Cutting the Mystery Out of Being a Mystery Shopper

Mystery Shopping general consists of the shopper going into a place of business and acting like the typical customer. Stores contract Mystery Shoppers to get an understanding on how their employees are handling customers. Your Job as a Mystery shopper is to be observant. Shoppers need to generally notice the exact time they entered the store, when they were greeted , how long they waited in line and the exact time they left the store. A stop watch is a very helpful tool for Mystery shoppers. If you do not have a stop watch a watch with a second hand will do. A small tape recorder can be useful so that once you leave the store you can record your findings.

Every assignment is different in the steps that the Mystery Shopper must complete in order to get paid. You are not reveal yourself as a Mystery Shopper to anyone in the store unless you are doing a reveal shop. A reveal shop is where after completed the shop you would either tell the manager that you are a Mystery Shopper give them a paper stating that fact. In some cases the paper would tell them if they passed or failed. Usually that would mean didn't up sale you an a specific item that they were suppose to do.

One of most common Mystery Shops are fast food shops. Some of those have you go through the drive-thru while others have you go into the restaurant to place your order. The Mystery shopper would check their watch for the time. If you were in the drive-thru you would count the number of cars in front of you. In the restaurant the shopper would count the customers. Once you are being waited on you would again observe how long you had to wait. Some Mystery shopping companies required a name of the cashier or a description of them.

They also want to know whether or not you were greeted, were you up sold on other items, whether you were thanked and told to come again. Upon leaving the mystery shopper would note the time they left the store. Once you are off the property you can enter the answers on your paperwork. The same day you completed the shop you will need to report your work , usually online.

Some Mystery Shopping assignment as very easy and others are more involved. The easy would be a fast food shop and the more involved would be an eye exam then purchasing eye glasses. Many times seeing the number of questions can make the shop seem more difficult than it is. Once you get the hang of having to notice small details it becomes second nature.

One of the first things to remember if you are thinking about doing mystery shopping is that there are many scams out there. Some are easier to spot than others. The sites that promise $25-$45 an hour are usually scams, and most people came see them a mile away. The less obvious ones are the sites that require you to pay a fee to get a list of jobs that you can apply for. Most ask for $25 , some even say you can get your money back once you complete a certain amount of Jobs. The catch is that you probably won't get a chance to complete the minimal amount of Mystery shopping assignments with them. Never pay a fee to get Mystery Shopping assignments. There are dozens of companies to be found that offer free job listings which will be emailed to you simply by doing a search.

While it is very possible to make $25- $45 in a hour doing Mystery Shopping, it is not likely that you could do that every hour. Since there are many assignments that pay $10 and only take about 15 minutes you could figure that having four of those assignments in an hour would net you $40. Once you figure in the price of printing paperwork and the time it takes you to get from one assignment to another you find that you are making considerably less.

Some of your mystery shops will require you to make purchase often something small that cost $1-$3, and getting a receipt. You will get reimbursed for your purchase. The receipt is for proof that you were in store. Since some companies have you complete your assignment between certain hours , your receipt's time shows when you were there.Other mystery shops require larger purchases like eyeglasses which may cost $150, that to will be reimbursed.

Mystery shopping is not a job that most people would be able to make a living doing. There are cases where people have been able support themselves with the money they earned shopping. Those people usually have been shoppers for many years and have gone to Mystery Shopping conventions that are held each year. They network with other shoppers and Mystery shopping companies to get more work.

Unlike a typical job you are not paid once a week or every two weeks. General with mystery shopping it may take you 4-6 weeks before you receive payment. It is a long time, but if you work for several different companies at once the money will seem more regular because of their different payment schedule.

There are many different types of Mystery Shops from fast food, department store, grocery store, drug store, doctor visits, hotel stays, to cruises. Don't expect to easily find hotel or cruise shops. Those Mystery shops are not going to be available often. What you can expect is to find mostly fast food, grocery and department store shops.

Mystery Shoppers can usually do the shop anytime of the day. There are Shops that require a certain day and time though. If you are shopping one without those requirements it at good idea to bunch other mystery shops that are in the same area together. That way you are not wasting your time or your gas.

You can apply for as many mystery shopping companies as you want that way you have a better chance of getting more work. If you are observant and like talking to people this could be a great way for you to make some extra money.