Confused about Swag Code expiration? Introducing the CODE EXPIRES line.

Hi All…

Lately we’ve had a lot of comments being made on older Swag Code posts about problems people are having finding and entering the codes.  You can see a common theme of confusion and at times frustration becoming apparent in these types of questions and comments:

• “It says the code is in affect on here, but go to put it in, and its expired.”
• “I tried it like you said to enter, but it says “the code has expired” what do i do now??”
• “Hey the codes didn’t work.  It said it was invalid.”
• “Wow weird I got it but it said it was expired?”
• “I found it but it says its expired”
• “I found the answer and tried to enter the code …would not let me! ??”
• “I dont get it ..it tells me code expired. What am i doing wrong?”

etc… etc…

Swag Codes are a mysterious and enigmatic part of the Swag Bucks experience and can take some time to get used to.  First of all you need to know three things:

1. What are Swag Codes?
2. Where do you find Swag Codes?
3. What do the messages mean when you enter Swag Codes?

All of these questions are answered in our tutorial Swag Code 101 (which was featured on the official Swag Bucks blog).  Click on the following link  to read the tutorial (then come right back ):

►Swag Code 101◄

Once you have familiarized yourself with the intricate workings of Swag Codes you will be much better prepared when hints pop up on the WLSB blog.

Remember, Swag Codes are fleeting… they are always temporary, limited to a short time or a small number of users.  If you are reading a WLSB post that is even one day old chances are that any Swag Code mentioned has long since expired.

In an attempt to help people with this last point, a few weeks ago we began including expiration times in our Swag Code posts.  All of our Swag Code posts are based on the same basic template and near the end of each post, whenever possible, we include the CODE EXPIRES: line.

The CODE EXPIRES: line will only ever have one of two basic forms.  One for codes that have not expired, and one for codes that have expired.  Here’s an example of each.

Here is an example of a CODE EXPIRES: line which has not expired.  Notice it says CODE EXPIRES: in ___ and is counting down:

► CODE EXPIRES: EXPIRED ◄

Here is an example of a CODE EXPIRES: line which has expired.  Notice it says CODE EXPIRES: ___ ago and is counting up:

► CODE EXPIRES: EXPIRED ◄

The in and ago are the best ways to tell if the Swag Code for that particular post has ended.  Once the Swag Code has expired, we do our best to update the post with an EXPIRED: line at the very beginning of the post.  You can see this on all of our past Swag Code posts.

Finally we recommend you read our tutorial on Never Missing Another Swag Code to maximize your chances of catching those codes early.

Hopefully this sheds some light on expiry times for Swag Codes and will send less of you eager Swaggernauts on wild goose chases.  If you have any questions please leave a comment.

Good luck!

7 comments July 9, 2009

Get your Swag Name

9 comments May 25, 2009

Swag Code 101

As featured on Swagbucks.com! Welcome to all new visitors… we hope you like what you see and come back often for Swag tips and Code hints.

We get a lot of questions about Swag Codes.

Swag Codes themselves are elusive and mysterious little things, so it only makes sense that people run into some trouble from time to time finding and entering them.  We’d like to pause from our regular work of providing hints about where to find Swag Codes and give you some tips on getting those Swag Codes entered so you can be sure to receive your extra Swag Bucks.

● First of all, what is a Swag Code?

A Swag Code is a promotional code for swagbucks.com that will give you a few Swag Bucks when correctly entered on your My Account page.  They can be found on any of the official Swag Bucks pages (Facebook, SB Blog, Twitter, YouTube, and Flikr) and occasionally in the Swag Bucks Toolbar. They are available for either a limited time or for a limited number of users, so you need to keep your eyes peeled and act fast!

● What do Swag Codes look like?  How will you know when you find one?

There are a few clues to keep in mind while hunting for Swag Codes.  The most obvious Swag Codes are announced as exactly that.  These dead give aways will look something like this:

Enter Swag Code “ANiceSwagCode” now to get 10 Swag Bucks!

or

The Swag Code is:”ANiceSwagCode”

A couple things to note about the Swag Code itself are that it is in quotes and there are no spaces between the words.  If you are on one of the official pages (see above) and you see something like this

The Swag Guy had a great time eating a “LargePepperoniPizza” today.

there is a good chance it is a Swag Code.  Hey, it can’t hurt to try it out.

Swag Codes aren’t always in quotes though, especially since the introduction of the anti-code-sharing codes.  Some times you will see a code that looks like this

Enter code SuperCodeJciUtkb73 for a free Swag Buck.

That string of gobbledy gook letters is a sure sign that you are staring at a Swag Code.

● Once you find the code what do you do?

To enter your newly found Swag Code you need to get to either the Swag Bucks Home Page, or your My Account page by going to swagbucks.com and clicking on either the My Account button in the top right hand corner, or on the large Swag Buck tally box on the right hand column of the page.  (If your browser is sporting the WLSB Swag Army Knife toolbar you can click on the Swag Bucks drop down and click My Account Page (Gimme!).)

It might be a good idea to bookmark your My Account page for quick access.  This link will bring you to your My Account page so you can bookmark it now.

►http://www.swagbucks.com/?cmd=sb-swagbucks◄

On your Swag Bucks Home Page and My Account page you will see a box that looks similar to the one at the top of this post.  This is where you can ‘Enter your Swag Code‘ and click the Gimme! button.  If you’ve gotten the Swag Code correct and the time or user limit has not been reached you’ll be rewarded for your hunt.

● How will you know it worked?

When you enter a Swag Code you will receive one of four possible messages.  These messages appear in a little red pop up box.  We’ll take a look at each and what exactly they mean.

The Swag Code you entered is correct, but unfortunately it has expired.  Dang!  Either the time limit or the user limit for the code has been met.  Remember that Swag Codes are a fleeting freebie;  they don’t last very long.  When you find one move fast!  The good news is that you got the Swag Code right!  You will live to Swag Hunt another day.  Rest assured in the fact that there are only two types of Swag Time:  times when there is an active Swag Code, and times when there is a Swag Code just around the corner.

The Swag Code you have entered is invalid.  This is not necessarily bad news.  If there is an active Swag Code out there this message should tell you to keep hunting, or to refine the Swag Code you have found.  Remember that Swag Codes are case sensitive.  Perhaps the code you found needs to be in ALL CAPS, Capitalized or in all lower case.  Maybe you need to take the spaces out between words.  Keep trying, the game is still afoot!

Waitaminit!  Don’t be greedy now You’ve already successfully entered this Swag Code and they can only be used once.

CONSWAGULATIONS!  You did it!  You have successfully hunted for, found, and entered the Swag Code.  You are one (or maybe more) Swag Buck closer to great prizes.

94 comments May 15, 2009

Never Miss Another Swag Code

You read that right.  Today we’re unveiling our biggest tip yet and it will ensure you never miss another Swag Code… at least not while you’re sitting at the computer.

For those of you who are familiar with RSS and Aggregators, skip to the graphic below.

What if we told you that you could have a program that posted all the news from the WLSB blog and the WLSB and WLSBot Twitter pages in one place?  What if that same program also posted the latest entries from the official Swag Bucks blog, YouTube channel and Twitter page?  What if we told you that this program constantly checked all of these places for any updates, politely alerted you when a new post had been made, and gave you a link to the post?  What if it did all this in the background and interacted with you from a tiny icon in your system tray?

Sounds too good to be true?  It isn’t.

What all the above listed pages have in common is that their updates are available through an RSS feed, a simplified summary of a frequently updated webpage’s contents.

One of the great things about RSS feeds is that they are so easily handled, especially by a group of software programs referred to collectively as News Aggregators.  This fancy term simply means a program that takes news streams, in the form of RSS feeds, from many different places and puts them together in one place for you to access easily.

Armed with a good news aggregator and all your Swag Bucks RSS feeds, you can sit back and wait for Swag Code news to come to you. (more…)

30 comments April 16, 2009

Introducing: the WLSB Swag Bucks toolbar

1 comment April 15, 2009