Bye Bye Offer Walls, Hello New Features!

Good Morning Swagfriends!

Happy Saturday! Happy Thanksgiving Week! (It feels like it really starts today for me anyway.)

This Saturday before Thanksgiving, I am thankful that no one in the house is sick today. I'm thankful that my toddler let me catnap very well this morning- I sure needed it! And I'm thankful that I am THROUGH with the special offer posts for a while. Frankly, between Gambit and TapJoy, it was pretty depressing.

I do have one more note and then On To Better Things!

I was pretty frustrated this morning over TapJoy. Looking at the offer status screen, I noticed more of October's unanswered inquiries had moved down off the list. Case Closed, No Response. My most recent inquiry is for 162, and of course, has received no response yet. It bugs the snot outta me that I can't view an open inquiry. All I see is "Processing your feedback" (yah RIGHT) and Contact TapJoy. Which opens another "ticket" instead of tacking on to the old one.

So I took my own advice and wrote to Swag Bucks from the Contact Us link on the homepage. I chose Special Offers from the drop down, gave the company name, offer name, offer value. In the body of the message I explained about the offer in question, included a list of other offers that have received no response, and mentioned that there are several more that are no longer accessible to me from as far back as October 8th. (I am not even going to try to pursue anything before that, but it's been going on a while.)

I'm just asking Swag Bucks to make TapJoy contact and communicate with their users first and foremost. And if possible, to honor their agreement, and pay out the swagbucks owed. From a business perspective, it's in Swag Bucks best interest to make sure the companies they have agreements with are honoring them. I wouldn't want my users slowing (or stopping) their use of my product (Swagbucks.com et al) because they feel ripped off. 

When I get a response I'll let you know. Other than that, it would take something Pretty Positive for me to do a special offers post anytime soon :P Besides, I've got Much More Fun things to post about right now!

Swag Bucks has rolled out a whole Slew of new features this week. Some of them are pretty cool, can't really find fault with any of it yet! :) Oh! Before that though, just a quick screenshot of a search workaround for newer swaggernauts.

This was my biggest win yesterday. On Mega Swag Bucks Day. Pitiful. But not really the point :P  I've seen a lot of new swaggernauts ask why you can't do a .com type search without being taken straight to the URL instead of to search results. I don't know why but there is a work around. You just put a space between the word and the .whatever. See above? I didn't search grants.gov, because I wanted to try to get a win off the search THEN go to the website. I did grants .gov and achieved both of my goals.

Alright Already! On to some of these new features!

Now you can add your 2 cents to the item listings at the SwagStore. You can also add an item to the new WishList feature.

Look, Im on TV *AGAIN* !

To add a review, you simply click in the review box and start typing. Rate the product when you are done (You can only rate once. I added those rate stars after I'd reviewed so you could see what it looks like, but the option to rate is gone once you've rated it.) Once you click Post Comment, you're done! Sort by Most Recent to see your review. The default is Oldest First.

If you click Add to Wishlist, You get a pop up confirming it's been added.

You can view your wishlist from this pop up, or from the toolbar at the top of the Swagbucks pages. Just hover your mouse over your swagtotal.

You can snag anything on your wishlist from that page, as long as you have enough swagbucks to buy it. There are also three filter options for email alerts that you can set for each item.

You can be alerted when there is a price change, (good for those of us hoping for a Cyber Monday type sale,) if the item availability changes, (for instance the Ultimate Game Cards run out of stock, see when they come back in,) or when you've saved enough regular swagbucks (non partner) to snag your item.

I give both of these new features....

Two Thumbs Up!!

 There's several more awesome new features to blog about, but I'm going to have to pick ONE and leave the rest for tomorrows post. I'm gonna go with the one I'm most excited about.

SWAGBUCKS GAMES!!

According to yesterdays blog post, sometime early Thanksgiving week Swag Bucks will be opening a private beta test of the Games function. 10,000 lucky swaggernauts will get the chance to be the first to use, try out, test the new Games! After the closed beta period, they will start adding new users slowly, continuing to tweak and fix the issues that arise. By the end of December, all users should be able to play!


I think this is a FANTASTIC idea. This new feature could be a lot of fun, but it could also present a lot of bugs and unforeseen issues on launch. I sincerely hope the 10,000 that get to try it out first are the types who understand that there WILL be issues. I hope they do their part by giving swagbucks the constructive, detailed information about their experiences needed to make Games work for everyone when it's fully launched. I hope they are patient, and of the mind to volunteer to make Swag Bucks better by treating it less like a sneak peek and more like a service. In the end, the effort you put into the beta will reward you with a more enjoyable, reliable experience at launch. 


I really, REALLY hope I'm one of the 10,000! I'm just the type they need! I have no idea if they will be picking by lottery, or if they have a number of swaggernauts they would like to see involved, plus a lottery for the remainder. *shrug* I'm not begging but..

 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LET ME IN!

hahahahah  I got 2 wins, for 8 and 10, searching for a good begging picture LOL. Gotta love it. Won more today before noon than I did all day on Mega Swag Bucks Day! Good times :)

Ok That wraps up today's SwagMelt! Come back tomorrow for Daily Deals, Coupons, and Book Swap! GOOD STUFF!

If anyone reading this is not yet a member of Swagbucks, but wants to get on the swagtrain and start earning the free loot, there's no time like the present! Just go to the swidget , up top on the right there, press the Sign Up button on the bottom right. Fill out a short form, confirm your email, and get 30 swagbucks to get you rolling! Then come back here and start with October's second blog post, "Beginner Tips for Swagsurfing!", for tips on how to get started!

Until Tomorrow Swag Friends...


HAPPY SWAGSURFING!!