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2M views 3K replies 25 participants last post by  telracs 
#1 ·
OK, as we discussed, here's the 2013 Swagbucks thread.  This lets us start over, leaving behind all the other information that's not quite up to date.  A shorter thread will also let us find things more easily.

If people want to post their Swagbucks referral code, I'll add it to this initial post.

Betsy
 
#3 ·
No, as I said in the other thread, I'm going to let her copy it here,  This is so that she retains ownership and so it'll have a 2013 date.  EDIT:  Oops, didn't see the revised version done today.  I'll move it over.  I thoguht we were still talking about the one she quoted yesterday.

Betsy
 
#5 ·
EASY SPECIAL OFFERI haven't seen the Cascade Dishwasher special offer yet, (I might have already done that one), but I did get a Crest White Strips for 36 that worked the same way:  put your email in, submit, leave the next screen open; credited immediately.

Betsy
 
#6 ·
Could someone post up again {really sorry} about the coupons.
I've printed coupons (actually printed paper coupons) and have never had them credit for me at all.
So I assume I'm doing something wrong.
(I've done it from Chrome & FF, so maybe I need to do this from IE - dunno)
 
#7 ·
Okay, here's a KB Swaggin' 101 for newcomers and oldtimers alike. ;D I included some edits suggested in the prior thread (thanks, Aprille, for the iOS tips on Mobile). Note that anything is subject to change at any time, on the whims of Swagbucks.... :D

---

KB Swaggin' 101 - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

This is a really high level, basic info FAQ regarding the SwagBucks earnings program, for the benefit of those of us here on Kindleboards. It's meant to be simple, down and dirty. There's a ton of hints and tricks and other info that can be found elsewhere; a great site to look at is Swagging 101, a site put together by some hard core SwagBucks fans that also post frequently on the SwagBucks Facebook wall. Our own Aprille also helped with that one.

So, without further ado, here's our own little FAQ. :)

Q. What are the various acronyms and terms I see used in this thread and on the SwagBucks Facebook wall?

A. There are quite a few, here are the main ones we use around here (more info about the actual terms will be provided later):

Acronyms

AGC = Amazon Gift Certificate
FB = Facebook
NOSO = No Obligation Special Offers
PL = Peanut Labs
RO = Radium One
SB = SwagBucks (this can refer to the site, the people running the site, or the value of an offer or redemption)
SBTV = SwagBucks Television
SBTV Mobile (or just Mobile) = SwagBucks Television Mobile
SR = Super Rewards
TP = Trial Pay
TSG = The SwagBucks Guy (cutesy name for the male main 'cartoon' character that's the face of the SB site)
TSGal = The SwagBucks Gal (ditto cutesy name, for the female main character)

Other terms

Midnight bucks

Q. What are the 'dailies' I hear about?

A. There are several sure-fire ways to get a few SBs each and every day. Unless they change things. :D In most cases, you can get to these areas from the pull down "Earn" menu on the blue bar at the top of each page.

* Vote in the Daily Poll and get 1 SB
* Do the NOSO 'run' to get 2 SBs -- just click on 'skip' for all of them until you get to the captcha at the end
* Get 1 SB for using the SB Toolbar daily, usually by opening the browser window for the first time or opening a new window if you leave your browser open all the time (more about the toolbar below)
* Get up to 10 SBs daily for playing Games (see more below)

Those are the quick-and-easy dailies. The first three are tracked for you by SB on your home page, showing if you've gotten them for the day yet or not.

You can also get these every day, the amount you get varies on luck, for searches; for both SBTVs, it depends on the time you want to spend --

* Searches (see more below)
* Get up to 50 SBs daily for running SBTV Mobile (see more below)
* Get up to 150 SBs daily (at least through the end of 2012, may be changed at any time) for running SBTV (see more below)

Q. How do Games work?

A. You can get up to 10 SBs daily by playing games. Generally, you get 2 SBs per 2 games played (but not 1 SB per 1 game).

Here's an easy game to get your SBs, but you can try others and see how they work for you.

1. Go to Games
2. Click on Miscellaneous
3. Click on US Cities
4. Click on Play for Free
5. Wait through the 30-second ad
6. Click on Start
7. Wait through the 10 questions without doing anything in the game
8. Once the 10 questions are done and it shows "loading high scores" at the top of the map, click on Back to Game Details in the upper right
9. Repeat Steps 4-8
10. After every two game plays*, you'll get a pop-up at the top of the screen saying you've won 2 SBs; close the pop-up
11. After 10 game plays, and 5 of the 2 SB pop-ups, quit playing

*Note that sometimes you have to play three games to get your 2 SBs instead of two, just a wonkiness in the game play that pops up occasionally.

Q. How do Searches work?

A. You can do searches either from the SB Toolbar or directly from the SB site. The SB Toolbar has a blank area to do searches directly from, something you might be familiar with if you've ever installed other toolbars like Google or Yahoo. Plus don't forget that 1 SB per day for the SB Toolbar mentioned above (just searching from it doesn't 'activate' the 1 SB though). You can get to the download for the SB Toolbar by clicking on Tools | Toolbar in the blue bar at the top of each page, or go here:

SB Toolbars (Note that there is no toolbar for Opera, just IE, Firefox and Chrome.)

Not every search will win you SBs; usually only 3 times a day though wins of 4 or 5 times a day can happen. Most people will get a win in the morning, mid-day, and evening. But if you just search normally, when you have a need to, you never know what will happen! Most wins are in the 7-11 range, but occasionally bigger wins happen, from 15 up to 59, and *rarely* a really lucky win higher than that (one of us here on KB had a search win of 100 in July 2012!).

Occasionally, you will see a post that says "the search gates are open" -- that means that on the SB FB wall there are reports of folks getting multiple search wins in a short period of time (and probably the poster as well), or perhaps a lot of people suddenly getting search wins after hours of trying. FYI, "singles" means the person has had one search win for the day; "dubs" means two; "trips" means three; "quads" means four; and "quints" means five and is rare rare rare...but happens.

Often, dubs and even trips will happen in the half hour or hour following what is known as "midnight bucks" -- which starts at midnight Pacific time, when the SB day starts over.

Q. What is "midnight bucks"?

A. As mentioned just above, Midnight Bucks is the slang term used for the hour or so after the SB day starts over at midnight Pacific time. During this time, not only are multiple search wins more likely (and, often, higher search wins), but also there are usually more 1 and 2 SB videos and offers on the main page and Radium One. It seems to take 15-20 minutes before all the offers show up on RO, but once they do, you can often get 20-30 SBs from them (as of 1/1/2013).

Q. How does SBTV Mobile work?

A. If you have an Android or iOS device, you can download an app from SB that allows you to run specific videos that earn you 2 SBs for every 5 videos watched. SBTV Mobile is only available for Android and iOS devices at this time. In the Android version, there's a meter in the upper right that advances 20% for each video watched; at 100%, you are awarded 2 SBs automatically and see a pop-up showing the award. In iOS, you don't see the percentage in the meter, just a white bar that progressively fills with green, and you still get a pop-up showing the 2 SBs being awarded after 5 videos.

You do not have to click on each video individually or refresh any pages, Mobile mostly runs on its own. Note, though, that sometimes the ads in between videos hang up and you have to click out of them to continue.

You can get the Android app for your phone (and probably tablets, though maybe not the Kindle Fire) here: SBTV Mobile Phone App

You can also get it from the Google Play app store, or the Amazon app store (best if you have an Amazon Fire), and from the Apple app store for iOS devices.

A tip -- the Comedy category seems to have the shortest videos for Android (that category currently apparently isn't available for iOS). ;) The iOS version is new and kind of buggy; the Food and Home & Garden categories seem to be the least crashy and buggy.

Q. How does SBTV work?

A. SBTV can get you up to 150 SBs per day (at least through the end of 2012; the limit may change at any time), but it's tedious and time-consuming. You have to watch 10 videos to get 3 SBs, usually a minimum of 45 seconds to 1 minute per video. Similar to Mobile, it has a meter in the upper right; so you can change videos as soon as the meter progresses without watching the whole video (and there are ads before each video that do count towards the 'time' at least).

Be careful not to use auto-refresh or similar programs or add-ons; SB has deactivated a lot of users/accounts that were said to be using such things (though we still don't know HOW they thought/knew it). Better safe than sorry.

If you're at the computer for awhile anyway, you can at least get some of the SBs, no rule says you have to get them all!

Q. How else can I earn SBs?

A. There are Special Offers available, some of which require little effort; such as just watching videos or filling in an email address. Most of us have a special email address just for SB, it's easy to get one on yahoo.com, hotmail.com, outlook.com or gmail.com, or a very temporary one at 10minutemail.com. Keeps the spammy SB stuff out of our regular email. ;) Click on Earn | Special Offers from the top blue bar (or from the left on the home page) and you'll be taken to a page that has tabs running across the middle. That main page is sometimes called the "Offer Wall", and each of those tabs are individually also called "walls".

When really good, easy offers are available that credit quickly or with little follow-up, someone will usually post it here on KB -- and if you find one, consider doing the same. :) You'll see the general format we use to highlight those offers on the forum, with a bold heading of bigger font, the amount of SBs for the offer and where it's found, and a quick summary of what it is and what's required.

Not all offers are created equal, so if you're new, you may want to be careful before you plunge into signing up for anything.

And always always be wary/careful of downloading anything; most of us don't, but it's your call. Feel free to ask if you're unsure whether you should do an offer, as a lot of them cycle around again and again and we may have done them -- or avoided them -- before.

Q. What about swag codes?

A. Codes of various SB amounts come out, usually at least one a day during the week and occasional 'codeapalooza' days with many codes, and you can find alerts either on the SB FB wall (if you see a lot of "thanks for the code" posts, you know one is out) or almost always one of us will post the alert here. No posting of the actual code here, but we can post generally where to find it most of the time. Codes are usually valid for only a short time, from an hour to two hours in most cases.

Codes usually run from as little as 3 SBs to as much as 9 SBs (not including the codeapalooza or code hunt days, or holidays which can be higher also). Codes can be either static -- which means it's the same for everybody -- or dynamic -- which means the main part may be the same but there are some numbers/letters that change rapidly. If it's a dynamic code, you'll want to copy and paste quickly or else you'll have to refresh the page the code is on to get a new one. Keeping two windows open helps with that -- one with the home page and one with the code page.

Where do you put a code? On the home page, in the upper right, is an empty box that says "Gimme" next to it. Copy and then paste (better than typing) the code in the empty box and click the "gimme" button. Be sure there are no blank spaces either at the beginning or end before clicking on "gimme", often a space gets added in the copy/paste process.

Q. What are tasks?

A. Tasks are various actions you can take, such as searching and recording information or answering questions based on a particular website. Note, however, that SBs earned for tasks will not transfer from your "tasks balance" to your SB balance until you've reached 20. If you finish 3 tasks for 4 SB each, you'll have 12 SB in your tasks balance, but they won't transfer until you've earned 8 SBs more in tasks. If you then get a 12 SB task, then all 24 SBs will automatically transfer.

Most tasks aren't worth bothering with, too much trouble and not enough reward (1-2 SB each). Twice a day, though, a batch of tasks come out that are fairly quick to do and have a decent reward. The morning batch, which are released usually around 8:30am PT, is referred to by users as "Fisher tasks" -- this is because they generally require searching on some variation of "fisher investments", "ken fisher" and the like, and then recording information found as a result. You can tell them by the titles --

"Search google for articles and retweet them!" <--- tweeting rarely actually required
"Search google for articles and record information about them! (NOW PAYING MORE!)"
"Search for terms and record the search results #6 (Google)"


The Fisher tasks that are worth 12 require a lot of time and effort and are really a pain, but the 4's, 6's, 8's, 10's and 14's are easy peasy.

The afternoon/evening batch, which are released usually around 3:45pm PT, is referred to by users as "casino tasks" or "movie tasks" -- this is because they generally require searching on either casino or movie terms, and then recording information found as a result. These titles usually include a reference to a job # and the following day (on Friday, they'll include "Saturday job #5", "Saturday job #14", etc.)

The casino tasks are all pretty easy, and usually consist of tasks worth 4 and 8.

In both cases, in addition to checking around the time they're usually released (the time isn't a hard-and-fast rule; they sometime get released at other times), folks on the SB FB wall will usually post when they're available. Also, you can't get the tasks every day. They'll show up, but when you click on them, you might get to do the task, or you might get either a "thank you for your hard work" message if you finished it in the previous day or so, or a "finished" if all opportunities for the task are complete -- even if it shows on the main page that 100 or so jobs are available. Generally, you might get to do some tasks every 3-4 days. But if you hit it right, some days you might get 20-50 SBs transferred in one day.

Q. Are there any other earning opportunities?

A. Sure! There are coupons and surveys and shop & earn and more. Those generally take more time and effort and may or may not pan out or be worth your time. Rather than go into every opportunity here, we've limited it to the relatively always available and mostly easy earnings possibilities. You can click around on the SB site to find more, or get info at the Swagging 101 site linked at the beginning of this post. Or you can always ask here.

Q. What can I get with my SBs?

A. Well, there are all sorts of things you can get. Just click on Redeem | Swag Store from the top blue bar to check it out. Most of us here on KB cash in for Amazon gift certificates. The minimum is $5.

To get a $5 Amazon GC, you only need 450 SBs. That may sound like a lot, but it really does add up fast, especially if you can do at least some of SBTV and Mobile. You can get 5 of those a month, for a total of $25.

SB has recently made cashing in for other GCs easier; all other GCs are a 100:1 SB:$ ratio. 1500 for a $15 GC, 2500 for $25, and so on. Not all GCs have the same $$ value available, so you'll have to look to see what you want. And, there are no longer any limits on how many per month you can get of a particular GC, except the 5-per-month limit on $5 AGCs.

However, you still can only cash in for 2 GCs per day, no matter the store or denomination.

These limits and SB-per-$ ratio are subject to change at any time, but SB said as of 12/31/12 that they're good for the foreseeable future.

Cashing in for merchandise is really not recommended, the value is not very good. You can almost always get the same thing cheaper by getting a GC to Amazon, Walmart, Target or elsewhere and then buying the item you want.

Q. What else do I need to know?

A. Probably a lot that we're missing. ;) Be sure and check out the SB site, and the Swagging 101 site, if you want more information right now. Otherwise, rather than get overwhelmed, maybe just start slow with some of the info provided here and gradually learn as you go -- that's sometimes easiest.

It's recommended to click "notify" on this thread (upper right corner) so that you can get the posts to this thread in your email; we try not to be too terribly chatty, though we can be at times. But that way you'll get code alerts direct to your email along with the other stuff.

Most of all -- jump right on in, the water's fine, and feel free to ask questions because we're happy to help!!
 
#8 ·
Carol, I know it can take weeks or months for coupons to post, but other than that I have no tips/help 'cause I don't use them.
 
#9 ·
CegAbq said:
Could someone post up again {really sorry} about the coupons.
I've printed coupons (actually printed paper coupons) and have never had them credit for me at all.
So I assume I'm doing something wrong.
(I've done it from Chrome & FF, so maybe I need to do this from IE - dunno)
Carol,

are you talking about the 9 SBs for printing coupons or the one where you use coupons and get swagbucks for using them?

Betsy
 
#10 ·
Betsy the Quilter said:
Carol,

... the 9 SBs for printing coupons ...

Betsy
 
#11 ·
CegAbq said:
Could someone post up again {really sorry} about the coupons.
I've printed coupons (actually printed paper coupons) and have never had them credit for me at all.
So I assume I'm doing something wrong.
(I've done it from Chrome & FF, so maybe I need to do this from IE - dunno)
You have to use the SB Coupons feature to be credited and it can take up to 12 weeks. Yes, 12 weeks! And you have to actually go to the store and redeem the coupons to get credit. Just printing them won't earn you anything.

The RO offer for 9 sbs per day will not earn you any sbs except for the 9 sbs for doing the offer, even if you redeem them at the store.
 
#12 ·
Aprille said:
You have to use the SB Coupons feature to be credited and it can take up to 12 weeks. Yes, 12 weeks! And you have to actually go to the store and redeem the coupons to get credit. Just printing them won't earn you anything.

The RO offer for 9 sbs per day will not earn you any sbs except for the 9 sbs for doing the offer, even if you redeem them at the store.
Oh, wow. I thought I'd read somewhere that you could get SBs just for printing; didn't realize you actually had to redeem them.
Thanks everyone.
 
#13 ·
CegAbq said:
Could someone post up again {really sorry} about the coupons.
I've printed coupons (actually printed paper coupons) and have never had them credit for me at all.
So I assume I'm doing something wrong.
(I've done it from Chrome & FF, so maybe I need to do this from IE - dunno)
You say you're asking about the 9SBs for printing? I use Firefox; do you have the printing software installed?

Betsy
 
#14 ·
Betsy the Quilter said:
You say you're asking about the 9SBs for printing? I use Firefox; do you have the printing software installed?

Betsy
Yes, I installed the printing software; but I see Aprille saying that they have to actually be redeemed.
 
#15 ·
CegAbq said:
Oh, wow. I thought I'd read somewhere that you could get SBs just for printing; didn't realize you actually had to redeem them.
Thanks everyone.
For the RO offer, you should receive the 9sbs daily for "printing" 1 coupon (even though it says 25). You do not have to redeem to get the 9sbs.

For the SB coupons feature, you can earn 10 sbs for each coupon you print and redeem but it can take up to 12 weeks to credit.
 
#16 ·
for the 9 SB coupons (the thing that shows up in Radium One and you click to another site) you do NOT have to redeem, you print and eventually (usually 10 to 30 minutes) the 9 SB credits.

for the coupons that you "clip" on the home page, those you have to redeem to get credit.
 
#17 ·
CegAbq said:
Yes, I installed the printing software; but I see Aprille saying that they have to actually be redeemed.
Okay, so you're not getting credit for printing a coupon on RO? It can take up to 30 minutes to credit. I leave the "print completed" window open until I receive credit although I'm not sure that is necessary. I do it in FF.
 
#18 ·
Aprille said:
Okay, so you're not getting credit for printing a coupon on RO? It can take up to 30 minutes to credit. I leave the "print completed" window open until I receive credit although I'm not sure that is necessary. I do it in FF.
Right these are the ones that do not credit.
I'll try again, and leave the window open.
Thanks all.
 
#19 ·
Betsy the Quilter said:
EASY SPECIAL OFFERI haven't seen the Cascade Dishwasher special offer yet, (I might have already done that one), but I did get a Crest White Strips for 36 that worked the same way: put your email in, submit, leave the next screen open; credited immediately.

Betsy
WOOHOO! Got the Crest offer for 36. Thank, Betsy!
 
#21 ·
I didn't have the Cascade offer. I had the Crest offer, but it didn't credit.

Le sigh.

Carol, I hope you get the 9 SB RO offer to work, as Aprille says it's a nice daily offer (for now anyway, who knows how long).  True confessions, I accidentally closed the window in the wee hours of midnight bucks this very morning after about 5 minutes, and did get eventually credited, but I admit I was worried if I would. I'll probably continue with my routine of leaving it open anyway. :D
 
#22 ·
OK - I feel like a complete dunce here.
Now I cannot find the Coupon offer on the Radium One wall.
So ... how do I find this?
 
#24 ·
I can't look since I already did it today but, I've found it sometimes disappears late in the day if I haven't done it early. Like, sometimes by 4 or 5pm it's not showing for me.

I presume that happens if it's limited to a certain number of people per day.
 
#25 ·
tipsy telstar said:
it's not always there.

i caught it this morning, but it's gone now.

i usually see it once a day, but some days it's just not there.

but check page two also....
Thanks tipsy & Steph! Nice to know that I'm not a complete idiot. ;D
I'll keep my fingers crossed for tomorrow.
 
#26 ·
CegAbq said:
Thanks tipsy & Steph! Nice to know that I'm not a complete idiot. ;D
I'll keep my fingers crossed for tomorrow.
Yes, check it in the morning. Sometimes I don't see it the first time I click on RO (part of my morning routine). I go ahead do all the 1/2sbs offers, go back to the homepage and then go back to RO and it pops ups then. *shrugs* This just started a week or 2 ago. But I'm still getting it daily in the morning.
 
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