Secret Shopping

Yes, I have done it and enjoy it as well. If you want to continue with minimal investment, go to the Mystery Shop Providers Association website. They have information about certification (legitimate). I got a Silver certification a few years ago for $15 and may go for the Gold next year. For the past few years, companies have contacted me because of my certification. Though a certificate is not needed to work, it gives a little advantage.

 

I haven't done any secret shopping even though I have looked into it. I've always been kind of leery of the companies that I have contacted because they seem to always want money. But now reading a comment here, I see that one might have to pay out a little bit of money at the start of it all.

A former acquaintance of mine did some mystery shopping, and got paid for it, but at the time I wasn't interested in doing it, so I didn't ask her the particulars about what company she went through. I might look into doing some mystery shopping for the holidays to make some extra money, but I don't know yet.

 

I have done this on and off for a few years, but be warned, the work can be irregular and some may sound easy, but writing up the reports can be long winded. Often you get compensated afterwards once you have submitted receipts, so be aware you may end up paying $100 for a meal and then wait for a week to get the money back.

There are often time and date restrictions too, so you have to be flexible and remember your travel costs aren't included, so may people try to do several jobs in on area. Food ones can be fun, but also you have to remember to be anonymous, not to be too friendly and not to ask for things otherwise you will get penalized on the report.

I have friends who do this full time for a living, it requires a lot of juggling of time, but can be fun.

 

I tried to do it when I was in the process of trying to find some online work. I thought that it would pay well seeing as it would involved me leaving the house and interacting with other people. But apparently there were not any shops that needed a secret shopper in my area, so I had to forget about it and find a way to make money elsewhere, namely online. I would have loved to have done this job though. Seemed like it would have been great.

 

I have signed up with a couple of companies quite a while ago, but have not taken on any assignments that had been sent to me. I always thought that it would be a lot of fun but most of them have been a little too far to travel or I just haven't had the time to try it. I am not that much into shopping but I do love to rate my customer service experience wherever I go. I think this comes from working in retail most of my life, so I am really big on good customer service. Maybe I will start doing the secret shopping sometime in the future.

 

I have never done it but some of my friends did and they say it was an awesome experience especially for those who enjoy shopping anyway. It is a great way to evaluate service of a certain place or if you are an employer to get feedback from customers about your employees. I am constantly seeking these kind of jobs but never seem to find one. The reason for doing it would be the money, because I hate shopping. My girlfriend tells me I would be an awful secret shopper because I am extremely critical of everyone. O well..

 

When I was looking for easy and unorthodox avenues of work, a few years ago, I stumbled across secret shopping and signed up with a company. I was so happy to have landed the job, but the work was always far and few in-between, and did not pay enough, so in the end it as not a sufficient way of earning money.

 

I tried doing it, with this app for my smartphone. I can't recall the name of the company right now, but basically they pay you to go to certain stores and look for certain items, then take some pictures of it with your phone and input some information about it, such as the price of the items.

The problem is many stores do not like customers taking pictures in them, especially when you are in malls. The managers or employees will often confront you about it, and in some cases they may even bring security over to escort you out of the store - which would be rather embarrassing.

I tried on a couple days to take a few of these gigs, which called for me to check on some items at Wal-Mart, but every single item I tried to check out I couldn't get a moment to myself to take the pictures I needed discreetly. There was *always* some employee in the aisle right near me.

I'm thinking these gigs are probably being posted by people in the corporate offices, and they are not letting the individual store managers know about them - perhaps as a way of secretly spot checking individual stores. In which case I could see how the managers would get irate and try to get you out of there asap, if you caught something that was wrongly priced or not stocked properly, which would get them in trouble.

 

I've done it before it was a lot of fun just doing it actually but for the most part it's just me trying to get by when I was still a struggling college dude. I never liked shopping before but when it's something like that I feel like I'm in a secret mission or something.

 

I think that all secret shopper employers should have a rule that if you get caught (taking a picture or whatever) while shopping, that you are allowed to 'come clean' and tell the store employee that you are secret shopping.

I don't think it's fair to have to risk the embarrassment of getting caught without being provided an "out". Of course, the store employee or manager could still insist that the secret shopper leave the store, but the shopper should be able to submit a report about that, and still get paid for their time.

When the report goes in, the store staff should get in trouble for their treatment of the secret shopper. That seems like fair business practice to me.

 

I've thought about doing this since my wife and I are on a tight budget. I would love if you could do hotels or something and get it reimbursed. There seems to be some way to make this into full time, but I think that the idea of this being done over many people in the same area wouldn't work.

I did do several in store shops with the smart phone apps as well. I was caught once and explained that I have a blog that I do and thought this price was the cheapest and wanted to share it with my readers. This seemed to make the employee happy and they said they preferred a different brand. I said I'd put that in the post too.

Hey, what I can say. Nothing is true, everything is permitted.

 

I think secret shopping could be a lot of fun. I have been wanting to do it and I think it is a great way to get a little income on the side. However, I have not found a company that I would feel comfortable working with. Most of them ask you to pay for the items and then they will reimburse you. I'm kind of apprehensive about doing that. If I could get references for the legitimacy of these companies, then I may be more willing to try it out.

 

I have been burned with this. I did two shops at a fast food restaurant where I had to purchase food, and do a big write up on a lot of stuff. I did two of them and never ended up getting paid or reimbursed, the place just kept putting me off then they went under. So now I am really weary about all of them. Especially since I put a lot of effort into certain things, especially at the start, I feel cautious to waste my time on something that won't pan out. But I do believe there are plenty of legitimate ones that pay, but like I said, once burned, twice shy.

 

Mystery shopping can be a great way to make a little extra cash. I have heard some stories about people having their reports rejected for really minor reasons though so you need to make double sure you are following the instructions to the letter.

 

I have gotten e-mails about doing it and thought about it when I was in between work but never signed up for it. It would have to be a reputable company for me to do it though. The way the emails come in I don't exactly get the feeling that its trustworthy or worth it. They read like spam or a company trying to get money by preying on people looking for work.

I work with a female who does something along the lines of secret shopping on the side. She raves about the opportunities and experiences she has. I don't think she comes out of pocket for anything. If she does she is not only reimbursed but she is paid from $100 or more for attending an assignment. She's stingy with the info type though. Likes to brag about it but it's "her" thing.

I would do restaurant secret shopping because I'm a foodie anyway.

 

I would love to be a secret shopper. The few times I've tried to sign up for it there have been any openings in my area. Which company did you go through? I'd like to know which ones are legit. I don't want to get scammed. I know there are a few out there that are for real, but I'd like to hear more about the one you went through. Do you plan to keep doing it?

 

I do anywhere from 2-5 mystery shops a week on my days off, and my sister does it full time. If you go to Jobslinger.com they have hundreds of MSPA (mystery shopping providers association) approved companies that post available jobs on their site. You have to sign up with each individual company that you want to shop for, but they are all association approved. I have done it off and on for about three years and my sister has done it pretty much full time for about five. They are pretty fun to do and if you are organized you can make a decent income off of it. My advice is to start slow doo you don't overwhelm or confuse yourself. A tip that makes it easier for me is to do the shop then complete the report on your smartphone immediately after. I will literally sit in the parking lot so I don't get confused or forget details later.

 

Cool, Kjones. Thanks for the info as well as the tips. I'll have to see if any of them have jobs in my area. Do you do any phone shops? I'd probably have better luck finding some work with those, since it would probably reach a wider area. That's what I've been looking into lately. I just don't know which companies are good or bad, so I'll also be checking out the MSPA. I appreciate the information.

 

I have signed up for some of these types of companies, but so far there hasn't been any good experiences that are close to where I work and live and at the times and dates I would be available. But it sounds fun and a good source for some extra income.