Swagbucks: My Verdict

Okay kids. Here's what I've discovered in playing around with Swagbucks. I've been signed up for almost two weeks and I'm almost to a $5 Amazon card and I've hardly done anything. 2-3 times a day, I use Swagbucks to search for the usual websites I visit: email, facebook, blogger, banks. Once I win, I stop. (The Swagbucks search engine is terrible unless you're looking for specific websites. It's designed to trick you into clicking sponsored links so it's really hard to find any information unless you search for something as obvious as "facebook" or "key bank"). They don't give you multiple wins. You have to come back later and try again. If I don't win within my usual websites, I try again later. You can only get search wins 2-3 times a day. You're apparently gauranteed a search win if you do it around midnight central time (which happens to be a convenient 9PM for me). And I answer the daily poll everyday for 1 point. I "liked" swagbucks on facebook and have managed to come across two codes through their facebook feed. And that's it. That's all I've done. And I'm pretty close to getting a free $5 for that.

My verdict: I've made it a point that Swagbucks not take up more of my time than I already spend on the computer. I just use the Swagbucks search engine to do my regular computer checking of emails and blogs and such. So, it's possible to get free stuff without hardly doing anything.

Apparently if you install the toolbar (not compatible with my fabulous Google chrome), you get points just for having it when you go to their website and you get secret codes daily (another good way to get bucks without doing anything). If you've got more time, there are other ways to win: surveys, coupons, watching video clips, etc. I haven't explored any of these options. But it seems if you had a lot of time to kill on the computer (which I really don't), you could be getting gift cards a lot faster. I just like that I can get the occasional freebie for doing nothing more than I usually do.

If you want to sign up, you get 30 points to start out if someone refers you. The links in this blog post will refer you from my account (no idea what having a referral does for me... but you get the introductory 30 points) and you get an extra 30 points if you sign up before Saturday and enter "JoinIn2010" when you sign up.

So that's the info I was hoping someone would give me 2 weeks ago. And now you have it. Whether you wanted it or not.