Edited by PaperBackSwap. We remind our members that soliciting is prohibited.

Swag bucks IS really awesome!  I found that by just using the tool bar as my primary search engine, I get about one $5 Amazon gift card a month.  Can't beat that with a stick!

Edited by PaperBackSwap.

Yes - I just started using this and I've already got a $5 gift card.

I just got a USB mouse with a retractable cord from Amazon for free using my gift cards.

I love swagbucks. I've been a member for 6 weeks and am earning my 5th $5 Amazon gift card. It's great.

I have been using swagbucks for quite some time now. I find the amazon gift cards are the only decent deal, but I have racked up close to $100 bucks so far. I set up Firefox to use the swagbucks search as it' s default on all of the machines at home, so the points add up pretty quick.

Not bad for doing nothing.

Margaret, how did you get so many cards so quickly?  I assume you are shopping online or something in addition to just using the search engine?

Edie

There's several ways to earn SwagBucks a little faster than searching. Signing people up, SwagStakes are lotteries you can enter to have a chance to win intervals such as 100 or 500 SwagBucks, and they have Swag Codes where they'll post a hint that works like a scavenger hunt, and once you find the Code you can put it in to receive the according amount of SwagBucks.

Hope this helps.

Yup Swagbucks works well to earn something with minimal effort.

Um, can you please at least edit your original post to make it clear that it IS a referral link and you would benefit from people clicking it? There's nothing more annoying than someone who tries to sound like they're doing you a favor while they actually help themselves.

On this kind of thing, you really want to be clear on all your motives. One of yours is obviously to get referrals, so why not come right out and say it?

Yep. If you sign up, I'll earn a point every time you earn a point for your first 100 points. After that it doesn't benefit me.

No need to be so confrontational about it and call what I'm doing annoying. I value the Paperback Swap community as much as I do PBS itself, so I wouldn't post anything here I didn't believe in. I found SwagBucks the same way, through a forum post like this one, and I'm -extremely- happy with it to this day. I do absolutely nothing different other than search through SwagBucks instead of Google, and what has it earned me? About 200 dollars since I first started using it.

So why rain on a parade like that? I'm loving it, and as I said, if it didn't completely rock I wouldn't post it here strictly to get more points. A lot of us found Paperback Swap by looking through money saving deals on the internet. PBS is one of the good ones, and so is SwagBucks. If that annoys you, then sorry, I guess. And yes, I still would share SwagBucks even if I didn't get points for it, just the same way I suggest PBS to people without actually referring them - because it's an amazing deal.

Tiffany, what exactly was the purpose to your post?  Regardless of whether or not us signing up for SB benefits the OP, it's just a useful way to earn some rewards on the side.  It's not some pyramid scheme and I'd say he's not really -trying- to get something out of you based on the dates of his posts and replies.  Not to mention it looks like SB is awfully popular with or without the OP posting this... :P  So just relax and go enjoy a good book.

The OP doesn't get anything when people click on it.  He only gets points if the person signs up.  I joined about a month ago and already have received three $5 paypal cards which I will use here for pbs DC.

BTW -  I would love to get a few referrals.  See link in my signature.

I was only pointing out that it is usually considered extremely bad online manners to post a referral link without being honest that it is a referral link that you do stand to get some sort of benefit from (which is why a lot of sites actually ban referral links from their forums completely, and only allow posting of the main links). Regardless of whether you would post the link either way, it does somewhat give a sense of dishonesty to these kinds of posts. Especially since there are a LOT of people who would, and have, posted referral links simply to benefit themselves, often resulting in unpleasant and extremely irritating circumstances for the person tricked into it thinking they were going to a 'great site' someone found. Fortunately, that problem has not yet formed on PBS, and I can only hope it doesn't. I can tell you from experience that when it does, it's really not fun at all.

The fact is, you must have at least thought about getting points from the referrals because 1) you had the choice to simply post the main link, and instead chose to post your referral link without stating what it was 2) in the first post, you can't even tell it's a referral link without hovering over it since the link is edited and 3) if there's a way your first post could have read more like an advertisement, I can't think of it.

That being said, I certainly do not disagree about swagbucks being a great site, since it is awesome even with the toolbar refusing to work on my computer. It has nothing to do with that.

Adrienne- yes, he only gets points when people sign up, thus why it's called a referral link. That point is irrelevant to my post.

I just think considering the all around good vibe from everyone else posting in this forum, you're the one looking to nit-pick a harmless post.  Your intentions might have been good, but you've come across in a way you might want to rethink.  Either that or move on to another post that possibly does deserve your attention.  Looks like you spend enough time on the forums to know where they are.  For the rest of us, I'm happy to use the OP's referral link, it takes nothing away from what I'm earning and only helps both of us, so why not?  Seems he's not the only one that'd be happy to get referrals from the awesome community we've found here.  Cheers.

Edited for typo!

I can't help but wonder how much time you've spent online outside of PBS. I've been extremely active on the internet since back when it started, and I've seen dozens of great chat sites come and go because of this very issue. People would start out posting helpful sites for each other, then a couple people would come along just looking for referrals, which would start a deluge, and next thing you know nobody felt comfortable on the site anymore. I just really don't want to see that happen here. As is is, PBS is one of only a few sites I know of where even so much as posting a referral link doesn't risk getting yourself immediately thrown off. But, considering the fact that we already have people who have seemingly joined the site recently solely to troll for votes (they post in the boards asking for votes, and are seldom if ever seen or heard from again in any way, even though what they're doing is specifically against the rules here) for some online contest of theirs, or similar, you can't tell me that the same things that have happened elsewhere couldn't happen here.

It makes no difference if the site involved is actually helpful or not. Think about it. If one such person stumbles across these threads, or this one especially since you all basically say 'who cares if it's a referral link?', PBS has the potential to be a virtual goldmine for a less honorable person only out to benefit themselves.

I don't mean to sound nit-picky or anything, and I know my initial post here does sound extremely negative, which I didn't intend. I just don't want to see PBS encounter the same problems I've seen in the past. There's a reason that referral links are such a taboo across the internet, and why it came to be one of the biggest online no-no's to post them without stating what they are. And I know there are lots of posts I could put this in, but this is the first one I read, and I'm not about to try to post in all of them.

Actually, I think under the advertisement and solicitation rule the way it's written, referral links would be technically banned here, but I for one would like to see them head it off at the pass and specifically ban them other than in signatures.

Edited to fix typo

Outside of PBS?  Probably the last twelve years or so of my life.  I grew up with it, so get off your high horse.  Point blank period there's nothing wrong with -this- particular OP or what he was pointing us in the direction of, and you're getting yourself in a bunch because the rest of us in this post disagreed with you.  It's understandable that you didn't mean to sound negative in your own original post, but you've continued to be that way since.  I'm personally done arguing with you because I'm getting the feeling this is only feeding your self-important internet life.  Thankfully I'm not new here or you'd have put a bad taste in my mouth regarding this website.  PBS and everyone else here rocks.

And I'm not above wanting referrals from SB now that I've tried it.  :)

How the heck am I being negative? Because I say what could happen, based on what I've seen elsewhere, and the warning signs that have started here? That's called being realistic. PBS IS great, and the forums here are among the very small percentage of reasonably comfortable and safe (as far as online communities go) but still very active chat areas around, and I want it to stay that way. I'm sorry if that bothers you for some reason.

I've been active in, and seen, at least a couple dozen great online communities come and go, and they were all typically a result of the same set of issues. Issues which I'm starting to see pop up here. That's all I was saying, and all I am saying. Obviously, you're either misunderstanding me, or have no comprehension of what I'm saying. Either because you never took part in such a community, or you just haven't thought about the reasons why they no longer exist. That can't really be helped I guess, but since I didn't insult you, I do resent you insulting me.

You've said your peace and then some. If you're concerned about this thread, which I can't help but point out is a thread on how to earn free gift cards in a "Money Saving Tips" forum, then feel free to report it to a Moderator who will then decide it's fate. I trust their judgement and if there's anything wrong here then they can let me know. Keep in mind there are other acts that are frowned upon, such as thread hijacking and topic derailment.

With that said, let's get the conversation turned back towards SwagBucks. I just cashed in $85 worth of Amazon gift cards (which are all cumulative in your Amazon account) for the Christmas season. Simply awesome.

I just joined swagbucks a month or so ago and I only have 48 bucks with 1 referral but I am getting there :)

**Edited by PBS**

We remind our members that commercial use of this site is not permitted -including posting commercial or referral links in the forums.

Just got 2 $10 Barnes and Nobe giftcards,  got 1 WL book and 2 RL books... woo hoo

Also, I did get a referral, but not sure if from someone here, as I do not recognize the name.  So if it is a pbs member, Thank You!!

If someone leads me to a good, helpful site, I am happy if they will benefit in some way, too.

We have all, I'm sure, referred people to Paperback Swap, and we've benefited.  And hopefully, they have gone on to refer their own friends and benefit, too.

I am, however, already a member of Swagbucks, although I've hardly used it.

My biggest moneymaker on the internet has been Epinions.  It requires a little bit of work (I am an advisor, and I probably still write 4 or 5 reviews a year) but once you have a body of reviews (I have about 250) it's like the gift that keeps on giving.  Even if you only average a nickel a month on those 250 reviews, it's $10.50 a month, month after month, for something you did years ago. 

No, I don't get a referral bonus, and we're not supposed to discuss compensation on a public forum.

Epinions sounds neat. I think I'll look into it. I'm all for the internet money savers/earners that actually work. So far I've only enjoyed Paperback Swap and Swagbucks, but I'm sure I could manage one more.

As for Swagbucks, I'm still loving it. The majority of money I spend now on the little things comes from Amazon gift cards through Swagbucks. My spending cash I normally have budgeted is just piling up, so I'm thinking I might save and buy a new computer with that.

I'm still very pleased with it!