While you go about your business as a mystery shopper, you likely feel a sense of seclusion and isolation in your job. You don’t have co-workers to interact with around the water cooler, and you have very little contact with your supervisor. There isn’t any after-work gossip at the local bar or the camaraderie of a regular lunch bunch at the noon hour. Somewhere within the regular gossip and chatter that goes on with co-workers in other types of jobs, there is actually some value that you can gain and improve yourself as a worker. With mystery shopping, you may feel you are missing out on this aspect of a traditional job.
Luckily, this is not the case! As a mystery shopper, you can also experience the value and friendship of co-workers, although in a slightly different setting. There are several great on-line forums or communities you can join and become an active member in, specifically for mystery shoppers.
Enjoy A Sense Of Community. When you become an active, contributing member of an online mystery shopping community, it is the equivalent of chatting with co-workers around the water cooler. You will feel a sense of community with other mystery shoppers. With one mystery shopper’s gripe, another shopper may share a solution to that problem.
Don’t just sit on the sidelines and read through the forum posts. Get involved by posting your own questions or thoughts on your job as a shopper. You will be a happier mystery shopper when you know there are others out there who share you same thoughts, concerns, and feelings.
Get The Latest Scoop. In addition to enjoying an improved attitude about your job in general by becoming an active member of an online community, you can also gain some great knowledge and insight from other shoppers. If you have been looking for new providers to work with, don’t by shy about posting a question on the forum about other shoppers’ experiences with a few of the providers you are interested in.
If you’ve had ongoing issues with one provider or scheduler, share your frustration with other shoppers and see if anyone has a solution or has had a similar experience. Online communities are great place to get the latest and greatest news about your industry.
Heads Up! Mystery shoppers are unfortunately in a position to be involved in more scams than the average worker. With the majority of our assignments coming from the internet rather than from a supervisor in a nearby cubicle, it may sometimes be difficult to discern which assignments are bogus and which ones are legitimate. Once you’ve found a few legitimate providers to work with, you may be content sticking with those. However, if you ever want or need to branch out and increase your income, you’ll need to try out some new providers. The MSPA is a great source for locating information on possible scams. However, even the MSPA may not have the most current information that mystery shoppers out in the field have.
Mystery shoppers love to talk about their experiences with other shoppers, especially to warn them about possible scams. So keep your eyes on the forums for the latest news on potential scams to avoid.
There is so much you can gain as a mystery shopper from not only visiting the online mystery shopping communities but also from becoming an active and contributing member in one.
ready to start anytime.
I have been a mystery shopper over over three years and absolutely, love having somewhat my own schedule.
I love to talk to people to tell them about my experiences and help them with the problems they may have.You do feel isolated in not having co workers like at a office job, but there are different forums that everyone talks about different subjects and helps one another.
I have been MS for about 3 years with a break of 10 months being in the hospital. I could hardly wait until I was able to drive and get on the road to MS. I have been back and a friend and I have gone to 3 of the top restaurants. Nothing like going to a restaurant and it’s free, free. Accept shops if I want to or not. I love MS and look forward to many more years.
This shopper would certainly like to meet other MS. Location – Los Angeles. My eml is overseaseer@hotmail.com An exchange of experiences would help us all. Send me an eml and I will respond with my phone #
Byron.
I started MS about a yr. and half ago. I do merchandising and mystery. The only problem I have, is not finding any really good paying shops around me. I live in a rural area so I have to travel from 9 to 30 miles to shops. I sometimes don’t make anything due to gas prices. I stopped taking alot of the low paying shops. Now I do 2 to 3 days a week with doing at least 3 or 4 shops a day in one area. But alot of them are repeats which are ok, but sometimes they get old. Does anybody feel that way? Or is it me?
Yes, Jenny G. I do a lot of the same shops and they can start to feel old. But isn’t every job like that? You go to the office everyday and its the same old thing. I like MSing as a way to earn a little extra $$ to make ends meet, take up some free time and meet new folks. I work a fulltime job and look forward to MSing as a release from the day to day backstabbing in the business world. None of that with MSing.
I got back into MS seriously in 2006 after dabbing into it back in 1999. I like it but the gas prices have caused me to modify my shopping choices.
How has the gas prices and economy affected you?
well the gas price hasn’t really affected the way i shop because i’ve never taken jobs more than 20 miles from my home or work. i never do assignments that pay less than $10(only exception is if i get reimbursed for something and a shop fee). i am more careful about scheduling assignments so that i am not travelling to the same area more than once in week.
I was wondering if anyone can tell me are focus groups worth getting into and where can I go if they are.