Has anyone tried "paid to shop"?

I have tried it but I live in Canada. I suppose it works in a similar fashion in the US. You sign on with a company that hires mystery shoppers. Now I paid for the list of companies but have been told you can find these companies for free on the internet. Anyway once you are hired you get an e-mail list of available shopping. You apply to do the shop. If you get the o.k. they send you a list of do's and don'ts and off you go. I found that I was mostly offered oil changes and such. I did one shop to price a new car. I spent quite a while with the sales person (more than 1/2 hour) then when I got home I had to fill out this long questionaire and file it electronically with the mystery shopping company. I did get paid $ 12.00 for this assignment but when I calculated the time spent the pay was pittiful. I know another person who does some mystery shopping, mostly children's clothes and she has been allowed to keep some of the stuff, at other times she has to buy it one day and return it a few days later and fill out the forms for the company. She makes about $ 50.00 per month. I don't know how many shops she does. Hopefully you will get more answers from other people.

i signed up to be a mystery shopper, you have to take an online test, then they email you when there is a place to be shopped in your area. It never was in my area, so I never did it. But, i have talked with several friends, and they have done it occasionally. The pay is sometimes not worth the trouble.