What the heck are Swag Bucks?!

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I first started noticing other bloggers talk about "Swag Bucks" in 2009 just before Christmas, but I never really took the time to investigate what this meant because I thought it was just another scheme to waste my time! Then, shortly after Christmas, I heard these same bloggers mention all the Christmas gifts they got for free simply by using their Swag Bucks. Free items? That is worth looking into! So I did a little more investigating and decided to give it a try! Here is how it works:

1. Go to the Swagbucks website and create an account. Its free to do this and takes just a minute. By creating an account, you can then earn points or "Swag Bucks" that are used to redeem a whole variety of prizes: accessories and apparel, items for your home, electronics, airline tickets, gift cards to amazon, resturants and Target etc.

2. Start collecting "Swag Bucks". There are several ways you can do this:

• Set the Swagbucks website as your homepage and use it to browse the internet. This is how I like to earn my swag bucks because it takes no additional time and I get "paid" to search for things I wanted to search for anyway!  I used to have Yahoo as my homepage and did all my searching there, but since I have changed it to the SwagBucks website, I am racking up points just by typing in sites that I go to all the time! For example, yesterday I did a search to find a craft for Veteran's Day. I typed in "Veteran's Day Kids Craft" and hit enter. When the page came up with my search results, there was a banner at the top that said, "You earned 9 Swag Bucks"- and those bucks went right into my account! No additional work on my part, just searching the internet on the SwagBucks homepage as opposed to using Yahoo or Google. 
• Fill out online surveys & quizzes that are linked to their homepage. They have surverys about everything, all worth a different amount of Swag Bucks and at the end of the surveys, the amount you earn is automatically entered into your bank. I have tried a couple of these surveys, but it doesn’t interest me at all.
• Participate in their "Daily Polls". This is similar to their surveys, but it doesn't reward as much because it doesn't take as much of your time. 
•  Invite your friends! You get swag bucks when anyone you refer earns swag bucks. So far this year I have had over 60 people sign up under me and I get 1 Swag Buck for every buck they earn- up to 1,000. That is 1,000 swag bucks per friend simply by having them do all the work! How many friends do you have?!  

3. Redeem your Swag Bucks at the Swag Store. Linked right on their homepage is the place to go to see "what's for sale." You can redeem your bucks for any prizes you want at anytime of day. A $50 Amazon gift card will cost you 5,900 Swag Bucks. A $20 Target gift card will cost you 2,350 Swag Bucks. They have items "on sale" and items that range from as little as 5 swag bucks all the way to a Wii gaming system for 74,950 swag bucks.

Its not a “get rich quick scheme”- in fact, it is a slow, steady process. But I decided I want to give it a try and I have already earned enough Swagbucks to help with Christmas this year! We haven't decided exactly what to "buy" yet, but I have way more than enough to "pay" for the Nintendo DS that is on Ethan's Christmas list! Or maybe I can talk my husband into flying to Salt Lake with the help of Swag Bucks instead of making the 12 hour drive (so not looking forward to that one!) We shall see!

 

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Originally posted by Stephanie on somewhatsimple.com 2/2010, revised 11/2010

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