Is Swagbucks Worth it? – Earning Prizes for Internet Searches

Swagbucks is unique way to earn prizes, including gift certificates to a wide variety of retailers, simply for using searching the internet. I had heard several people rave about how fantastic Swagbucks was so I finally decided to give it a try. While you are not going to get rich by joining Swagbucks , it is definitely a great way to earn prizes without changing your routine. After joining Swagbucks a few months ago I have received $80 Amazon.com gift cards and I didn’t do anything that I wouldn’t normally have done anyway.

How Does Swagbucks Work?

Swagbucks awards members swagbucks for various things, including using their search engine, shopping online, and finding swag codes. Members can trade in Swagbucks for a huge variety of prizes, including gift cards. 45 Swagbucks will get you a $5 Amazon.com gift card and you can buy just about anything from Amazon. They recently started offering the option to receive $5 in PayPal cash for 70 Swagbucks so while it is still a better value to take the Amazon.com gift card, if you just want the cash that’s a great way to go.

How Can You Earn Swagbucks?

Searching

I typically do quite a few internet searches during the day as part of my normal routine. Because the Swagbucks search engine pulls results from Google and ask.com I simply set my homepage to swagbucks.com and use their search engine to earn gift cards for doing what I would be doing anyway. Swagbucks randomly awards Swagbucks (anywhere from 1-100) as you are searching. Swagbucks actually adds an interesting twist to your everyday internet searches knowing that you could be awarded a surprise Swagbuck at any time. Natural searching will yield more Swagbucks than trying to abuse the system and doesn’t require you to change your normal routine. Swagbucks offers a toolbar to quickly perform searches. I simply set my browser homepage to Swagbucks.com so I can get to it quickly whenever I need to do a search.

Swag codes

Swagbucks offers occasional Swag codes that are active for a limited period of time. Swag codes can be found on the Swagbucks Blog, Swagbucks Facebook Fan Page, Twitter, and on You tube. If you find a Swag Code, all you have to do is enter it into the Swag Code box on the Swagbucks homepage. There is a new widget available that lets you know if a Swag code is available and where you can find it.

Shopping

Swagbucks offers 1 Swagbuck for every $5 spent in the Swag store. I’ve personally never used this option because I like to get stuff for free instead of buying things in an effort to get more Swagbucks. I’ve honestly never even looked through the Swag store because most of my online purchases are done after finding a deal that is too good to pass up and a few Swagbucks doesn’t seem worth potentially spending more money to me.

Trade-In

Swagbucks offers the option for members to recycle old cell phones and MP3 players or trade-in video games and consoles in exchange for Swagbucks. Members can look up the specific item that they want to trade in to determine if it is worth doing. I love the option of recycling used cell phones because we always seem to have old phones lying around the house that we don’t know what to do with.

Referrals

By far, the most effective way to earn Swagbucks is through referrals. Swagbucks matches all Swagbucks earned by your referrals up to 100 Swagbucks per referral. That means that if you refer your friend and she earns a Swagbuck, you earn one too. Once your referral earns 100 Swagbucks you won’t earn any more but 100 Swagbucks will get you a few gift cards so it isn’t bad. Once you have a few referrals (and how hard is it to convince your friends to go to a different URL to use the same search engine they used before and earn prizes) your Swagbucks can really start adding up fast.

Swagbucks may not make me rich but I’m happy to supplement my income by using free Amazon gift certificates to pay for birthdays and Christmas. It’s easy and free to sign up. I’ve never received any email from Swagbucks, which is one thing I worry about when signing up for something I’m not familiar with. Switching the portal I use to search through Google was a really easy adjustment and truthfully I kind of like seeing a Swagbucks pop up on my screen randomly throughout the day. It makes work a little more exciting. Even if you aren’t so easily amused, it’s always nice to get something for free.