Guide to passive earning (SwagBucks / Perk) and more (Updated Nov. 21, 2014)

Bigandtasty

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Greetings, fellow CAGs.

If you're like me, you don't really like the surveys and other "special offers" on "make money online" sites. Even if you already use SB and Perk, I hope this will help you get more out of them.

Check the "other contests" section below for more services.

Swagbucks: Referral link

1 SB basically equals 1 cent (SB can pay you through Amazon and Paypal, among other methods, but delivery can take a week or longer).

Two apps are available on iOS; five are available on Android (see below).

Find short videos (full list here - courtesy of multiple r/Swagbucks users), favorite them and watch them on repeat until you hit the daily limit for the app. These limits reset midnight Pacific time.

App details:
SBTV: iOS 6.0+ or Android 2.2+

Shortest video: "10 Sec Tip - Grass Stain Removal" under Home and Garden section. Most "10 Sec Tip" videos are, indeed, 10 seconds long, but Grass Stain Removal is 8 seconds and others can last as long as 15 seconds. So if you want to optimize it, add just Grass Stain Removal to your favorites (put your finger over the video and swipe left, then go to favorites section).

Limit: 2 SB for every 5 videos, 36 SB per day.

EntertaiNOW: iOS 6.0+ or Android 2.2+

Shortest video: "Touch - The Complete Season" under TV Spots section lasts 10 seconds. Sometimes it won't show up. In that case, anything "Family Guy," "The Boondocks" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" under TV Spots will last 15 seconds.

Limit: 2 SB for every 10 videos, 18 SB per day.

Moviecli.ps: Android 2.2+

Shortest video: "I, Frankenstein" and "The Other Woman" (second video, with a woman in a red-and-yellow hat)

Limit: 2 SB for every 15 videos, 18 SB per day.

Sportly.tv: Android 2.2+

Shortest video: This one is confusing since Sportly's video rotation varies so much. Some good ones include "How to do Egyptian Stretch", "How to do side lunges" and "Bizarre sightings - Laughter Yoga."

Limit: 2 SB for every 15 videos, 18 SB per day.

Indymusic.tv: Android 2.2+

Shortest video: "Love is All Around by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts" under Rock section.

Limit: 2 SB for every 15 videos, 18 SB per day.

Lifestylz.tv: Android 2.2+

Limit: 2 SB for every 15 videos, 18 SB per day.

Issues with video apps, ads and tips:
Swagbucks video apps are known for being unstable. They're much better than they were in June-July, but can still have issues depending on the app and your hardware/software.

Certain ads are infamous for requiring users to hit the "back" button on their phones or hit an on-screen "X" or "exit" button. It's mostly luck of the draw on how much this hits you, but as of September 2, I have not noticed any such ads in my apps.

Solutions you can try if videos are unstable:

  • Restarting phone
  • Clearing app caches
  • Clearing app data (this will mean you have to log in and set your favorites again)

SwagBucks Accelerator:

Paypal is required. Basically, you pay them $10 in advance each month and you'll get an extra 1500 SB a month later, assuming you earn 1500 SB normally in that timespan. If you can reliably earn SB with your mobile devices and you don't mind putting up a bit of money upfront, this is a good option.

Perk TV: Referral link

App requires iOS 6.0+, Android 4.0+ or Windows Phone 8.0+.

1000 Perk points (note that Perk tokens are different and only allow entry into Perk contests) are roughly $1 USD. Running a Perk app on one device for 24 hours will yield about 1000 Perk points on Android if videos are not interrupted.

Once you download the app and log in, the shortest videos are in the Popular Videos section under "Funny Commercials" (the placement of each category is random) if you're on Android. After the commercials end, Perk will shift to app trailers (anywhere from 22 seconds to 3 minutes), then (longer) movie trailers when all app trailers are exhausted.

With iOS and WP8, just start any video (app trailers are not available on iOS and WP8, so Perk is not as lucrative).

Pick something to watch and just let it go; it's much more stable than SwagBucks apps but not as profitable.

Every 2 hours or so (some have reported every 90 minutes), an "Are you still watching?" prompt will pop up to limit how long the phone can sit idle.

Perk allows up to 5 mobile devices on the same account, so some users run "Perk farms" of multiple cheap phones. This has become less profitable due to the "still watching" prompt (which was previously 4-6 hours and has shrunk to 2 hours in mid-November), so investing in a Perk farm depends on how much time you have available to check for those prompts.

Questions:
Can I use multiple phones/devices on SwagBucks apps?
Yes, but multiple phones cannot run the same SwagBucks app at once. In other words, you can have SBTV running on your phone and EntertaiNOW running on your iPad, but you can't run EntertaiNOW on both those devices simultaneously.

Can I use ad blockers?

Ad blockers will remove the video ads that play, but SwagBucks explicitly forbids them, and users have reported bans. I'd say they're not worth the risk.

What are some phones I can buy?

If you're in MetroPCS' service area, you can try to order the ZTE Concord II online. It has good hardware to handle any videos and is pretty stable. However, the site can sometimes give an "out of stock" error and you won't be able to save your billing/shipping information unless you're a MetroPCS customer.

Other options include the Kyocera Hydro and Kyocera Event, which are known for being slower and having more problems but frequently sell for under $20, especially used and refurbished models.

r/PerkTV has a list of "Cheapest Devices of the Week" stickied.

What if the apps don't show up in the iOS App Store / Google Play store?

If the spelling is correct, the apps are probably not available in your country. It may be possible to download them through other means, but I have not tried using these apps outside of the United States, so I cannot verify their effectiveness. The beermoney subreddit listed in the resources section may have some solutions listed if you search, or you can ask the community.

Useful resources:
  • r/beermoney can help answer questions you may have, and it also has a referral link contest for sites including SwagBucks and Perk provided you meet the minimal qualifications (straight-up posting your referral links for popular sites, including SB and Perk, is not allowed).
  • r/swagbucks was dead for a while, but has more activity and tips lately, including a full list of shortest videos.
  • r/PerkTV offers updates on Perk. Just don't ask them when Perk will shut down.

Other referral links and contests - if you liked the guide but already use SB/Perk, check thess out:
  • InstaGC is worth looking into if you are into surveys. Generally the offers are easier than SwagBucks equivalents and, as the site name implies, rewards are instant.
  • Bing Rewards
  • Amazon Student - free 6 months of Prime for college students
  • My Dropbox link, in case you haven't discovered this amazing cloud storage service yet.
  • Discover Card referral - sign up for a card and make a purchase in the first 3 months, and you'll get $50 (can be deposited to bank account or used as statement credit on the Discover card).
  • League of Legends referral - because sometimes you need a game to play while babysitting your mobile devices.
  • MSI Motherboard giveaway

Planned updates:

Better formatting, more details.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
If you're already a SwagBucks/Perk user, I hope the guide helps. Check the "other referral links" section for some other sites and contests.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
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