Thinking about being a mystery shopper

Hi Everyone
I've been looking continuously for months trying to find a job working my own hours and being able to make a living at it. So far, I've found nothing that pays well enough that I would want to do. Mystery shopping sounds interesting. I need all the advice I can get. For instance, a legitimate company that pays well and appreciates their employees. Can't wait to hear from you!

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Hi, kybutterfly, welcome to the forum. Mystery shopping is a fun way to make a little extra money. You won't get rich, but you can grab some cash. There's plenty of free information here for the taking. Pull up a chair and start reading. I would start with the New Mystery Shopper area and read everything there. There's a great list of companies available at the blue link at the bottom of the page, Official List of Mystery Shopping Companies. Mystery shopping means managing your own small business and working as an independent contractor for a number of mystery shopping companies performing assignments for the clients of those companies. Beginning it is very time-consuming, because there is a lot of reading and research involved and it takes time to register with the companies. Good luck with mystery shopping!

Kybutterfly I think mystery shopping sounds like a good choice for you. You will not be an employee however, you will be an independent contractor. It's time consuming in the beginning, registering with all the companies. I took a week and went through and registered with every single company at the bottom of this page.

There's lots of good things about being a mystery shopper, and some not so good things.

The good things include an incredible sense of freeedom to pick and choose the jobs and companies that you want to work for, when you want to work and how much you want to work. It's probably one of the best part-time jobs in the world.

The pay rangs from poor to not bad, depending on the job and the company. After a few months at it, you'll be able to figure out the jobs you like to do, and the companies you like to work for. I would venture to say only a handful of mystery shoppers do it fulltime, and many of the best post here. For me, it's an outstanding way to supplement my other job.

Echoing another poster, sit down and start reading the new shopper section. The information on this board had been invaluable to me.

Good luck.

Hello I AM 4sweetpea and I feel the same as Kybutterfly so any advise you offer please ensure that I receive it too. I AM Canadian are there certain companies that offer jobs for us Canadians does anyone know.

Thanks in advance

sweetpea, I can't help you with jobs in Canada but I answered you in another thread. In that thread I didn't know you were in Canada and I recommended Corporate Research and Market Force. Don't know if those companies will have jobs in Canada or not.

Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.

Your best bet is to go to the section titled "New Mystery Shoppers" and read the first six threads. Most of your questions will be answered.

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Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

Welcome to the forum. Read, read, and read some more. Lots of great info here.

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MDavisnowell Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> sweetpea, I can't help you with jobs in Canada but
> I answered you in another thread. In that thread
> I didn't know you were in Canada and I recommended
> Corporate Research and Market Force. Don't know
> if those companies will have jobs in Canada or
> not.

Those companies have jobs in Canada.
Sweetpea, I am in Alberta. These are some companies I like to work for.

Some companies to try are performalogics.com, spotcheckservices.com, lanla.com, mysteryshoppingcanada.com, shoppers confidential.com, sqm.ca

Another one is consumerconnection.shopmetrics.com. I have had good luck with this company, but there are many bad comments about them on this and other forums.

Most of the companies on the list below have jobs in Canada.

Have you done any mystery shops yet? Where in Canada are you?

Mystery shopping isn't a get rich quick system. If anything, it is slow and plodding. Like any business, it needs effort and planning. I wouldn't put mystery shopping in the category of "pays well." Because it doesn't. And sometimes it can be downright scary. I got chased out of a gas station by a stick-wielding gentlemen who cursed me in Bengali because I had explained I was there to audit the store and I wanted to take some pictures. The authorization letter wasn't taken seriously. I think he thought I'd insulted him.

I think Cettie wrote somewhere where she came across a dead body during one of her assignments.

A lot of the higher paying assignments are not listed. They are offered to reliable and experienced shoppers known to the scheduler.

In addition to MSCs, there are independent scheduling firms such as Kern and Summitt which you should market yourself to. These folks represent many MSCs.

But if you like the challenge of something new and the unexpected from day to day, or you just want to cut the costs of your eating out habit, then this is definitely a good sideline.

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Thinking about being a mystery shopper

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Official List of Mystery Shopping Companies

Mystery Shopper Magazine