Swagbucks Logo

It’s time to talk about one of the most well known online rewards websites and one that is a common household name for some. Swagbucks, the concept is rather simple you create an account, log in and start doing various tasks to earn points that can then be redeemed for gift cards and cash.

An important detail is that Swagbucks is not an online survey website, while surveys are one of the ways you can make money there are many other ways to make some Beer Money including watching videos, playing games, and engaging in other forms of online content. You can technically make money on Swagbucks without having to spend a dime of your own money.

In this review, we will be covering what Swagbucks is, how it works, whether it pays and the various ways you can make money doing it no matter your age.

What Is Swagbucks?

Swagbucks while having an odd name is a true online rewards site and Beer Money site. This means that you will do tasks on the website in the form of watching videos, playing games, doing surveys and much more.

The concept of Swagbucks is that you can walk in with no money, and come out making yourself some additional Beer Money with little to no effort. Now while we have many tips and tricks we could indulge into increasing your revenue this will come in our various guides published after this article.

Swagbucks works by rewarding your activities with a “Swagbuck” which you can then redeem for gift cards, some items and money in the form of a PayPal payment. The conversion works out to around 100 Swagbucks is $1 (USD). Which is a modest amount considering you can earn 500 Swagbucks a day just watching videos through their website and mobile apps.

How Does It Work? 

Now before you start thinking well how are they making money it’s important to note they have many paid offers and most of their money comes in the form of digital advertising. Which means while you are watching video content you will have to watch an advertisement before it begins if you are caught using Adblock or other programs like it, you can be banned, or won’t receive payment. This is because they are offsetting the cost of your rewards through digital advertising.

One of the primary ways you and the business make money is by doing online surveys. Swagbucks makes money by companies approaching them to have their surveys placed in their “Swagbucks Answers” section. Now Swagbucks is not the one receiving your answers that go to the party who placed the Survey but in exchange, you can earn a pretty penny if you qualify for a good survey. I have personally earned up to 400 Swagbucks for completing one online survey and it took me about 15 minutes of my time. Essentially if I ratio this to an hourly wage it would be the equivalent of me making $16 an hour. So it was well worth my time. However, it’s important to note you won’t always have large surveys to do but they are well worth your time if you get some larger paying ones.

An important note is that Swagbucks tries to keep their answers as real as possible meaning if you are going to lie don’t make it appears as if you are something you are not, but if you say you’re married even though you’re engaged that answer is acceptable just don’t try to be someone you’re not and if you do keep it consistent or they might catch on to what you’re doing.

One another interesting fact is that you can perform all of these surveys from your mobile device meaning you don’t need access to a desktop computer in order to make money.

Ways To Earn

Swagbucks isn’t just a survey website there are quite a few ways to make money some that are unique and others that are standard with most online reward sites.

Search Engine

Now, I know what you’re thinking this is going to be another strange and poorly made Google knock-off sort of like Bing (no harm intended) but it’s actually powered by Google. Swagbucks uses a version of Google Custom Search meaning when you make a search you’re actually retrieving Google results but you’re doing so on the Swagbucks website with their branding.

This means you can be awarded randomly for your searches and can earn anywhere in the realm of 5-25 Swagbucks from my experience. The best part being that you can be awarded multiple times today but only if you use it in a manner like you would Google.

Videos

We have already mentioned videos but you can make money by simply watching online content and their associated advertisements. This can be done from both desktop and mobile and is a great way to make passive income on the Swagbucks website and it doesn’t require you to do anything other than to open a video and let the playlist play all day long.

If you’re looking to make passive income with little to no effort on the website than videos are the way to make yourself some extra Beer Money.

Cashback / Swagbucks Local

So this is by far the most interesting and amazing solution in my opinion to earn additional Swagbucks. The company partnered with another service that handles rewards from local businesses and took the concept a step farther. You can attach a card to your account and whenever you shop at a business they have the service with you will earn Swagbucks back for your purchase. Think of it like Cashback on your credit card but with an external service. The best part is if you found other sites using the same concept you can link it to them as well and multiply your earnings.

Swagbutton

This is a bit simple but if you have their Google Chrome extension installed you will earn 1 Swagbuck a day for just having it installed.

Trial Offers

Trial Offers can make you a lot of Swagbucks very quickly some can give you several thousand Swagbucks on signup the downside is not all of them are free and those that are offering a free trial require you to signup and then cancel the service before you are billed.

If you are looking to signup for some of the services already its great because it can earn you some cash back in the form of Swagbucks and typically the trial offers will give you a limited time for free but if you aren’t don’t go signing up for them as you will cause yourself a lot of headache down the line.

Games

Now while Swagbucks does have some games you can play they aren’t particularly fun or engaging and they are mostly meant for earning some quick Swagbucks. Typically if you play any of their own games if you lose twice you will earn 2 Swagbucks. So the general formula for these games is to lose as fast as possible to earn your points.

Daily Goal

The Daily Goal is an objective for how many Swagbucks you should earn that day. If you complete it you will get a 10% bonus for the daily goal at the beginning of the next month. There is also a second goal after the primary that will reward you similarly. If you complete the primary goal repeatedly you will receive a streak and if you complete it for a whole month you will receive 300+ Swagbucks as a bonus!

Completing the daily goal is almost a guaranteed $5 gift card.

Hourly Random Winner

There is an hourly winner on the Swagbucks blog and if it is you and you claim it you will receive up to one thousand Swagbucks. But if it is you that is the winner and you don’t claim it you won’t receive the points.

Is It Worth Your Time?

Swagbucks is very much worth your time in terms of making some beer money. When it comes to effort vs reward it’s a very even mix. Swagbucks can reward you some nice additional side income if you are solely performing your daily goals and that money can be saved and used to pay for a treat for you and your partner if you both go out to eat or want to go to a money. Or if you are of the drinking type it will allow you to go buy a case from your local store.

There are two types of effective Swagbucks users and then there is one not so effective user.

Passive Users

These are users that are looking to make some additional income probably in the form of watching videos and by farming. These users are likely to make the least overall in Swagbucks but the time vs benefit scores the highest passive users don’t have to spend much time at all on the program to make additional income. These users do very well on Swagbucks because there is a lot to do to make them earn points with very little work.

It’s important to know though that you can’t game the system in Swagbucks as they will find and ban you and Swagbucks is not the most forgiving platform. That being said if you are looking to make a bit of side money with little to no effort you are a passive user and this is a solid website for you.

Survey Takers

Some people like to take surveys as they can be quick and can make you a pretty penny with little to no effort. This is partially because all you have to do is answer questions and if you don’t qualify you still get something for your minute of time. That being said if you do as I did and get 400 Swagbucks for 15-minutete survey you can make a decent amount of Swagbucks.

Swagbucks does offer a lot of surveys for you to take and it can make you some decent money if you select the right ones and the best part is you could do this on your phone, at work or just sitting around waiting for your Uber to take you to the market where you can spend your beer money. Swagbucks works well for a traditional survey and this method can work quite well.

The Completionist

The completionist is the person who goes through and watches all the videos, do all the surveys plays all the games and wastes all of their time not being awarded properly. Now if you are not old enough to have a job then this might be you but there are much better ways to make more money without you having to spend all of your time on this single website.

Swagbucks will not replace a proper job, or allow you to retire early no matter how much you do it you simply won’t make enough money. That being said it can be helpful to give you a bit of free spending money without having to do a lot of work which is why Swagbucks is such a solid platform.

So Is It Worth My Time?

Yes, Swagbucks is one of the most well-known and trusted online rewards sites that can give you free money with little to no effort. If you are young and can’t get a job or if you have a job but want a bit of spending money without getting another job this can be the solution for you!

The Company Behind Swagbucks

Swagbucks is a rewards site brought to you by Prodege.

Prodege is a famous provider that brands and incentivized online reward portals and has “Search&Win” partners including The New York Giants, WGN America, World Wresting Entertainment and several other big brands.

Prodege is a Los Angeles-based company that has over 4 million registered members now, which makes it one of the fastest growing online rewards programs.

So Is It A Scam?

No Swagbucks does pay and will reward its users so long as they don’t violate the terms of use. They don’t use false promotions and they have paid out millions to their users.

Should You Join?

The fact of the matter is you will not be able to make a livable income off of the website but you will be able to supplement your income through the use of this website. It can be a nice source of disposable income especially if you are younger, and don’t have a job.

Don’t get sucked into the whole idea of spending your whole day on the website as you will not make income close to that of an actual job. That being said what are you making on the internet now while your computer is on or you are searching on the internet.

It’s not a scam but it is certainly worth a shot so signup now!

Scott Hartley

Scott Hartley, is a web developer, business owner, and a geek at heart. He loves to discover additional ways to make money and to help pass that knowledge on to others!

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