Get paid to shop

Mystery shoppers go to specified stores, restaurants, banks and apartments and pose as typical customers. When they leave, they complete questionnaires or other such instruments that have been custom-designed for the mystery shopping company's clients. Shopper's serve as the eyes and ears for those clients as part of their efforts to enhance the quality of the customer's experience. Many times, the information collected during mystery shopping programs is used to help mystery shopping company clients improve training programs, better articulate expectations they have of their staff, and otherwise improve the ways in which the client serves its customers.
How long does it take and what does it pay?

The length of time a mystery shop takes depends on the type of assignment, but usually a shop is likely to take less than an hour. The fees that a mystery shopper may earn from a specific shop vary just as greatly as the time required, but often a shopper might expect between $12 and $20 for the "typical" shopping scenario. In some cases the shopper might also receive free meals, discounts and savings on merchandise, or other such benefits. However, shoppers should be wary of promises of extraordinary "freebies" that sound too good to be true... if that's the way it sounds, it is probably really too good to be true. (If you are asked to pay to become a shopper, you should be EXTREMELY leery of the offer... there are thousands of opportunities to do mystery shopping that do not require the shopper to pay anything!) In some cases, the shopper may be expected to purchase an item (or a meal, theater ticket, etc.), in which cases the shopper is likely to also be reimbursed for that item, within the stipulations given by the shopping company when the shopper accepts an assignment. In every case, the shopper should strive to ensure he or she fully understands the scope of the shop, the anticipated time required, and the benefits, if any, that will result from doing the shop.

Can I count on doing mystery shopping on a full-time basis?

It is unlikely, though a few people do. More likely, you might find yourself able to do a few per month. To build up a large number of shops per month, it is likely to take quite some time... to prove your reliability and to convince the companies for which you do shops that you should be contacted before other shoppers. If you want to work full-time as a mystery shopper, understand that may be your goal, but it may not be achievable for a very long time, if ever.