Swagging in 2013 - Part 1

LucyA44

Hello Swaggers

I'm a bit of a lurker (and occasional poster), but I joined Swagbucks in December because of all you guys and have so far made about £50 which I'm dead chuffed about. However, today, I was snagging another £5 amazon voucher and it asked me for a text message or a postcard verifier rather than send me an email. Why has it done this? I don't have a smart phone and it therefore didn't like my ancient nokia phone so I had to tick the physical postcard box. How long do these take to come and why has it done this change all of a sudden. Am a wee bit confused...

Thanks muchly!

Lucy

purple.sarah

11/50 1 Swag buck for the Toolbar, 1 for the Daily Poll and 9 for searching:
missing 14 year old sheffield

Happi

LucyA44 wrote: »

Hello Swaggers

I'm a bit of a lurker (and occasional poster), but I joined Swagbucks in December because of all you guys and have so far made about £50 which I'm dead chuffed about. However, today, I was snagging another £5 amazon voucher and it asked me for a text message or a postcard verifier rather than send me an email. Why has it done this? I don't have a smart phone and it therefore didn't like my ancient nokia phone so I had to tick the physical postcard box. How long do these take to come and why has it done this change all of a sudden. Am a wee bit confused...

Thanks muchly!

Lucy

You don't need a smartphone just a phone capable of receiving a text message, they will send you a code, free of charge, you just need to put the code into your reward message.

Takes about 20 seconds.

miwa

I'm actually glad this topic has come up, I have some thoughts on it, feel free to ignore, refute or agree as you will. I might be repeating myself a bit too.

If you read complaints or comments around the web, you'll notice that the main reasons for account suspensions or bans are alleged multiple accounts from the same IP or using some kind of auto-player on SBTV. I sincerely doubt any of us use the latter, while the former is allowed in the TOS.

Swagbucks, as you said, is a subsidiary of Protege and their profits are in the tens to hundreds of millions of dollars. Swagbucks has over 8 million individual users, probably even more worldwide. According to various sources they have between 7 and 20 part-time and full-time employees, not including six members of the board of chairmen.

Swagbucks earns commission on what you do on their site, through affiliate marketing. This means if you complete a survey or an offer through them, they will get paid too. This counts for pretty much every aspect of their site - searching and all. Not to mention direct ad revenue.

The fact that Swagbucks choose to ban people willy-nilly should not come as a surprise with this information. There will always be more people to take your place as an earner for them. However, as for non-crediting offers/surveys and site errors, I do wonder how they expect to continue making a profit. They are alienating and frustrating users at home and abroad.

For me, Swagbucks is a consistent earner, and I earn more with them than I do with other similar sites. However, I am not thrilled with their business practices, especially customer service, and the unfair variation between those who can earn much on the site and those stuck with little - there seems little geographical or demographic-based reason for this discrepancy. I think you all know who I'm referring to here.

Will I stop using Swagbucks? Probably not. As I said, Swagbucks is a nice earner for me, but that does not mean I expect it to go on forever - likely I will be banned one day or another for an offense I haven't committed, or simply lose interest, or another reason for discontinuing that which has for me become a part of my daily routine.

As for Nick, I personally think he's a good guy, and he seems to be on our side, however, he can't really argue with his bosses - understandably. His job shouldn't entail error reporting on our behalf, because an error should be an exception, a 1%, and not a rule. I appreciate his work on the FB but he is no miracle worker.

As for advantages Americans have over us - it's understandable that they would get to beta test new features before we do, but I do think Swagbucks could throw us a bone now and then. From what I gather American users don't earn that much (I saw someone thrilled about earning 1k in a month - whereas I remember someone in this thread saying they earnt 500 SB in a single day) whereas us Brits have to simply earn more to even get the lowest denomination of voucher or Paypal.

Speaking of this thread, I think we should take care what we say here - I know for a fact none of us would sanction cheating, or anything like that, but we should be aware that this is a public forum and what we say and do can be viewed by others. I'm not saying stop the gonad searches or joking around - that's the best part! - but just be aware that Swagbucks are probably aware of us. This goes especially for those whose forum usernames are also their Swagbucks usernames. Don't feel paranoid, btw - but be aware.

My advice? I don't really have any, honestly. This is just a jumble of my thoughts. I am personally considering cutting down on SBTV, though I must stress I always use it correctly and well within the terms set out in Swagbucks TOU. Cutting down on it itself is a bit daunting, as SBTV is as it is for many people here, a crutch to help me to limp to the daily target, but if there is even a slim chance I might get banned for no reason because of it, then I will consider cutting down or not using it at all.

I know we all have our preferences for what denomination of voucher or payout to get, but to be safe make sure whatever amount you have in your account in any one day you would be ok with losing. £25 in points is a lot to some people, and if you're saving up for one of the bigger vouchers - well, just be aware, anything could happen, SB could go under any day like SuperPoints did, not to mention the shroud of random-ban talk I have heard about.

I'd just like to say, to anyone new here or lurking or thinking of getting into this site - it's hard work for an okay return, but don't expect to be raking in the cash just for searching or playing games. Swagbucks is not a charity, it's a business.

Happi

All the lurkers should show face, this thread is about sharing, good or bad!

silverfairy

LucyA44 wrote: »

Hello Swaggers

I'm a bit of a lurker (and occasional poster), but I joined Swagbucks in December because of all you guys and have so far made about £50 which I'm dead chuffed about. However, today, I was snagging another £5 amazon voucher and it asked me for a text message or a postcard verifier rather than send me an email. Why has it done this? I don't have a smart phone and it therefore didn't like my ancient nokia phone so I had to tick the physical postcard box. How long do these take to come and why has it done this change all of a sudden. Am a wee bit confused...

Thanks muchly!

Lucy

I think there was a blog post last year that indicated that everyone at some point would be asked to 'verify' their account this way.I had been a member over 3 years before I got it.I don't have a smart phone either but opting for verify by text just meant putting my mobile number in the box,then received an instant text message with a pin code in it to enter back on the site.I think that the 'postcard' is a virtual one which should show in your account within 7-10 days and will have the pin code number in it.

kat143

Miwa : here here !

LucyA44

Thank you all (and sorry for staying hidden). I did give my number, but I never got the text message so just assumed that it was because it wasn't a smart phone. I'll try again...

I'll try and contribute to the thread, but I'll be with the majority that is becoming increasingly infuriated with the lack of surveys/videos etc...

Thanks again!

Lucy

Happi

miwa i won't quote you, that was a long !!! post

Thanks though, you said what i wanted to say i'm just to lazy to post that many words!

miwa

Happi wrote: »

miwa i won't quote you, that was a long !!! post

Thanks though, you said what i wanted to say i'm just to lazy to post that many words!

Haha, yeah, I talk a lot, sorry about that.

I'm not condemning or praising Swagbucks, but certainly I've had my eyes opened with my own experiences and reading about the experiences of others.