What is a Secret Shopper?

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Is It Really Possible to Be Paid to Shop?

Some people think it's a scam when you say you can get paid to shop. There are a lot of misconceptions about secret shopping, also known as "mystery shopping."

A secret shopper is someone who signs up with mystery shopper provider companies to visit businesses and report back to the provider company about his or her observations while doing "mystery shops." A secret shopper does this secretly (of course!)so that the people working at these businesses don't know they are being evaluated.

For instance, you could sign up with a company that provides assignments to fast food restaurants and shoe stores. Once your registration is accepted by that company, you can go to the company's website to check for available secret shopping assignments that are in your area. When you see one you would like to do, you follow the instructions of the company to sign up for that assignment.

Then you print out guidlines for the assignment and the questions you will be answering. You study these before going on the assignment so that you know what you are doing when you get there. Once you are there, you observe everything needed to answer those questions.

You should not carry your guidelines or questions into the business unless they are hidden in a pocket or purse! You don't want to give away the fact that you are a secret shopper. If you need to check on them during the visit, use the restroom and privately take a look at your guidelines again while you are in there.

Once you leave, you write out your answers to the questions - normally on an online form from the provider company. You will also need to fax or scan and email your receipt to the company. You must give complete, thorough answers. The more specific information you give, the better. If you complete the assignment correctly, you will be paid a fee and/or be reimbursed for the cost of your purchase.

Some secret shoppers only work occasionally, while others register with enough companies that they work several assignments per week. It is their choice because they are not employees of the provider companies. Instead they are independent contractors. As an independent contractor you may be entitled to tax deductions!

Need to know more about what a secret shopper is and does? Some great resources are available here! You can register to be a secret shopper by searching for individual websites of companies that assign mystery shops and then registering at their sites. Or you can register with a service that enables you to have access to a number of companies such as the Mystery Shopper Registration Website.

How To Manage Your Secret Shopping Business Schedule 

Learn more by reading books about Secret Shopping!

You can manage your part time secret shopping business from home by frequently logging onto the websites of provider companies to see what shopper jobs are available. Some companies will send you email notices of available jobs also. Then you can choose the secret shopping jobs that fit YOUR schedule. You can arrange your shopper jobs around things that you want or need to do outside the home.

For instance, you could get assignments for evaluating an oil changing service, a convenience store, a department store, and a restaurant. Then you could schedule these jobs all in one day if you wish, or do one or two a day at times when you are going out to do other errands or to visit friends.

Most part time work does not give you nearly as much flexibility. When you obtain regular part time employment, you normally get locked into the schedule that your employer needs you to work - not into a schedule that you determine yourself. Don't you just hate it when you agree to work 20 hours a week and then your manager keeps scheduling you for extra hours? And then there are those jobs where they keep scheduling you to work every weekend, so you have to miss out on good times with family and friends and church services.

As a secret shopper, you set your own schedule! You enjoy the benefits of being self employed without having to make sales calls. You also don't have the huge overhead expenses involved in most businesses. Yet you still can take business tax deductions. Secret shopping is the ultimate part time work!




How to Become a Mystery Shopper: The Only Book You'll Ever Need

Amazon Price: (as of 07/11/2009) Buy Now

The Mystery Shopper's Manual (5th Edition)

Amazon Price: (as of 07/11/2009) Buy Now

Get Paid to Shop: Opportunities in Mystery Shopping

Amazon Price: $39.95 (as of 07/11/2009) Buy Now

Starting Your Mystery Shopping Business

Amazon Price: $599.00 (as of 07/11/2009) Buy Now

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Lensmaster

rambo wrote

Wow! The presentation is really superb.Good information on secret shopper.I have some information on mysteryshopping which i have recently visited.

Reply Posted February 19, 2008

Lensmaster

BRENDA WALKER wrote

I WOULD LOVE TO BE A SECRET SHOPPER. AND I AM GOING TO SIGN UP FOR PART TIME WORK AS A SECRET SHOPPER WITH A MYSTERY SHOPPER.

Reply Posted December 18, 2007

flowski wrote...

I always wondered if the secret shopper program was legit. Thanks for the info!

ReplyPosted December 04, 2007

financegirls wrote...

hi karen, this is a very interesting read;)great lens!hope to see you at my lens sometime
How You Can Profit by Outsourcing Some of Your Work

ReplyPosted March 22, 2007

 

Visit My Secret Shopper Blog!
Thoughts and experiences with Secret Shopping, as well as changes to the Become a Secret Shopper Website

For More Secret Shopper Information 

I have built an extensive website full of instructions and information for those who want to learn how to be a Mystery Shopper. At the website you can sign up for our Ezine also so that you can get up-to-date Secret Shopper information.

Click Here to Visit the"Become A Secret Shopper" Website.

Use the Contact Us form on the site to ask questions and leave comments! And be sure to visit the Shopper Videos page for a few laughs plus some good information!

by karenrob

I enjoy researching and writing, so you'll see that I write about various things. I have a background in working with troubled kids, working in the ca... (more)

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