Mystery Shopper

[Traviesa 0]

I know mystery shoppers exist. I have been visited by a few while I used to work at customer service-oriented jobs. However, how do these mystery shoppers get their job? I'm looking for a way to get some extra cash and why not get free meals/stuff at the same time? Does anyone know of a reputable mystery shopper company to get registered with??

[irishgirl73 0]

I know mystery shoppers exist. I have been visited by a few while I used to work at customer service-oriented jobs. However, how do these mystery shoppers get their job? I'm looking for a way to get some extra cash and why not get free meals/stuff at the same time? Does anyone know of a reputable mystery shopper company to get registered with??

I think I saw ads on Monster.com for mystery shoppers................what a cool job. I would LOVE getting paid to shop. That would be a dream job.

I have also seen ads in local newspapers. I would do a search on google & see what happens, but definetly try Monster

good luck

[Traviesa 0]

I couldn't find it on Monster or Career Builder

Thing about looking up all those various web sites is you never know if it's going to be a scam...

[irishgirl73 0]

I couldn't find it on Monster or Career Builder

Thing about looking up all those various web sites is you never know if it's going to be a scam...

Maybe it was career builder??? I know I saw it a few days ago-there were tons of them.

I will do some research & get back to ya

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I am stupid. What is a mystery shopper?

Edit: Disregard. I found it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_shopper

Edited February 21, 2006 by Agent Smith

[rclouse 0]

A friend of mine at work, his wife does this stuff pretty often. Usually it's like go to Target, spend at least $25, ask for help, and we'll cover your purchase up to say $50 plus give you $20. The really cool ones are when they get to do a restaurant. They don't get any extra money, but the budget is up to $100. So you're talkin' filet mignon and a really nice cab to go with it. Yum!

[Peter Miami 0]

You get paid for shopping? Where do I sign up?

[irishgirl73 0]

If you go onto careerbuilder-there are tons of "mystery shopper" ads..............I live in Philly and was looking for a retail buying job, I put in "buying", "retail" in the search engine & it popped up.

try it missliss

can you say dreamjob??

[almaty 19]

####### is this country is coming too?

[lucyisblue 0]

My mother was mystery shopping a few years ago, but not for long. She wasn't making much money for the effort and hassle involved.

The agency gave her the time and location to shop, which were often mid-day and up to 45 minute drive each way. She worked mostly for grocery stores and would have to go to the meat department, bakery, dairy, and deli each time making special request purchases and asking questions. So, she ended up driving a lot and using a lot of gas, buying groceries she didn't want, doing a lot of paper work, was out of pocket for the groceries until reimbursed, and averaged $50 a week after costs!

I'm sure all agencies are different, so check out several before deciding.

[almaty 19]

why can't people go get their own supplies or stuff?

[m_and_m20 0]

I couldn't find it on Monster or Career Builder

Thing about looking up all those various web sites is you never know if it's going to be a scam...

General rule, if they ask you for money to work for them....then its a scam. you shouldnt have to pay to get a job!

[pax 0]

It might sound like fun, but keep in mind you don't get to pick where you shop. Imagine being sent to Gymboree if you don't like kids.

I work part-time in a well-known retail store, and we get "shopped" once every 4-6 weeks. Our shoppers have to:

--Stay in the store for a minimum of 45 minutes

--Ask questions about our catalog service (e.g. they might deliberately ask to try on a color or size we don't have, and we're supposed to refer them to the catalog)

--Try on at least three items

--Spend at least $100

Now imagine having to do all that if you didn't like the clothes.

[luv2teach77 41]

In the run up to Christmas I actually acted on one of the mystery shopper adverts I'd seen on both Monster.com and careerbuilder.com. Debs and I discussed it and decided we'd pay the $20 or however much it was for the "mystery shopper network" list full of all the 100+ companies that take on people to perform mystery shopper duties for them.

On paper it seems like a great deal. The money is refundable if you decide its not working within 60 days, they talk of the huge number of opportunties and how easy it will be to take as many or as few assignments as you want. We spent a couple of evenings signing up for about 20 of the companies listed, providing all the required target zip codes and a large number of cities and towns where I'd be willing to travel to for an assignment.

We then eagerly started checking my email every day in the hope that we'd be overwhelmed with the number of opportunities I'd be able to choose from. Oh how wrong we were !! I received plenty of emails but to this day have never found an assignment within a distance that would make it worthwhile to sign up. I live near a large city (St. Louis) but have NEVER seen a single assignment listed there. I asked for my money back pretty soon after signing up, partly because I wasn't getting anywhere with it and partly because I got myself a proper job.

If you live in New York or Chicago (where a lot of the assignments seemed to be based) then you'd probably get more out of your investment than I did. if you live in a smaller city or a fairly long way away from a major city, I'd think twice. $15 of free groceries sounds great but if it costs your $20 in gas to get there and back whats the point ??

It isn't a scam... there is lots of info on how people can make a good living from doing mystery shopping. However... unless you live in the right place, it'll be hard to make any money at all. My advice would be to sign up for it, bookmark ALL the sites listed on the list your subscription provides, then cancel your subscription and get your money back. As far as I could tell there was nothing to stop people doing that... after all all you're paying for is access to a 2 or 3 page website with a list of other websites on it !!

Mark

[john_and_marlene 162]

I know mystery shoppers exist. I have been visited by a few while I used to work at customer service-oriented jobs. However, how do these mystery shoppers get their job? I'm looking for a way to get some extra cash and why not get free meals/stuff at the same time? Does anyone know of a reputable mystery shopper company to get registered with??

I've done it with this company http://www.mysteryguestinc.com/home.asp

They've paid for me and a guest to have dinner many times over the past few years.

I even got one assignment to go to a restaurant bar and they paid me back for my drinks

I live in Oklahoma City, and there are only a couple of restaurants here for the assignments. The assignments aren't very often but it's nice to get a nice meal paid for once in a while.

Edited February 21, 2006 by john_and_marlene