swagbucks.com

Yet another search engine you may say, haven't we got enough. Well yes there are certainly plenty of options already out there however, they don't all reward you for using them, this is where Swagbucks comes into the equation.

Swagbucks is powered by Google and Ask so you cannot go too wrong there. Being a regular Google user it is natural to compare Swagbucks with that in terms of depth of information available. My only disappointment here is that the engine seems very much geared towards users in the USA. There is no swagbucks.co.uk as far as I am aware. This may change as things develop as you need to bear in mind that this is a relatively new project. I have been registered with them for around three weeks now and looking across the Internet I can only see references going back to December 2008.

What are the main ways of earning with Swagbucks? Well the obvious one is to just do a search as you would normally. At random you will find yourself rewarded with swagbucks. An image of a bank note appears on screen above your search results showing the number of swagbucks earned. You are given the option to then return to the full search results or to click on a link which sends you a confirmation of your reward to your email inbox.

Most rewards I have seen so far have awarded either 1, 2 or 5 swagbucks. Winners names appears on screen in real time whether you are in the search screen or the Swagbucks home page. Your earnings are automatically added to your account.

Another way to collect swagbucks is by collecting swag codes. These codes are available across the Internet and can appear anywhere and at any time. They are only available for a limited period, as short as 30 minutes in my experience.

The besy way of ensuring that you collect as many codes as possible is by downloading their toolbar. This sits at the top of your browser window like any other toolbar you may use. The advantage of using this is that it includes an inbox/swagbuck code alert box which is labelled as being "from TSG" or "The Swag Guy" as he is known. When a message appears in that box you need to open it asap and copy the code before transposing it the "Enter Swag Code" box on the Swagbucks homepage. Once the code has been accepted the total number of swagbucks earned to date will flash at the top of the screen.

Full details of other ways to earn swagbucks are contained within the sub menu headed "Ways To Earn" on the homepage.

There is a Swagbucks Facebook page and widgets are available which you can add to your social network profiles to again alert you to the availability of swagbucks.

Members are allowed to give subtle hints as to where on the net you can find rewards however blatantly stating where you can find a code may lead to a ban according to the small print.

When I want to redeem my rewards is there a good range of items available? can I earn cash? how many swagbucks do I need before I can redeem?

There is a wide range of gifts and items available, the only drawback here is that many of them are currenly only available to users in the US, such as I-Tunes downloads and selected gift certificate options are for US retailers.

You can redeem your swagbucks via PayPal - currently 70 SB will get you $5. I have 36 SB so far and I may choose PayPal when I redeem.

Technically you only need one swagbuck to be able to redeem. For this you would typically be able to claim a single track MP3 or a wallpaper for your laptop or PC. For 10-15 SB you could get a trading card of your favourite baseball or American Football player.

My experience of Swagbucks has all been positive so far. There are no obvious security concerns and everything does appear to be run in a very professional manner.

I can only see it getting better as it evolves and hopefully going forward we will see a more international flavour appearing.

I would certainly recommend that you give this a go as you have nothing to lose.

Update - 05.11.2009

I can confirm that when I reached the payout level I received an email notification in terms of the PayPal payout within a day or two. Since then I have had the payment through & I have subsequently transferred the funds to my bank account. So they are definitely good to their word.