Special Offers Breakdown part 2 - OfferWall

Good Sunday Morning, Swagfriends!

Please forgive the lateness of the post again. Besides being a weekend, which means lots of things going on around the house, we had a small emergency. (BrainMelt blog if you are curious.) Here you go, today's post...

Yesterday marked the beginning of a Special Offers series, screenshot filled breakdowns of the Special Offers page, and each virtual currency company that works with Swagbucks. Each company has their own "wall", each formatted it's own way. They are Mostly alike enough that if you've become familiar with one, you can navigate the rest. However, there are subtle differences; in layout, in content, and in how you pursue any missing swagbucks. I will be going through the offer companies one at a time, day by day.

It's a busy busy weekend here at the Barron house, Sunday is the perfect day for another "short and sweet" blog. How convenient that Offerwall / Paymentwall is the first company to show ya! It won't take too long :P :)

When you land on the Special Offers page, the first thing you see is OfferWall. As I said yesterday, they are the "New Kids on the Block". Boomerang Networks launched OfferWall in early March 2010. Swag Bucks hooked up with them in late August. Like the other virtual currency companies, their main market is online gaming, including not only offers to be completed for virtual currency, but ways to purchase the currency with real life money as well. That last part only applies to gaming- here on SwagBucks the only way to use real money to earn swag is to do purchase offers, or to use Shop & Earn.

Here is what you see when you first arrive at the OfferWall.

My first impression of OfferWall was very positive. I like the layout quite a bit, but more important to me is the review system.

OfferWall gives you a chance to see what kind of success rate the offer has with two systems. On the right you see a logo of a person, and a number. That number reflects how many people have not only attempted the offer, but have successfully completed it. And, I assume, hope, wish to believe, have actually have been credited too. It's not clear if this number reflects how many have completed the offer AND gotten credit as they are supposed to, or whether this just lists how many people have finished the offer. It wouldn't seem like there would be a difference, but there could be. I do know it doesn't count how many people have Attempted the offer but not completed it per the requirements.

To the left is a "conversation bubble" and a number. This is how many people have left feedback. FEEDBACK? What a SMART idea!! In the feedback screen you are given a chance to rate the offer, and a place to comment on your experience. This is invaluable to me- if there's any tricks to getting the offer to credit, someone will eventually post what that trick is.. usually..  (I wish more people would be helpful like that!) People will also tell you in no uncertain terms if they think the offer is a bad one. I check these reviews before I do any offer to try to get an idea if it's good, bad, or if people are just not figuring out the trick for success.

This is from the new video offer. It's a rare case of overwhelmingly positive feedback. Above the users comments and ratings is the space to enter your own experience. At the very top is a place to rate the offer using a 1 -5 star system. A WORD OF CAUTION! If you are going to rate an offer, and want to give it anything less than 5 stars, you Need to click on the grey stars at the top to rate it. Otherwise it gives an automatic 5. There is no Zero rating. For example- say you want to give it 1 star- the lowest- because no matter how you tried, you can't get your swagbucks. You'd better hit that 1 star button, or your negative review will show as a 5 star, and will bring the offers average rating up.

Let's look at a BAD offer, see what the feedback screen looks like.

This is a newer offer, and as of yet, no one has completed it successfully. There's no way to tell how many people have attempted it, which would be nice. It currently has a rating of 2 stars- though in a second you will see why it SHOULD have only 1 star.

Of the three reviews, all three are negative. See the one in the middle? "Why did the other person give it 5 stars?"  That is referring to the one below it, who said "Hey, I want my swagbucks" but gave it a 5 star rating. That person probably thought that by not rating it at all, it would be a Zero. There is no zero rating, so it automatically posted as a 5.

So, How do I do an offer? From the main screen, pick an offer that seems interesting. Today we will try the video offer, see if they have anything new for me. Unlike all the rest of the offers, when you succesfully watch and get credited for a video offer, it doesn't vanish. This tells me they will be adding more videos as time goes on, like the other offer companies.

First I chose the FREE tab. This includes anything that doesn't cost money, and any free trials. Let's look at that video offer box.

See the blue button? That's what you need to click to do the offer. Before you click it, hover your mouse over it to see a pop up of the offer requirements. OfferWall gives you much more detail about what you need to do than the other companies. Another reason I prefer them!

This looks easy enough *wink*. Watch the whole video, I can do that! After you know what you need to do, click the blue button. The offer may open in another tab, or another window, but you MUST complete the offer through whatever opened, or risk not being credited. Don't navigate away and come back! That will mess up the advertisers tracking cookies.

Doh!  No video today. I'm glad they added this offer but I wish they would go ahead and add more videos. Then again, I wish all offer companies had at least one new video every day :P  Maybe I'm spoiled LOL. If there had been a video, I would have pressed play, let it run through to the end, and when I closed the video pop up, refreshed my swag total to make sure it credited.

What do you do if an offer doesn't credit?

At the top of OfferWall is a blue button that says "Missing Swag Bucks?" Click that and a screen will open showing all the offers you have attempted, sorted by Date & Time with the most recent attempts listed first.

Here is a perfect example. You can see the video offer I just attempted- that black box with a timer counting down shows how long you need to wait before you can start an inquiry. If your swagbucks haven't shown up by then, you would press the Start an Inquiry button. There are 3 here on this screen, but they are all from checking the videos every day. No need to start an inquiry on those, because there were no videos to watch, so no swagbucks.

Lets pretend one of those video offers Does need me to inquiry it. I'ma click it!

This small, simple box opens for you to fill out. To me, this is another plus of OfferWall. The form is short and sweet. You can include links to any screenshots you may want to send, or confirmation emails, on this page. Or you can just brief them on why you deserve your credit, and wait for them to respond. They will tell you what forms of proof they need. Sometimes if you include your screenshots, etc, in this first message, that's all you need to do. Other times you may have all the proof you need lined up in the initial message, and Still get a response saying they need what you've already sent. I think it has to do with whichever customer service rep you get. Just a guess though. For this mock inquiry on the video, I just said "I watched the video but received no swag bucks". I did not actually press Submit, I just wanted to show you what it looks like. When you do hit submit though, you get an automated confirmation in your email. Then usually within two business days you will get a response. Whether it be a request for more information, a denial, or a credit, you will also get an email letting you know there's been an update in your inquiry. Just come back to this same Missing Swag Bucks? screen and View Inquiry. I have none open now so I can't screenshot what that actually says / looks like, but it's in the same place as the "Submit Inquiry" button.

If they "resolve" your inquiry, be it positive or negative, instead of seeing the Start Inquiry button, you will see this.

To see whether you were credited, or if not, their reasoning for not crediting your swag bucks, click the words Case Resolved. This case is a perfect example of something I've mentioned in other blogs. If you find a bad offer, such as one that pops up a lot of virus warnings, or one that takes you to an unrelated link, start an inquiry and tell them. Most of the offer companies will reward you Something for taking the time and effort.

This was a rare case of me trying a download. I don't do these often, but sometimes I get a wild hair *laugh*. I noted in my inquiry that the file would not download, to please check the offer to make sure it works properly. Their response was that they had already checked and pulled the offer from the wall, but to thank me for reporting possible problems, they were crediting me 10 swagbucks.

Nii-iii-iice! I have had each offer company do this, award me swagbucks for reporting a problem. As well they should! They should investigate each offer BEFORE they post it, but that doesn't seem to be the case (which is why I recommend Never downloading.. though I do it myself once in a while LOL!)

OfferWall / PaymentWall has so far been the most reliable for crediting me. I have had to inquiry very few offers.

It's a RARE thing with the other companies to have a page full of completed, credited offers to look at. Check that out! The only one not credited on this page is the History Book club. I looked at that and decided not to do it, so of course I didn't get any swagbucks. I am trying to think if they have ever denied any of my inquiries. Maybe .. maybe once? I can't remember what for though. Unlike the other companies where I have to inquiry more than half of my attempts, and then get denied for at LEAST half of my inquiries.

One more thing to note about OfferWall. After you have completed an offer, you won't see it available to you anymore. If you want to leave feedback, you're still able to- you just have to go to the Missing Swag Bucks screen. Find the offer you want to rate, and click the number by the "conversation bubble" icon.

The feedback screen looks just like it does from the main OfferWall. Just click, comment, rate, submit!

I really wish the other offer companies would do the same. I have been spoiled by this feature on OfferWall. Many is the time I curse under my breath about being unable to get more information from other users before attempting an offer. I really hate not being able to leave feedback, whether it's to warn others away, or encourage them on an easy offer.

Tomorrow I will do Gambits offer wall. They have the unique "TASKS" tab, which I may go into tomorrow, or may put on Tuesday's blog, depending on how much time I have tonight to prep the post.

Thanks for your patience with my lateness again, and Thanks for coming by to read SwagMelt! If you have any questions, or things you'd like to see me cover, PM me on Facebook, write to JennySweets on Swagbucks, or leave a comment here!

Remember to swing by the SwagBooth and place your votes! Please, if you have a contest running, send me the details so I can list it. I've gotten a lot of positive feedback, it seems it is working as I intended - it's Much easier to get your voting done Quickly, without having to chase down all the contests on the Swagbucks Facebook discussion page.

I hope you have had a wonderful, relaxing weekend! I hope your Monday is bright and shiny and not even remotely stressful. I hope to see you back here tomorrow for part 3 of my Special Offers Breakdown!

Until then....


HAPPY SWAGSURFING!