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Has anyone ever done "Secret Shopping" assignments?
Have any of you ladies ever done a mystery shopping assignment through a legit agency? I'm not even sure if there are "legit" agencies, but I have heard several people talking about them. I have done a little searching on the internet and found out that most are scams.
I did come across consumerjournal.org and they have 3 legitimate shopping providers listed. The one I was looking into was "Mystery Shoppers America" and the only downfall is you have to pay a one time fee to participate.
I have a full-time job at a daycare, but the pay is low and i'm looking to go back to school this fall. I just figured doing the secret shopper gig once or twice a week would be nice for a few extra bucks.
Maybe this isn't the best option, but I'm still interested in hearing what you all think!
Re: Has anyone ever done "Secret Shopping" assignments?
I actually did it a few times through a local agency. No way would I ever pay a fee to do so.
I ate at restaurants (got to do it about 4 times total in 3 years) and had to spend a certain amount by ordering an entree, appetizer, and dessert, then submitted my receipt for reimbursement and got a little more to send in a survey. All in all, I made between $3.00 and $10.00 per meal. I was a broke college student, though, and a free meal was nice regardless!
I've done secret shopping through several different companies. NO legit company will ask you to pay a fee, though.
I do it for fun, to get a free meal out, and the opportunity to try new restaurants. The "pay" outside of reimbursement is $10-15, so it's not something that you can do to earn enough money to see it as a second income. Any secret shopping site that tells you otherwise is probably a scam.
ETA: the write-ups that you have to do can also be quite a bit of work, depending on the type of shop. So if you really wanted to do it a couple times a week, between the shop and the evaluation, it would eat up a good bit of time for not a lot of money. Just keep that in mind.
I've done Secret Shoppong assignments and I've NEVER paid to do one. I have gone to lots of stores and I usually get reimbursed and paid a nominal fee.
If you have to pay- it sounds like a scam.
I found the companies that I mystery shop for through the HIP2SAVE blog. She posts when the companies are looking for new shoppers. Google the blog and mystery shoppers and it should help you find some legitimate companies.
Both my husband and I do mystery shops for Market Force (http://www.marketforce.com/). They have 2 different sides a blue side which is mostly what you think about mystery shopping, fast food, gas stations, banks, etc etc, you buy things and then critique several things for the company. They also have a purple side which is more of 'retail' aspect to it assembling displays, checking out-of-date products, but also theater shops as well (not watching movies just looking at layout and displays). We mostly only do the blue side, the purple side pays like $8 for an hour of work and not typically worth it.
You have the option of getting a paper check from them or you can do direct deposit. We started out with paper check and once we trusted them changed to direct deposit. We have never had a problem with them.
Sometimes if they are having a hard time getting someone to do a certain shop they will pay you extra to do it. There have been several instances we have gotten paid $30 plus reimbursement for food and it takes appx 30 minutes of work. It's a good source of extra money, some months my husband makes $150 dollars extra, that includes reimbursement for food, but good money for doing basically nothing!
Good luck!
Yes, there are legit companies. All the times I work retail, we were secret shopped. As others have said, a legit company doesn't ask you to pay a fee. I have signed up to do it, but most are taken or others are just too far way or do not work well with my schedule.
I work a FT job but I was also a mystery shopper for extra cash. I've only done it a handful of times though because most of the assignments are too far from my house. I really don't think it's worth it and it always ends up being more trouble than it's worth. The company I've done it for also tries to find ways to cheat you out of payment. For example, I had a shop where DH and I had to order 2 drinks, an appetizer, 2 entrees, and a dessert at a restaurant. The reimbursement was only $25 which was nowhere near enough to cover all of that. Then, the mystery shopping company didn't want to pay me because we ordered 2 soft drinks and they claimed that "drinks" meant alcoholic drinks. I told them to show me anywhere in the paperwork where it said that and of course they couldn't, so they ended up reimbursing me the $25 but like I said, it didn't even cover our meal.
I did another shop where they tried to not reimburse me because they thought I showed up for the shop too late in the evening. Again, I asked them to show me in the paperwork where it specified a time and it did not, only a date was specified. So, I got reimbursed again but decided not to do any more shops. It's just annoying and not worth my hassle. There are a lot of other things I could do PT for cash and make much more money and actually get paid!
I don't know if this forum is still active or not, but here goes...
Have recently become interested in being a mystery diner of sorts. I worked in the restaurant industry for many, many years, from the ground up to owning my own. So I know a bit. I despise places that provide poor service and food, especially in the tourist sector. I have been ripped off, and hate to see others suffer the same.
In any case, after doing a ton of research trying to find a reputable company, I am dismayed. Even consumerjournal.org is suspect, she says to beware of companies with no phone numbers, yet she provides three with no phone numbers, and who ask for a fee. And she herself provides no phone number. This sounds like someone trying to take the others down on the pretense of being a legit consumer service. Plus she has advertisements. I was also asked if I wanted to display unsecure content. Big red flag.
I would just advise anybody to spend the time and do the research, and read between the lines. If they do provide a phone number (good luck with that), call and see if the person speaks English. Never give out your email address until you are 1,000% positive. And certainly do not give out your banking info, you should be able to get paper checks if you so desire. People are duped every single day, and internet crime is becoming pandemic.
Let's all work together and shut these people down, and use our common sense. I do hope this forum is still active, think this is so very important. Tinabean, I will look into marketforce more carefully, but they seem legit and actually have their own warning page up, without ads, about others trying to use their name. We must be vigilant, even reviews that claim to be "consumer" reviews can be designed by the scammer. You don't have to be super computer savvy to figure this out. Just dive into their email address, but be careful, and you will usually see they are designed by that very scammer.
Thanks for the platform, hope some get to read this. Will update if I truly find a legit shopping/dining company.
Hey DuckyLucky. At first I was trying to figure out why there was such an old thread, but I see you are actively looking for information. It's a bit hilarious because I was just posting about mystery shopping in one of the threads on Money Matters and about how people earn extra income.
I've been mystery shopping for over 10 years. There are hundreds of legitimate mystery shopping (MS) companies out there. None of them will charge you a fee of any kind. You will DEFINITELY need to provide a LOT of personal information, though. Including your e-mail address, name, phone numbers, address and usually your social security number. This is normal for the industry, so please don't be alarmed by that. When you work for an MS company, you are an independent contractor for them. They need to report your income at the end of the year to the IRS and will mail you a 1099 tax form. That is why they need a lot of that information. No different than an employer.
They definitely need your e-mail address because that is how almost all communication is done. Most of them have contact phone numbers available on their website, but not all.
The best place to go to get more info about MSing plus a huge list of legit companies is www.volition.com . There is also a huge forum at this site that will give you all the information you could every possibly want about MSing.
My warning though is it is a LOT more work than people usually think it is. And it's not much money. Assignments can be very detailed and, if you mess something up, you run the risk of not being paid your fee or even reimbursed. Though, I have rarely had this happen to me. It is also nowhere near a full-time income. And, if you don't live in or regularly go to a big or at least medium sized city, there won't be many assignments available to you. It also helps to be a good writer and very observant.
With all that said, obviously I have been doing it for 10 years for a reason, lol. I live in a medium sized city and, if I wanted to be crazy gung-ho about it, I could probably pull in an extra $600-$1,000 in fees (not counting reimbursements). But that would be working for a few hours every night when I got off work, plus on Saturdays and Sundays. At least for the first two weeks of each month, which is when most of the assignments are due. In reality, I personally chose to only do a couple assignments/week for an extra $100-$200/month.
Feel free to PM me or reply back in this post if you have any questions.