swagbucks newbie- are surveys a scam?

skintpaul

Asking a lot of questions, to see if you 'qualify' to enter such and such..

has anyone passed through? Are they getting answers they were really after, for free?

joeyjimbles

You're not the first person to wonder this, and you won't be the last.

All surveys work on quotas. They start out quite broad eg. working people aged 24-50 all races living in the UK but within that there are subsets to ensure they are getting proper representation. As surveys continue to be completed then the quotas get filled up and eventually they are looking for a 48 year old woman in cardiff with 3 children who earns 100,000 and drives a mazda - I exaggerate to make the point of course.

The point is that as surveys have been around for a while then it takes you further into the survey before they discover you are not the person they wanted to complete it - probably because you said white and they needed one more to say black.

Survey companies do not take your info for free - at least not the reputable ones that work repeatedly. Unless you fit in their quotas your information is not useful to them, which is why they don't want to pay or have you complete the survey.

Of course, sometimes you will give them the full survey of info and it still won't pay you because the cookies didn't track you properly which is equally frustrating.

Incidentally, whilst swagbucks is a good site for some things you will find that you get better payment on other GPT sites for doing the same thing. There are lots of threads on this board about them all, including two excellent ones full of people who are experts on Swagbucks. Good luck.

Flyonthewall

As joeyjimbles says, they work on quotas and if you don't complete a survey your answers should just be discarded.

They are legit and thousands of people constantly pass the quotas, not only on Swagbucks but various survey sites.

I think as far as payments go, it can vary. It all depends what surveys you qualify for, what they're offering and how well the site tracks normally. You may find a GPT site that pays better but doesn't track half the time, therefore making another site better as they may offer a little less but have more chance of it tracking and being rewarded for it.

Also how they pay out may make a difference. Not only can different rewards vary in cost (e.g. an Amazon card may be less points to redeem than a Paypal reward), but some sites may offer rewards that others don't, making one site better than another.

Either way, Swagbucks surveys are not a scam.

Robo-787

Closed my Swagbucks account tonight as i found it to be rubbish. I smell spam, phishing etc and didn't trust it. To many questions about family and earnings and possessions.

Flyonthewall

Robo-787 wrote: »

Closed my Swagbucks account tonight as i found it to be rubbish. I smell spam, phishing etc and didn't trust it. To many questions about family and earnings and possessions.

You could have used Swagbucks and not done surveys. The site is legit and there are other ways to gain SB.

I don't do the daily survey now because to do so means filling out a form which is asking for things like DOB for the entire household and as it's me agreeing to do the surveys and about my opinions I don't want to give personal information on others. If they wanted an idea on ages they could have done age brackets.

Same kind of thing goes for other surveys on any site. If it's asking for information you're not comfortable in giving then don't do that survey.

I don't give my email address in surveys so can't get any spam. They don't usually ask for it anyway. They never normally ask for your address to be able to send spam in the post or for phone numbers to be able to call you. Never ask for a name either. The information you give can't possibly be used to spam you or for phishing.

The earnings is always just a rough idea, not the exact amount and there's almost always an option of don't know/prefer not to say.

Not sure what's wrong with asking about possessions? Not like they're going to be like, for example, "ooh, he's got an expensive TV, let's track him down and rob him". The system goes "they have a TV, let's ask about what shows they watch/TV service they have/TV channels they watch etc." and someone looking at the results is then able to see how people are using their TVs which (hopefully) helps them improve their business.

All survey sites are the same in regards to the types of questions they ask.

skintpaul

I feel they are baiting people with promise of some reward after doing a full survey', but they are actually getting answers to questions (the REAL survey), in the guise of 'pre-qualifying questions'..

Wizzbang

Wow, life must be tough when you are so cynical! Sorry, but as others have mentioned, these are just the standard pre-qualification questions. They're actually just trying to make sure they don't waste your time. Once you have completed a full survey, you do get rewarded- there's no scam about it.

pointsguy

When in doubt, just follow your gut-feel...

MollyDolly

I think Swagbucks is worst for paid surveys, a point doesn't even equal a cent - and then there is the conversion rate - I earn more for surveys on other sites. That said, I have just come back to Swagbucks after a year or so of hardly giving it a glance. I lost interest after they changed the site - I preferred it the way it was several years ago.

Good luck.:)

Flyonthewall

MollyDolly wrote: »

I think Swagbucks is worst for paid surveys, a point doesn't even equal a cent - and then there is the conversion rate - I earn more for surveys on other sites. That said, I have just come back to Swagbucks after a year or so of hardly giving it a glance. I lost interest after they changed the site - I preferred it the way it was several years ago.

Good luck.:)

"We also wanted to simplify the currency. We have shortened “Swag Bucks” to “SB”. But don’t worry, they still have the same great value: 100 SB = $1"

http://blog.swagbucks.com/2015/07/very-exciting-news.html

Not quite so great for countries outside of the US, we do lose a bit in the conversion, but it's the same with a lot of (if not all) US sites.

Over the last few years I'd say there have been more team challenges and swagcode days, plus they have the daily goal. They need to introduce more games again, but overall I'd say there's now more ways to earn than a few years back.

MollyDolly

Thanks for that - I always thought a SB was worth less than a cent. It is due to the Swagcodes being posted on here that I have taken it up again actually, and I find the 'watch' facility better than the old.:)