Is InstaGC a Scam? An Honest Review [Updated 2019]

InstaGC is a website that pays you to complete offers, search the web, take surveys, watch videos, and do other similar tasks.

It’s categorized as a GPT (Get Paid To) website, because you can earn a few pennies for doing different tasks.

InstaGC has been around since 2011, and has maintained a positive overall reputation.

instaGC home page

Website: www.instagc.com

Owner: Andrew Day

Price: Free

Rating: 83/100

How Does instaGC Work?

InstaGC (for “Instant Gift Cards”) pays you for doing certain tasks, and for using the instaGC search engine.

The payouts are low, but that’s to be expected with any GPT site. You won’t be able to replace your job with this website, but some members have reported earning over a thousand dollars from it over the course of a few years.

However, you’d have to be super active to reach $1,000. Even getting to the $50 mark takes a huge amount of time and effort.

The instaGC currency is called “Points”, and one Point equals $0.01 (a penny).

The Signup Process

Although the signup process is quick and easy, it does require more information that other sites like Swagbucks for example.

You need to provide a username, password, email address, your first and last name, and let them know how you discovered instaGC in the first place.

Signing up with invalid personal information can result in your account being deactivated. You can sign up here.

You can also sign up for instaGC using your Facebook or Twitter account.

Following is a list of ways to earn money with instaGC:

Complete Offers

instaGC Offers

This is probably the most common way to earn more points, and can be one of the fastest as well.

Offers range from visiting websites, to downloading and playing certain games, to buying products, and more.

Most also require your email address, and some even need your credit card information.

I would avoid any offers for buying products, because most of the time you’ll be spending more on the product than the amount of points you’ll get in return.

Use the instaGC Search Engine

instaGC search engine

Earning cash for searching the web is one of my favorite ways to make money online.

Although the pay is never high, you’re being paid for something you already do anyway.

The only catch is that the search results won’t be exactly the same as most search engines, but at least the results are still completely relevant.

Keep in mind that the rewards for searching the web are random, and you won’t be getting them for every search you do. I did around 10 searches with the instaGC search engine before finally getting rewarded 1 cent.

Take Surveys

Taking surveys is a great way to earn points quickly.

As always, you won’t qualify for every survey you try, and some will even kick you out after you’ve already spent a long time on them.

However, I had a good experience, and earned 105 points ($1.05) for a thirty-minute survey.

As you can tell though, the amount you earn for the time you spend is awful, averaging around $2 per hour.

Watch Videos

Another way to earn some easy points is by watching videos.

Although it’s easy money, it’s definitely not fast money. Depending on the playlist, you can earn anywhere from 1 point every three videos, up to 1 point for every 10 videos.

The videos all have ads before them though, and usually last a couple minutes.

To me, earning a penny for watching a bunch of videos I don’t want to watch anyway is not worth it, but a lot of people really enjoy the videos and gladly spend their time doing this.

Enter the “Decimal Pot”

Sometimes members will end up having fractions of a point in their account, and by entering that fraction, or decimal, into the decimal pot, you can win a bunch of points.

For example, right now I have 134.80 points.

If I entered those 0.8 points into the decimal pot, and my name was drawn as one of the winners, I would get a percentage of all the decimal points people donated into the decimal pot.

Redeem “Point Booster Codes”

instaGC point booster codes

Every so often, instaGC will release some point booster codes on their social media pages. You can enter those codes into the point booster code box to earn a few cents.

InstaGC has it set up where any member can create a point booster code if they pay, so occasionally you can find these member-created codes on different websites.

Earn Points for Referrals

By referring others to instaGC, you get 10 points as soon as they sign up, and 10% of what they earn thereafter. It doesn’t cost your referral anything – in fact, your referral will also get a 10-point sign up bonus when they join through your link.

If you can get a lot of referrals, this would be a great way to earn a lot of points quickly.

The great thing about having a bunch of referrals is that you will be earning passive income, meaning you don’t need to do any tasks in order to earn points.

Save Money with Coupons

instaGC coupons

InstaGC has tons of coupons available for many different kinds of groceries.

For example, I saw one for $3 off a pack of Huggies diapers, and another that was for $0.75 off Kraft cheese.

Although you won’t technically be earning money with these coupons, you will save money with them.

How Much Can You Expect to Earn with instaGC?

If you put in a lot of effort, you can expect to earn a decent amount with InstaGC.

If you take advantage of all the features they offer and are a regular user, you can easily make several hundred a year.

But if you’re just a casual user like me, and only have time to try a few tasks every so often, you won’t be making very much.

At the rate I’m going, I’ll probably earn a dollar or two per month.

How Does instaGC Pay?

InstaGC pays through gift cards, direct deposit, eCheck, and PayPal.

Gift cards seem to be the most popular of these options though, because the minimum cash out amount is lower. There are hundreds of different gift cards to choose from, the most popular being the $1 Amazon gift card.

Is There a Minimum Payout Threshold?

Yes. You need at least 100 points in order to redeem a gift card, and at least 5,000 points before you can cash out to your PayPal account.

Main InstaGC Complaint

As with any business, some users have had a bad experience. Following is the most common complaint with InstaGC:

Takes a while to earn anything substantial

You should be aware that you’re unlikely to replace your job with instaGC (or any GPT site for that matter).

If you’re looking for a real work from home opportunity, don’t bother with these kinds of sites.

You’d be much better off starting your own website, which you can learn how to do right here.

InstaGC Pros vs. Cons

Pros

  • 100% free, no upsells
  • Available in every country supported by PayPal, excluding China and Vietnam (full list of countries supported by PayPal can be found here)
  • With their search engine, you can make money doing what you already do
  • Literally thousands of different tasks available to earn points
  • You can make your own “booster codes” for other people to use (I personally think this is a really cool feature)
  • Hundreds of different gift cards to choose from when you’re ready to redeem your Points
  • InstaGC has been around since 2011, which is a long time for a GPT website.

Cons

  • Sometimes customer service can be slow and curt
  • You’ll disqualify from many surveys you attempt

Final Thoughts

InstaGC is a legitimate way to earn money online. You won’t earn much, but then again, you won’t earn much with any GPT site.

If you’re an active user and regularly spend time taking surveys and doing different tasks, it’s definitely possible to earn a small side income.

Like I mentioned earlier, some users have been able to earn more than $1,000 over the course of a year or two.

If you think InstaGC looks like a good opportunity for you and would like to get 10 Points when you sign up, consider helping Work From Home Journey out by joining through my referral link.

Otherwise, you can just signup at Instagc.com.

I created a Point Booster Code for anyone who read this far. After you join, enter “IGC-WorkFromHomeJourney” (without the quotation marks) for an additional 2 Points!

This code can only be used 50 times before it runs out, so you’ll have to hurry if you’re interested.

If you’re looking for real work from home opportunities, I wouldn’t suggest wasting your time on GPT websites.

In order to earn a full-time income online, you’re much better off building your own online business. That way you’re in control, and the amount you earn is dependent on the amount of effort you put in to building your business.

This is what I do, and if you’re interested, click the link at the bottom of this article to see how it’s done.

Have you ever used instaGC before? What do you think of it? Feel free to leave a comment below, and if you have any questions, I’d love to help out!

Serious about Making Money Online? Read This!

15 thoughts on “Is InstaGC a Scam? An Honest Review [Updated 2019]”

  1. Hi. I’ve started working online with this website but I do lots of surveys and lots of free offers and that 30.70 points is .30 cents right now. I’m going to let it add up until I hit 999.00 dollars flat.

  2. I just joined InstaGC right now. I completed all verification process. However, only one thing troubles me. I can’t play videos to earn if I don’t link my PayPal acct to them. If I link it they asked me to login to my PayPal which is very troublesome. And they’ll have access to my personal information linking to my PayPal acct. I’m concern to my funds. I have joined other GPT sites but they never ask to link their system to my PayPal acct. They just asked you to make sure that your email address is verified or added to your PayPal acct to receive earnings. Can you enlighten me on this please.

    • Hi Marge, linking a PayPal account is just part of the verification process, but I would agree that it should not be necessary. After years of experience with GTP sites, I would not recommend many of them. InstaGC used to be less intrusive, but I suppose that has changed.

  3. InstaGc scammed me out of $200 in rewards. My account was suddenly “locked” and the help desk demanded drivers license and address information. When provided, they told me the information was incorrect. Further communication only gave me responses from them that my timeout was not quantifiable and the delay was on my end. I only have one drivers license and one address. What a joke! I have accounts across all similar platforms with no issues what so ever.

  4. I also forgot to add this in my last comment. Last week I made $180 on the site.. yes in 7 days. For the month of November I made $629. I made more on this site in a month than I did in a month at my last part time job so again it definitely CAN replace a job and does so for many people on the site. Today alone I made $30 in 2 hours from doing work on Figure Eight which is one of the walls on InstaGC. I could have made much more than that for today but chose to quit earning for the day after the $30 was made and cashed out. So like I said in my last comment, you really shouldn’t be reviewing a site unless you actually are a user of the site and not just casually every once in a while. Even on bad earning days I still can average $15-$20. It’s all about what you do on the site and your willingness to work hard at it. If you’re someone that’s just going to do clicks and let videos run on the site you aren’t going to make much of anything. The more effort you put into it the more money you’ll make. It’s all on you. The site provides everything needed in order to succeed!

  5. I love InstaGC and have been a user for almost 4 years now. I make on average $25-$30 per day on the site and have had many days where I have made even more. The highest I’ve made in one day was just shy of $60. This site absolutely has replaced having a job for me. It makes life so much easier for me and is by far the best GPT site out there. I have tried many of them and this one is the top! Not sure where you got that you need a phone number to cash out. I have never had to use my phone number to cash out and I cash out via Paypal but have used other cash out methods as well. Support on the site is fantastic. They usually answer your ticket with in the same day, many times minutes after you put it in. Some things do take a little while to fix so it’s understandable when they aren’t super quick. I feel like you were off on a lot of this with this review. If you aren’t a user of the site or haven’t been using it for a while you probably shouldn’t be rating it because you can’t give it a fair one.

    • Yup, I oughta go update the review as it was originally written in 2016. Just out of curiosity, how are you able to make $25-$30/day? That’s unheard of for GPT sites.

      • Many people easily make that much per day on InstaGC. I do it by doing work on Figure Eight (formerly known as Crowdflower) through the site mostly but days when there aren’t a lot of tasks on Figure Eight I make it by doing offers and Your Surveys on the site. There’s many people that do surveys mostly through out the day that make close to $30 every day. That may not seem like a lot to someone who works full time but for people that can’t work or only need some extra cash it’s great. I don’t need to make a ton each month but do need extra income. I have severe anxiety which has made working any kind of job, even ones from home unbearable for me. I finally gave in and decided why try so hard to find a job I can handle when I have this site that I can make as much money as I need each month on it to pay the things I need to pay. InstaGC has been a life saver for me and has allowed me to make the money I need each month with out having constant panic attacks every day.

        When using a site like this you really need to try every wall they offer and every thing they offer until you find what you enjoy doing best and what works best for you. Getting advice from people in chat really helps, you find out what the biggest money makers are and what works the best. When you just start out you most likely wont make a ton of money. It took like 6 months for me to level up from a level 0 to the highest level, level 3 on Figure Eight 3 years ago when it was known as Crowdflower. You start out at level 0 and there really isn’t much to do. It seems a lot harder now to level up but it’s worth the hassle because when you do you have access to much better tasks at much higher pay. That’s my favorite way to earn for sure. Even with out it though you can still make good money. I like Your Surveys because a lot of times they’re 15 min or less and worth a lot. You can do a lot of them on InstaGC so they add up quick!

        I’ve tried many other sites.. Inbox Dollars, Swag Bucks, Superpay.me, and a bunch of others I can’t think of at the moment. The only one I’ve even found to be at all slightly close to as good as InstaGC was Superpay.me but they still just didn’t have the earning potential that InstaGC does. Swag Bucks and Inbox Dollars was horrible, wouldn’t recommend those to anyone. I’ve spent the last 3 years basically trying every thing and anything I could to make money from home. I’ve worked legit jobs from home, I’ve done freelancing work from home and GPT sites and I always go back to InstaGC. I finally realized like 4 months ago that I already have a place to make money at that works great for me so why keep trying all these other things and stressing myself out.

        It may not be for everyone but if you’re someone who has the time each day to devote to the site and you need some extra cash… it’s completely worth it!

  6. I loathe this kind of sites. For anyone who don’t know any better, they give you the impression that it is easy to make money online, except that you are making pennies that include hours of browsing on the internet doing nothing productive really.

    I don’t see how this can be turned into a meaning work to do from home. It kills your creativity – seriously. I tried InboxDollar the other day – just because someone recommended it – and left the site after 30 minutes. Definitely not my cup of tea.

    • Yep, not everyone likes GPT sites. Frankly, I don’t either, but I can see some value in them if you use them right. For example, do some tasks or surveys while watching TV. You’re wasting your time anyway, so you might as well make a few pennies for it.

      You can also use instaGC to make semi-passive income by using their search engine to make a few pennies every now and then, or by letting video playlists run all day until you hit the limit (which I think is $1?)

      Anyway, I completely agree that you can’t work from home with these sites, nor can you make money quickly.

      Thanks for the comment Cathy!

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