How to use Survey Sites and get Gift Cards Easily! (Swagbucks Guide)

By now most of us have heard of "survey sites" --  websites in which you can do fairly menial tasks to work your way up to some reward, whether it be Amazon gift cards, some currency in a game, or even Paypal cash. However, there is one catch to these sites that make most turn away from them -- most of these surveys can take hours at a time, and in the end you're only getting a few cents.

I used to be turned off from these websites, until I found that there's a much, much easier way to do things. Since I get asked about this stuff a lot, I decided to make a guide that addresses my most-used survey website and how I am able to get a much more efficient output of money-input of time ratio on it.

As proof, here are some of my earnings. These are all from Swagbucks, the main site that I use and the one which is perhaps the easiest to get money from.

The first thing you want to do is, of course, sign up for the site, which you can do by going here. You can get a few Swagbucks by completing your profile and doing the tour, but for the most part the Swagbucks that you get from this won't really effect you in the long run. Still, for those who want to be the most efficient, this is a pretty easy way to get ahead early. Ultimately, the choice is yours.

Now, here's where the real money making begins. It is important to note here that you MUST have either an iPhone or an Android phone in order to get the most out of Swagbucks. If you do not have one of these, you will be forced to use the normal menial method. You could attempt to get past this by installing a phone emulator like Bluestacks to your computer, but I cannot endorse the use of these as they are against the rules of Swagbucks and it greatly increases your chances of getting banned from the site. If you do have an iPhone, you will want to install at least one of these apps:
 - Swagbucks TV
 - Entertainow
 - Moviecli.ps
 - Sportly.tv
 - Indymusic.tv
 - Lifestylz.tv
 (Note: As of now, all of these are available on both iPhone and Android. It has not always been this way, and there may be a chance that one of them will be removed from either appstore. If that is the case, and you can't find one, just go to the next on the list)

Now, something important to note is this: All of these apps have a set limit of SB you can earn at one time (you can see this in the table below). However, Swagbucks has introduced a new system in which you have a "chance" to earn more Swagbucks at the same rate (also in the table) beyond the limit. I have experimented with this a little bit and it seems like the chance is 100% automatic after you hit your limit and it keeps going infinitely. My only disclaimer to this is that, of course, there could be exceptions, and Swagbucks could later on change this system.

Anyway, here is a table with all the video apps, their limit, rate, and the shortest videos (you want to search for these and favorite them, then play the videos via the favorite videos playlist (you can get to this just by clicking the heart or "My favorites" sidebar in the app and clicking the first video). This method will increase the amount of Swagbucks you get). Take in mind some of these videos are switched out for other ones and you will not be able to find them in the search. If that's the case, just find as many as you can and use those. There is no limit for how small a favorites playlist can be -- you can really just have one video and probably still be fine.

 And there you have it! If you did it correctly, then the videos should play automatically under the favorites playlist. Just let them play and keep your phone plugged in while you go to other things. Make sure to check back periodically, though -- some of the ads can be quite broken and may require you to close out of them manually or restart the app.

Now, on to the good part -- the rewards!

Before we go too far into this, know that the exchange rate for swagbucks is 100 SB = $1 USD. Keep this in mind so that you can tell the good deals from the terrible ones.

You can find the list of rewards by going to the home page on Swagbucks and clicking "Rewards" in the sidebar under the "Redeem" category. Feel free to check out all your options by going to "All Rewards", but I personally recommend that when it comes to redeeming you only get the rewards that are "On Sale". These sale prices are normally much better than the normal prices, and will make it easier to save toward your next reward. Don't like any of the on sale rewards? Then simply wait -- remember, those who are patient always end up getting the biggest rewards!


Sources:
http://thelazycollegekid.blogspot.com/2013/10/swagbucks-quick-guide.html
https://www.reddit.com/r/SwagBucks/comments/229bf6/detailed_guide_about_swagbuckscom_for_the_newbies/

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