Anyone ever been a Secret Shopper?

[singingpixie]

I'm looking for a way to make some extra money, and with my work schedule being as variable as it is, a traditional second job would be really hard to swing. Anyone ever been a Secret Shopper? What were your experiences? Would they pay for your food when you shopped restaurants? Did you get to keep purchases at retail stores?

 

[Michie]

I am failrycertain AidensMom is You might send her a pm.

She might not reply straightaway I think she is at Disney

 

[Luv'sTink]

I would love to know if you get any info on this as well.

 

[smartestnumber5]

My mother is a secret shopper. She's been doing it for at least 5 years now, and I believe it took her a few years to really build up enough contacts to get a lot of jobs (of course, she's doing this as an almost full-time job, so you probably wouldn't want that many contacts if you already have one full-time job). She started off doing mostly chain restaurants and generally the meal (for two) was the payment; some jobs required more than others, but most required a combination of ordering certain things, asking certain question, and waiting to see if the server mentioned the specials, etc. Then after the meal she'd have to fill out a server which probably averaged a half hour to an hour--they liked very detailed accounts.

She's now moved on to doing a bunch of different things. She does some phone call jobs where she pretends to want certain services a company offers. She does some editing of the accounts of restaurant jobs which other people send in. Lately she's had some hilarious stories of instances in which people have purchased some food item which has something vague "wrong with it" and she has to pick it up and send it to the manufacturer. Once she had to go to one of those wholesale grocery stores and pick up and entire shelf worth of some granola bar type snack and throw hundreds and hundreds of boxes of them out. For all of those things she gets a certain fee and often mileage included.

Unfortunately, though, I don't know any of the details of how she started getting these offers.

 

[JoiseyMom]

I am a MSPA Gold Certified Mystery Shopper. You will need to sign up with 100's of companies to get a shot at whatever jobs are in your area. All companies are different. Most companies will reimburse you for a certain amount of the food ordered, if you stay in their guidelines, if you order more, it is your dime. A few companies will give you a fee on top of the food reimbursement. You will have to do a lot of shops to make good money at it. You will spend lots of time searching the web for jobs, and arranging jobs in the same area, so you aren't driving all over the place and spending gas money. You will be spending lots of time writing reports. When you average out the money/hour, and factor in searching for jobs, and traveling tothe job, and back, and writing and entering the report, the job will then not pay much.
To get all the info you want on Mystery Shopping, go to www.volition.com.

Good Luck.

 

[powellrj]

I did truck stops and resturants for awhile, but to be honest, it wasn't worth my time. You had to do things and make small purchases. You would get to keep the things you bought but it was things like candy bars and snacks.

When I did resturants you would get a free meal and maybe $5 or $10.

If I had the free time I would do it again, but I wouldn't do it as a job. I need something more steady.

 

[Traveliz]

I am a MSPA Gold Certified Mystery Shopper. You will need to sign up with 100's of companies to get a shot at whatever jobs are in your area. All companies are different. Most companies will reimburse you for a certain amount of the food ordered, if you stay in their guidelines, if you order more, it is your dime. A few companies will give you a fee on top of the food reimbursement. You will have to do a lot of shops to make good money at it. You will spend lots of time searching the web for jobs, and arranging jobs in the same area, so you aren't driving all over the place and spending gas money. You will be spending lots of time writing reports. When you average out the money/hour, and factor in searching for jobs, and traveling tothe job, and back, and writing and entering the report, the job will then not pay much.
To get all the info you want on Mystery Shopping, go to www.volition.com.

Good Luck.

I too am GOLD - this is my 8th year of shopping and like you say - you literally have to be signed up with hundreds of companies and stay on top of new opportunities.

I love doing it and for me its very worthwhile. But its because I have worked it and made it work for me.

Like the above poster states volition.com is a good place to look around and learn a little more - but mystery shopping is like any endeavor - you really need to study up, learn more about it and then go for it with an understanding that you will not be doing a zillion shops at first.

Liz

 

[DisneyNeckCoolers]

I've done it. Like the 2 PP's said, unless you really work at it, you don't really "make" money. You're paid for the meal and the time for the report, but it's more like getting things free, like getting a free meal at a nice restaurant. If you are still interested, volition.com is definitely the best place to start.

 

[orljustin]

It really isn't worth it as a 2nd job. As mentioned, you might get a free meal for restaurant jobs. But for retail or other things, you're looking at $10-$20 for all the trouble.

 

[MomofKatie]

I do Mystery shopping for just 2 different companies and make about $100- $150 per month.

Company #1 has me do shops for a large nat'l coffeehouse. Each shop takes 10 minutes- I order a certain beverage and notice the cleanliness and service of the location. I fill in an online form (takes about 15 mins) and get paid $9 a shop, plus reimbursement for the drink I purchase. I can sign up for as many shops as I like, but I can only shop each location 3 times in a quarter.

Company #2 has me shop a regional grocery store chain. There are several different types of shop to do, from returns shops where I return a previously purchased item, to Pharmacy shops where I talk to a Pharmacist and evaluate the responses I get to questions. Depending on the type of shop I do, they can take anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes to complete. I fill out an online form (about 15-20 mins), and get paid on average $10 per shop. There is no reimbursement for purchases, but the minimum purchase amt is only $5, so I just combine shops with grocery shopping. This company has just instituted a limit on the # of shops that can be done each month- only 8 per month. My pay has decreased, since I used to do around 15 a month, but I never expected to get rich doing this job- it is just fun to get out of the house and make a little cash.

 

[UrsulasMyHero]

I too do shops. Most of the time it's gas station cleanliness and card store shops. I get $9 or $10 for the shop, plus reimbursement for the purchase I make at each place, usually no more than $2 or $3 bucks.
I do mine thru intellishop.com, I'm a silver rated shopper.