What is Swagbucks? Is Swagbucks Legit?
Swagbucks is a free online rewards program that pays you to complete certain online tasks. (More on these tasks below.)
The site has been around for more than a decade and is owned by parent company, Prodege, LLC, an internet marketing company with an A+ Better Business Bureau rating. Over on Trustpilot, Swagbucks has received more than 16,000 reviews to date, and it boasts a 4.5-star rating.
To date, Swagbucks reports it has paid its members more than $423 million in rewards.
How Much Money Can You Make Using Swagbucks?
How much money you earn using Swagbucks will largely depend on how much time you spend on the site, but you could potentially pocket hundreds of dollars in cash or gift cards.
In fact, The Penny Hoarder has interviewed a number of successful Swagbucks earners, including Jessica Maloy. The 42-year-old secretary from Palmyra, Pennsylvania, earned $600 in about a seven-month period. She mostly earns points by taking surveys.
“If you have nothing else to do, why not do it?” she said. “It really doesn’t take much to earn money that you normally wouldn’t have.”
We also spoke with Angela Cadle, a single mom who lives in New Philadelphia, Ohio. She started using Swagbucks back in 2010. She used the gift cards she earned to buy Christmas presents for her son.
When we talked with Cadle in 2018, she’d earned approximately 73,000 SBs — or about $730.
8 Simple Ways to Earn Money on Swagbucks
The Swagbucks app and website are both easy to navigate. It takes seconds to make an account with your email address and a password. Plus, Penny Hoarders can get a $5 bonus.
Once you’ve signed in, you can start earning SBs. SBs are basically points. Typically, 1 SB is worth 1 cent. As you complete tasks on Swagbucks, you’ll collect SBs. You can then exchange these SB points and get cash through PayPal or gift cards.
When we checked, you could get a gift card with as few as 160 SBs. (That’d get you a $1 Amazon gift card.)
Taking surveys is perhaps the best way to make money on Swagbucks.
When you’ve logged into your Swagbucks account, find the “Earn Your SB” toolbar on the left side of your screen. From there, click “Answer” to find a number of survey opportunities.
These are brand-recognition surveys, product-appeal surveys, advertising-effectiveness surveys and the like. When we looked, you could take a number of surveys ranging from 10 to 23 minutes and earn anywhere from 20 to 70 SB each.
The surveys vary in length and topic. We’ve taken ones about fast food, alcoholic beverages and our cars.
Just a heads up: Like all survey sites, you probably won’t qualify for all the surveys, but Swagbucks does its best to match you with the most relevant ones, so you won’t waste a ton of time on qualifying questions.
And if don’t qualify for a survey, Swagbucks will give you 5 SB just for trying.
2. Watch Videos
It’s true. Swagbucks will pay you to watch videos. You won’t earn a lot (usually 1 SB per short video clip), but the videos are in all sorts of categories — entertainment, home, travel — so you’re likely to find something that appeals to you.
You can also download the Swagbucks app, which plays videos on your phone. Just plug in your phone, make sure you’re connected to Wi-Fi, and set it aside to play videos — and earn rewards — while you do something else.
According to Swagbucks, you could earn up to $90 a month watching videos.
3. Play Games
Do you like playing games online?
When you play your favorite games through the Swagbucks site and make any in-game purchases, you can earn points. So you’ll basically get paid for a game you’d already be playing.
4. Clip and Print Coupons
Swagbucks offers coupons to help you save money at the store while also rewarding you with SBs when you use those coupons. Double win!
To find these coupons, navigate to “Shop” on the toolbar to the left of the homepage and then click “Grocery Coupons.” You’ll find coupons from a range of categories (not just groceries), including entertainment, healthcare, pet care and travel.
A few offers we saw when we visited the coupon portal included $2 off Purina dog treats, 75 cents off a Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom products and $2 off Tylenol.
Find the coupons you want, then click “Clip Coupon.” When you’re done scrolling through your options, click “Print Coupons” at the top of the page.
You’ll get 1 SB for each coupon you print. (You can print up to 50 a day.) Then, you’ll also earn 25 SBs for every coupon you redeem, which translates to roughly an extra 25 cents in cash back.
I’m sure we don’t need to say this, but just in case: Only use coupons for stuff you need to buy.
5. Shop Online
Remember: Swagbucks is a full-blown rewards site, so in addition to taking surveys and watching videos, you can also get paid to go shopping. Yup — you’ll earn cash back when you shop through the site.
Here’s how to works: Swagbucks gives you rewards for shopping through its links — i.e. clicking through Swagbucks before heading to websites like Best Buy, Macy’s, Home Depot, Bed Bath & Beyond or even Uber Eats, to name a few. (It’s partnered with hundreds of brands.)
As with any affiliate program, the retailer pays Swagbucks a referral commission. But unlike most affiliate programs, Swagbucks shares a piece of that commission with you. Because you pay the same price either way, why not earn a little cash back from your purchases?
For instance, when we checked, Macy’s was paying 4% cash back on certain item categories. That’s 4 SBs per dollar you spend.
Swagbucks will also run specials deals and bonuses. For instance, when we were shopping around on the site, it was offering $10 cash bonuses when you shopped at places like CVS, Disney+ and Lowe’s .
You can also install the SwagButton, a free browser extension for Google Chrome. This takes seconds, and it’ll alert you anytime you’re visiting a site where you can earn SBs. Plus, you’ll get 25 SBs just for installing it.
6. Use the Search Engine
Want to earn a few easy points each day? Use the Swagbucks’ search engine, located at the top left side of your screen.
You can type in anything you want. Search for cute cats, a chicken noodle soup recipe or even the latest rumors from The Real Housewives. After each search, you’ll be prompted to enter a short code, and you’ll immediately get 1 SB. Yup — you’re making money just by searching the internet.
Here’s a pro tip: Set Swagbucks as your default search engine. This is just like any other search engine (think: Google or Bing), so you’ll get the same results, but this way you can automatically earn points each time you do a search.
Swagbucks gives you the full instructions on how to do this at www.swagbucks.com/default-your-search.
7. Find Swag Codes
This is kind of a fun way to earn some extra bonus points: Find Swag Codes on the internet.
Swag Codes are short combinations of words and numbers that give you instant SBs (usually between one and five) and expire after a few hours or days. You’ll find them hidden around the site and various Swagbucks social media channels, like Twitter and Facebook.
If you’re using the SwagButton or the Android or iOS app, you’ll be notified every time there’s a new code. It should tell you exactly where to find it.
Once you’ve got the code, find “Promotions” on the left-side toolbar and click “Swag Code.” A box will pop up where you can paste the code.
8. Refer Your Friends
Want to share Swagbucks with your friends? Referrals are a fantastic way to earn a lot of SBs at once.
When you refer a friend and they sign up and start making money (they must earn 300 SB within the first 30 days of signing up), you’ll both get an extra 300 SB.
And here’s one of the most passive ways to earn on the site: You’ll automatically get 10% of your friend’s SB earnings for the life of their account. That means if they earn 1,000 next month, you’ll automatically get 100 SB.
Oh, and make sure your friend adds the SwagButton, too. You’ll get another 100 SB when they use your referral URL.
To find all the details on this, click “Refer & Earn” at the top of your Swagbucks account page.
How to Claim Your Money and Gift Cards Through Swagbucks
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