I am interested to know if anyone uses Mystery Shopping as more then just a side hustle? If so how?

I do mystery shopping as a side hustle to my regular job, because it is an easy way to make extra money (which I need). Are most like me, or is mystery shopping more of a part time job?

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I work 9-5, but had a low paying side job to make ends meet every month. MS the last few months has enabled me to cut my extra work hours by about 80% to make the same amount, and I have so many more hours free for online college which I'm doing FT too! I've done jobs that took 10 minutes, but would have been 3 hours at least of my previous side job!

@Roxanne SB
The vast majority of shoppers do this as a side hustle. There are a very few who mystery shop as their primary source of income. Some are active on this forum. I do this as a significant side hustle, but have no intention of replacing my full time job.

If you want to do this full time, start by working to maximize your shopping income by, primarily, earning money more efficiently. As you do so, you'll want to greatly expand your relationships with MSC's and make yourself fully aware of the breadth of opportunities for you in the industry.

There are quite a few threads on this board about doing this. Some very experienced shoppers have shared a lot of their strategies for earning good money through mystery shopping.

Hard work builds character and homework is good for your soul.

I like that!

@MFJohnston wrote:

significant side hustle

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

I am one who does mystery shopping as my full time and sole source of income. Developing and maintain relationships with schedulers is key as is negotiating and knowing your bottom line. Route shopping is the only true way to make money in this business.

Shopping Western NY, Northeast and Central PA, and parts of Ohio and West Virginia. Have car will travel anywhere if the monies right.

Yes! It is my regular part time job, typically three days a week.

I use mystery shopping to drastically lower many expenses I have. Just over this weekend, I grabbed a rather lucrative Disney shop where I stacked coupons and gift cards bought at a discount to purchase $55 worth of goods as a wonderful birthday present for my niece. That’s just one example. I stated this on an earlier thread that I’ve basically gotten my entire Hawaii trip paid for including enough fees in profit to cover basically all my expenses during the trip.

Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!

It isn't always, but currently mystery shopping is mine and my son's only source of income. He is a Class B driver that can't seem to catch a break. He's worked in warehouses and as a "yard dog" but nothing seems to stick for long.

Right now, between the two of us we manage to keep the utilities on, and ourselves fed, but very little else. And this Covid 19 thing is about to cut us deeply.

I have been following the Prepper movement for a few years now and we are set. The spouse would always rag on me spending extra money that we do not really have but I would tell her that the bills are paid and this is what I want to do with it. But dear we have more than enough beans and rice and spices to get us through six months and when you figure out the dry goods we could probably make it a year. The other day when she came back from the store she said that she had married a smart man this time. Well yeah and someone who pays attention to what is going on. Oh, and I read a story about this called the Last Centurion by John Ringo. Everything in it was lining up perfectly the names were different but that is to be expected.

Nice of you to support your son with info and understanding.

Ride out the storm, from your words your a survivor.

@Morledzep wrote:

It isn't always, but currently mystery shopping is mine and my son's only source of income. He is a Class B driver that can't seem to catch a break. He's worked in warehouses and as a "yard dog" but nothing seems to stick for long.

Right now, between the two of us we manage to keep the utilities on, and ourselves fed, but very little else. And this Covid 19 thing is about to cut us deeply.

Mine is more than a side hustle, I don’t get enough hours in my work. So, I use multiple mystery shop sites to make $200 or so per month and this all depends on what is available and when.

I've been mystery shopping for almost 20 years, on and off, and have done everything from one small shop a month to doing it full time. Last year, when I was laid off from an amazingly awful job with great pay, I decided to do it semi full time, but I also work a 3 day a week job and do some other work at home things. If you want to do it as a hobby, that's great and doable. If you want to do it as your main job, that is great and doable. It's all based on your ability and really treating it like the small business that it is.

Shopping the South Jersey Shore

Mystery shopping is/was my sole income, but now with covid-19, that might change. I agree with Buffalo, route shopping is absolutely essential. Before covid-19, I would route shop about 2-3 times a week, completing about 10-30 jobs in one day. I input the route into Google Maps beforehand to construct the most efficient route, and then head out at about 7 or 8 in the AM.

This has always been my sole source of income from when I started in 2008 until I began collecting SS checks a year ago. It has never been a 5-day or 40-hour work week. I average mystery shopping 12 hours a day 6 days a week.

I first got into this because of the ACA and the requirement that full-time workers at large companies would be covered by company-paid health insurance. My paychecks went from over $600 a week to under $300 real quick and got worse from there. Then I had to have a heart bypass because they found problems when I went in for something else. Since then I have been on SSI and I have been doing this to make sure the lights, and the heat, and the water, and cable, internet, and the phone stays on. Which worked OK until last month. And now this virus thing if I make it till August I will be OK. If I do not make it I will still be OK but will not care but that will leave my wife in a pickle.

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I am interested to know if anyone uses Mystery Shopping as more then just a side hustle? If so how?

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