Interested in Becoming a Mystery Shopper

Mom, research the co's offering this as a job b4 you jump in. I have heard most of them are scams and will rip you off somehow. I think there are better ways to make money out there than this. Just beware.

Hi
National Association of Retail Merchandisers www.narms.com lists jobs by city and state a lot of Mystery shopping opportunities as well as Merchandising jobs. I do magazine merchandising myself twice a week while my son is at school. Merchandising jobs are wonderful mom jobs as well as extra jobs to supplement full time employment. My girlfriend and her husband do a few stores with magazines together, for extra income. Check out Source Interlink on line if magazine and book merchandising is of interest as well. I know that Mystery Shoppers are all ages. The NARMS website has a lot of info. It is a busy web site don't let it overwhelm you. I hope this info helps. Good Luck to you! :)

I started mystery shopping with a company called BestMark a few months ago and have loved it so far! I get to choose my own schedule and make a little extra cash while doing so. I don't get rich by any means, but it does put a bit of extra cash in my pocket while also offering me free meals, discounted or free auto services (which need to be done anyway! - why not fill out a survey about the customer service to get paid?), get discounted groceries, etc. The company I am working for does not charge any fees at all so I basically just wait until I see a job in my area that I would like to do. I had always wondered about mystery shopping and one day received a check from some random company telling me to complete a wire money transfer (at the time I hadn't been a mystery shopper), so I did some research and found out it was a complete scam. In the process of my research, I came across some legitimate mystery shopping companies that I applied for, BestMark currently being my favorite. It doesn't hurt to sign up and wait to see the jobs in your area! http://www.bestmark.com

wow that's a good question I am interested too!

I heard the same thing here. Any ad requiring money is not legitimate.

I did this for a while when I had only 1 baby - 3 little ones makes it too hard. Stay away from any place asking you to pay to be put on the list. The only thing I did pay for was to get certified, but I forget where (sorry, it was the official mystery shopping alliance of some sort). Very short power point and quiz afterward, plus $30, and you get a silver or gold certification. That opened up some doors, and I believe the sight had links to legitimate mystery shopping companies as well. I also found that I didn't get a wage as often as I got free things - mostly like $30 reimbursed that I spent in a restaurant. I did a few that paid $5-10, but that seemed like more trouble than it's worth. I tried to group my errands around the mystery shopping to make the trip more worthwhile. I found that you have to respond REALLY quickly to most of them because they fill up FAST. I would check my email a couple times a day to try to catch them. It can be worth it, but there are a lot of details you have to notice while you are there, so make sure you read the entire survey first.

My mother in law does this. Most of the time you don't make any wages, you just get a check ($5-$30) to go buy something at the store that is doing it. Linda (the M-I-L) usually gets $5 to go buy fast food at Sonic once a month even though the company has advertised having secret shopping available at 50 different places. (sorry, don't know the name, but try a web search)

My clinic here VCA Telge Rd Animal Hospital has secret shoppers come in every month. I think they get their entire vet visit free so if you have a pet check into VCA secret shoppers. You won't get paid but your pet will get a free check up etc. I also know restaraunts do this too.

Visit the following website. It is the Association that I think kind of regulates the Mystery Shopping Companies. There you will likely find the name of the companies that work in your state. And get and idea of what is out there.

http://www.mysteryshop.org/index-na.php

I have done it. Now I only check emails to see if there is something worth to spend the effort or time. (if it pays enough)

If you are looking to make extra money while maintaining a very flexible schedule, I would like to suggest becoming an Avon representative.
$10 to Start
Online Ordering (w/a 2-3 bus. day turn-around)
40% profit (1st 4 campaigns / 20-50% after depending on sales)
Meet 1-on-1 for approx. 45 min. to get signed up
No Inventory
No Parties
No Minimums
If you would like to get more information please feel free to email me ____@____.com

I tried mystery shopping. You have to dot the eye and cross the t's and some companies are so particular, that it appears they want the information you send in, but don't want to pay for it. I got into mystery shopping because I was told that we could "Mystery shop" restaurants and my wife could eat out for free. If something appears too good to be true, it usually is.

I quit mystery shopping because the promises and the reality didn't match up. You can't make anywhere close to minimum wage and the reports were awful. They didn't want to reimburse you for the products you bought or if they told you you had to return the products, the stores didn't want them back.

All in all it wasn't worth it to me and the family that got me interested doesn't do it but once or twice a quarter any more. Then they pick and choose what they do very carefully so if they get stuck, its something they would have done without the Mystery shop.

Good luck to you and yours.

I have done it a few times, but have discovered it is usually more of a hassle than it is worth. FYI you are not allowed to bring kids with so doing them durring the day while running errands is kinda kaboshed. I went through Market Force (www.marketforce.com) you have to fill out an application and then they will let you know if you're "hired". I think that I have done 3-4 in the past year or so and have been properly paid for each one. Generally each shop is different as to how much you will get paid. You will always have to purchase something and they will than reimburse you for a certain dollar amount. One that I can think of paid $8 for the shop plus returned $4 of the purchase. Check it out and see if it works for you! By the way I discovered the company because it was featured on our local news, they had looked into it and reported that it was lagitament which made me feel comfortable going forward witht the application and so forth.

Mystery shopping can be fun and interesting. I have found the best way to get started is to invested in getting certified through MSPA (Mystery Shopping Providers Associate). It can be hard to get assignments and you need to sign up as a shopper for numerous companies. The MSPA is the best place to start to find companies and to gain a reputation. I have done a lot of mystery shopping, but personally I found it to be a lot of work for little money. Some jobs are easy money, but many require a lot of narrative with very specific standards. Plus, you often need to invest in some equipment to help with timing and specific words said. However, my FIL still mystery shops a lot and enjoys doing it. He has a lot of flexibility and now gets called by companies to do their mystery shops. He has a great reputation which has resulted in a decent income. Check it out and see if it's for you. BTW...if you do it, I highly recommend getting an email address dedicated to mystery shopping. You are bombarded with emails since you almost never talk with anyone. Everything is done online.