Swagbucks

Swagbucks is an online survey and membership site where you can sign up to complete offers and surveys for cash (sent by PayPal) or gift cards. After you sign up and complete a few surveys, you can sign up for the Swagbucks Member Recognition program, which increases the types of rewards you can get.

Personal Experience:

Personally I started doing online surveys as a side hustle after realizing I needed more money to help cover my monthly expenses. I had already started a side hustle before that required interaction with customers, which is something I was hoping to avoid. I was looking for something that was simple and could be done quickly when I had a few minutes here or there to use. After looking for a reputable site and trying a few other survey sites, I decided to use Swagbucks. At the start I did a few surveys here or there, and slowly started to make a little extra. Overtime restrictions and the decrease of rewards as well as other factors caused be to highly decrease the amount of surveys that I do. Eventually leading me to stop entirely out of frustration.

Profitability:

Profitability of surveys is relatively low. Survey rewards are paid in Swagbucks which can be redeemed for gift cards and PayPal cash. However 1 SB is the equivalent to 1 cent. So the typical survey may reward 75 SB for 15 minutes, but over the course of the hour assuming you do not get rejected for not fitting the demographic or other rejecting factors, you could earn $3.00 per hour, using the above example. Now this is a very low amount to make per hour, if you were doing this continuously. But there are deals on gift cards for varying percentages off the original price which could stretch your earnings. Factoring in the discounts in gift cards that are available depending on what type of gift cards that you are looking for, a 20% off discount can be very appealing. However not everyone chooses this option, and as stated earlier, others opt to cashout via PayPal. There is nothing wrong with this because PayPal is essentially the most versatile, since it can be used to purchase anything it is valuable. But you may not be able to shake the feeling that its a lot of work for a little cash. But overall they are very low.

Pros and Cons:

Pros: Very convenient, Can be done from smartphone, tablet and laptop/desktop, Payout structure and layout is very clear

Cons: Not scalable, Low dollar per hour output, Very very time consuming, Can compromise your privacy or information you share

Would I recommend it:

Similar to other side hustles you get what you put in. This can be a very time consuming side hustle for a low amount of pay. One thing to keep in mind is that since you will be sharing information, you will have less online privacy. I would recommend that you look for a side hustle that scales more and that has a higher financial reward. While you may make some quick cash, its not scalable and is not worth hours and hours of time. If you do have a high amount of free time I would recommend focusing on a side hustle that will allow you to scale up and be more passive so that you won’t have to be actively involved in the work of it. But if you’re riding the bus or light rail on a commute and you don’t have anything else to do. This can be a cheap and quick way to monetize your quick commute.