Hey everyone!
The point of this blog is to offer tips and reviews for GPT sites--sites where you can earn points for prizes and rewards. I'll also cover reward programs such as My Coke Rewards from time to time.
First off, I'd like to introduce a site called Swagbucks. It's the second site I started using, the first being Listia, which is a bit different (I'll write a review for Listia later).
Swagbucks is great for a number of reasons.
1) The admins and employees of Swagbucks have made a strong community spirit by encouraging posting comments and participating in occasional competitions. Swagbucks recently celebrated its 4th birthday by giving out lots of codes good for around 5-12 swagbucks (the site’s currency). Also, users could pick one of two birthday teams. The winning team was the team with the most swagbucks at the end of the day, and everyone on the winning team was awarded 10 swagbucks. Swagbucks has competitions like this every so often, making a fun community atmosphere.
2) They have LOTS of prizes! Currently, the cheapest item from their rewards store is an animated Facebook Swag for 2 swagbucks, and the most expensive thing (swagbucks-wise, anyways) is a Samsung 32-Inch 1080p 60 Hz LCD HDTV for 82,855 swagbucks. These are just the extremes of the Swagstore--in between these two prices are things ranging from electronic bread-makers to real pearls. They have school supplies, makeup, music, movies, books, jewelry, posters, and a lot more! Actually, the only thing I can think of that they DON'T have in their rewards shop is food!
3) Swagbucks also has gift-cards for amazon and many other sites available, so if you don't see anything you want in their rewards store (which isn't very likely to happen, seeing as my Swagbucks wish-list is ridiculously long), you can always get a gift-card and get something you DO want!
4) They have holiday items. For instance, around Valentine's Day, they had cute heart erasers, heart toys for kids, and heart jewelry. The site gets a real holiday feel around all of the major holidays, making it that much more special .
5) The 'wish-list' makes it easy to keep in mind specific things you're saving for. In little over 3 months, I'm at 1000 swgabucks. That’s enough points for about 15 pages of stuff if you sort all their items by lowest to highest price. It’d be very easy to forget what I can afford and what I’m saving up for and end up spending on something new. Luckily, thanks to my wish-list, I know I have enough swagbucks to get a triple color eye-shadow (yes, I'm thinking about it :D), sunglasses, neon sticky arrows to mark things in my text books that I tend to forget or need to review (chemistry *cough cough*), a senitype film cell display from Casablanca, a tube of super glue, some nice pearl jewelry, and a packet of 50 blueberry seeds (plus about a dozen other things from my wish-list). If that list wasn't random enough for you, put together your own Swagbucks wish-list and see just how random it ends up being. The wishlist is a fun way to keep track of that special something that you just HAVE to get as a gift for someone.
6) There are lots (and I mean LOTS--as in bagizillions) of ways to earn points. My favorite ways are the daily poll, swagbucks games, swagbucks TV, the daily NOSO (No-Obligation-Special-Offers), codes, and searching. The daily poll is just that--a daily poll! All you have to do is answer the fun poll question every day, and you'll be awarded one swagbuck! You can also play games on swagbucks, and will be randomly awarded points. This is a fun way to earn points, especially considering they have dozens of games! The swagbucks TV is another good way to earn points. Just watch ten videos (most are between 45 seconds to 2 min.) and you get three swagbucks. There are thousands of videos, and many of them are very helpful and informative, such as one I watched earlier today about making homemade smoothies (leave it to me to watch smoothie-making videos in the middle of a freezing winter!). The NOSO offers are simple. Just view the offer, hit the 'no thanks' button, (unless you really are interested!), fill out the Captcha, earn 2 points, and move on with your life. The codes are even more awesome. They are released in random places, so it can be a challenge keeping a lookout for them, but it's generally worth it, as codes range in average value from 3-20 points (some are more!). Searching is just as the word would imply. Use the swagbucks search engine (no download required) to help find data for your power-point presentation on the element Chlorine, or search for the nearest pizzeria that delivers so you won't starve while staying up all night finishing an essay on the Cataline Conspiracy! You'll occasionally be awarded points (usually once a day, sometimes twice) for your searches. Points awarded from searching usually range from 9-50 points, although some people get a lot more. Keep in mind, the above methods of point-accumulation are NOT the only ways to get points--they're just the ways I use and would highly recommend. There are also surveys, trade-ins (trading in old phones, games, and books for points), and MANY other ways to become a swaggamillionaire.
7) There is a monthly charity you can donate your points to! In the past, there have been charities for hunger, reading material for children, and many others that you could donate swagbucks to (they convert swagbucks into dollars). The current charity (for the month of March, 2012) is for Multiple Sclerosis research, treatment, and aid. It's a good way to give a gift to organizations that need funds to help the people who need them.
8) It’s 100% virus and spam-free! I can’t remember getting any emails from them, actually, and I’ve never gotten any viruses or Trojans or any of that stuff. If you want to get emails from them, you can sign up for notifications for when you get enough points to get something on your wish-list.
SO...now that I've spent 700 words talking about how awesome Swagbucks is, you probably want to know the cons too, right?
Well, the primary downside to Swagbucks is that the codes tend to expire rather quickly (usually only good for a few hours), and can be tricky to find. However, Swagbucks releases codes much more often than other GPT sites.
Some other cons are that most (not all, but a good majority) of their books and DVDs in the Swagstore require the user to have an iTunes account (they send the DVD/music to your email, and you download it in iTunes) or a Kindle (for books). I have neither of these, and I'll admit I'm a bit frustrated that 'To Kill a Mocking Bird' with Gregory Peck is in iTunes-only format.
My last con argument is the problem of an occasional overpriced item. I mean, a Fox News letter opener for 349 swagbucks when on sale?! You could just go to the Fox station and get one. Most of their prices are very fair, and especially since it's all free there's nothing to complain about. However, just beware that there are a small handful of items such as the above letter opener that are over-priced (or should I say, over-swagged?)
So with all that said, I’d highly recommend Swagbucks to anyone interested in GPT sites. It’s my number one choice. Thanks for taking the time to read my post! If you're interested in trying Swagbucks out, you can click here.
