Swagbucks has paid over $250 million in rewards to its members - here's how it gets you free money for taking surveys, shopping, and watching videos

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• Swagbucks is a free service that pays you in cash and gift cards for shopping online and in person, watching videos, taking surveys, donating to charity, searching the web, and playing games online.
• It's available on desktop, as a browser extension, and an app, providing multiple avenues for you to earn "SB points" wherever you are.
• Swagbucks has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in rewards to its members, who love how easy the service is to use.
• There's no catch - the gift cards are to large retailers you shop at regularly and there are more than enough ways to collect SB points.

Having extra pocket change to help you pay for small fix-ups around the house, personal care items, clothing, or simple treat-yourself moments is never a bad thing. Obtaining this extra cash with little to no effort? Even better. Though everyone would love to make more money every month, most of us don't have the time outside of school, work, and other obligations to take on (or find) large paid projects or tasks.

A great low-effort, low-time commitment solution is Swagbucks, a free site, app, and browser extension that gives you cash and gift cards for the things you're already doing every day. Though it launched in February 2008 and has since paid out over $263,716,484 in cash and free gift cards to its members, some people who have never used it might question its legitimacy and ease of use.

However, there are really no annoyingly restrictive catches and the service does exactly what it promises. As long as you abide by some basic guidelines surrounding automation, safety, and appropriate content, you'll be rewarded for your online and in-person shopping, browsing, and viewing activities. For companies, Swagbucks provides a smart way to better understand their shopper base, and to get more eyes on their sales and deals. It's a win-win situation for both parties.

Swagbucks keeps track of all your activity through "SB points." These are all the different ways to earn SB points:

• Shop online at over 1,500 retailers including Amazon, Walmart, and Target. You'll earn up to 10% cash back (10 SB points per $1), plus get access to exclusive deals and coupons to your favorite retailers. You get points for both printing and redeeming these coupons. If you book travel through popular travel sites like Expedia and Priceline, you'll also get points.

• Shop in person and eat at restaurants. After you shop in-store and purchase valid products, upload your receipt to the site and you can earn hundreds to thousands of SB points. Through Swagbucks Local, you'll get cash back when you link a credit or debit card and dine at participating establishments in your area.
• Take short surveys and earn SB points for each one completed. Daily polls are any easy way to earn 1 SB point. The survey section also includes "Tasks," which consist of small editing, transcription, and validation jobs.
• Watch video playlists that Swagbucks has already put together for you. Playlists are categorized by topics like fashion, food, sports, technology, and politics, so you can watch videos you're actually interested in, or just let them run in the background.

• Donate to charities like Feeding America, American Red Cross, and Save the Children to earn thousands of SB points.
• Search the web by making Swagbucks your default search engine and earn points just by searching as you would normally.

• Play games online to earn 12 SB per every $1 spent on cash entry fees for the game. Popular games include Wheel of Fortune, Angry Birds, Bejeweled, and Trivial Pursuit.

Swagbucks has a browser extension that makes it easier to earn points. Download the SwagButton browser extension to instantly access store coupons and deals, watch videos, and search the web.

Meanwhile, the mobile apps (iOS and Android) let you shop, answer surveys, and watch videos on the go. The app is perfect for long commutes and waits when you're bored and have nothing to do. With Swagbucks, you can be productive with that time and make some money.

An additional way to earn points is to refer your friends. Not only will you each earn a 300 SB bonus when they earn 300 SB before the 1st of the following month, but you'll also get 10% of their earnings for life.

Finally, Swag Codes get you instant SB points. They can be found on Swagbucks' social media pages or around the actual site.

Once you've amassed enough points, you'll be able to redeem them for retailer gift cards or cash out on PayPal. Typically, 1,000 SB points equals $10, but the site will also run promotions. For example, right now you can get $25 gift cards to Amazon, Target, Starbucks, Home Depot, and Best Buy for 2,200 SB points.

If you take advantage of all the different ways to earn SB points, which shouldn't take a lot of extra time out of your day, you can get the cash and gift cards you want with little effort. Though Swagbucks won't necessarily give you substantial windfalls of cash (unless you dedicate significant time and effort to the system), it's a nice way to be rewarded for the activities you're doing anyway.

Sign up here for Swagbucks and start earning SB points for gift cards and cash.

This article was originally published on 05/01/2018.