Mystery Shopping - Tips and Tricks on How to Get Paid to Eat and Shop

Mystery shopping is a job where you work as an independent contractor. Companies are hired by chain stores and restaurants to have customers pose as regular customers and review specific aspects of customer service. You are generally compensated for your meal or a purchase and offered a small monetary compensation in addition. While you can do multiple assignments a day, it is not likely to be a full time job for you. But it is a job that has some nice perks if you are retired, a stay at home mom, or a college student. Here are some things to know if you are considering becoming a mystery shopper.

A mystery shopping assignment is called a "shop". Despite the alluring ads that run rampant on the internet, you will not be able to purchase just anything you want and get paid for it. Some restaurants may want you to order a certain type of item, such as a chain restaurant that serves both entrees and pizza might want for you to order one pizza and one entrée. For this type of shop, you may bring a guest and generally will split an appetizer or dessert and each get an entrée or you will get a flat reimbursement plus a small payment fee. You cannot spend it all on alcohol drinks; they want you to assess the food. You are expected to fill out a report about certain types of information about the service, such as how soon you were greeted or if your food arrived hot and fresh. You need to notice details about the cleanliness and food service so the parent company can make sure this branch is adhering to all the rules. You fill out the report and fax or email it in within a specified period of time, generally 24 hours. The company will send you a check within one week to two months.

It is a great job for a retired person or college student since you can make your own schedule. Its' a great job for a stay at home moms since usually you can bring your kids with you to the shop and the job is relatively flexible. You do not have to accept any particular assignment you don't want or is a time conflict with other obligations, so it can work around your schedule. If you are going on vacation and have access to a fax or email, you can take restaurant shops where you will be visiting as long as you get the report in on time. Or, you can take several months off if you are too busy to work.

The best way to find mystery shopping companies is to do a search online for "mystery shopper". If a company wants you to pay to shop for them, they are not legitimate. Applying to several companies increases your chance of getting more mystery shopping assignments in your area. No one company has enough jobs to keep you busy, so most mystery shoppers work for numerous companies. Mystery shopping companies rarely have a problem with this; in fact they often share databases of shoppers.

You will typically fill out an online application and will be asked to give a writing sample. Try to do a good job on this writing assignment since this is how they assess your skills for writing a mystery shopper assessment report. Try typing this in a word processing document beforehand to spell check it instead of inputting it directly into the online application.

On occasion, when applying to a company that coordinates mystery shops, they might ask you some unusual questions about race, age, even appearance or grooming habits (such as do you get your hair colored) or income level and education. Some of these questions may seem strange and invasive, but the reason is they want to be able to send in different sorts of people of various races and ages to test to see if everyone is treated the same. They do not want to send a bald man for a haircut and highlights, since it is obvious the customer does not belong there. Some companies do disability compliance work and might ask if you are in a wheelchair or deaf or have impairment. This not in an attempt to ask you overly invasive questions, but because they are actively seeking out mystery shoppers who are in wheelchairs because they are attempting to make sure their clients restaurant or store is wheelchair accessible, and some stores forget simple details that prevent a customer in a wheelchair from entering like a heavy door that swings out. They need someone to try to make things better for that particular disability or demographic, they are not intending to discriminate or give out "stereotypical" shops. You over course, do not need to reveal this information if you do not want to do so. Remember that as a contractor, you do not have the same rights as an employee when being asked this type of information that might be considered improper at a regular full time employment interview.

You will be given instructions about a list of items you are expected to review including numerous aspects of customer service and the exact time that certain services occurred. It might help to have a palm pilot or cell phone that you can call yourself and listen to a message you left for yourself in advance to remind you of what you must remember.

You will likely have to rate the attitude and service of the person who waits on you, and sometimes they will not do a very good job. It is not your job to find bad things to say about an otherwise good customer service experience, but sometimes an employee will be violating company policies or do something expressly wrong and it is your job to report it. Other times the person may just rub you the wrong way, but they are not really a bad employee. The employee will likely be spoken to about both the good and bad things they have done, but they are reviewed periodically, so this is not a make or break it review, but it does impact their job. Decide how to handle poor service or bad food and what items deserve commendation. Secret shopping is not just saying all the bad things, but also reporting the good things too. If you are secret shopping a fast food restaurant, they know the quality of service or food is not what you would get at a four star restaurant, but they do expect the restroom to be clean and the floor to be free of hazardous spills, and for the staff to be polite and the food to be fresh. And if it is not, you should tell them so. But if you are overly critical without explanation, then you do not appear to be a fair shopper and they won't use you again. My rule is, don't say something too critical unless I have details to back it up.

Remember this is an actual job with many things to remember to check, and you are not allowed to reveal you are a mystery shopper. But once you get used to mystery shopping it will be easier to enjoy your meal while doing your job, (after mystery shopping for a few years I have taken several people out to eat without them even knowing I was getting paid to do it because I was discrete about the details) but treat it seriously as a job that you happen to be eating. You are usually allowed to bring a guest, so if possible, split the responsibilities (such as have your friend check out the restroom conditions for instance).

There are mystery shops for five star restaurants and hotels, and the longer you work for a company, the more likely you will be asked to do these shops. But when you start out, you may only get some shops that other shoppers do not want. To help ensure getting the fun shops when I am asked to perform a dull one, when I am called to do a boring shop, I usually take it, and then ask if they have any other shops available.

If you are not getting enough mystery shopping work, search frequently for new companies who are looking for shoppers in your area. Call up the schedulers of the mystery shopping companies and ask if they have any shops available. If when you call they have nothing available, ask when you should call back and in the meantime, volunteer for last minute cancellations.

Mystery shopping can be a fun way to eat out at restaurants, see movies, and try new stores and activities that you might not have been able to afford. Within two years of starting to mystery shop, I was eating out at nice restaurants 3 -5 nights a week (and eating leftovers the other nights) that I would never have been able to afford otherwise. You can too if you spend some time applying to companies online and applying the tips in this article.