Ever since I started Mystery Shopping (2022), Observati keeps sending me emails to sign up with them. It looks interesting, but I haven't seen any shopper reviews on this company. Please share anything you may have heard, or experienced, as I am considering signing up with them.

I've never heard of them. I've been mystery shopping about 15 years. But that doesn't mean anything.

15 years... That's awesome ! What are your top 5 companies ?

Please provide a link to their website so that other shoppers can evaluate and report back for you.

Here is the website linked in the email :
[member.secretshoppr.com]

Ew. Poor grammar, misspellings, only positive reviews are posted? Sounds too good to be true. And the link is misleading;someone might thing they are accessing secretshopper, but they are not (note the missing e in shopper).

Too many red flags for me.

Thank you! Currently I'm with Market Force, Second to None and Intelli-Shop. I'll probably stick to these.

@JustPris wrote:

Thank you! Currently I'm with Market Force, Second to None and Intelli-Shop. I'll probably stick to these.

I'd sign up with Presto and Jobslinger. They both show multiple MSCs' jobs near you. You can then go and sign up for those listed on Jobslinger to do the jobs. The Jobslinger links will take you to the sign up pages.

Presto, I believe, the shops are done in the Presto App. However, some of those MSCs will also have jobs that are done on their website and not in Presto.

You might also try ISecretShop which is a reporting website/app for multiple MSCs.

Also, sign up for IPSOS since it's swallowed up several other MSCs in the last couple of years and I believe it's now the biggest. HOWEVER, I would stay away from their gas station shops until you have some experience, IMHO.

Wowee ! Thanks so much ! I'll get right on these. Cheers !

Jobslinger offers a $5/month access to all shops on Sassie. Do you recommend signing up ?

There is a free and a paid side to Job Slinger. Many people just sign up for the free parts. I personally find value in the paid portions as well. I suggest that you start with the free parts.

@JustPris wrote:

Jobslinger offers a $5/month access to all shops on Sassie. Do you recommend signing up ?

Thanks a million !!!

@JustPris Don't forget Mintel, ATHpower and Curinos.

I looked at the Observati website. They say that they only have shops for restaurants, and to get your first assignment, you have to pay a fee that is refunded after your first review. I don't pay anyone to get assignments, so I did not even begin the sign-up process. I looked at the terms of service and found this "...You will pay a monthly membership fee of $9.99...." More disconerting is how they pay "Each approved review submission will pay out between $5 and $45 cash in the form of a cash payout or sometimes referred to in part or full as a reimbursement. Those earnings will be loaded to your online wallet inside your profile on the 20th day of the month after your review was submitted (NET20 Payment Terms). Your earnings are then eligible for cashout to your desired payment method immediately thereafter. THERE IS NO MINIMUM CASH OUT AMOUNT. Gift card compensation will be paid out on the 5th of each month unless otherwise stated as part of compensation for each review submitted."

This is the link to their main page: [www.observati.com] A post on reddit says that they have a few restaurants in a few cities and you can only visit each one once.

The address shown on their website seems to be a unit in a warehouse warehouse and is considered Class C office space.

@myst4au You made a believer out of me!

Woot !! Thank you for the detailed response !! And yup, definitely staying away from them. I will check out all recommendations. You guys are the absolute best !!

That website is scammy - a quick search of the domain owner/phone numbers shows up as phishing complaints.

I have been with Observati a few months DO NOT DO IT! It is $10/month. Not only are therevnot many restuarants but they dont pay you until the following month, therefore collecting ANOTHER $10 fee!! I have never had to pay a fee for mystery shopping so this is ridiculous, especially since there are NO restaurants in my small town and only a few within 30 miles

I think its weird how everyone here is lying? Observati is amazing! They pay me 45$ per review which is great!

There is a start up fee that equalled about 100$ for me(it can be more if you get the fully loaded account) but I've already made 400$. I'm not sure why the person in the comments said it's 10$ a month, this is not true.

I actually made this account just to say this. Let me show you I'm a real person and if you have a question just message me! My IG is jessebuhhbessy. Observati is the best secret shopper I've done!

Now, someone said they spell their name "secret shoppr" which is true! But not because it's a scam. They actually started out as a car advertising business(they still are) and would pay you to put a sticker on the side of your car. The company is still up and going, it's called "stickr" look it up. Honestly the money wasn't great doing that but that's how I found observati, they're the same company. Hope I answered all your questions but if I didn't just message me on IG. I'd love to help the next person because I was kind of weirded out about paying to secret shop too. But it's worth it in this case.

They started off as a car advertising business. It's still up it's called "stickr" this is why they don't use the E.

$100 "start up fee"!

Where do I sign up?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reading their small print. They pay with restaurant.com gift certificates and there are a lot of loopholes to using those. You have to actually pay money to offset part of the meal and even in a city like Atlanta, there aren't a ton of places that participate.

I got some restaurant.com gift certificates from a timeshare shop from years ago and I still can't use them. There's just nothing here that takes them and it costs you a small fortune to try! I would tread very carefully.

I think my comment got flagged? I get it, nobody will believe me and that's fine lol I'm willing to send proof at any time. I understand it's hard to believe but why would you guys trust randoms here so easily that have NEVER tried it? Lol

@foodluvr they pay cash and restaurant.com gift cards. So for each review I get 45$ cash and 50$ in restaurant.com gift cards. And you're exactly right about the gift cards, they're useless. I don't use them and never will. This is why I didn't even mention that part in any of my comments.

As far as restaurants, you add your local restaurants in your city to their website. It's not limited to certain restaurants. They will accept all restaurants but not all fast food places. As far as how it works, you go to the restaurant and spend minimum 15$. Leave a review and send a picture of receipt, they then pay you 45$ cash and 50$ useless gift cards.

@jsyther93 wrote:

Now, someone said they spell their name "secret shoppr" which is true! But not because it's a scam. They actually started out as a car advertising business(they still are) and would pay you to put a sticker on the side of your car. The company is still up and going, it's called "stickr" look it up..

Gee, those are some real unique things for the common, everyday shopper for them to have knowledge of *eyeroll*. Instead of this act, admit you're an employee and at least try to justify the monthly fee, which no one else in the industry has. I'll wait.

@KA047 I've stated that the reason why I know that is because I drove for "stickr" and they advertised observati to me. This is how I know that information.

And for the 100th time, there's no monthly fee! I keep saying this. That's how I know people are lying here about doing it and I don't understand why? Lol

Don't believe me? Pretend to sign up and you'll see, no monthly fee.

I try to help y'all out and I get blasted with hate, I just don't understand! Instead you trust people that are lying to you about a monthly fee. There's an easy way to see if I'm telling the truth. Pretend to sign up and you'll see that there's no monthly fee.

I'm not an employee, just someone trying to help. There's not even a referral bonus or anything. I'm legit just trying to help because I was wondering this same thing when I signed up and there was limited info on them.

I've posted that I can send proof, but instead I've been treated like a liar. It's crazy.

I have never seen anyone try so hard to get others to sign up for something unless there was a benefit to them. The fact that you made an account just to promote this program sends all sorts of red flags. How did you even know about this thread? If you really wanted to sell the program it would have been better to not attack others and accuse them of lying about the information they shared when researching the program.

I saw an advertisement for this program a few years ago and looked into it then. It does not work like a traditional mystery shopping company. It seemed more like a club where you pay to get access. I was not something I was interested in.

@jsyther93 wrote:

I think its weird how everyone here is lying? Observati is amazing! They pay me 45$ per review which is great!

There is a start up fee that equalled about 100$ for me(it can be more if you get the fully loaded account) but I've already made 400$. I'm not sure why the person in the comments said it's 10$ a month, this is not true.

I actually made this account just to say this. Let me show you I'm a real person and if you have a question just message me! My IG is jessebuhhbessy. Observati is the best secret shopper I've done!

@yoya301 if you've never seen someone try this hard, then you need to meet more nice people. I didn't attack anyone, I said it was weird that they're lying, because they are lying. You pay a fee to start and a 30$ annual fee. No monthly fee. So it's weird that they're lying, don't you think? One even said they pay the 10$ monthly fee, not that they researched and discovered, so its kind of weird that they lied.

I've done secret shopper stuff for 5+ years but I stopped like 3 years ago until the beginning of this year. I'm trying to help out the local secret shopper on a forum and now I'm the bad guy. I thought that's what this was for?

@jsyther93 Thank you for the information. I started this thread to make a simple inquiry. Since then, plenty of pros and cons have been shared. And I truly appreciate everyone. Knowledge is power, and we each have the ability to choose. All the details have been laid out. We can close this thread now. Thanks so much ! Hope everyone has a great weekend !

@jsyther93 wrote:

@yoya301 if you've never seen someone try this hard, then you need to meet more nice people. I didn't attack anyone, I said it was weird that they're lying, because they are lying. You pay a fee to start and a 30$ annual fee. No monthly fee. So it's weird that they're lying, don't you think? One even said they pay the 10$ monthly fee, not that they researched and discovered, so its kind of weird that they lied.

I've done secret shopper stuff for 5+ years but I stopped like 3 years ago until the beginning of this year. I'm trying to help out the local secret shopper on a forum and now I'm the bad guy. I thought that's what this was for?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/2023 02:41PM by JustPris.

We are all liars and trust no one! It's true! Or am I lying?

Not sure why the only reason you would make an account simply to post for this company. When as some stated they either read or 1st hand experience regarding the structure of the company.

To call people liars when anyone can clearly read the terms + conditions on the very bottom of their page is a bit concerning. Per their own writing

"You will pay a monthly membership fee or an annual membership fee. The price of that monthly or annual membership may be anywhere from $9.99 to $99.99 but will always be listed clearly at the time you pay for the membership. Other pricing variations are possible so users should refer back to the actual amount they agreed to when signing up and providing payment. Observati reserves the right to change this price at any time for any reason."

Additionally "The Shopper Program is not a job and should not be considered a form of employment.  You will not be earning an income that would allow you to support yourself. 

For those of us who have done IC work for many years, its very clear the structure of this company isnt like any others. No one makes you pay them as you are a valuable asset in a sense for them. We all have/currently work with dozens. So yes it is a bit odd when a "new" company is categorizing their self with others yet setup being different. (And I say new because although they have all these review images they post, ratings. I personally never heard of them up until about a year ago.)

To add on, google search is anyones friend, if you look them up you quickly will also see real reviews where people are stating their experience with them and how they have been scammed. Many who submit the reviews, never get paid and when trying to contact anyone from the company no response is ever returned.