Review: Swagbucks.com

Swagbucks is basically a cleverly design affiliate marketing website. Nonetheless, it is an entertaining way to pass a couple minutes at work and to earn a few free gift certificates on the side.

What is Swagbucks?

Swag Bucks functions on a virtual currency known as “SBs”. You receive SBs for performing simple tasks online, signing up for offers or utilizing the Swag Bucks search plug-in. Once you accumulate enough SBs, you can redeem them for gift certificates or other items in the Swag Bucks store.

How do you Earn Swagbucks?

There are literally hundreds of ways to earn SBs, so I’ll highlight a few of the ones I use a lot.

You receive 1 SB per day for participating in the Daily Poll, and 2 SBs for clicking through some special offers (you don’t have to accept any of them). I usually do this every day in the morning, when I’m looking for some brainless activity to wake me up.

You can also install the Swagbucks toolbar. You’ll receive 1 SB per day just for opening your browser, and you can win SBs randomly if you use their toolbar’s search function. I’ll warn you that the search functionality is absolutely terrible. I usually type in one or two searches in the morning, and if I win something, great, if not, no big deal. I also installed the toolbar on Internet Explorer, which I use very rarely, so it doesn’t junk up my main browser.

The way I earn bigger chunks of SBs is by checking my Swagbucks inbox every day. A lot of times they will send out offers that cost money, but every once in a while you’ll have the chance to get a quick 100 or 200 SBs. Some examples of easy SBS include filling out a survey, signing up for free auto quotes and signing up for a new account on Mint.com.

There are a lot of other activities that earn SBs, but, in my opinion, a lot of them require more work than I’m willing to do. You can participate in surveys, but it seems like every time I try to fill one out, it says I am not eligible. You can also perform online tasks, such as categorizing search terms. There is a Swagbucks TV site that gives you 3 SBs for every 10 videos you watch. This can be done in the background, so you can just click on them and go about your business.

What Can I Earn?

I’ll be honest, it takes a lot of SBs to earn anything in the store. The item I usually choose is a $5 Amazon gift certificate, which costs 500 SBs. I like it because I can easily deposit the certificate in my Amazon account and not worry that I’ll forget to use it.

There are hundreds of items in the Swagbucks store, but to give you an idea of prices, there are magazine subscriptions for 700 SBs, earrings for 700 SBs and DVDs for 600-1,100 SBs. Of course, there are higher end items, but I doubt anyone makes enough to get a 16,000 SB Keurig coffee maker.

You can also use SBs to enter Sweepstakes (aka “Swagstakes”). Entry costs anywhere from 5 to 100 SBs, and you can win things such as video games, gift cards and electronics.

Overall Review of Swagbucks

Swagbucks: Pros

I like Swagbucks because over the period of a month or so, I can usually get a small gift certificate without doing too much work. I also like it because I tend to multitask, and it’s nice to have a way to kill a minute or two throughout the day without doing too much thinking.

Swagbucks: Cons

You are never going to get rich on Swagbucks, or even get anything substantial from using it. A lot of the interfaces are weird and confusing, and it’s not uncommon to start a task for SBs and then be told you don’t qualify or the offer is no longer available. The search toolbar is basically worthless, other than giving you SBs.

Overall Rating: 2 of 5 stars

A nice way to kill a few minutes, but nothing I’m willing to spend a ton of time on. Definitely need other outlets to kill the work boredom.

Want to sign up for Swagbucks? Click here.