"Mystery shopper" jobs -- what's the scam?

Factual Questions
1

Lately I’ve been hearing these radio ads for “mystery shopper” jobs. The notion is that you sign up for the task, go shopping at big-name stores, write up evaluations of the store’s service/cleanliness/whatever, and get big $$$ for doing so.

Needless to say, my cynicism has gotten the better of me, and I suspect this is a scam on the order of stuffing envelopes (“Work from the comfort of your own home!”). However, I’m not entirely sure how the scam works; if a store is going to pay you to evaluate their stuff, can’t you just window-shop all day, do some writeups, and get paid there?

What’s the catch? Or is this the world’s first genuine dream job?

2

Mystery shoppers are real. I can’t say you will get rich but they are used.

3

I have a friend who has done this sort of thing occasionally. There’s no scam. It’s just not terribly well paid.

4

I have a friend who did this for a while. The firm gets hired by local stores to evaluate them. The firm then calls their Super Secret Shoppers of Mystery and gives them an allowance for shopping at the store. You are expected to produce receipts showing how much you spent. You then fill out a form answering questions about the customer service, selection, cleanliness, etc. Then you get a little money to keep.

5

I’m a Mystery Shopper. It’s a cool job but I’m certainly not raking in the cash. I’ve registered with 12 different agencies and they email me daily with lists of available “shops” aka jobs.

The catch is that usually you have to pay out of your own wallet and then you get reimbursed up to 6 weeks later. Restaurant shops are good because the companies provide a gift card and I’m only out the parking and tip fees.

Some sites offer certifications, which bump you into a higher pay bracket. If you become gold certified you get to do the real 007 stuff: minicameras and hidden microphones. No lie! You go on your shop totally wired. Then it’s off to the nearest computer to upload your findings.

The best part of the job is when I’m carrying a “good job” certificate. If my server does everything right, I award them with a $50 certificate. These are usually matched by their boss.

If you like shopping and have an eye for details, give it a try. Google “mystery shopper” or “secret shopper.”

6

When I worked in a hotel, we had “secret guests” who would stay overnight. The Lounge also had secret shoppers who came in and drank. It sounds a little too silly to be true, but bear in mind that drinks were priced $3,4 or 5, and the tip jar was full of singles if you had change coming.

I had heard a story about the Lounge Manager at the Ramada down the street. He apparently had gone to a restaurant supply store and bought his own cash register, which he put exactly halfway between the two legitimate registers as soon as the FBM or AGM went home. The a third of the sales went into his register, which he took home with him. The secret shopper never caught him. He was done in by a bartender who was unhappy with his cut.

That, at least, is the story.

7

I had a roommate who fell for this. SHe had to pay to get 'in the club, ’ and then she got a list of available jobs. The nearest was a 2 hour drive away! She declined to proceed.

8

I signed up for a mailing list that sent out mystery shopper jobs. They sent me “assignments” quite often, but they are very specific about the person they need for the job. Coincidentally (or not), almost every assignment called for a 7 year old boy. This went on for a couple of months before I opted off the list.

9

Can you recommend any particular mystery shopper companies? I don’t know that I’d be able to differentiate a legitimate company from a scam in this case. Feel free to e-mail me if you don’t feel comfortable naming names on the board.

10

I, too, am a Mystery Shopper, and have been for 2 1/2 years, all for one company. It’s a major retailer who runs their own in-house secret shopper program, in both Canada and the USA. Yes, you’ve heard of them. And no, I’m not allowed to name them (part of my contract).

I get paid for all my time spent training, traveling, shopping, and entering data on the computer. If they phone or e-mail me, I get paid for that time as well. I get paid mileage. Direct deposit every week. Awesome support from my supervisors.

What I don’t get is reimbursed for what I buy, and I am required to buy something during each and every shop. However, it’s stuff I buy often anyway.

Several times a year, they e-mail me a calendar and I cross off days and times I **can’t ** work.

I can bring my kids with me while I do the shops.

It’s not a great deal of money, but it’s made a difference, and I love the flexibility.

I don’t know if I am allowed to post their website (which does not allude to the company’s name in any manner), but anyone interested is free to e-mail me, and I will provide it.

If you are interested in any kind of Mystery Shopping, I would say do not send anyone money to get information or join. Just use Google, as suggested earlier, and you can get all the info for free.

Upon preview, Catalyst, I will e-mail you.

11

As a general rule of thumb, if they ask for money up front they usually are not on the level.

12

From what I understand, it isn’t big $$$. It’s a few bucks.
If you’re already running errands around anyway, it’s another errand. You make a few dollars, and you go your merry way. You can start whenever, you can stop whenever.

I have a friend who did it for a while, she had a toddler. A job with regular hours just wouldn’t work well - but a job where she go in to a store, do her grocery shopping with the baby in tow, and get a few bucks was perfect.

From what I understand, the scam companies are the ones that want you to send them money.

13

I agree – if they’re asking you to pay to sign up, it isn’t worth it. Possibly some of the pay upfront companies aren’t scams, but even if so, you can do just as well and not pay for it.

My wife and I until recently did a lot of mystery shops of restaurants, but then we decided to start dieting so we’ve largely given it up. But in most cases, we were given gift certificates to bring in to the restaurant and then we had to submit our receipts. After a while, we started getting shops at nice places, where they’d just give us $100 and tell us to go. If we went under, we kept the difference; if we went over (more common), we had to pay out of our pocket, but we never felt we were blindsided because we knew in advance what our plateau was.

–Cliffy

14

Arjee,

My wife seemed interested, but… your profile said you didn’t have email enabled.

15

Way back when, my dad had a job as a Mystery Bus Rider. He rode buses all over town and wrote evaluations.

16

Those of you who have done this: When you get an assignment, is it something specific (e.g. “go to Wal-Mart and buy lawn furniture, light bulbs, and feminine products”) or is it more general (e.g. “go to Sears and see how they treat you”)?

17

Hah! I get to assist on a question that is not related to anime, working at a supermarket, or relational databases! The assignments generally range from “specific” to “exacting,” Cervaise. My wife has engaged in a few shopping raids:[ul][]A mission to Frederick’s of Hollywood to be fitted for, purchase, and subsequently return a bra. The objective was to gauge the customer service provided by the sales associate. There was, IIRC, a short questionaire online that she had to fill out.[]An expedition into the Sleep Number Store, where we were to study the salesman’s methodology. The objectives were very specific - we had a three page report to fill out upon returning home and it mentioned things in a particular order.[*]Hi, Opal![/ul]By an amazing coincidence, the salesman at the Sleep Number Store had gone out on a blind date with my wife long before we had met. We don’t think he recognized/remembered her, though.

18

Sorry, **Jonathan Woodall ** and any others who may have tried to e-mail me! It’s enabled now…! :smack:

To answer Cervaise, my assignments are very specific, but my shopping jobs are all for one company. My opinion is never asked for - I just report facts. Examples: “Did the cashier verbally greet you?” “Were you offered assistance to get your purchases to the car?” “Was the restroom clean?” And so on. I am not told exactly what to buy, but in some cases for other companies, you might be. I heard about one job where you had to buy something, then return it the next day, and another at a video store where you had to rent a specific movie, then return it late.

19

I would echo those who have said to be careful of the companies that are not offering jobs, but rather offering information about how to get jobs. The web and spam e-mail are particularly rife with jackasses wanting you to pay $39 or whatever to learn how to be a mystery shopper, an airline courier, a test driver for cars, etc. etc. They will delay until the last minute revealing (or, will simply not reveal) that they themselves have no jobs to offer, and are merely re-packaging publicly available information about job opportunities that (may or may not) exist (or once existed).

20

I saw a show on one of those major network evening newsmagazines where they featured a woman who said she made as much as a mystery shopper, as at her high powered finance job on wall street (she had been laid off).

Did anyone see this show; if so, do you remember her name? I remember thinking “wow, that’s cool”, but I couldn’t find a lot of good mystery shopping sites on the internet. The sites I’ve seen stress good writing skills.