I have been mystery shopping since January and have done over 100 shops. Lately, I have become much more selective about what I am willing to do. With gas over $3.00 a gallon here, ten dollar jobs aren't worth it. I really do not understand why the pay is so little. By the time I visit a location and then fill out the form, I have spent at minimum of two hours on a job. Usually, it is more. That's very discouraging.

I first heard of mystery shopping in the early months of this year. Like a lot of you I did not really hear back from the company(s) for a long while. Then I re-read over everything I had found on it, especially from your information Jacob, and either re-applied to the companies or applied to other companies that I had not before. It worked. The following is my experience so far:

1. I started being an independent contractor in July of this year.
2. So far, I have completed three assignments.
3. I have applied /registered to lots of companies and plan to keep applying to more. So far, I have about 5 companies that have gotten in touch with me, through e-mails or that have actually called me. Already this month, I have completed one shop and have 3 others lined up for the first half of this month. Obviously, I am going to keep trying to "win" more jobs for the rest of the month.
4. Right now, everything is going smoothly for me. I do not have any questions at this time. However, when I do have some questions I will ask you.
5. I have really only had positive experiences so far. I'm pleased.
6. I have not had any negative experiences as of yet.

Jacob, I just want to take this time to "Thank You". Your information has been most helpful and true. This has been a great opportunity for me! Thank you for taking the time to help people in this manner. It really is appreciated. *Hugs*

I have been shopping for three months and have done over 30 shops. I have done car dealerships, fast food, audits,verizon,and the list goes on. I work fulltime so I am limited to the number I can do. I love the extra cash I get. My advice will be Volition.com, shadow shopper(only for a couple months),This site and MSPA. I have not yet come across a company that does not pay, but since I am still wet between the ears I'm sure I have alot to learn.

1. Just restarted about a month ago.
2. Over a year I've done two assignments
3. I've called or gone to a Web site of several companiues.
4. How to transfer pictures with a submission report.
5. Delivery pizza assignment
6. Poor instructions on how to submit a Web report.

I have not done any shopping but I hope to very soon

I signed up as a mystery shopper since June 2007 and so far I hae been very busy. I go out on at least 4-5 shops per day in the morning and then come home in the late afternoon to put the reports in and I am done for the day! This is great and easy money. For those of you who have not gotten enough jobs, you have to sell yourself and explain why you want these jobs. They like people who sell themselves and can convince them you will be reliable. Hope this helps! Have fun shopping!

I was concerned about being SCAMED, but I decided to try Mystery Shopping and signed up with Shadow Shopper. Yes, you can sign up for free, but that just shows you shops you "could have had", so I decided to pay a $9.95 for a "trial month". Well, I got LOTS of shops. I then decided to pay a one year fee, and then will cancel before next years fee comes due, as by then I will have enough companies to do on my own.
Well, so far I have been paid back 4 times what I paid to Shadow Shopper for the one year fee $99.95. And I have only been doing this for 2 months.
So far I have done, Universal Studios,(2 times) shoe store, banks, street fair(coming up) , grocery stores, clothing stores, retail stores, home shopping clubs,kids gym, Time Shares, plus I even got some merchandinsing jobs. I work full time, and do this on the side to see if I could quit my job to do this.
It takes awhile to get the money at first, but if you keep working at it, you should start getting it rolling in one right after another. To me, it was worth paying the money to them. It sure has paid for it self, many times over.
HAVE FUN SHOPPING.

1.
I have been doing mystery shopper for about 6 m and I love it.

2. I've done 19 jobs so far,

3. about 20

4.Yes, why if I refused a job offer ?and because of that I don't get offer from that company anymore

5. I have had some very good food and very efficient servers
6. I have had some bad food and the service
Thanks

I have signed up with a few Mystery Shopping companies, but I got sidetracked and signed up with some opinion websites, and get mostly junk. I haven't accepted any jobs yet as they don't give enough to pay for the gas to get there.

You give wonderful instructions and information and I will pursue the Mystery Shopping sites from now on. Thank you very much.

Carolyn...GOOD FOR YOU! I, too, went the "Opinion"/"Survey" route at first. What they don't tell you to get you to sign up is that all the money they pay you (only $1-$2 each usually and only, maybe, 1-5 surveys per month) goes into your "account" with them and THEN you find out (when you're not seeing any money coming in) that they have a "payout level" as high as $100 that you must reach before you can request your money. In two months of doing that, I ACTUALLY saw only $2! My first month of doing MSing part-time, I made and SAW over $200 for my part-time "work" and I am also in a small town.

While MANY mystery shops pay poorly, SOME will pay $20-$25 or more. I generally don't take any jobs for less than $10 and will try to make up a "route" with several shops that I can do along the way to minimize the gas expense and increase the income. I usually stay away from (and encourage other shoppers to do the same) those numerous $4-$5 shops unless they are on my "route" and I can do them as a "filler" shop without incurring anymore gas expense.

If you want to be "serious" about being a part-time shopper, then you should register with AT LEAST 50-60 companies and scheduling services...100 (at least) would be better. There are some 400-500 MS companies (last I heard), so even 100 companies is a rather small percentage. I know it sounds like an enormous task, but just use the list of MS Companies that they have listed on the board here and register with 5 a day. In about 3 weeks, you'll have registered with more companies than MOST new shoppers. The "sassie" list of companies is a good way to register with several companies fairly easily and quickly. Be sure to keep an alphabetical list of the companies that you register with, along with your assigned shopper # and any "unique" log-in information for that company, for future referrence as you will never remember the information for each company.

As for that first job, like they say, JUST DO IT! If you can, pick shops at stores that you are already familiar with a little at first. This will help to put you at ease during the shop so you will be more likely to notice what you're supposed to...after all, the people who work there are already used to seeing you in there which will go a long way towards "annonimity". As you get more "comfortable" with being a mystery shopper, you can "branch out" into other types of assignments.

Thanks Jacob for all of your help and tips.
I started doing mystery shopping/auditing/evaluations/consultations in 2004 when my full time job got axed. I eventually got silver certified but I don't really think it matters that much. My sister is also an evaluator and she is not certified but gets plenty of assignments. What we do is help each other by combining the assignments and plan some days to go together especially if it out of town. We both enjoy doing these assignments and look forward to doing more interesting ones in the future. We did an assignment recently at two different towns where she counted cars coming in to a convenience store and I asked people to complete surveys. We were there for 2 hours and got 80.00 each. We also did a couple of lunch places, cellular and retail. That day we both made over 100 plus and it did not tie up the whole day. We have a timeshare week at the beach starting Sept. 1 and we already have over 10 assignments lined up. Three of the assignments are dinners where you get reimbursed 100.00. We are trying to keep some of our paypal money in to watch it grow since its get interest of 5.03. Some of the other money we make comes in regular checks or direct deposit. Early on I was reluctant to sign on with companies that asked for my credit card info and bank info but trying to research the company and seeing it listed on Jacob's list and Volition,etc. makes me not as reluctant. I keep on signing up for as many companies as I found out about. We really enjoy trying to see that the customer gets a GREAT shopping experience!

I have signed up with around 12 shops over the past 2 months and have suprisingly been offered jobs through all of them. I have only booked one job as of yet, because most of them are at least 30 to 40 miles away from where I live and I can't justify doing them with the pay that's offered. I have one scheduled for the end of this month that's nearly 20 miles away. I accepted this one because I truly want to get the feel of what a mystery shopping experience is like and to get my feet wet. After that, I will decide what to do and where to go from there.

Nancy

I have not been able to print out the current lists of fastfoods places

Morning Jan and all.
I have been mystery shopping for about one year. I have been a consumer shopper a lifetime. I have participated in about twenty five shops, and I recently signed up with two additional companies. I have yet to encounter any negative experiences, although, I have encountered some staff for whatever reason, choose to ignore me, or quickly assist me and move on. I found this to be offensive and it was expressed in my mystery shop. I have enjoyed my shopping experiences and consider what I do a positive contribution to consumers everyone, and a method of customer service improvement where I live. I look forward to doing more in the future. Thank you.

I have not done any mystery shopping... I have not been called and I did not
know it was so hard to get started.... I do not understand this....

I have applied to at least 30 co. I started 2 months ago. I've done 2 restaurant shops , then waited over a month for pay. That money up front can be hard. But I took my friend to lunch for her birthday, it was fun. But also work!!
I have 2 bank shops tomorrow, 1 had been sched. for 8/31, but I had a problem. The scheduler is giving me another chance, thank goodness. So, wish me luck.I want more shops and so far have not found much in my litte corner of NC, Any one know companies in NC?

I have been a mystery shopper for two months now. I've only completed four jobs so far. I like being a mystery shopper because I'm getting an opportunity be more detail oriented and to be more observant of my surroundings. I've only applied to two companies but the one company that I actually have done work for has a lot of work available. I hope to be able to take on more but right now I have a demanding schedule at my full time job. I'm starting to be more aware of time management with the mystery shopping and hopefully in the next month or so I'll have things worked out so that I can do more mystery shopping jobs. I haven't had any bad experiences per say, maybe just different. I would like to know how other shoppers handle being anonymous and not letting on who you are and what you're doing.

I really enjoy mystery shopping so far. I've done 3 cell phone shops and maybe (5) Sonic shops ( I eat at Sonic anyway), so it's great to be reimbursed + the extra money too. It's nice to be able to do the shops when it's a good time for me. I've been paid with no problem so far from this one company. The people there are really nice. I too would like to sign up with more companies that don't ask to be paid. If anyone can give me a list of companies, that would be so awesome!!! My e-mail is live_gods_way@yahoo.com. Thank You and God Bless You All!!!!!

kathy hartley -
It's really not that hard. Just sign-up as a potential shopper with as many companies as you can (there is a list of companies posted here, at volition.com and some through the MSPA's site)...all are free to register with.

Soon (like in a day or two), you should start receiving emails listing available shops in your area. Follow the posted instructions on how to claim the shops that you want and you're on your way.

Vanessa -
Read and study all the information that you can about mystery shopping (the forums here and elsewhere are good idea places, because other shoppers will offer "tricks" that they have used.

It might help to "get some experience" by doing shops in businesses and/or stores that you are already familiar with, if you can. This will make it a more "comfortable" shop and should help you to "relax" a little until you get more "used" to mystery shopping.

And, remember, YOU know what you are there for, but to the employees (unless you do or say something to give your shopper identity away), you are just another customer.

Robin -
A good place to find a free list of Mystery Shopping Companies to register with is available here, at volition.com, walletboosters.com, or by searching the web for mystery shopping companies (but why go to the hassle when they're already posted at one of the other places?).

Hi! I have 2 months under my belt and 140 shops later, including 2 expense paid trips to Aspen!

I recently started and from this project alone, I had done over 80 shops from May to July 2007. I chanced upon your website in July, which I signed up and applied to several companies but none of them replied and most of the companies stated are in the US while I am based in Singapore

I have been trying to look for more as first, I enjoyed this job and feel proud that I can be of a help in improving the customer service of a company and second, I need the money to save for my own school fees. Is it more beneficial if I have a certification? I heard from my friends that it was not necessary?

Please advise where can I get to apply to more companies here in Singapore?

Firstly, I would like to thank you immensely for your tireless effort to help/supply me and everyone else with something fun, enjoyable and rewarding.
I have applied to 6 companies ofwhich, only 2 have provided me with some work. And for a learner,I thoroughly had fun.What an experience - Me, a "private investigator"? Great!!
However,I find it undermining my intelligence if I have to pay someone to offer me a job; particularly the top 5 mystery shopping companies whose list I recieved a week or 2 ago.I'm not naming names. Well, not unless you want me to.

Bless you and your family!

I have started working for the greenhouse I worked for last year so have not had time to do any shopping. I do not want any more money withdrawn from my credit card and want the August withdrawal returned. Also, the money was withdrawn twice. I believe one was for Chris Paine who told me about this. I do not pay her bills and want that money refunded also. I had been very sick and thought I might be interested in doing this. However, I just wanted the first 30 day trial period and not anything beyond that. Please see that my money is returned. Thank you Dwayne Miller

i HAVE NOT HEARD FROM ANYONE AS YET. pLEASE GIVE ME A PHONE NUMBER i CAN CALL AND TALK TO YOU. tHANKS. 818-703-7717

JUNE -

If I may be so bold as to ask, exactly who is it that you would like to talk to and about what?

I Think the whole thing is a ploy. I have done several serveys and to this date, I have not recieved any compensation.. AT ALL................

I havent had any experiences yet. I am waiting for the time they call me but... :c

I have been doing mystery shopping for 3 months and have completed at least 100 shops in different areas. I have been very successfull so far. Hope the flow of jobs keep up

I have applied to over 50 companies and currently shop for 17 companies. I get enough shops that I do this full time and make a good salary each month. I only started doing this four months ago. I also tookthe time to get Silver Certified and my jobs have increased. As soon as they have a Gold Cert near me I will invest in that as well. I love doing this. I bought an appointment book and fill it up with the days and hours I want to work. I love this job!

I found in the state of NV you need to be a PI to do any mystery shopping, so I have not been able to get any work.