How to Cash Out your Swagbucks Balance

We’ve been posting a lot of free money deals from Swagbucks recently, and hopefully you’ve racked up a balance. How do you cash that out?

The basic ways to redeem Swagbucks are:

• Paypal
• $25 Bank Deposit (our post)
• Mastercard gift card
• Merchant gift cards

Each method typically gets you one penny per Swag point. For most people, the Paypal option is best since that’s straight cash. However, as per the terms, this option is only available if you have a verified Paypal account. The Paypal email might also have to match the Swagbucks email. If Paypal isn’t an option, use instead the Visa gift card option or merchant gift card option.

There are three ways to cash out for gift cards at a rate better than one cent per point.

• Once a month you can redeem 2200 points for any $25 gift card, including Visa gift card and Amazon gift card and many more. This deal resets with each calendar month, and gets you an extra 11% value from Swagbucks. Using this method, you can cash out $264 per year at the this bonus redemption value (2200 x 12).
• Aside from the once-per-month value redemption, Swagbucks also regularly has some odd brands on a bit of a sale. Check out the dedicated On Sale tab to find out what the current offerings are. Typically, they are small discounts for smaller merchants, and probably not worth it. The most interesting one is the Visa prepaid options which is very often (always?) on sale. The discount is slight though – 1% usually – and most people would probably prefer a straight Paypal payment.
• Swagbucks occasionally releases top discounted gift cards at great rates. This doesn’t happen often, perhaps a few times per year, but I’ve had success getting Kohl’s gift cards at 15% off or even eBay gift cards at a 20% discount. These redemptions can be worthwhile if you see them when you have a balance to redeem, but they might not be worth holding out for.

Whichever redemption option you choose, it can take up to a week or so until the payment/gift-card comes through. And make sure to follow their prompts and confirm each redemption with the link in the email they send out when you redeem. Also, there is a limit of two prize redemptions per day.

Side note: Not all Swagbucks offers work out 100% of the time. If it doesn’t track, you can usually get the points adjusted after 30-days by reaching out to support. There was one deal when Swagbucks clawed back points in a way that was flat-out against their clearly stated terms. Decide for yourself if these deals are worth it for you, depending on how you value your time and how frazzled you get when things don’t work.

Final note: since 2022, the feds now require businesses like Swagbucks or Paypal to issue a form 1099-K for payment processing of $600 or more. If you redeem $600+ in Swagbucks throughout the year, you’ll get a form 1099-K from either Paypal or Swagbucks, depending which payment form you choose. I believe that if you cashout less-than-$600 with Swagbucks themselves via gift cards and another less-than-$600 via Paypal, you won’t get any tax form. But remember, the Paypal part combines with all other Paypal payments you’ve received throughout the year.

If you are signing up for a new Swagbucks account, I’d appreciate if you use my Swagbucks referral link. You’ll also get a $3 bonus at the end of the month if you earn 300 SB.