Ever worked as a mystery shopper?

[Staceyshoe]

If so, I would be interested in hearing about your experience and advice.  I'm trying to decide whether it would be worthwhile to pick up some small mystery shopping jobs here and there.  TIA!

[ThisIsTheDay]

The fact that I was responsible for my own taxes was enough to deter me from giving it a try. That alone made it not worth any extra money/products.  But I am interested in hearing anyone else's experiences!!

[purpleowl]

I did mystery shopping over 10 years ago, so things may be significantly different now.

 

I found that in most cases, the compensation was not worth the time required. However, if you get shops for restaurants you'd like to eat at anyway, or stores you'd like to shop at anyway, it amounts to a nice little discount. So for a clothing store you might be reimbursed for an item up to $10; for a restaurant you might be required to order a specific thing (or from a specific list of things), but you'd be reimbursed for your meal (but probably not the meal of whoever else was with you). Some shops didn't require you to buy anything and just paid a small amount ($10-20 per shop, and again I say that this was 10+ years ago so amounts may be different nowadays). The forms you had to fill out varied in length and in the amount of detail required (e.g., for some, you would need to time how long between when you walked into a store and when someone greeted you; how long between when you were seated at a restaurant and when your drink order was taken; etc.).

 

It was kind of fun, and I did like it when I managed to land a shop for a theme park in Orlando. I stopped doing it because I got a full-time teaching job. I probably wouldn't choose to do mystery shopping again.

 

When I was doing it, volition.com had a lot of good info, an active forum, and links to reputable mystery shopping companies. No clue if that's still the case. 

[Hyacinth]

I did it when my kids were little as a get-out-of-the-house-for-an-hour kind of thing. The pay was silly, sometimes just the cost of a meal--or even just part of meal--so when you factor in the gas and maybe a tip, it really wasn't an income generator. That said, sometimes there were fun assignments. I once got to award a mobile phone employee $100 on the spot because she used the magic upselling phrase that corporate was looking for.

 

This was 10-12 years ago, so I don't know what the job is like now.

Edited July 17, 2016 by Hyacinth

[Allearia]

I did it for a while. It was not really worth my time. But a cousin has done it for years and now is where she does big ticket shops and travels quite a bit for them, sometimes internatonally. I think it is still more of a hobby for her. I had a 2yo when I did it before, if my kids were older I might have kept going with it. Some of the shops I did were fun, and we got some restaurant meals. It is pretty easy to just get some small jobs and try it out. It is also probably more worthwhile if you live in an urban area.

[Murphy101]

My dh does mystery shopping and has for I think about four years now. I forget the name of the company he works through, but he can choose which assignments to take or not. Some aren't worth it and he tells them why bc it helps them go back to their company wanting the shop to say why they can't get secret shoppers. For example, there was a resturant that wanted shopped, but was only paying $10, which wouldn't cover even the cost of their cheapest dinner. Forget it. Or it will be some place too far out of our way that isn't comping mileage. And those places often don't get shopped by anyone. There's been a few places he shopped for that the paperwork wasn't worth it. If you don't do exactly what the secret shop required and completely and thoroughly fill out the requested questionnaires (which can be 5 minutes to do or 30) then it can affect your compensation and whether they will offer you other secret shops. Dh is often requested bc he does both very well or he won't take the shop. And lastly, this is based on reimbursement. So if you can't afford to do it anyways, then secret shopping isn't for you.

 

For example, if he were to secret shop a resturant, he has to follow the request on where to sit and what food to order and pay for it OOP. This could be vague "dine in between 6-9pm at this location and order at least one entree" or it could be "sit at the bar between 4:30 -6:00, ask about their beer selection and order one, order a steak dinner" and note if wait staff does whatever specific things the company is looking for, such as being pleasant, offering dessert, informing of specials....

 

Then you leave. And fill out the paperwork to get reimbursed for your meal plus incentive, which is usually $5-20.

 

He also secret shops appartments, car dealerships, computer and appliance stores... Usually these are $5-10 payouts.

 

For my dh this is nifty and not too awful an inconvience bc he is a business traveler so there's a wide region he can shop for. And he has to eat anyways. And he is self employeed, so he has to do his own taxes anyways too.

 

When he is home, he doesn't do as much of it bc he won't do it unless the shop allows for bringing me along. Which does happen sometimes and is a nice date night we otherwise probably wouldn't splurge on since it normally wouldn't be reimbursed.

[KatieJ]

I agree with Murphy 101.  My DD did this off and on for the past few years.  Eventually she became known as a good Mystery Shopper and they would seek her out if they had a shop to fulfill and no one was claiming it.  She could then negotiate a higher price to make it worth her while.  It was date night or oil change money for her.

Then for a while she was doing all day, sometimes 2 day Best Buy audits, they paid well.

Currently her DH is between jobs and they are doing some things like a shaving razor shop.  He is supposed to shave every day with this fancy razor and at the end of 6 weeks fill out the paperwork.  It's worth 150.00

 

I believe she would tell you if you have to pay the company, you don't want to mystery shop for them.  You do have to pay out of pocket for the meal, the oil change, whatever, but you should get tht money back plus more.  The details are spelled out in the mystery shop emails.  And yes, you can pick and choose what you want to do.

 

In our area there are lots of taste testing opportunities for baby food, toddler food, etc.  Some of it is for Meijer and some of it is for Gerber.  SOmetimes they are 3-4 days in a row and if you show up all 4 days, you get more money.  These can be worth up to 100.00 and take up only about 10 minutes plus travel time.  Baby and toddlers don't actually even have to cooperate.

 

I believe they found these ooportunities thru Mommy groups.

[3 ladybugs]

I did it once last year. It was for a pizza place and I went there and the pizza was awful! Tasted like they put sugar in the sauce to the point that it was sweet like a desert. EWW! Then I was suppose to take photos of the pizza and send them back. I took several photos and sent them to the company and they rejected them all. I quit at that as I know all the photos were clear and good. I wasn't about to be out of pocket for another one of those nasty pizza's again either. 

 

My impression was that the business needed business and did this and rejected all photos so they could get people to purchase without having to pay out. 

[Lady Florida.]

I did mystery shopping over 10 years ago, so things may be significantly different now.

 

I found that in most cases, the compensation was not worth the time required. However, if you get shops for restaurants you'd like to eat at anyway, or stores you'd like to shop at anyway, it amounts to a nice little discount. So for a clothing store you might be reimbursed for an item up to $10; for a restaurant you might be required to order a specific thing (or from a specific list of things), but you'd be reimbursed for your meal (but probably not the meal of whoever else was with you). Some shops didn't require you to buy anything and just paid a small amount ($10-20 per shop, and again I say that this was 10+ years ago so amounts may be different nowadays). The forms you had to fill out varied in length and in the amount of detail required (e.g., for some, you would need to time how long between when you walked into a store and when someone greeted you; how long between when you were seated at a restaurant and when your drink order was taken; etc.).

 

It was kind of fun, and I did like it when I managed to land a shop for a theme park in Orlando. I stopped doing it because I got a full-time teaching job. I probably wouldn't choose to do mystery shopping again.

 

When I was doing it, volition.com had a lot of good info, an active forum, and links to reputable mystery shopping companies. No clue if that's still the case. 

 

My experience was similar, and I did it in the early to mid-2000s. Where you live is going to make a difference what kind of shops you get. IIRC, you can put in a distance you're willing to travel or name certain cities. In my case there wasn't much in my city or even in the next city. It wouldn't have paid for me to go any farther. Here, all I ever got was Lowe's Home Improvement and Winn Dixie (a regional grocery chain). There were never any restaurants within a decent driving distance from where I live. 

 

I was paid $15 per shop and reimbursed for up to $10 worth of items. Often I did have to buy something, because part of the report needed to include evaluating the cashier. The paperwork was a pain. I usually wrote notes in the car as soon as I finished, so I'd remember things when I got home and filed my online report. If the shopping took an hour or less it wouldn't have been bad pay - $15 an hour just to go to the store. However, it often took much longer, especially when I was supposed to ask an employee to help me find something, and there were no employees to be found!

 

It might be different now and it might be different where you are. It really can't hurt to give it a try. 

 

Oh, and I just remembered. You had to check often because the available shops (that's what they called it - a "shop") would go quickly. If you weren't at your computer when an opportunity came in, someone else might grab it. After I got established I was actually offered first choice, but when you start it's often on a first come basis.

 

ETA: Sometimes they want you to go at a specific time, so you have to be flexible. For instance, when I did the grocery store it had to be between 5 pm and 7 pm because they wanted to evaluate how the after work rush was handled.

Edited July 17, 2016 by Lady Florida.

[City Mouse]

I used to do some fast food mystery shops just for fun. I haven't done any in about 4 yrs. My close friend worked her way up from a mystery shopper to a scheduler and now has a salaried position with a mystery shop company, but it took many years for that to happen.

[vickjul]

I'm signed up with probably 50 companies, but work for only a few of them regularly. Many assignments offer low pay for a lot of work. I'm not going to spend an hour writing a detailed report on a fast food franchise to earn $5-7 -- especially since I don't like eating fast food or feeding it to my kids. As the end of the month approaches and schedulers get desperate to meet deadlines, however, pay rates increase. I discovered early on that I could run myself ragged doing $5-10 jobs, or I could wait until the end of the month and pick up a handful of those same jobs from desperate schedulers offering $50 or more in bonuses. I much prefer the latter option.

That said, there are a few shops that I pick up because they benefit us in other ways. One supermarket chain offers $15 in merchandise plus $12 pay for a report that takes me about half an hour to complete. I shop there regularly, and the grocery reimbursement coupled with the pay makes it well worth my time. One steak house chain reimburses meals only, but their reports take all of 15 minutes to complete. I'll gladly do a short report in exchange for a free night out at a restaurant I like. I've gotten reimbursed and paid for every oil change we've needed in the past three years. I've also gotten pricier services, from carpet cleaning to eyeglasses, through mystery shops. These reports were much more complex, but again, I'd rather write a two-hour report than pay for a $200 service.

I have an acquaintance in a large metropolitan area who supported herself and her children well for many years through mystery shopping. For me, living in a small city, it's not a major source of income. Select shops, however, have improved our quality of life, and I can easily pick up an extra $100-$150 a month without going too much out of my way. 

Edited July 18, 2016 by vickjul

[MeghansMom]

Would any of you share some links to reputable mystery shopper companies? Thanks

[Staceyshoe]

All your responses have been very helpful.  It looks like I may be kid-free for 2 days/week next year, and I was looking for a way to bring in a little extra income while still having flexibility with my schedule.  I do live in an urban area, and I believe there would be opportunities.  However, I'm doubtful whether it would be worth the time and effort.  I may sign up and explore further, but now I'm leaning toward doing market surveys/focus groups.  There are a lot of market research companies here, and it seems like it might be a better pay-off for time spent.  Maybe I'll try both options to see which is better for me.  It really does help to hear about BTDT experiences!  Thank you!