InboxDollars
InboxDollars is the first earning site I found. At the time they were the only ones who would send you a check for cold, hard cash. Now that they offer PayPal, I can get the money even faster. Earning options include taking surveys, watching videos, opening email offers, searching the web, shopping online and even playing games!
Surveys pay between .25 and $2.00. They tell you up front the time and payment, so I generally try the ones that have a better pay to time ratio. It often takes several attempts to find a survey you qualify for and this site doesn’t offer much for disqualifications. I have rarely had a problem getting credited for a survey, but it can happen. It’s a good practice to write down the survey number before you start, just in case there’s a problem. But honestly, I generally don’t bother!
Watching videos on InboxDollars has just recently become a much faster way to earn. You can set up the videos to continue running while you eat lunch or do other tasks near your computer.
I typically start by opening any email offers that show up. Two cents for 30 seconds! It does pay to actually look at the emails which can have some great offers. Recently they offered $15 to sign up for Stash, an online investment app that is totally legit and reputable. On the other hand, there are some offers that look like click bait, in which case I click then close immediately.
Searching the web on InboxDollars earns you “Scratch and Win” progress. Searching 4 days out of the week gets you a nickel bonus. You can do your online shopping through this site, but it’s worth comparing the cash back percentage to other sites. I’ve never been big into video games, but I enjoy the word and memory games on InboxDollars.
MyPoints
MyPoints has also been around for many years. Instead of paying cents for activities, they pay points. If you redeem those points for gift certificates of at least $10, then one cent is about one and a half points. MyPoints offers physical or virtual gift cards, including PayPal. This site pays for taking surveys, watching videos and shopping online. They also offer games, but an upfront payment is necessary.
A unique feature of MyPoints is monthly goal setting. If you reach the number of surveys, videos, etc that you submit as your plan, you will get a bonus the next month. Surveys and videos pay at about the same amount once you calculate points to cash.
Swagbucks
Swagbucks offers more earning opportunities than either InboxDollars or MyPoints. Though they pay in “swagbucks” it’s a one to one conversion on cents to swagbucks. If you redeem those swagbucks for a gift certificate rather than a PayPal deposit, you will get a discount. So a $25 gift card would cost only 2200 points, not 2500, a very good value.
Swagbucks offers surveys, multiple types of videos to watch, online shopping, and web search opportunities. Web searches are paid out on a random basis. You may not earn for searching most days but then receive 5 to 24 or more swagbucks for a search.
Additionally, Swagbucks has daily swag codes, and pays a bonus when you complete your daily to do-list. So I always try to finish the to-do list which is found on the left when you scroll down. The one to-do item that’s more difficult to get is “Discover.” You can find free offers in the Discover section that qualify, but the video “Take A Discovery Break” under Sponsored Videos is what I rely on most days.
Once or twice a month, they offer a Swaggo game board or Team Challenge that can earn bigger bonuses. And they now have a Swagbucks Live Trivia game.
Apps
Each of these sites offers a mobile app. I honestly have never tried the MyPoints app. Swagbucks offers multiple apps for different purposes such as an Answer App for surveys and the NCrave app for streaming videos on your phone. InboxDollars’ app is not as easy to use. I tried playing games on it which were fine, but actually got a couple “No Win” notices on the Scratch and Win, which I never get on my computer.
Is It Worth the Effort?
If you are constantly working on your phone and computer, it may not be worth your time. But I will run videos on my phone while doing other things or run them on my computer while watching Netflix. Between my husband’s accounts and mine we earn about $1000 extra each year. But if you shop online a lot, you could earn substantially more. Referring friends can significantly increase your earnings as well. So please click on the links I’ve provided if you are interested in trying out these earning sites.
If you have tried these or similar sites, please share your experiences in the comments below. For more tips on saving money, please sign up for my newsletter here.
Pingback: Surviving a Financial Crisis | My Frugal Nature