Mystery Shopping

[cheeky^Wolf 0]

Just wondered if anyone had any experiences with mystery shopping companies. There's so many around and it's hard to know the real ones from the rip off merchants.

Thinking about trying it out once I get work authorised.

Thanks

Helen

[saturn5man 0]

Hi ! My brothers in the UK have both been involved with mystery shopping over the past few years. At times, it pays quite well there.

The US, I have found, is somewhat different. I signed up recently with what seems to be a big international company and, after spending 6 hours doing some specific training and taking an online test, I found that the jobs were paying around $6-$8 only !!

These jobs often required a half hour journey from my home, perhaps an hour to an hour and a half 'observation' and, once one has returned home, submission of an online report, uploading of photos and evidence of the visit made (receipts for purchases made etc) !! Only when they are completely happy with your report, do they send you a 'commission' payment.

Yesterday, I had an email offering me another job. This was going to pay only $4, requiring an alcohol purchase (for which they would reimburse a maximum of another $4!!), photos of the store's restroom and later an online report !

Needless to say I have not undertaken ANY work for this company...As I said, a big international one, at that !!

Don't let me put you off entirely but this has been my personal experience in the US. I would be very interested to hear of other people's experiences.

Good luck....Neil.

[cheeky^Wolf 0]

Thanks for that Neil, wow sounds like slave labour!

A friend used one in the UK who are international, I was thinking of trying them as he's never had any probs with them over there and his son now works at the head office in the US so I figured I'd have a contact if I ran into problems.

Hubby heard it discussed on a radio show the other day, but can't remember any of the company names grrrr!

I'll keep searching.

[iceyspots 0]

if you find something reputable, post it! i'd like to see

[Flames9_RN 358]

I have done it a bit. 3 assignments to be exact. 1 was to goto a parking garage, stay there for at least an hr then leave. had to write a short report answering questions like how friendly the cashier was, correct change back, cleanliness of the parkade. Drove there, did my school homework in the car, then left!! $15 for the assignment. Another was going into ta high end electronics store and had a set of questions I had to ask, write up another short report, $15. LAst one I went to a outdoors store, again ask questions and spend $15 on somethiong, which the $$ was refunded to me by cheque, fill out an online questionaire and another $15!! Found it to be very easy work,

satserv6@satisfactionservicesinc.com Found their email addy

Phone # 1-800-564-6574

They send an email stating they have assignments in ur area, you choose to respond or not. Cheers

Edited August 16, 2006 by flames9

[luv2teach77 41]

I looked into it as a way to get some cash while I was looking for a REAL job after getting my EAD. I signed up to the mystery shopping network which required me to pay something like $25 for a list of mystery shopping companies. I spent a couple of days filling out the application information for a long list of these companies and sure enough, I started getting emails about assignments that they needed people to complete for them.

The problem was that NONE of these assignments were anywhere near where I lived, even though I specified a large number of towns and cities surrounding where I lived. What use was accepting an assignment 2 hours drive away for $15 of free groceries !!

I had a 60 day money back garuntee on the money I spent for access to this list and had no problems getting the money back when I explained that I was unable to accept any of the assignments because they were all so far away !!

It seemed like a great idea at the time but in reality it was a waste of time for me. Maybe if I lived in a large city like New York or Chicago it would be a better bet.

Mark

[cheeky^Wolf 0]

Thanks for that flames9 - I'll check them out

[Flames9_RN 358]

No problem. Not big $$$, but its sort of neat. Learned a lot of things when I went to the high end elctronics store. All they sold was TV's and stereos, plus got $15!! All the stores I went to were close by, one can decide to take the assignment or not. Cheers

[Anastassia 0]

I have done quite a lot of mystery shopping. I wish I had signed up for it while I still didn't have my work permit.

For those who are in this situation: you can open accounts with mystery shopping sites for your spouse name and the checks will come in his/her name. Nobody checks who does the actual business check anyway.

The reason why I didn't sign up is that I wasn't sure how legitimate it is. There is an option there to register for free, which gives you Bronze membership. Under this you get nothing but information that the shopping job is available in your area. But after a while schedulers started contacting me themselves. So when Shadowshopper sent me a mail that I can try it for free I decided to give it a shot.

It offers a free trial again so you can see for yourself.

But I would not hold my breath for potential income. It is some money, and yes Saturn5man is right - many offers are ridiculous, but some are really decent: like $45 dollars reimbursement for a dinner in Chili's or $20 dollars for a bank shop that took me about 5 minutes. I made about $200 in one month and then there were hardly any offers in my area. Sometimes it's really not worth a drive.

And one more thing: in most of the cases you need to invest your own money to make purchases or pay for services you are checking. You are reimbursed later but I was always worried: what if they don't at least reimburse me. So far I haven't had problems with payments from those companies.

Here is a site that got me started.

http://www.shadowshopper.com/

Regards

Ana

[cheeky^Wolf 0]

Thanks for the info Ana, I'm going to check them out

[bettenan 1]

Just wondered if anyone had any experiences with mystery shopping companies. There's so many around and it's hard to know the real ones from the rip off merchants.

Thinking about trying it out once I get work authorised.

Thanks

Helen

I mystery shop part time for added income. Most mystery shopping companies do want your social security # because have to they issue a 1099 tax form for all annual income over $600 a year. The most reliable central place for mystery shopping is here volition mystery shopping. REMEMBER: Never pay a fee to anyone to myster shop. That's the best way to know it's a scam. Feel free to email me bettenan@yahoo.com if you want more info. You'll never make a fortune but it's OK pocket money and you do get some "free stuff" even some stuff you may may want.

[Dr_LHA 3]

But I would not hold my breath for potential income. It is some money, and yes Saturn5man is right - many offers are ridiculous, but some are really decent: like $45 dollars reimbursement for a dinner in Chili's or $20 dollars for a bank shop that took me about 5 minutes. I made about $200 in one month and then there were hardly any offers in my area. Sometimes it's really not worth a drive.

A friend of mine was signed up with a company who did deals like this, I used to get free or half price dinners at "Left at Albuquerque" about once a month with her because of it. That was pretty excellent. The one that gives you $8 for a trip: ripping people off!

[KaiserD 12]

Aha! So its you guys making our lives a misery every few months at work