Anyone with experience?

[starsinnight]

Has anyone done this and had a good/bad experience out of it?

It doesn’t seem like too much money can be made. And unless it’s food, you don’t really get anything out of it, right?

All the shopping purchases have to be returned – is this right?

I am trying to figure out whether this is a good idea or not! Any help would be great.

[wilbe95]

At one time in my life I did a mystery shopper for Domino’s pizza. We had to buy the food and then fill in information and sent that in. We did get a couple coupons for discounts on the food purchases.

[starsinnight]

Did they reimburse you for the pizza or did you have to pay out of pocket for it?

It says that for shopping at retail places you can get about $5 to $25 per visit depending on the difficulty. But you sometimes have to buy things too and I am wondering whether those things are returned later or reimbursed.

[wilbe95]

With the pizza we payed out of pocket for it. To me that was not really worth it.
I have not done the mystery shopping at a store. Sorry.

[atta76]

There is one company I do Publix shops for sometimes. They pay you $7 to do the shop and reimburse you $10 for your purchase. Not a lot but since I shop there anyway I do it once in a while.

The only thing is that it’s a pretty lengthy questionaire that they have you submit.

[flickertail26]

I do mystery shopping (a little now but I did a lot when I lived in Florida). I made some pretty good money at it. I made more money doing merchandising than mystery shopping.

Some of the shops you do you have to return the items and some you get to keep it just all depends on which company you work for. You really have to look out for which company you work for. The biggest problem I have is that it takes so long to get paid and some companies only pay via pay pal and some pay you via check.

[Baggz1971]

I am so excited to tell you about the mystery shop I just did for an apartment complex that I did for 30.00 it took less than a 1/2 hour. look up jancyn they are seeking shoppers now. I was called directly by one of the agents and was asked if I could do it that day.

Sure and since we were looking for an apartment anyhow I thought what a great way to look.

[Pyxidragon]

I did a bit of mystery shopping, but I always seemed to end up spending more than I got back, so I dropped it.

[brchbell]

Wow! I’d sure like to make some real money at it! I’ve only done mystery shopping with Military stores and you have to fill out forms afterward and get a $20 gift card.

But I could only do it once a month.

[LindaSK]

Depending on what you get into you can make some serious cash mystery shopping. Some of the good ones are hard to get, but once you do they will hire you on a regular basis. They have their regular shoppers that they trust will get the job done.

So be persistant. I like doing the credit unions and banks they pay well with nothing out of pocket execpt your time. Some pay by check some by pay pal, you can transfer your money out of pay pal into your checking account, so it’s no big deal.

There are all kinds of mystery shopping, Moives, Trailers for moives, banks & Credit Unions, gas stations (these are a pain in the butt, if they are not an inspection), shoe stores to see if they are putting out certain shoes or displays,ect. I stay away for fast food, pay ok put I just don’t like them, Hotels are nice if you can get them. Once you get out there and show you are a good shopper you will get better jobs, also if your certified (cost is 15.00 and a test) you get the better jobs.

[jkpjohnson]

Does anyone have a list of sites to go to to check these out and any good/bad comments?

[justicemsb]

The company I use reimburses you X amount of dollars for your shop, plus a payment. So let’s say I do a grocery shop. The company reimburses you up to $3.00 for your purchase, and $11.00 payment to do the shop.

20 minutes in the store, then however long it takes to type your report. It’s the only company I’m with now, there was one I signed up with, but they hardly ever reimburse for the shop, just a flat payment, and the payment isn’t worth the gas usually. But I don’t have a list. If you have lots of places near you that the company uses, you could probably do decently at it.

I think I would do ok if I signed up for more shops than I do.

[Ulrike]

I am off to my first mystery shop next week and I must say all goes well untill now but with the company I’m doing the mystery shop for you need to call them after you’ve signed up for a mystery shop, to tell them that you really signed up 😕 So what happens… you need to call abroad (to the Netherlands for me) and make an expensive phone call, just to tell them what you already sent them online.

I think that’s quite ridiculous, I just hope that they’ll pay me on the end of the day, else it was all for nothing.

[nheifferon]

I shopped a few times for Market Force. The company is fine but all the work I put in to doing a good shop, writing the report, and scanning and submitting the receipts was too much for the meager reward. I figured I would take mostly grocery store assignments because I have to do my own shopping anyway.

I found that I spent more than the minimum time in the store to accomplish all the assigned tasks and I ended up buying more stuff. Not a win for me.

[moburkes]

I wouldn’t accept a mystery show for a store or company that wans’t going to be beneficial in some way. I recently accepted a shop for a tennis shoe store. I had to make a purchase and was not allowed to return the purchase.

So, if I wanted already in the market for a pair of tennis shoes, I wouldn’t spend $50 (for example) for shoes that were more than the shop reimbursement and that took time away from my family. I would only do shops that either paid enough to reinbmurse me for the total time spent (including writing the report and driving time to and from the shop) or was for something that I already wanted to do, and it just made sense to do the shop and get reimbursed anyway.

I generally accept shops for restaurants and oil changes. I also accept a few apartment shops – they do take longer but the pay is pretty good.

But if there is any chance that I’m wasting time (time is money), or it will cost me money that I wouldn’t normally spend (that I’m not getting reimbursed for) – then I don’t accept the shop.

You do have to be disciplined in order to do this.

[MarryChris]

Sometimes you have to buy things too and I am wondering whether those things are returned later or reimbursed. We did get a couple coupons for discounts on the food purchases.

[CulArtStudent]

I’ve done mystery shopping since 2002 — and love it. Of course, times have changed — the company I work with lost their Kroger contract (those paid $8.00 food reimbursement after coupons plus $15.00 shopper fee — and I was scheduling 25 a week), and the steady schedule and max pay was lost…but there are new contracts now, so the pay is slowing going back up.

I do hp, office max, office depot, staples, best buy, iga, and other independent store shops — all paying me the proof pay (under $5) plus the shopper pay ($10 – $30 each)…in addition, when I have time and it’s convenient, I do on-site business verifications for several different credit check companies — those pay anywhere between $40 and $100 each.

~*~

Sometimes, when I have a free weekend, and usually this is when I am not in classes, I do movie trailer checks. Those require me to sit in a movie theater Saturday and Sunday for all showings, just long enough to check to see how many previews they are showing, but it pays me the cost of my ticket each day (only 1 ticket a day) plus the cost of a beverage and popcorn, and then the shopper fee of $300 for the whole weekend.

[bethaliz6894]

I have always wanted to do mystery shopping. my daycare lady use to go through a company but I cant remember the name. I wish I could.

being out of work, this could come in handy. do you mind sharing what company you work for?

[CulArtStudent]

Business Intelligence | Mystery Shopping , Customer Insight & Compliance Solutions | TrendSource

[TXWildflower]

I’ve been a Mystery Shopper for several years and most all of the companies I have worked for do reimburse you for the item you have to purchase or at least a partial amount of its purchase price. They do state this all in the shop details before you decide if you want to do/ or apply for the shop. Hope this helps!

[Author]

Posts