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Ethics of Same Household Shoppers

February 04, 2017 10:34PM
Are there industry-wide standards or just mystery shopping company-specific rules for how things would work if you've got more than one shopper in a household.

Let's say you and your mom or you and your significant other live together. I'm assuming it's okay to both have mystery shopping accounts with the same company, because you're obviously two different people.

I also can imagine that many shops wouldn't pose a problem for you two to complete separately. Take, for example, opening an account at a local bank.

But, suppose you have a pizza delivery shop that both people eat the purchase of. If Mary shops for Company XYZ and Susan also shops for Company XYZ, can both people perform the same shop within a short period of time?

Or, take a restaurant shop that allows a guest. If Mary does a dine-in shop at Restaurant ABC and brings Susan as her guest there, can Susan also do the same dine-in shop at Restaurant ABC and bring Mary there?

These are some interesting scenarios!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2017 11:22PM by shoptastic.
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February 04, 2017 10:53PM
Hi, shoptastic. I can't speak for other companies, but I know at Shoppers' View we have many households with multiple shoppers. We encourage it with our $5 referral bonus! (Both the old shopper and new shopper get $5 after the new shopper's first shop.)

We do keep an eye on accounts that use the same IP address/phone number/address because there have been instances of fraud.

If I were scheduling a food delivery shop (or any shop where the client comes to the house, e.g., carpet cleaning), I would not allow the same address to be used within rotation. Similarly, with our restaurant shop, the same couple cannot return to the same restaurant to "cheat" the rotation. The rotation is there for a reason (we want fresh eyes and faces).

But I do have a lot of bank/credit union shops where the household shares the same bank/credit union account! As long as it isn't too many transactions in a day, this is fine. smiling smiley

Administrative Manager for Shoppers' View
p: 800.264.5677 | e: christinew@shoppersview.com | w: www.shoppersview.com
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February 05, 2017 08:41AM
@ShoppersViewChristine wrote:

Hi, shoptastic. I can't speak for other companies, but I know at Shoppers' View we have many households with multiple shoppers. We encourage it with our $5 referral bonus! (Both the old shopper and new shopper get $5 after the new shopper's first shop.)

We do keep an eye on accounts that use the same IP address/phone number/address because there have been instances of fraud.

If I were scheduling a food delivery shop (or any shop where the client comes to the house, e.g., carpet cleaning), I would not allow the same address to be used within rotation. Similarly, with our restaurant shop, the same couple cannot return to the same restaurant to "cheat" the rotation. The rotation is there for a reason (we want fresh eyes and faces).

But I do have a lot of bank/credit union shops where the household shares the same bank/credit union account! As long as it isn't too many transactions in a day, this is fine. smiling smiley

That makes sense and is fair. Thanks for the feedback!

I think what I'll do is always ask in advance or inform the scheduler if such a situation ever arises.

It's good to know you can sniff out potential cheats too, because it would be unfair if someone just hogged all the shops with fake identities or same household shoppers doing the same shops. smiling smiley

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2017 08:41AM by shoptastic.
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February 05, 2017 04:16PM
there's lots of cheating in mystery shopping.
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