Mystery Shopping
By tentwo67
@tentwo67 (3382)
United States
October 19, 2006 8:14pm CST
Ever done this? When I first quit my full time job about a year ago, I signed up with every mystery shopping service I could find and did a huge amount of shops. The volume has tapered off tremendously. I have very nearly quit but still do an assignment now and then if it's interesting to me or very convenient.
I was surprised to discover how little these assignments pay. I still did it because I didn't have a lot of other income opportunities at the time, but it still strikes me as very unfair to the shopper when you know that the shopper payment is a very small percentage of what the shop company receives.
Has anyone else done any secret shopping? Please share your thoughts and experiences here.
2 people like this
9 responses
@kylesmiles (1910)
• United States
21 Nov 06
Hey there. I have done secret shopping but it was for apartments! So it wasn't as fun. Those assignments only paid $20 to about $40... I never got any actual stores to shop at. I would love to do hotel secret shopping assignments.
Are you still doing secret shopping? Do you mind sharing what companies you work for? Feel free to add me as a friend! :)
2 people like this
@claudia413 (4280)
• United States
22 Nov 06
My schedule never allowed me to be a mystery shopper, but I always wanted to do that. Maybe when I retire next year, I can try it out...if there are any companies out there that still look for a mystery shopper. I can't recall receiving any emails from them in the past year or so now that I think about it. Used to get them all the time. I know they don't pay that much, but I think it might be a fun thing to do.
1 person likes this
@tentwo67 (3382)
• United States
27 Oct 06
Really? I can remember having an awareness of it some time back. Then I worked for a bank that counted employees' shopper scores in the performance evaluation. I always thought of it as being lucrative, but in this area anyway, it is not.
1 person likes this
@alainnmiog (660)
• United States
21 Nov 06
I've never done mystery shopping. There were time that I was tempted to try it out, but my schedule has never allowed me to do so. I'm sure it would be interesting. I'm always willing to try new things at least once.
2 people like this
@hillbillyheart (190)
• United States
30 Nov 06
I was accepted into a secret shopper program where I used to live. I didn't actually get to participate in anything because we lived in such a rural area that none of the places were within a feasible proximity. Then we moved to our current location. I would have thought they paid better than you've stated also.
1 person likes this
@ossie16d (11821)
• Australia
25 Dec 06
My sister-in-law does this but she lives in a small town so there are only a few places there for her to check out. The money isn't fantastic but she enjoys it just the same but obviously the company she works for thinks highly of her because several times a year she is asked is she wants to go to a couple of other towns nearby.
Generally she will agree to this. They pay her extra for these jobs plus something towards the cost of travelling and also reimburse her for the cost of what she buys and she gets to keep it as well. I think it must have something to do with who you work for as well as the country you are in.
She has done mystery shopping in supermarkets, chemist, newsagents, pubs, bistro meals and many other things.
@pumpkinjam (8539)
• United Kingdom
21 Nov 06
Yes, I do it. I don't get a lot of jobs though. I only do it for one company, I don't know of any others but the pay is ok. At least £9 for about 20 minutes "work" plus travel expenses. I don't think it would be a good thing to do if you needed to rely on it as your sole income but it's good to be able to do something to have just that bit extra once in a while. I have only had a few jobs so far and often I'll be contacted about 2 or 3 jobs at once and then not have any for months. Hopefully, this will improve once I've been doing it for a bit longer.
1 person likes this
