Swagbucks UK: The Ultimate Guide to Earning CASH and VOUCHERS with Swagbucks

Swagbucks is a popular ‘get paid to’ website. It is based in California in the United States but has had a UK presence for some time. Swagbucks UK doesn’t have as many opportunities for earning as the US site, but there’s still plenty of ways to earn.

You can get paid gift cards for doing a variety of things. These include watching videos, doing surveys and getting cash back on things you’d buy anyway.

In this ULTIMATE guide to Swagbucks we look whether it’s worth it and how to maximise your earnings.

Is Swagbucks UK worth the time and effort?

In this guide we will show you how to easily make £20 per month in gift cards or PayPal using the UK version of Swagbucks. You can earn money whilst do other things in many ways (as you’ll find out about), whereas others need your full attention.

Some seasoned money makers scoff at Swagbucks. They criticise it for not paying much given the time your need to put in.  We agree that the return on your time can be low – it can still be worthwhile if you approach it in the right way.

Swagbucks is worth it if you concentrate on the higher return-on-time tasks.  You can also get bonuses for completing daily tasks an reaching targets. And Swagbucks runs periodic offers to encourage you to do more, such as its spin on Bingo and Team Challenges.

To work out whether Swagbucks in the UK is worth it for you, ask yourself: What could I earn if I spent my time doing something else?

Swagbucks is also a really good way of earning cash and gift cards quickly. That’s deal if you need to build up a fund for matched betting, blogging, or other investments.

Join Swagbucks Today! Start earning money TODAY with Swagbucks.

Is Swagbucks a scam?

NO! Swagbucks is not a scam! It has paid out over £163 MILLION since it launched. Alas we’ve only seen a tiny fraction of that at Cash Pie. I’ve personally received over £1000 over a few years – in Amazon UK gift cards, but also in CASH (via PayPal or a pre-paid digital credit card).

Swagbucks does, however, rely upon partners to provide surveys and offers. You might have problems with some surveys, or completion of tasks are not reported back to Swagbucks.

This means that you can miss earnings which should be yours. Swagbucks will usually credit your points if you contact them about errors.

Is Swagbucks legit?

Yes, Swagbucks is legitimate.  It lets you earn gift cards or cash for doing surveys, tasks, searching the web, playing games and getting cash back when you buy things online.

Swagbucks earning counts as taxable income – however, you do not ned to pay any tax on the first £1000 that you you make being self employed – this is called your ‘trading allowance’. It’s unlikely that you’ll earn more than this each year from Swagbucks alone.

Can you make a living on Swagbucks?

No, you wouldn’t be able to make a living on Swagbucks alone – but it’s a fantastic way to top up other income streams.  Typically, you might make £20-30 per month with Swagbucks, with dedicated Swagbuckers earning much more. Of course, this is in gift cards – use these to buy things that you would anyway to realise the CASH reward.

Is Swagbucks worth the time?

Yes, we think that Swagbucks is worth the time – but only if you’re smart about it. Concentrate on the higher earning or ‘quick win’ ways to earn, and maximise bonuses (such as your Daily Goal, Swago, To-Do list and Team Challenges).

Doing this can make Swagbucks worth the time when you do it alongside other earning opportunities.

How do I make money on Swagbucks UK?

When you do something on Swagbucks you receive points which you can save up and redeem for gift cards. These points are called ‘swagbucks’ (hence the name!).

There are lots of ways to earn Swagbucks on the UK site. This table shows what you can typically earn for just a few minutes of your time each day:

Read on to find out how to do this…

Answer Surveys

Answering surveys can be one of the highest ways to earn with Swagbucks – and one of the most frustrating.

Surveys come from two main sources – Gold Surveys, and Peanut Labs.  The survey panels give you the estimated time to complete and the value (in Swagbucks) of each survey. Gold Surveys lets you sort the available surveys by the number of Swagbucks that you’ll get for completing them.

Swagbucks will only credited you the full amount if you qualify for and complete a survey.  Gold Surveys will give you 1 SB for the first five surveys that you are disqualified from. Peanut Labs give a similar reward for disqualifications. It’s scant consolation for your time, but better than nothing! These 1SB mount up and contribute towards your daily goals (see below for more on this).

Shop – Get Cash back from Shops which you’d use anyway

You can get cash back on things that you buy from eCommerce stores which are listed in the Swagbucks UK store. There are many UK stores listed, including many high street favourites.

The cash back amounts vary depending upon the retailer. It could be as little as 1 SB per pound spent, or more.  It’s an effortless way to earn SB to redeem for gift cards.

Generally you will get a better return by using dedicated UK cash back websites, such as TopCashBack or Quidco. However, there are occasionally good cash back offers with Swagbucks, or offers which are not available at other cash back sites.

If you decide to make Swagbucks your default cash back website then consider linking your payment card, so that you can receive cash back for spending offline, too.

Never buy something just for the cash back – find the cheapest price, and then see if the store is in the Swagbucks shop section.

Search (and Collectors Bills)

Using Swagbucks as your search engine is one of the easiest ways to earn!

Swagbucks has partnered with Yahoo! Search (which in turn is powered by Bing). Swagbucks are randomly awarded when you make searches.

You can make searches by visiting the Swagbucks website, or by defaulting your browser to use the Swagbucks Search engine.

You will typically get anything from 3 SB to 15 SB for a search win. Sometimes you can get a much bigger win of 25 SB or 40 SB, for example, but this is rarer.

When you get a search win you will need to enter a code to make sure that’s it’s really you using the search engine, not a robot! The code is case sensitive, so make sure that it matches exactly.

Search wins sometimes complete a square in a game of Swago, and they can be useful when you are just a few swagbucks away from reaching your daily goal.

ESTIMATED EARNINGS: 150 SB per month

Discover

Swagbucks has partnered with several other companies offering rewards in return for completing tasks. These are available in the Discover section. Each company page is called an ‘offer wall’.

Each offer wall has several  ways to earn, with varying rewards for them. Some are cash back offers – you will receive swagbucks as cash back when you buy something via the offer wall. Others are free, such as for signing up to a newsletter.

You will need to do a Discover task to complete your Daily To-Do List. There are usually free tasks which will get you 1 SB (enough to mark off the Discover task).

*** JULY 2018 UPDATE: No-cost Swagbucks UK Discover Tasks ***

Current free discover tasks include:

•  OfferToro – 1 Click – Flight Search/Compare Panda Flights/Flight Haggle Compare – Click through to the offer site, and click the square flight banner advert. Complete a flight search (e.g. Heathrow to LA) and click on one of the prices. You’ll be taken to an airline site where you can book the flight. You should be credited with 1 SB for clicking through from the search.
• AdscendMedia – Videos – Several Smores.tv and EngageMe.tv videos. Earn 1 SB for every 6 videos (and adverts) that you view. Lots to choose from, including food, entertainment and travel.

ESTIMATED EARNINGS: 100 SB per month

Play Games

That’s right – you can earn points for playing games on Swagbucks UK!

My favourite is Swagasaurus Run, a simple scrolling ‘run and jump’ platform game. When you launch the game, your Swagasaurus character will automatically run to the right. The only control you have is to jump – click your mouse or press space to do this.

The game ends when you hit an obstacle – a plant or sleeping dinosaur. It also ends if you run off the end of one of the platforms – you must jump over the gaps between them. You can gain extra height and distance when you jump by clicking or pressing space whilst you are mid-jump. This takes a bit of practice to get the timing right.

You supposedly get 2 SB for every other game that you play. Realistically you may need to play a few more rounds, but it doesn’t normally take long.

You can earn up to 10 SB per day and can be a very useful contribution to your daily target.

ESTIMATED EARNINGS: 300 SB per month

Watch Videos

Watching videos is o to earn ne of the easier ways to earn Swagbucks because you can usually do other things at the same time. There are also several ways to watch Swagbucks videos which you can do at the same time.

Swagbucks UK Apps

Swagbucks has a series of 6 apps :

• SB TV (Swagbucks Television)
• EntertaiNOW
• Lifestylz.tv
• Sportly.tv
• Moviecli.ps
• Indymusic.tv

Each app typically lets you earn 10 SB per day, just for watching videos. These videos are typically film trailers, lifestyle tips and music videos. Between videos, Swagbucks may play a short advertisement.

The videos automatically move on to the next, so you don’t need to tap through each one.

You can save your favourite videos in a playlist. The smart way to run these apps is to find the shortest video that you can, save it as a favourite, and loop through it. To save your phone battery turn the brightness down to the minimum. You may also want to mute media audio whilst they’re playing, too!

Occasionally a video or advert might ‘stick’. If this happens you may need to tap the ‘Next’ button.

Remember that videos will use up any data allowance that you have. We always suggest running the apps on WiFi to avoid using your more expensive mobile data. If you aren’t already on an unmetered broadband or fibre package then consider moving over to one.

ESTIMATED EARNINGS: 1800SB per month

*** STOP PRESS – JULY 2018 UPDATE – SWAGBUCKS UK APP REWARDS ***

App rewards for Swagbucks UK have PLUMMETED from 10 SB to 4 SB per app, per day. The Swagbucks TV app still gives 10 SB per day.

Is it still worth it? It’s getting to the point where it’s not. If you need to reach a daily target or are close to a payout threshold, then carry on. We don’t suggest that you use the apps long-term, however.

ESTIMATED EARNINGS: 900SB per month

Daily Poll

The Daily Poll is a single-question poll that takes literally seconds to do. You will receive 1SB each time you complete it, and that counts towards your daily goal.

It’s also one of the steps towards completing your to-do list, which will give you further bonus SB.

ESTIMATED EARNINGS: 30 SB per month

Bonus Swagbucks

Swagbucks UK offers regular bonuses which can help boost your earnings. Some of these are credited daily, some monthly, and some are offers which occasionally run.

You can sometimes ‘stack’ the bonus offers to take full advantage. Doing a survey can get you bonus points during a survey boost or cross-off a square on a Swago board, and contribute towards your To-do list and Daily Goal.

To-Do List

Everyday Swagbucks gives you a list of tasks to complete. You will receive bonus SB for completing all or most of the list. C0mpleting 5 steps will give you a bonus of around 3 or 4 SB. Completing the list will give you up to 10 bonus SB. These vary every day.

These are usually the same each day, and include:

• Daily Poll
• Daily Crave
• Deal of the Day
• Daily Search
• Daily Watch
• Attempt a Gold Survey
• Complete a Gold Survey
• Daily Discover

You only need to click through to the Deal of the Day – you don’t need to complete the deal. Likewise, you don’t need to get a ‘search win’ – just click on the Daily Search link.

Daily Watch is usually best achieved by using the Swagbucks apps (see the Swagbucks Apps section). You can do it via the Swagbucks Watch playlists – although these are often ‘buggy’ and unreliable. Another more reliable way to do it is to use the ‘Swagbutton’ Watch secction.

Attempting and completing Gold Surveys is straightforward – although note that Peanut Labs surveys usually qualify for survey completion.

Completing the Daily Discover task is usually easy. Swagbucks UK however does not have as many Discover opportunities as its US counterpart. Sometimes Discover offer walls do not have any quick and easy tasks which you can use.

Most of the time you can find a simple Flight search offer for 1 SB, or watch a video. These offers do change over time.

ESTIMATED EARNINGS: 150 SB per month

Daily Goals

Every day Swagbucks gives you two Daily Goals. Reaching each one qualifies you for a daily bonus.

You will receive even more bonus SB by reaching your first daily goal several days in a row. The typical bonus for these ‘winning streaks’ is:

You don’t get either your daily goal bonus or the winning streak bonus straight away. You must claim the total bonuses that you have built up over a month. These can be claimed a few days into the following month. If you have put together a full monthly streak then your total bonus could be around 700 SB to 800 SB – an extra £5 on top of your earnings.

Daily Goals can get harder to reach as you build up streaks. Starting out your Daily Goal will be around 40SB, but can be upwards of 200 SB if you are doing well. Generally your Daily Goal bonuses will be higher as your target gets higher.

ESTIMATED EARNINGS: From 100 SB to 800+ SB per month

Survey Boosts

Swagbucks gives you BONUS points for completing surveys from time to time. Super-charged surveys are promoted on the homepage and in the survey section. You have a limited time to complete surveys with bonus SB. Make sure that you complete the surveys before the offer expires if you intend to take advantage!  Boosts are a fantastic way of getting to a gift card redemption more quickly.

Swagbucks shows the extra SB alongside the standard reward. in this example, the bonus is an extra 20%:

Swago Boards

Swago is Swagbucks’ take on Bingo. Each square contains a task – mark each square off as you complete a task. A line, square or full house will give you up to 300 SB as a bonus, on top of the swagbucks that you get for completing the tasks.

See our Swago guide for how you can get the most out of the game.

Spin and Win

Swago square usually give you free spins on Swagbuck’s ‘Wheel of Fortune’. Prizes vary from between 1 and 10 SB, double SB on your next survey completion or search win, and – as is most common – free entries into one of the sweepstakes that are currently running.

You might get as many as 60 spins when after a Swago board is completed. It’s worth doing the spins, and you might just get a big win towards a gift card!

Swagbucks Rewards: what can I get – and which should I get?

Swagbucks UK has its own rewards store. You can redeem SB for a range of gift cards, PayPal payments, or credit for a pre-paid Mastercard. You can also exchange your SB for a donation to one of the listed charities – lovely if you’d like to do that, but that’s probably not why you’re here!

So which is best out of a gift card, PayPal payment and Mastercard credit? Well, it depends on your situation:

• If you are building up a Financial Freedom Fund, then go for PayPal. The others might give you a better return for your SB, but PayPal payments can be transferred directly into your bank account. In turn, you can
• If you use Swagbucks UK to help with your day-to-day living expenses, then the Mastercard reward is worth it. You can spend it online anywhere that you can use a Mastercard, which is pretty much anywhere! Note that you can’t spend it in a real-life store, though.
• If you’re going to spend money at one of the online stores which gift cards are available for, then go for the gift card option. They’re usually the best value of all the rewards. Remember that stores can go out of business, though, and the cards can only be used online.

What will you spend your gift cards on?!

Sign up to Swagbucks NOW and start earning gift cards for your Christmas kitty, treats or to help with everyday living costs. Whenever you use a gift card to buy something that you’d have bought anyway, you’ll be saving CASH.