Okay, people, it seems that Swagbucks is just desperate to give you free stuff. Here are two new offers to prove it:
Make money with some tunes
Right now, you can pay just $0.99 for three months of Spotify Premium, the no-ads version of the famous streaming service. Normally, that’d set you back $29.97, for a “savings” of $28.98.
Why the quotation marks? Well, if you weren’t initially interested in Spotify Premium, it’s not really savings. And a central tenet of frugality is that you have to know when you’re actually saving.
But even if you don’t “save” money, you’ll still make a profit on this deal.
When you sign up for the trial, you’ll get 500 SBs. That’s enough for a $5 gift card. So just like that, you’re up $4.01. Hard to argue with that, no?
The fine print (which I prefer to blow up to normal-size print):
- You have to be a new user of the premium service. You can already have a Spotify account.
- You can only use this offer once. (Don’t try to game the system, people. You’re better than that.)
- If you cancel your order, your SBs may be revoked.
Before you ask, I couldn’t find clarification on the last one. You can always email Swagbucks for more information, but I think it just means that you can’t sign up and immediately cancel.
In other words, give it a little time. Enjoy your free music and $4.01 profit. Then decide whether Spotify Premium is worth $9.99.
Not a Swagbucks member? Help out the blog by signing up with my referral link.
Get an extra 33% back on GC purchases
Swagbucks recently rolled out MyGiftCardsPlus, which gives you cash back when you buy stores’ GCs. And it’s really encouraging you to take advantage.
Between December 7th and 15th, you’ll get a bonus 100 SBs when you buy your first gift card on the MGC+ site.
Not impressive enough? Well, how about almost 1/3 more SBs on all GC purchases? Yeah, now I’ve got your attention.
There are plenty of stores you might use, from restaurants to retailers. As an example, I chose Sears for reasons I’ll get to in a minute.
Sears offers 3% cash back, which means:
- 75 SBs for a $25 GC
- 25 SBs with the extra 33%
- 100 SBs for first purchase bonus
That’s a total of 200 SBs on a $25 purchase, which means you’re getting 8% back. Oh, and…
Make money using those gift cards
As I’ve explained in the past, you can sometimes get cash back when you shop with GCs. As in, some stores will give you cash back even on the amount you pay for with a gift card. Sears and Sephora are two examples.
Many other stores will give you cash back for whatever you pay out of pocket.
If you want to use GCs on purchases, I’d use Ebates or FatWallet. If your order doesn’t generate cash back automatically, those two sites will credit you for your out-of-pocket outlay. (Unless it’s explictly stated that GC redemption voids your rebate.) The other rewards/cash back sites are more up in the air on the issue.
What do you think of these deals? Have you used cash back/rewards sites with gift cards?
The title of the post was pretty tempting and I quickly read through to the part where you started talking about the ‘profit’ you can make on the deal, and the party balloon kind of started leaking air when I saw that all you make is a little over $4. Not sure if it’s worth all of that because there are plenty of free online music services.
fehmeen @ Debt Free Lifestyle recently posted…Credit Counseling – Services, Upside and Downside
Sorry to disappoint. I think $4 is pretty good for what should be 5 minutes or less of work.
* You open an account: username, password, email, confirm email, date of birth, male/female. Or to make it really easy, sign in with Facebook.
* Choose to upgrade, which means entering a credit card number.
* Cancel up to 90 days later, which literally just involves clicking on “Subscription” then “Cancel My Subscription” then entering your password.
Maybe you’re right…
fehmeen @ Debt Free Lifestyle recently posted…Credit Counseling – Services, Upside and Downside
Sounds like a good deal, although I haven’t really gotten into Swagbucks. It’s on my list of things to do but I keep forgetting!
Holly@ClubThrifty recently posted…One Simple Trick to Help You Stay On Budget All Month Long
Well, you have an awful lot on your list. So I think that’s understandable. But it’s an awesome program. And hey, even if you don’t use it a lot, your dedicated readers might sign up and earn a bunch for you!
You’re inspiring me to check out SB. Very persuasive!
Haha, hard to argue with free, right?
I still know nothing about Swagbucks, I have to check it out. I think $4 is great for something that only takes a few minutes. I’m a fan of these things because the savings add up and it’s minimal effort!!
Kristin recently posted…Online Income Report and Traffic Views for November
Yep, those savings add up fast. Just ask our saved savings account, which is where we put money when we use Amazon GCs.
I keep forgetting to log into Swagbucks! I did something similar recently with my Sun Country Airlines card. You could get 25,000 miles for signing up for a 1 month subscription to the premium version of Lifelock. After month 1 you would be charged $30 every month, and if you cancelled within the first 30 days you get no miles. Well, I kept it for a little over 1 month (in addition to the free trial period) and then cancelled. So all I had to do was deal with annoying sales/customer service rep on the phone and I was able to gain a bunch of miles – Vegas here I come! 😉
DC @ Young Adult Money recently posted…How I Got a Book Deal
Wow, that’s a lot of miles! And when I do sign up for trial periods, I mark up the calendar in three places to cancel. One on the last day, one three days before that and one more about a week before that.
This means that, even as I see the note on the calendar and put it off, I still have plenty of time to get it done.
I can’t be bothered with SwagBucks, but I might sign up for the 99 cent Spotify. I don’t have a smartphone, but at least with the Premium version I could use it somewhere other than on my desktop, like on my iPod around the house .
Norm recently posted…Japan Trip, Part 2: Kyoto
Hey, as long as you get something from deal, I’ve done my job.
Unfortunately, I’ve been a Spotify Premium customer for over a year, so I’m ineligible for the deal (I listen to music so often that people know I’ve got a migraine if it’s silent). I will be taking advantage of the cash back on gift cards. I tend to stick them in stockings to avoid them being completely pragmatic and food oriented (my other stocking gifts tend towards being very dull- AAA renewals, Costco renewal, sewing kits, first aid kits intermixed with an orange for the toe, nuts, and enough sugar to render a 5 year old sick of candy).
I dunno, it sounds like your stockings are pretty cool to me. Then again, I’m in the throes of a bad sugar craving, so…
I love Swagbucks! It’s not meant to be a side hustle nor a full-time job, it’s more like pocket money. I cash out my sb credits for Amazon gift cards and I use them on books, movies, and even on lame stuff like tools and disposable kitchen gloves (for when I cook with chicken and beef). It’s hard to get excited about tools and gloves but sometimes you need them. =)
Jaime recently posted…Why frugality is fabulous
Yeah, I did a whole post awhile ago bemoaning how adult and boring our Amazon GCs (courtesy of Swagbucks) had gotten. We had been using them for collectibles and clothing and such. Now it’s usually razors or toilet paper or other household stuff. Bo-ring! But useful.