Looking to earn free gift cards with a minimum of fuss? Check out Swagbucks.com.
Swagbucks describes itself as a rewards program. But it’s effectively a single website — or app, if you prefer to use that route — that offers its members multiple ways to rack up free gift cards and cash.
Getting started
You have to sign up for a Swagbucks account before you can start using the site, but that’s free and takes only a few seconds.
Having an account allows Swagbucks to keep track of how many points you’ve racked up. Whenever you do an activity on Swagbucks, you earn points that are known as “SB.”
Once you’ve accumulated enough SB, you can redeem them for gift cards. Or, if you’d rather have cash, choose the PayPal payout option.
The activities for which Swagbucks will pay you include the following six:
1. Participating in a daily live game show
Testing your trivia knowledge by playing Swag IQ is one of the newest ways to earn SB.
Swag IQ is a live, multiplayer trivia game show that you can access through the Swagbucks app. Participating entails competing for cash prizes by answering trivia questions in 10 seconds each.
Just note this Swagbucks feature is available only through the Swagbucks app.
2. Shopping online
The savviest consumers use what’s known as a cash-back portal when shopping online. These are basically websites or apps that provide cash rebates. Ebates.com is perhaps the best-known example, but Swagbucks also has its own cash-back portal, called “Swagbucks Shop.”
By going through Swagbucks Shop when shopping online, you can earn cash back on purchases from more than 1,500 retailers, including Amazon, Walmart and Target.
3. Searching the web
If you use the internet, you probably also use a search engine like Google Search. You could be getting paid for this activity, though, if you instead use Swagbucks’ search engine. It’s called “Swagbucks Search.”
4. Taking surveys
Yes, you can get paid for your opinion. Swagbucks advises that you read all questions carefully before answering and always answer honestly, but there are no hitches.
Money Talks News contributor Krystal Steinmetz has used this Swagbucks feature. She wrote, “I earned 10 SB today by taking a general household information survey that only took about four minutes to complete. Some surveys reward users up to 300 SB.”
5. Watching videos
Steinmetz explained, “Swagbucks pays you to watch video content … The number of SB you earn varies widely depending on the content and length of the video playlist you choose.”
The video content is from content companies such as AOL, BET and Hulu.
6. Playing games
Swagbucks will pay you to play games such as:
- Wheel of Fortune
- Bejeweled Blitz
- Scrabble Cubes
If you like earning rewards at Swagbucks, don’t stop there. There are seemingly countless ways to make extra money online. For starters, check out “50 Ways to Make a Fast $50 — or More.”
What’s your favorite way to earn extra cash online? Let us know why by commenting below or on Money Talks News’ Facebook page.
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