Swagbucks seems to be changing
By bostonphil
@bostonphil (4459)
United States
April 19, 2012 11:29am CST
I have been with swagbucks for over a year. Beginning with March Madness, I noticed a change and not for the better. I am earning much less swagbucks since March. Previously I was earning about $20 a month to PayPal. Now I am earning maybe $10 per month to PayPal. My earning have been cut in half. I seldom get a trusted survey and when I do, I almost never qualify. I have to do more searching to get a win and my wins have been mostly 7 or 8 bucks. Fewer codes have been out. I tried games and could never get a win after playing 5 games. I gave up. It has been like this since March.
Furthermore, I redeemed enough bucks to send $10 to PayPal eleven days ago and still have not gotten it. Previously it took about 7 or 8 days.
I know that many mylotters are also swagger. Have you noticed any changes in earnings? What about redeeming your rewards? Is it taking longer to get your reward?
I am wondering if swagbucks has been sold and we swaggers were not told. Or if the owners are still the same owners, are they trying to max profits or have they run into a cash flow problem?
Something has definitely changed.
1 person likes this
10 responses
@xYuureiHiei (3)
• United States
20 Apr 12
I've noticed the changes as well. I think that Swagbucks is trying to get more people to shop online through their partners and such, because I've seen more trials and offers popping up offering between 50-1000 swagbucks if you order through one of their partners. I've also noticed that it's getting a lot harder to 'win' swagbucks through searching. I use the toolbar as my regular search engine, but before March Madness came around, I was averaging about 5-10 swagbucks every few hours that I needed to search for something. It's definitely odd.
1 person likes this
@bostonphil (4459)
• United States
20 Apr 12
It is definitely harder to win swagbucks through searching. I easily got triples every day and sometimes quads before March Madness. I had low wins sometimes but also some high wins. During March Madness, I often could not even get doubles. It has improved to where I am getting doubles or triples but my wins are mostly very low like 7 or 8 swagbucks.
I was able to complete one or two Trusted Surveys every week before March Madness. Since March Madness began, I have only been able to complete three Trusted Surveys total. During March Madness, one of my daily total amounts was only 23 swagbucks. That was from morning to night. That was the lowest I have ever gotten in over a year.
Things have improved for me since March Madness has ended but my earnings are not even close to what it was before March Madness began. During March Madness, it seems that swagbucks steered its members towards third party offers under special offers.
@bostonphil (4459)
• United States
20 Apr 12
Well, I just went and did a swagbucks search and won 11 bucks. That is my biggest win in days, if not weeks. Swagbucks is a good site but before March Madness, it was a great site. Something changed but maybe the site will change back.
@lampar (7584)
• United States
19 Apr 12
My swagbuck is deactivated two days ago, the only reason i got is that i broke the rule of the site without knowing the exact one from the admin., email to the admin. get no reply at all, it had been this way since last year, one incident happened to me is that when i cashed out with some of my S.buck with Paypal but receive no credit at all in my Paypal account but my total swagbuck was deducted for the exchange, and my question to the Admin. remain unanswered after about a year. I assume this site has turned into scam where they want to take advantage of my 8,000 swagbuck i presently held in my account, that is why they had my account banned. You are right, they may have changing bacause of cash flow problem, by banning long time member like me they get to save a lot from their big balance that was built up from many years, I had been a member in the past four years, all my S.bucks are gone forever now. 
@lampar (7584)
• United States
20 Apr 12
I was thinking of exchange my S.buck with certain item in the Sshop, until i reach that amount around 14,000 Sbuck, i can't buy it. That is why i have so much accumulated over the years. It is a waste of time after the change of ownership, the new admin. decided to just banned the long term member to avoid paying, it is frustrating to me.
@bostonphil (4459)
• United States
20 Apr 12
Why did you have 8,000 swagbucks? Why did you not redeem some of them sooner?
I have only been on swagbucks a little over a year. I loved the site and I still like the site but the number of swagbucks that I have been earning has gone down considerably since March. The month of March was really bad for me. Things have improved since the end of March Madness but it has never gotten as good as before March Madness.
@schulzie (4061)
• United States
19 Apr 12
I don't know. It's been fine for me. I still am doing surveys and doing searches, etc. I have been able to cash in for my 5 $5.00 Amazon.com gift certificates every month. Just hang in there. I consistently have been getting those 2 Swag Bucks for playing games too. And the SBTV.
Prizes have been fulfilled in a timely manner for me too. I really don't know but for me it's been ok.
Have a nice day and happy myLotting!!!
1 person likes this
@bostonphil (4459)
• United States
20 Apr 12
I plan to stay on swagbucks. I plan to continue all that I do before March Madness but I may not spend as much time on as I did before March Madness.
I got my $10 to PayPal today.
@Lucky12 (767)
• United States
19 Apr 12
Actually it takes 7 to 14 days to get your money. Yeah swagbucks is making a few changes to their stuff, but I have not really noticed nothing, but the site change really. Looks like they have a new look going for them. I have gotten more earnings if anything. Like I can search and get like 10 swag bucks, that is more than I was getting before. Hmm I am not sure what is going on though. Just keep swagging and see what happens.
Good Luck :)
1 person likes this
@bostonphil (4459)
• United States
20 Apr 12
I plan to keep on swaging. That is not going to change but I may not swag as much. Swagbucks was one of my top and favorite sites. I still like the site but now it is among my good and average sites.
@maezee (41997)
• United States
19 Apr 12
I dont' do the surveys or trade-ins or watch the videos, but I do the searching and that's about it. I usually make about $5 a month and that's it, with me and my referrals' earnings. Ever since they changed the value of a Swagbuck, which I know was a while ago, but it used to be like 45 or something to cash out for $5 in PayPal, but I feel like ever since they made it "$700" or whatever amount of Swagbucks, earnings have been a lot slower.
1 person likes this
@bostonphil (4459)
• United States
20 Apr 12
It takes 700 swagbucks to earn $5 to PayPal and a little over 1300 to earn $10 to PayPal. I do a lot of different things on swagbucks. Before March Madness, I earned $5 PayPal about every 8 days and about $10 PayPal once every two weeks. Now it is taking me three or four weeks to earn $10 to PayPal.
I am not going to quit swagbucks but I will not be spending as much time on it unless it goes back to being as productive as it was before March Madness.
@much2say (53958)
• Los Angeles, California
20 Apr 12
It's possible. But I haven't noticed any significant changes simply because I haven't been on there regularly like I used to. I go there when I am able these days - so I certainly don't make earn enough swagbucks to grab my rewards. When I first started, I did notice I was able to make it to at least $25 worth of gift cards for a couple months - and then I wasn't getting enough offers or surveys like you said. These days I am lucky to get one gift card per month! I will say swagbucks has been good about getting out the rewards in time - but maybe things have changed?? It's always possible things are changing. Some sites have left the scene entirely, but I hope Swagbucks keeps existing - I love it!
1 person likes this
@bostonphil (4459)
• United States
20 Apr 12
I got my $10 to PayPal almost immediately after posting my discussion. I feel embarrassed. I do not want to start rumors. It was only taking 7 or 8 days. This time it took 11 days and given the change in my earnings, I began to get a little nervous.
I loved swagbucks before March Madness. I like it now but I am less happy since March Madness. I plan to continue swaging but I am not going to spend as much time on the site if my earnings do not pick up.
@sdmoonchild (731)
• United States
20 Apr 12
I have not noticed anything. I just do the daily polls and searches, though. I have yet to figure out where to get the codes even. I have been with them for the same length of time as you. Have you emailed them about your payment?
@sdmoonchild (731)
• United States
21 Apr 12
I have only made a few redemptions because I am trying to save them for a larger paypal payment. But yes I have noticed that the few times that I have tried the surveys, I have never qualified. Maybe they did change ownership or something.
@bostonphil (4459)
• United States
20 Apr 12
Well, it is not just my problem. There has been a definite change at sawbucks beginning with March Madness. Some swaggers are doing better and some the same. But some of us are doing worse. I am one of those. How often do you redeem your bucks and for what? I would earn most of my bucks through searching and trusted surveys. Of course I did other things also. But my search wins are low and not very frequent and I have been unable to complete very few trusted surveys since March Madness began.
@Nameless_ (1180)
• Australia
29 Apr 12
It changed ages ago when they changed the system so that you earn 10X more the amount of swagbucks, so for 1 SB you get 10 SB when you search. THey claim faster payout but its actually to degrade the value of a SB, where the daily poll which is 1 SB is actually worth 0.1 SB in the old system.
However I only used it since two months ago, so I don't have much of a complaint. I still get $25 a month, but I know it used to be more. And I never get the codes. :P nOR qualify for any survey
@bostonphil (4459)
• United States
29 Apr 12
I am new to swagbucks being on the site just over a year. I earn just a little over $10 every month and am really happy with that.
How do you get $25 a month? Is it from referrals? How long have you been on swagbucks? Is it better now or not as good as when you first joined or years ago?
I love the site but I noticed that my earnings went down when March Madness began. It seemed to me that a lot of opportunities to earn were withheld and that swagbucks was trying to steer members towards third party sites. But things are returning to normal, for me.
@savemoney4familyfun (162)
• United States
19 Apr 12
i have noticed that its taking longer to get paid but i been getting more bucks than i did before , i emailed them about the cash out they said that it could take up to 21 days i cashed out a few weeks ago for $5 got it fast then cashed out about 12 days ago and have not got it yet so yes that did change and i am almost ready to cash out again..i also belong to another great paying site but by invite only i cashed out last week for $10 got it 3 days later and am getting ready to cash out for $5 its so easy push a button
1 person likes this
@bostonphil (4459)
• United States
19 Apr 12
Well, I got my $10 to PayPal. It happened soon after posting this discussion.
The site does say to allow 15 business days (21 days) for money to go to PayPal but it usually has only taken 5 or 6 business days (7 or 8 days) in the past. This time it took 8 or so business days and (11 days). I bet that you will get your reward today or tomorrow.
I had been spending about one to two hours on swagbucks every day earning about 80 bucks a day as a an average. During March Madness, I was only averaging about 40 bucks a day. My situation has improved since March Madness ended but has never come back to speed. I now spend less time on swagbucks and more the on other sites.
@rewardsinlife (1132)
• United States
19 Apr 12
I agree I have also noticed a change in the amount of codes coming out an available 'bucks' to go around. I have only ordered one thing a while back in the fall of last year and it came right away. I have been 'saving up' my points for something bigger, but now with this post, I might be checking into that store sooner than later if it is going down hill. I never qualified for those surveys so I gave up on that and follow my own 'ritual' every morning to make the most points. I do the search, polls, and noso. Sometimes, if I want more I will do some free offers to get up my points a little, but I only average about 15 a day for 5 min. of work.
1 person likes this
@bostonphil (4459)
• United States
19 Apr 12
Guess what. I just got my $10 to PayPal. No sooner did I post this discussion than my $10 was sent to PayPal. Do you think that a staff member from swagbucks read my mylot discussion? Still it did take three days longer than usual.
I was spending a lot of time on swagbucks like an hour to two hours every day but I was very satisfied with my earnings. I have cut back on the amount of time that I spent on swagbucks.
There has been a definite change in swagbucks since March. I am just wondering why.
