Swagbucks—those who use it either love it or hate it, usually both at the same time. But come Christmastime, when I have over $300 of store credit to spend on Christmas gifts, I love Swagbucks, and I get an energy boost to use the system all over again the next year. I’ve been using the program for over 5 years and have found there is a bit of a learning curve to most efficiently using it. Therefore, I’m going to give you tips and tricks so your learning curve is faster than mine was.
Earning at least 2,200 points per month will get you a $25 gift card each month, for a total of $300 by Christmas, if you get started in January. But starting now is better than not at all!
What Is Swagbucks?
Swagbucks is a system whereby you earn points through internet searches, watching videos, playing games, taking surveys, and shopping. Points can be redeemed for gift cards to shops, restaurants, and even hotels and air travel. Using Swagbucks is completely free.
I’ll be giving you a series of honest tutorials on what works, what doesn’t, and my best Swagbucks tips and tricks for earning points. Some of the Swagbucks point-earning opportunities simply aren’t worth it for me. But I continue to find new ways to earn points, which I will share with you in future posts. For now, I want to lay out the basics of the program to save you time on getting started. Some of you will be inspired to try it, and others will determine it’s not worth it. Either way, let’s get started.
If you decide to sign up for Swagbucks, please use the link in this paragraph. I will then be able to earn a percentage of the Swagbucks you earn at no cost or effort on your part. And thank you if you do!
Swagbucks Searches
First tip: use the Swagbucks search engine. Yes, it takes the place of Google. This will be a deal killer for some of you. But Swagbucks uses Yahoo, which is a decent search engine. When you search, you’ll get half a screen of ads, but page down to the horizontal line to see the first “real” result of your search query.
Your “real” search is below the gray line.
The reason for using the Swagbucks search engine? Because it randomly awards you points. Points earned through searches range from 4 to 100. I’ve gotten 100 a handful of times in my life, so don’t count on that. When you get the message that you earned points, enter the 3-digit code and hit enter to snag the points (see below).
I earned points from my search! Now I’ll enter the 3-digit code. The code will expire after a few minutes, so enter it before you forget.
After I enter the 3-digit code, the points get added to my account–both as part of my daily goal (left circle) and my total points (right circle).
Points that count toward your daily goal accumulate in your account and reset with each new day. Total points remain until you redeem them for a gift card.
How Many Points Do I Have?
Refer to the box in the middle of the screenshot above that says “Daily Goal.” Hover on the Daily Goal box to see how many points you have for today.
This isn’t normal for me, but I earned over 300 points today because I earned points from shopping.
In the upper right-hand corner, the value that is above 8,000 for me (8,564 in the most recent screenshot) is my total available points.
Swagbucks Bonus Points
Note how the daily goal box reads: EARN 80 SB and GET 5 SB. If I earn 80 Swagbucks (SB) during the course of the day, I get a bonus of 5. Since my earnings of 306 exceed the daily goal of 80, I’ve earned the 5 SB bonus. And by further meeting the second daily goal of 117, I’ve earned the 7 SB bonus. Sorry, you don’t get to add the 5 and 7 to get a bonus of 12. My total bonus for the day is 7.
How/When Do I Get My Bonus?
Check back to that most recent screenshot that reads in the blue box: February Bonus: Check your status. The bonus from the previous calendar month shows up around the 5th of the next month. (Around March 5, my February bonus showed up.)
You have to CLICK ON THE BLUE BONUS BOX to get your bonus. If you don’t click on it, you lose the bonus. See below the words “Check your status” to read “7 Days Remaining.” I have roughly from March 5 to March 20 to click on and collect my bonus.
How Many Times a Day Can I Earn through a Swagbucks Search?
In my experience, the maximum number of times per day you can earn points through searches is 3; usually I earn points through searches only 2 times per day. If I earn points at 9am, I likely won’t earn points again until midafternoon or evening.
I haven’t yet found a magic formula that will get me awarded search points. I wish I could tell you I have! The best strategy is to do 3-4 searches. Then wait 5 minutes. Then return and do 3 or 4 more searches. Doing 20 searches in a row doesn’t usually produce results.
Hopefully these Swagbucks tips and tricks will help you get a start. In future posts, I’ll explain other ways to earn points.
Have fun racking up points!
Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and sign up for Swagbucks, I will receive referral points at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.