earn 1 SB on the first 5 surveys you take but don’t qualify for each day.

Swagbucks is always adding new surveys all the time and with their mobile app, you can easily take surveys on the go.

#2. Shop Online

Shopping online is another easy way to earn SB.

Simply go into the Shopping navigation on the Swagbucks site and you will see hundreds of stores to shop at.

Swagbucks Shop Online

Alternatively, you can also use the search bar at the top of the page. Just be sure to change the drop down to “Shopping”.

By going through Swagbucks, you earn SB for every dollar you spend. This amount varies by retailer, with most offering between 2 and 10 SB per dollar spent.

But many have specials all the time, allowing you to earn a lot more.

There are only 3 things you need to keep in mind so you guarantee you earn your SB.

#1. You have to click on the “Shop Now” button on Swagbucks. Then make sure you complete your purchase in the window that pop ups.

#2. Not all items you buy are eligible for SB. For example, buying gift cards will not earn SB.

#3. You cannot have items in your shopping cart already. For example, you can’t visit an online store, add items to your cart and then go to Swagbucks and complete the purchase.

One more note about the last point. Sometimes you may still get credit it you place items in your cart before shopping through Swagbucks, but I’ve seen more instances of this not being the case.

The bottom line is, to be safe, don’t add items to your shopping cart unless you are shopping through Swagbucks first.

#3. Play Games

This is one of the easiest ways you can earn SB.

Swagbucks Games

There are all sorts of games to play and there are two ways you can earn SB for playing games.

  • In app purchases. This is where you pay to upgrade something in the game and earn SB as a result.
  • Time played. If you don’t want to spend any money playing games, there are free games for you. You earn SB based on the amount of time you play.

If you do decide on this option, you will earn more SB by playing games that require money than you will playing free games.

But, the free games are a fun distraction when you want to take a break for 15 minutes.

To get started with Swagbucks, click the button below and you will earn $5 free!

 

#4. Watch Videos

Watching videos is another easy way to earn SB.

Swagbucks Videos

You will watch a video block of 6 videos and afterwards, you rate it so Swagbucks and show you more of the content you enjoy.

As you watch, you earn SB.

For most people, you will earn between 10-50 SB a day watching videos.

But later in this post, I will show you an easy trick to earn 100 or more SB a day just by watching videos.

#5. Online Searches

We all use the internet to search for various things. Thanks to Swagbucks, you get rewarded for your searches.

Swagbucks Search

To earn the most SB, you need to switch your default search engine over to Swagbucks.

Their searches are powered by Yahoo, so you aren’t getting second rate results vs Google or Bing.

If you don’t want to make Swagbucks your default search engine, just log into your Swagbucks account and do your online searching there.

The amount of SB you earn varies but most people earn up to 25 SB a day searching.

Click the button below to start earning and get $5 free!

 

#6. Coupons

Not only does Swagbucks allow you to earn SB when shopping online, but you can earn SB when you shop offline too.

When you print and redeem grocery coupons, you earn SB.

Swagbucks Coupons

Just clip the coupons you want to use and print them out. You will earn 1 SB for every coupon your print, up to 50.

Then go shopping and use the coupons to save money!

The amount of SB you earn by redeeming coupons varies.

I’ve seen the reward being 10 SB per coupon or even 25 SB per coupon.

#7. Swagbucks Local

If you didn’t think earning SB could get any easier, think again!

With Swagbucks Local, you can earn SB when you shop at retailers in your area.

Swagbucks Local

Just link your credit card and you are all set.

You can find local retailers on the Swagbucks website by searching your local area.

For us, our favorite pizza shop offers 4 SB for every dollar we spend and a diner we enjoy eating breakfast at once a month offers 3 SB for every dollar spent.

By shopping at just these 2 places we earn over 100 SB a month without trying.

#8. Swagbucks Discover

This is where you can earn serious SB.

In the Discover section, you will be introduced to new products and services to try.

Most offer a free trial and then you have to pay but some are completely free.

Swagbucks Discover

You earn SB once you complete a required action. 

For the free trial offers, the catch is you have to cancel during this free trial, otherwise you are going to start paying.

But there are other ways you can earn free SB in this section.

For example, if you install mobile apps on your phone, you earn SB. Some take it a step further and offer SB once you reach a certain level.

Another way to earn is to search for specific products or services within featured offers.

To get the most out of the Discover section, be sure to hover over the offers and see what the requirements are to earn SB.

Some are simple, some are more involved. But all are great options to earn SB fast.

#9. Swag Button

The Swab Button is a great way to ensure you earn the most SB possible.

Simply install the plugin in your favorite browser and let it work for you.

Swag Button

When you have it installed, you can click on it to see what online stores are offering SB and you can also watch videos from it.

Additionally, when you visit online stores that have partnered with Swagbucks, a pop up notifies you how much SB you can earn and if you want to earn SB for your purchase or not.

Swag Button Website

Finally, you can see what stores offer SB when you are doing online searches as well.

Swag Button Search

The bottom line is the Swag Button saves you time. You don’t have to log into Swagbucks every time you want to shop.

Just install the Swag Button and get notified every time you can earn SB.

#10. Swag Codes

Swag Codes are promotional codes you redeem for SB. They are usually a message or random set of letters or numbers found on Swagbucks or its social media channels.

The catch is the codes are short lived and most have to limited number of redemption’s. In other words, first come, first served.

What do Swag Codes look like? Here are a few examples, just note none of these are valid.

  • AGreatSwagDay4Sure
  • SwagCodeGoingGoingGone
  • EveryDayisBeterWithSwag

As you use the Swagbucks website more and more, you will spot Swag Codes fast and earn free SB all the time.

Additional Ways To Earn SB

There are some other ways to earn SB. These are supplementary ways to the ones I described above.

Daily Goal

Every day you have a daily goal of SB to earn. When you hit this goal, you earn bonus SB.

When I first started out, my daily goal was 30 SB and my bonus was 3 SB.

This is the first tier and as you earn more SB daily, your goal and your bonus increases.

To Do List

This is a list of 8 activities you have to complete and when you do, you earn bonus SB.

Note that you will earn SB when you do the activities as well, not just the bonus SB at the end.

Swagbucks App

Download the free Swagbucks App and you can watch videos, take surveys, shopping online and more.

I usually open the app first thing in the morning and answer the daily poll to earn 1 SB and then find 1-2 short surveys to take as well.

Click the button to start with Swagbucks and get $5 free!

 

Advantages And Drawbacks

Advantages

There are many great reasons to use Swagbucks. Here are the biggest reasons why in my opinion.

It’s free. You don’t have to pay to sign up and you don’t have to pay to earn SB.

I’ve earned thousands of SB without paying for games to play or products in Discover Deals.

Many ways to earn. I listed 10 ways you can earn SB and to be honest, there are more.

With so many ways to earn, there is no reason why you can’t earn enough for free gift cards.

Easy to earn. In addition to having many ways to earn SB, they are all easy to earn too.

You don’t have to jump through a lot of hoops or waste hours just to get 5 SB. With the right strategy, which I outline below, you can quickly earn SB every day.

Easy to use site. Not only is the website laid out in a user-friendly way, making it easy to find your favorite ways to earn SB, they also make the app and Swag Button easy to use as well.

Drawbacks

Nothing is perfect, not even Swagbucks. Here are a few areas I wish they improved upon.

Not available everywhere. Swagbucks is only available in certain countries, including the US, Canada and the UK.

Since 99% of my readers are from these countries, this isn’t an issue. But I wanted to point it out in case you have friends you want to share Swagbucks with.

Mysterious SB. For most of the ways to earn SB, you will see just how many SB you earn for doing something.

But when it comes to searching online, there is no set rule. You could search one day for 5 minutes and earn 10 SB.

Then the next day you could search for an hour and not earn anything.

More free games. I’m being picky here, but I wish there was a larger selection of free games to play.

Don’t get me wrong, there are a decent amount. But there are a lot more paid games, which I am not interested in playing.

Frequently Asked Questions

frequently asked questions

I get asked a ton of questions about Swagbucks, so I decided to write this FAQ section with the most common questions.

If you are short on time, this is a great area to focus on.

Is Swagbucks worth it?

Yes.

I’ve been using the site for close to 2 years now and have earned hundreds in cash and gift cards.

And as I mentioned earlier, Swagbucks has paid out over $350 million in rewards to users.

Because there are so many different ways you can earn with Swagbucks, it is one of the first things I recommend to my readers who are looking for easy ways to make money on the side.

Is Swagbucks safe?

Swagbucks is safe to use.

You don’t provide any sensitive information when signing up or using your account.

If you decide to buy online, you are shopping at the retailers website, not on Swagbucks, so none of your credit card information is stored with Swagbucks.

Finally, Swagbucks has a 4 star rating with Trustpilot and nearly 14,000 reviews.

How much is a SB worth?

One SB is equal to $0.01.

The only way to have a SB be worth more than $0.01 is to redeem them for a gift card that is on sale.

More on that below.

Here is quick conversion table to help you see how many SB you need for various gift card amounts.

SB Earnings For Gift Cards

How do I maximize my SB rewards?

The easiest way to maximize your SB rewards is to redeem them for gift cards that are on sale.

Almost always I find gift cards on sale and when I don’t, I let me SB balance grow until they do go on sale.

Most sales are 10-13% off.

Swagbucks Rewards On Sale

What this means is a $25 gift card could be had for anywhere between 2,175 – 2,250 SB.

If you can wait to redeem your SB until you see a sale, your SB go further.

For example, if you get a gift card for 10% off, you get a $25 reward for 2,250 SB which makes 1 SB worth $0.011.

Not a huge deal but it is better than nothing.

And if you use the tricks below to maximize your earnings, buying discounted gift cards could earn you an extra $25!

How much money can I earn a day?

According to Swagbucks, you can earn up to $5 a day, which is equal to 500 SB.

But you can earn more.

I think they just list 500 SB because they don’t want to mislead users.

Most users won’t take the time to figure out how to earn the most possible SB in the shortest amount of time.

How to earn 1,000 SB a day?

I get asked a lot about how to earn 1,000 SB a day.

While it is possible to earn this amount any given day, it is not sustainable to earn this amount every single day.

With that said, here is a strategy you could use to get there.

Sign up for free trials in Swagbucks Discover.

Doing just one of these every day could earn you 1,000 or more SB.

The problem is keeping track of the offers and canceling before the free trial is up as well as eventually running out of offers since they are only for new users.

Use a combination approach.

A better strategy is to use a couple high rewarding offers. For example, you could sign up for a free trial in Swagbucks Discover once a week.

From there, you could spend an hour a day taking surveys and make sure you do all of your shopping online.

This strategy would need 30,000 SB a month to average out to 1,000 a day.

A Discover free trial once a week earns you 2,000 SB and over 1 month this comes to 8,000.

One hour a day taking surveys earns you on average of 625 SB daily, and 18,750 a month.

We now have 26,750 SB and need an additional 3,250.

You could get close shopping online, but you would still come up short of your goal.

Another option would be to take more surveys, or find higher rewarding Discover deals.

You could also watch videos in the background a few days a month to reach your goal.

As I said, earning this amount is possible but not sustainable.

Click below to start earning and get $5 free!

 

In the next section, I show you my tricks for earning the most SB every day.

My Secret Strategy To Earning The Most SB Every Day

Secret Ways To Make Swagbucks

This is the part that interests most readers. How can you earn the most SB possible?

Below is the strategy I use.

Don’t focus only on the number of SB I earn for doing a task. In most cases, the low paying tasks that earn me 1-2 SB take literally 15 seconds or less.

Step #1. Answer the daily poll

I earn 1 SB for 10 seconds of work.

Step #2. Check my Swagbucks inbox

I scan through to find emails with the subject line “click and earn”.

Click on the button and earn 2 SB. Note they don’t show up every day, but when they do, I get 2-3 emails.

On average, I earn 4 SB for 30 seconds of work.

Step #3. Watch videos

Next I start watching videos. The key here is to watch them in a separate window.

This allows the videos to play in the background while I check my email, read the news, etc.

Every couple of minutes, I switch back and click the “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” button and the next video plays.

I do this for 15 minutes first thing in the morning, during my lunch break, and again at night.

In total, I earn around 50 SB and estimate I spend 1 minute clicking on the buttons to get the next video to play.

Step #4. Online search

I have Swagbucks search set as my default search page.

Then whenever I want to go to a site online, I use the search page. This is true even if I know the URL of the site I want to visit.

Buy using the search page all the time, I increase the chances of earning SB.

I typically earn 75 SB daily this way. The time I spend varies by day, but totals roughly 5 minutes.

Remember, this is only to type in the site name in the search box, click the button and go to the site. I am not counting the time I spend on the various websites I visit.

Step #5. Complete Daily To Do List

The Daily To Do List on the left side of the homepage and most of the items I complete in the previous steps.

I need to complete at least 6 of the 8 steps to earn up to 4 SB. If I complete all 8, I earn more SB, and the amount varies.

Most days I get 7 of the 8 items completed, as answering a gold survey is not always possible.

The bonus SB I earn on average is 7 SB and I don’t typically spend any extra time completing this.

Step #6. Surveys

I spend 30 minutes in the morning taking surveys. I focus on the shortest surveys with the highest reward.

Specifically, I focus on surveys that take 10 minutes to complete.

I can finish these in less than 10 minutes, which means I complete 3 surveys and earn roughly 150 SB.

This doesn’t include the surveys I don’t qualify for.

Step #7. Swag Codes

I get alerted when there are new Swag Codes available and am able to redeem them for SB.

Most codes are worth 2 SB and I redeem 3 codes a day for a total of 6. Time spent here is 15 seconds.

Step #8. Free trials

In the Discover tab, I scroll through and look for offers that earn a high number of SB for a free trial.

For example, there was a deal for Starz that earned me 600 SB. I took 2 minutes and signed up and then make a reminder in my phone to cancel in 5 days.

I don’t sign up for an offer every day and not for any offer. I don’t want to risk having to spend hours fighting with my credit card company disputing a charge.

Luckily I have not had this happen yet. And I’ve spent no money doing this.

On average I sign up for 2 offers a month, earning 2000 SB for 5 minutes of my time.

Step #9. Shop online

With two toddlers running around, getting out to shop is not something I look forward to.

As a result, I do most of my shopping online and I go through Swagbucks for most of it.

In addition to earning SB for my purchases, Swagbucks offers coupon codes to save money too.

In an average month, I earn 400 SB. It takes me virtually no time to do this since I have the Swag Button installed.

So when I visit a website, the Swag Button pops up and I click to activate the offer.

Step #10. Swagbuck Local

The last trick I use to earn the most SB possible is to use Swagbucks Local. I just link up my credit card and shop at participating retailers.

Luckily for us, the pizza shop we enjoy is part of the program, so we earn SB every Friday night.

In a given month I earn 125 SB through Swagbucks Local and spend no extra time doing so since my credit card is linked.

Using these 10 tips, I earn on average 300 SB a day in less than 30 minutes worth of work.

Strategy To Max Out SB Earnings

Doing the math this comes out to an hourly wage of $6 an hour. Not great, but we haven’t taken into account the last 3 steps that I use.

When I add them into the mix, I average over 2,800 SB a month for just over 30 minutes of work. This comes out to an hourly wage of $56 and hour.

Swagbucks Earning Strategy

Now we are talking!

But just remember this is an average. Some months I earn less, some months I earn more.

Over the course of a year, I earn 33,600 SB which comes to $336.

And since I wait to buy gift cards on sale, I end up getting $373 worth of gift cards.

Click the button below to start making money with Swagbucks and get $5 free!

 

Alternatives To Swagbucks

There are some direct competitors to Swagbucks and some non-direct competitors. Here are the biggest ones you should consider.

Inbox Dollars

Like Swagbucks, you earn points for doing various things online, like watching videos, taking surveys, and playing games.

I recommend Swagbucks over Inbox Dollars for a couple reasons:

  • It tends to take longer to build up points with Inbox Dollars vs. Swagbucks
  • Inbox Dollars takes a long time, up to 30 days, for you to receive your first payment after requesting it
  • Inbox Dollars takes a $3 processing fee the first time you redeem your points

This isn’t to say Inbox Dollars is a waste. I use it and have earned over $100 in gift cards.

But I do like Swagbucks a little more.

 

New users get $5 when opening your free account!

Survey Sites

These aren’t direct competitors since all they do is offer surveys, but since many people use Swagbucks to take surveys, I decided to list them here.

Overall, taking surveys is a good way to earn money on the side. You just have to go in having the right expectations and know how to maximize your time.

If you do this, there is no reason why you can’t earn a side income from surveys.

Shopkick

This might be a stretch, but it is a way to make money on the side.

But you don’t take surveys, play games or watch videos.

Instead you walk into select stores, scan barcodes, and purchase certain products for points.

Then you redeem these points for cash or gift cards.

Making money with Shopkick is fun and easy, and it gets me out of the house, which I enjoy.

To get started with Shopkick, just download their app.

 

 

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, using Swagbucks to make some money on the side is a no-brainer to me.

It is simple to use and with so many different ways to earn swagbucks, anyone can do it.

And if you use the tricks I’ve outlined above, you can earn a lot more swagbucks than the average user!

To get started with Swagbucks and get $5, click the button below!

 

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