Points2Shop Review – Read This Before Joining!

Points2Shop (P2S) is a website where you can earn rewards for completing various activities. They include:

• Filling out surveys
• Signing up for trial offers
• Performing “tasks”

P2S has been around since 2007 and has between 11 to 50 employees. They’re located in Alpharetta, Georgia.

How P2S Works

Signing up with P2S is easy. All you have to do is sign up with your email address and activate your membership through a link in your email. Unlike some survey sites, you’re not asked a lengthy series of questions as a part of your sign up process.

When you log in for the first time on P2S, you might find the interface a bit cluttered and overwhelming. No worries, as you’ll spend a bulk of your time on the “Earn Points” page.

“Earn Points” page is a snapshot of all the ways you can earn points on P2S. It lists various links to surveys, trial offers, tasks, etc. Always check back on this page to see the latest surveys or offers you can complete.

How to Earn Points

When you sign up for P2S, you get 250 points right off the bat. Think of how long it takes you to get up to 250 points on other survey sites!

The biggest points are concentrated on surveys. But as you might know, sometimes it’s very hard to qualify for surveys. Does this page look familiar?

You could be wasting your time answering “pre-survey” questions and still not qualify for any of them. But once you find a couple, they add up to big points.

If filling out surveys is not your cup of tea because it’s too darn boring, you can always do the offers. On the “Earn Points” page, you’ll see the link to “Trialpay” page. Trialpay shows you all the available offers you can complete. Here are some examples:

• Play two TV trivia games and earn 50 points
• Join the i-Say panel, complete a survey within 24 hours, and earn 200 points
• Sign up for a free trial on Cinematrix and earn 300 points
• Sign up to get free samples from CoolSavings and earn 50 points
• Take a Coke vs. Pepsi poll and earn 50 points

As typical of these offers, some are free trials that you must cancel before the expiration in order to avoid a credit charge. Some reward you for a magazine subscription or buying something. Be careful not to buy something you don’t need, as any money you spend cancels out the rewards you earn.

The irony of some of these offers is that they often direct you to another survey site and reward you points based on the number of surveys you take. What’s the #1 problem with this? It’s really hard to qualify for surveys sometimes!

You can also earn points by downloading the P2S mobile app or referring friends. P2S’s referral scheme isn’t that great though; whereas some survey sites give you $5 to $7 on each referral, P2S has a rather complicated multi-tier referral structure.  So referrals are not a reliable way to earn points on P2S.

You can also complete what’s known as “Recurring Tasks.” These work kind of like Amazon’s Mechanical, where you get literally pennies for completing micro tasks. You’ll often need to be above a certain level to complete these jobs.

Although P2S mostly deals with points, you can also earn actual cash, through referrals, weekly lottery or monthly contests.

In short, the best way to earn points on P2S is by completing surveys and registering for various offers.

Types of Rewards & How to Redeem

On P2S, you have a range of rewards to redeem your points for. You get your token low cost rewards, like the P2S-branded earphones or pencils. You can even redeem one dollar for 100 points.

Once you go past the weird knickknacks, you start to see some decent, albeit typical rewards. You can redeem your points for Amazon gift cards, but the caveat is that they mail the gift cards to you, rather than sending them electronically. Gift cards for iTunes or Best Buy are electronically delivered.

If you have any cash amount, you can convert it to points or withdraw to get actual money. P2S is a bit confusing in a way because most of the time, you’ll earn “points,” and you’ll only earn cash through referrals, weekly lottery or monthly prizes.

If you’re lucky to win, you can withdraw your money to PayPal, dwolla, or have P2S mail you a check. The minimum threshold for withdrawal is anywhere from $1 to $5.

Pros – The Pros of P2S

The strength of P2S is their variety of offers. You can earn decent points just completing several offers a week, instead of trying to qualify for surveys. Offers are also a good way to vary things up, because every offer is unique. They just require you to stay organized.

Cons – The Cons of P2S

P2S’s interface is really cluttered. In terms of user interface, it’s one of the worst sites out there, at least on the desktop version. Other sites like PrizeRebel boasts clean interface, so P2S is clearly at a disadvantage here.

For example, on the right side of the website on every single page, you see what’s called a “Shoutbox.” You can type short messages if you have any questions. You can also choose to display your rewards in this shoutbox when you redeem for them.

You might ask yourself why you should care about this feature at all, because it just clutters the website. If you like this kind of live interaction though, this shoutbox might be useful.

When you first sign on, you might also be bombarded with random messages. They might be from someone who wants to help you navigate P2S, but since this interaction is unsolicited, it can get annoying. Fortunately, you can adjust your status so it shows you as “hidden.”

(If you want to try a site that actually has a very good interface, click here to check out Swagbucks.)

Another negative thing about P2S is how difficult it is to qualify for some surveys. A big part of P2S is surveys and they’re not immune to this problem. If you have some patience, you’ll eventually qualify for one or two that have big points, like 150 or 250.

While P2S’s offer page is one of their strengths, you really have to evaluate each offer and see if you’re spending money for something you don’t need. Unless you’ve been dying to subscribe to The Economist (worth 700 points), stick to free trials that don’t require you to buy anything.

Some trial offers require your credit card information, which might make you feel a bit uneasy. These tend to have big points associated with them, but remember, you don’t have to do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable.

How to Optimize Your Experience on P2S

If you decide to forego taking surveys altogether and earn your points just by completing offers, it’s imperative you stay organized. You need to be super vigilant with what you sign up for, because if you don’t cancel your trial offers before they expire, you’ll get charged on your credit card in some instances.

This pretty much wipes out the benefit of rewards, so stay on top of it by having a separate email address to sign up for all the trial offers. Keep a spreadsheet of when you signed up and when they expire.

Some trial offers reverse your points if you cancel within 48 hours, so keep that in mind and only cancel towards the end of the trial.

You’ll want to concentrate most effort on earning “points” rather than straight up “cash.”

Conclusion

Should you sign up for Point2Shops? Is it legit, or is it a scam?

While you won’t be able to find P2S listed under Better Business Bureau, various reviews around the web do seem to think this site is legitimate. There doesn’t seem to be too many complaints about missed payouts.

The chief complaint about P2S is not being able to qualify for many surveys and random account termination. If you try weird hacks, you might get your account terminated.

As with any website of this nature, P2S allows you to exchange your time for little money. It’s a good way to make a quick buck here and there if you are otherwise spending your free time watching TV.

One good thing about P2S is that you can redeem rewards with small number of points, as low as 100 points for literally one-dollar bill.

To maximize your earnings on P2S, it’s best to stick with offers (trials for services, products, downloading games and apps, etc.). Surveys can be a pain to qualify for, although they do promise big points for 10-20 minutes of your time.

While P2S doesn’t promise you a lot of money, their wide array of offers makes it worthwhile to try the site out. It’s easy to rack up hundreds of points by completing trial offers, although they’re a more hassle than taking surveys.

So pair P2S with another survey site that gives you a lot of points, and you’ll be golden.

That being said, we really think you would be happier on a better designed and more effective site. If you agree, click here to try Swagbucks or click here to try MySurvey, two sites with great user interfaces.