Earning swagbucks

A lot of people have been asking me how to use swagbucks to get your free amazon gift cards.  The following is a list of tips that will help you reach your maximum of five gift cards each month.

Swagbucks are a virtual currency that you earn on Swagbucks.com by doing the things you do every day – searching the web, shopping at your favorite retailers, and by engaging in other activities such as phone recycling, submitting polls, and completing special offers.

How do I earn Swagbucks?
* Searching the web
Swagbucks are won in denominations of 1-1000.  I usually receive between 7 and 12 it seems.  Fridays are mega swagbucks days that supposedly give you more for searching on those days, and I finally saw a search win of 50 on Mega Swagbucks Day which is pretty awesome!  If you install the toolbar, you can use it to go to the sites that you visit daily and increase your chances of being rewarded swagbucks.

* Taking Surveys
 Once you complete your personal profile, the surveys are supposed to be tailored more to your interests with higher swagbucks payouts.  Each survey has a different number of swagbucks awarded if you are selected.

I don't spend a lot of time on these as they do not often choose myself as someone who qualifies and I consider it to be a waste of my time.  But you may have some characteristics that make you a more desirable survey taker than myself :)

* Shopping at the Shop & Earn Mall
Select one of the partnering online retailers and earn 2 Swag Bucks for every dollar you spend.  This is a bit hard to find.  Currently, you have to click on the more tab at the top of the swagbucks page, go down to "even more" and select that, and then on the bottom right hand side you will see the shop and earn tab.  I prefer to do my online shopping rebates through mrrebates.com,  ebates.com or shopathome.com most of the time, however.  If you're not a member of either of these rewards communities, you can use the links here to receive a $5 bonus for signing up. 

* No Obligation Special Offers (NOSO)
  Get 2 Swag Bucks per day for clicking through the NOSO's.  It only takes about 30 seconds to navigate through them when you click skip on each one.  Enter the CAPTCHA phrase at the end and you'll get 2 Swag Bucks!

* Voting in Daily Polls
 Get 1 Swag Buck per day for voting in the daily poll.  Super easy!  You will only receive swagbucks for the current day's poll.

 * Using the Toolbar
 Get 1 Swag Buck per day for just using the toolbar.  If you right click on it and click refresh, you'll be credited with your one swagbuck.


* Watching videos
Swag Bucks are awarded randomly via Swag Bucks TV. You should see a meter at the top of the screen when you start a video.  You will receive 3 swagbucks once the meter gets to 100%.  Each video will give you 10% on the meter.


* Inviting your friends to join
Invite your friends to Swagbucks.com and every Swag Buck they win searching the web, you’ll win as well. Win up to 1,000 Swag Bucks per referral!

* Completing Special Offers
There are several different offers that you can choose to complete to earn more swagbucks.  There may be viruses hidden in some of these offers, so I don't spend a lot of time looking through them or completing them, other than the videos.  From time to time, you will see someone on the swagbucks facebook page stating that they had good luck with a certain special offer and got rewarded right away, and I have had good luck with those. Many of the videos are short videos that can be played a few times and you will get 1 to 7 swagbucks each time you play the video, most of the time it is 2 swagbucks.  I received quite a few swagbucks when I first joined because we were checking out different insurance options, and those special offers gave a lot of swagbucks.  Be prepared for lots of emails from insurance companies though!

* Finding Swag Codes
Swag Codes are strings of alphanumeric text that you can apply for instant Swag Bucks. There is usually a Swag Code released every day, some days there are more than one.  These can be on Swagbuck's facebook page, twitter, in the toolbar (next to the little picture of the swag guy), on Swagbuck's blog, or in the swidget box.  Swag Codes can be redeemed by entering the codes into the Swag Codes box on your My Account page and then clicking gimme.  The codes typically last for only two hours before they expire, so you have to be quick on these.

* Trading in Cell Phones Books and Video Games
Recycle that stuff you have lying around and earn some swagbucks for it!  They even provide you with a free shipping label if you are sending in enough of an item.  I would recommend doing your books through amazon though, swagbucks doesn't pay out a lot for the books.

 * Swagbucks Games
Swagbucks has just released FREE Swagbucks Games… find a game you like, play for free AND you’ll be eligible to earn bonus Swag Bucks just for playing!! There are two ways to be rewarded for playing games (1) Play games for free and you will randomly earn from 1-5 Swag Bucks (2) Buy into tournaments where you risk a small amount of Swag Bucks for the chance to earn a large amount. Just login or register and click on the “Earn” tab, then in the drop down menu choose “Games”.  And if you don't like to play games, maybe you could consider having your kids play the games on there and earn some swagbucks for you!


* Print Coupons
Swagbucks is connected to coupons.com and you will earn 10 Swag Bucks for every coupon that you print from Swagbucks.com and use in the store. It can take anywhere from 8-12 weeks for the Swag Bucks to show up in your account.  I usually see the 10 Swag Bucks for each coupon redeemed show up in my account about 3 months later, which is always a nice surprise.


* Share Your Birthday
Be sure that you enter your birthday in the account details and you’ll snag 50 Swag Bucks on your special day!

What can I use my Swag Bucks to purchase?
Swag Bucks can be used to purchase clothing, items for the kitchen, electronics, gift cards and more in the Swag Store! My personal favorite item is a $5 Amazon e-Card for 450 Swag Bucks!  I can usually get 2 or 3 of these gift cards each month, the max that you can receive is 5 gift cards of the same denomination.  I redeemed all of my swagbucks for Amazon gift cards over the past year and have received over $200 in Amazon gift cards!  That's some pretty easy spending money for Christmas gifts!

Not a Swagbucks member yet? Head over here to register for a FREE account and you’ll automatically receive 30 Swagbucks upon registration.

*Updated 12-19-11