Monday, February 10, 2014

Swagbucks Review. Join or not?

Hi everyone!

I know that I have not been writing anything ever since I left my last post, but I still remained reading different blog posts and looking back at my posts history.

Today, I want to write this post because it is something that I felt people should know about. I want to make this a short, but detailed review about why or why not you should join Swagbucks. If you want to join, here is the link for it. I joined Swagbucks since 2010 and I really have no idea who brought me to this website. It was, either, I read it on a blog post or from a random search for similar free reward websites. Back then, I was very skeptical about "point rewards sites" because nothing is really for free and we have to either work hard for it or it simply a scam. I,first, decided to join the site because all I thought was " WTheck, I don't think it will hurt anyways. As long as no credit cards involved, I am safe."  So I joined it and I hated it. I hated it because I had no idea WTheck I was doing on there. They showed you how to earn "Swagbucks", but to me it was kinda pointless. I have to earn at least 450 Swagbucks (SB) to redeem for a $5 Amazon giftcards. And it wasn't easy to earn 50SB! I actually forgot about the account for like 3-4 months, until I came back and decided to try again. Now, it is one of my favorite reward sites that available outthere.  I will list out the Pros and Cons of why you should join and whether or not it is a scam.

Let me first tell you that "No!" I am not affiliated with the site, and the link above is a referral link which all members have as their benefit for joining the site. Swagbucks is a reward site that give you technically points which they called Swagbucks for doing activities on their website. I will give you tips on how to earn points without doing too much work, but still maximized the points on there.

1. Pros:
 Earn points for getting anyone you know to join by sending a referral link to the desired person. Anyone can join even if he/she live in the same household. I got my parents and sis to join, which helps me earn points. Right now, there is a promo that ends on 2/25/14, which allowed you to earn 10% (lifetime) of the points that your referrals earn.
Cons:
Because not many people have the time or the patience to earn points, you might not get people to join that easily. The other problem is once the promo ends, you will only get to earn up to 1000SB for every referrals and you can only earn the exact points when your friends have points rewarded for searching on the site.
2. Pros:
Like I just mentioned, you can earn points through using their search engine, daily polls, NOSO, surveys, watching video clips, playing games, printing coupons, swagcodes, special offers, and shopping online. I really take advantage of everything they offered, except limiting myself to the surveys, special offers, and shopping online. To me, those three things are not worth it unless it is completely free or easy to do. The main ways I earn points everyday is taking daily polls (1SB), NOSO (2SB), search engine (random SBs given at any time you search with min. 6SB up to 50SB), watching video clips (every 10 vids reward 3SB), playing games (every 2 games reward 2SB). If you are a major coupon clipping addicts, then you get 10SB for each coupon you print out and used it in stores (you have to redeem the coupon in any store you like to earn the 10 SB). Last but not least, swagcodes are given by the sites, usually given out on their blog and facebook. Mostly, it is a 3-5SB freebies. As you can see, it is not that easy to earn the points on here because points are given for only hard worker. However, if you can earn at least 15SB per day, you will be able to earn min. of 450SB per month, which lets you redeem it for $5 giftcard. There is a great selection of giftcards for different SB earned. For instance, 500SB you can trade for $5 Target, Walmart, or CVS giftcards that can be used in store and online. All you do is print it out and use it at the register.
Cons:
_The easiest points to earn is the daily polls and NOSO. It is pretty much a given. Even with NOSO, you don't have to join anything and just click "Skip" on everything and it will give you points no matter what. It would be easier to understand what I mean once you do this. However, it is only 3SB given each day.
_Watching 10 video clips would be a hassle because I am not a person to have time to watch clips even if they are only 1-5 mins most. Here is the secret, you don't have to watch the videos if you don't want to. I clicked on it and let it run on a tab and work on other things on another tab. Once the video run for 2 min, it gives you 10% on a meter, and after watching 10 clips which means at 100%, you get 3 points.
_Earning point through the search engine is the worse way to earn points because the site is like random generator. They give you points at random times and almost seems like it limit you to only have 1-2 chances per day. For instance, if I use the search engine throughout the day, and let's say it gives me 8SBs, then the chance of me winning again is the next day no matter how much I tried searching again and again. Also as I mentioned above, when your referrals use the search engine and win let's say 10 SB, you will also get 10SB. However, this is only up to 1000SB per referral, which means, that you won't be able to earn any more SB after the 1000th mark hit. Your referral still continue to earn SB, but you won't. Therefore, take advantage of the promo now before it ended.
_Games that for free on there is not exciting at all...And you kinda just play if you want to relax and pass time.
_You should follow their FB page to find out the swagcodes. There is a bar on the home page, that let you type in or paste in the swagcodes given. You can easily missed the code because it expires quickly (within 2-3 hrs max) and sometimes you have to work on a quest or answer questions to find the swagcodes. I don't bother with it much if it is too hard to earn. Swagcodes usually not given out everyday, but almost 3-5 days/week there are swagcodes available.
3. Pros:
This website is not a scam because I have earned a lot of Amazon giftcards to save my sister and I books for college. Of course, you are not limited to just the giftcards I suggested, but those are the best value for the hard works you've done. They have a very great selection of things that you can redeem for. This is also for those who have an obsession in shopping online. Right now, they don't have as many online shopping sites, but good enough selection for those that wish they could save a lot more than a shopping site deals. For instance, let's say you buy a piece of jewerly on amazon, you can actually earn 3SB for every dollar you spent. If you heard of ebates before, this is exactly the same thing except SB is virtual money. I don't like ebates because the % of cashback is way too little, which I can redeem for SB a lot faster than ebates.
Cons:
We are not always at home on the computer or even on our cells while on the road to earn points. It does take a lot to earn , but it helps so much when you are in needs of saving your bucks. Nothing beats free money and nothing comes for free.

We all have to put in the work to earn everything in this world, but this is one of the best ways to earn free stuff. I stopped keeping track of how many times this website help me save my money. I really love it and I hope my review was helpful and may be in the future you, too, will love it.

Thanks guys, and until next time...I'll let you know about another reward sites.