[buckeyeboy1986]

Does anybody find mystery shopping to be profitable or worth their time?

[digital_d0rk]

I find it to be quite fun. Its not as hard as I thought and once you get the hang of it, you are on your way. I also find it to be a great way to make extra money for at home moms, college students at home dads ANYONE. Its best if you can find place in your area. Most place pay like clock work. Some once- twice a month. try mystery shopping forums to get the scoop if you need more information or pm me. Im a newbie and I will get my first paycheck at the end of this month (yay me ). I enjoy it and I dont find it a wast of time. You pay $5.00 for a burger and end up getting paid $13.00 for checking the place out. Some tasks are harder than others but you get to choose what you want to do.

[buckeyeboy1986]

what is your favotite mystery shopper site

[digital_d0rk]

service intelligence

http://shopper.serviceintelligence.com

[kosti]

how do you sign up?

[gardenlilly]

I did it for years. The most I ever made was 2,000 in one month.
That was really not much once i added in the cost of my time, gas, faxing costs ect. I did every macy's, bloomingdales, burdines, target, checkers, mcdonald's and a few boutiques in my area to earn it. I had to drive all over 3 counties to earn it up to 45 min from my home in both directions.

You are not guaranteed shops every month, so only depend on it for spare money. It can take up to 30 days to get your money. Often if you write a bad review, they will send you out to redo it within 24 hours, to see if you get better service then.
You need to watch what you take, some you actually lose money on. Especially the rain forest cafe shops. The ads you see about keeping all this great stuff, is a lie. Other than food, if they ask you to purchase something a return is also included.

I gave it up, cause it was not enough money. It was fun though.

[kosti]

yea.

well from those $70 i only got $30 awarded so far since they're still waiting to verify all the offers.

i better change it.
and a note. i haven't gotten paid yet so.

[gardenlilly]

Ok, I have mystery shopped for over 8 years. I did target for many years. They usually only focus on the restauarant. It does not pay any more than 5.00. You have alot of paperwork and they are VERY detail oriented. Like they want you to look for crumbs on the counters and stock in the condiments and straws. You also have to time how long it takes to cook your food.

I also did starbucks.... They were the worst. I took a loss due to them expecting you to purchase certain items. They sent me a scale and 2 thermometers. I had to take the coffee temp in C and F. Then I had to measure the foam to make sure ti was the right amount and thickness. You can't been seen doing this so you need to drive away from the store to get all this info in the car. Sometimes it was messy in the car. You needed the temp asap to make sure it was accurrate. THEN you had to pack up all their equipment and ship it back to them. Requiring a 2nd trip to the post office.

These 2 were not worth it. The one that was the easiest was checkers and mcd's.

These were fast drive thru shops. Worth the money. They paid 5.00 for the food and 5.00 for the shop. BUT.... They usually had a set time for you to have to shop these. They give yu the 2-3 hour timespan they must be completed.


Good shops that pay VERY well are the real estate shops. They pay about 30-40 per shop. You need to tour apartments and eveluate the sales person.

Hope this helps!!! :)

[digital_d0rk]

I also like taking the shop that no one else does becaus emost of the time you get a bonus. Video rental shops are fun! just ask about the specials and getting paid fifteen bucks isnt bad! The fast foods are ok but but going inside AND drive thru for $8.50 plus reinbursement which is like about 10.00 isnt great for all that greasy food .

[gardenlilly]

Checkers and mcdonalds never required more than just the drive thru. I never had to do insides.

[Barbie2274]

Thanks for the info.

[liga]

Anyone familiar with shopperfocus [dot] com? Are they legit?

[Mickey65]

I have signed up for shopperfocus (I think they're a survey company) but haven't heard from them yet.

Regarding mystery shopping. I did mystery shopping for about 6 months about 6 years ago now. So things may have changed, but from the comments I've been hearing, it doesn't seem so.

First off, with mystery shopping you have to spend your own money, 95% of the time. I did work with a company that actually gave a GC for the meal, and then also paid $20! This was a great company to work with, until they insisted on a purchase from the bar! But this is not the norm, and I couldn't afford to wait 6-8 weeks to get reimbursed.

Second thing I've noticed with MS companies, they don't forgive easily. If you're set up to do a MS and then an emergency comes up and you call them, they get upset with you and may not request your services again. So you have to make sure that nothing gets in the way of the shop. With kids, this isn't an easy thing to do!

And lastly, for the time you put into it, the gas, and then the reports that are due "in a timely manner" usually you have 12 hours, but sometimes only 2-3. And these reports aren't short. I did one for McDonalds, and it was 25 PAGES LONG!!!! I had to get food inside and drive thru, take notice of names, temps of all items, how long they took, the decor, etc. All while making sure my kids stayed near me and were'nt fighting!!!!

To say the least it was waaaayyyy to much work for me, and not good enough pay for all the hassle. So I now do surveys at my home, on my own time, and don't have to pay a penny!!!! :D

[puravida]

Wow, thanks for sharing Mickey!

Quote

I did one for McDonalds, and it was 25 PAGES LONG!!!! I had to get food inside and drive thru, take notice of names, temps of all items, how long they took, the decor, etc. All while making sure my kids stayed near me and were'nt fighting!!!!

It does sound like too much hassle in this case... Sounds like that one is a little too demanding!

Ciao,

Brandon

[EagleWings]

Wow, guess I'll put a different spin on things here- I love mystery shopping!! It definitely won't make you rich and won't replace a job, but it's fun and I've always come out on top as far as making a profit. I just wish I had more time to commit to it. The hardest part is the initial sign up- I'm constantly signing up for new companies and have probably signed up for over a hundred by now. Alot of them don't have shops near me, so for the time being I ignore those. The biggest town near me is the state capitol about 30 minutes away, there's always alot of shops available there, I just can't always make it over there in the alloted time frame. I'm moving to Denver in a few months and can't wait to see how that changes things! The majority of the companies don't count it against you if you don't choose any of the available shops so that allows me to be really picky, and I only pick the shops that I absolutey know that I will be able to complete. I've never had to return any of the stuff that I've bought and I've never had to fax any paperwork. I either send everything in over the internet, email, or postal.

I definitely wouldn't mind turning this into a full time job!

[DCII]

You can sign up for a bunch (around 15 or 20) Mystery shopping companies at one time by logging on to sassie shop.com. I agree with a lot of people, it will not make you rich. In fact if you are not careful what you buy, it can make you broke in a hurry.
A lot of the ads for it say things like "keep what you buy and make $5000 a month".

First: Yes, in most cases you keep what you buy. Problem with that is that the MS company does not pay for your purchases a lot of the time. If you are going to make any money, buy the cheapest thing that you can, i.e. a pack of gum. Sometimes they stipulate the ammount of money that you have to spend or the product that has to be purchased. I try to steer away from these because the businesses know what the MSers are buying and it gives me away.

Second: Some companies will refuse to pay you if you are identified as a mystery shopper. Keep that in mind. If you have a distinctive appearance, such as myself, it makes it difficult to repeat a shop, even after 3 months. How many times a day do you see an amazon woman with butt length blonde hair? I tend to be remembered, keep that in mind.

Third: If your report is not submitted in time, you will not be paid the full ammount if at all. They are not joking. I submitted one 7 minutes late and I was not paid, so keep that in mind.

Fourth: If your report is missing ANY information, they will usually dock your pay for this as well. Your shopper score will go down and you will not be able to apply for as many shops.

I hope I have been of some help :) If I can help you out more, let me know.