(Update 12/5/21: Reposting)
A lot of people complain about Swagbucks and Topcashback deactivating their accounts. Even worse, they end up losing whatever money they had stored up there. I used to hear this complaint often regarding Topcashback, and have recently been hearing it regarding Swagbucks.
From what I gather, the trigger to this issue is usually opening a new account and immediately taking part in a money-back offer. These are offers where you get a set amount of money after doing a certain activity, and they are limited to be done once per account.
The portals are concerned that someone is opening up multiple accounts to do the deal on each one which is against their rules. I don’t know why some people get flagged and others don’t. It could have to do with IP addresses, name similarities, and other factors.
Best Practices
The best way to deal with this issue is to season your account. Don’t do a money-back offer on your first day after signing up. On Swagbucks you can spend a week doing a a few internet searches and other stuff. On both Topcashback and Swagbucks you can try using their shopping portal for a small purchase.
Even just letting the account sit for a few days or a week might help this issue as it won’t look like you opened the account solely for that offer. Some of these money-makers we post on Swagbucks last a few days or longer. Try waiting a few days, even at the risk of missing out on the deal.
I can’t give clear guidance on how long to wait or how much other activity to do before taking part a moneymaker deal, but do what you can and hope for the best. We’ll link to this post in future Swagbucks moneymaker deals as a warning and explanation.
Another thing it might be worth avoiding logging into the account internationally, particularly in the case of Swagbucks. Since the accounts are only for US users, they might misconstrue you as an international user. Even when in USA, don’t use a VPN.
If you got an account closed down:
- Try contacting them to see if you can clear it up with them. Mention that you don’t have another account with them. With Topcashback, maybe mention their Fair Play Policy for good measure.
- Try opening another account sometime later and season it slowly to see if you can get back in their good graces.
Note, each person can have their own Swagbucks or Topcashback account, and there can be multiple accounts in the same household. BUT each person can only have one account. If your spouse is considering opening a new account, considering doing it early to give it some down time instead of waiting for a deal to jump on. It might also be worth using two separate IP addresses, if possible, to avoid the appearance of impropriety, though technically this should not be necessary.
If you are signing up for either of these portals, you can support Doctorofcredit by using our referral links:
- William’s Swagbucks referral Link and Chuck’s Swagbucks referral Link
- William’s Topcashback referral link and Chuck’s Topcashback referral link
It seems this post was from a couple of years ago. Is “swagbucks account get deactivated easily” still a thing now? I am new to Swagbucks. I did a few activities and earned some points. I wonder if I should cash the points via paypal as soon as they are earned (if the account could be deactivated anytime) or if I can take my time redeeming $25 each month taking advantage of the discount on gift card each month.
As long as you regularly do the Daily Poll, some searches and/or some other activities you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. It seems that they mostly ban people that only do the offers.
Good to know! Thanks
Eric! I’ve been regularly doing the Daily Poll and Magic Receipt, I’ll make sure to keep doing those and add some other activities like search and survey.
How did you include the paperclip icon next to your name?
Thank you. It’s a good idea as it makes it more likely that people will click on it and notice that you have a website. By your comment, it seems that you didn’t even realize that I had a website attached to my profile. Anyway, I “borrowed” your paperclip icon. What do you think?
Yeah it does make it easier to see there is a website with the hyperlink symbol. Now I can see the symbol in your id as well, and I think it looks great with or without the extra space!
I just checked your comment history and saw that you only added the paperclip about a month ago. I wonder if you’ve gotten more traffic to your website since then. It’s too bad there’s no page view counter on it.
BTW, after DoC approved my initial comments with the paperclip that went to moderation last night, all of my subsequent comments have posted instantly. That’s good to know in case you decide to switch to a left arrow icon sometime in the future.
I’ve made several comments today including the paperclip that I “borrowed” from you and each one has gone to moderation. I purposely left out the paperclip with this comment so it would immediately get posted.
Do all of your comments go to moderation or did this get fixed after the 1st time that you used the paperclip icon next to your name?
BTW, I think it looks better with a space between my name and the paperclip so I started doing it that way with my last couple of comments.
Good to know. Thanks for the information.
I don’t believe my account was deactivated, but a few months ago, I could no longer log into my account. Has anyone else experienced this? I’ve double checked that my password was correct, and I would try to reset and try again, but I still couldn’t log in. I saw on trustpilot of others experiencing the same thing. I’ve tried contacting customer service, but their responses have been close to non-existent. I had maybe about $30 on the account, luckily I cashed out $200+ a few months prior.
I opened a ticket for missing points for Chime and sent them everything they had asked for and next thing I know I cant logon, no notification, nothing. Also had $50-60 worth of points that I hadnt cashed out yet. Chime offer was around $200+.
I will file a CFPB against Chime and BBB and CA state attorney against Prodege and see what happens.
A lot of people find these companies very worthwhile to deal with. We prefer putting out the information and letting people see/decide what works for them.
Did you have any kind of violation? Do you use Swagbucks for anything else besides offers?
Look at how topcashback changes the term & condition of Slide to refuse to pay you cashback……..
I saw the promo cashback rate for Slide on Nov 9th which was 31% for new customer, so I opened a new slide account and made $400 purchase via topcashback link. The cashback amount should be $400*31%=$124, but I have not received the promised cashback. The customer service said this is because “adding funds to the account before purchase” and “in essence meaning that loading the account is seen as the first transaction”.
I read the term & condition before the purchase at Nov 9th, at that time topcashback said cashback amount is based on final PURCHASE amount and did not even say a word about adding fund. I think anyone read this T&C would think this means purchasing a product, right? Today I found topcashback changes the T&C as “funding account counts as a first transaction but not eligible for cashback” . That is ridiculous! THIS IS NOT MENTIONED IN THE ORIGINAL T&C WHEN I MADE THE FIRST PURCHASE. Topcashback cheats customers by changing the T&C just in order to decline the promised cashback. It is such an unprofessional behavior for a big company like TCB and Slide. New T&C only applies to customers after that, rather than purchases before the change! Who the else would take the risk to use topcashback link if topcashback can change or re-define the T&C at liberty, AFTER YOU MADE THEPURCHASE?
Anyone who opened a new account at that time and did not receive the correct amount cashback and want a snapshot of the T&C can contact me. I saved every snapshot when I made the purchase. It is a shame on TCB and Slide!
Hi Tony,
Please send me an email directly to [email protected] and I will take a look into this for you.
Best Wishes,
Dominique
I am not concerned about that since they are not paying what they owe to people anyways. Still after many emails have not heard why I was declined payment for my HBO max subscription from Topcashback.
Hi John,
Do you have a ticket opened on the matter?
I had this issue with MyPoints. They keep saying I have multiple accounts when I don’t. They refuse to say why they think this and won’t let me back in. I did 2 offers in a couple weeks. I guess that’s too much by their standards
Can someone confirm if having a Swagbucks and MyPoints account at the same email is OK? I believe that they are related or the same company
I have for some time with no issue. However, might be a good idea to set up with different email addresses connected to the same Paypal account if you’re interested in repeating offers so the retailer/bank sees you as a new customer (I wouldn’t do that with ones that required a purchase, but that’s just me). I haven’t tried it personally though, so YMMV
I have both Swagbucks and MyPoints accounts and used the same email address, haven’t had any problems whatsoever in that regard.
My wife and I both got our Swagbucks accounts deactivated about four years ago. Swagbucks Compliance was utterly useless, but we were able to get the accounts reactivated by writing a polite letter to Prodege’s corporate office. The issue, at least for us, was that she and I shared one “high security” laptop on which we did banking and purchases that required entering a credit card number. This, combined with the fact that we frequently did the same deals, made it look like one person had two accounts. Once we explained the situation to the person at Prodege corporate who responded to our letter, we got our accounts back within a few hours.
I’ll add a note
I only have Swagbucks account for couple months. Do you think they will be okay if I open MyPoints account with the same email address, or do I need to use a different email and ip for this?
You can use the same email and IP
Does this happen with Mypoints as well? I’d imagine it does, seeing as they’re under the same parent company as SB?
Yes