This is the story of Tom S. Since starting mystery shopping a little more than year ago he has earned over $7,000, stopped living paycheck-to-paycheck, and has finally taken his family on a much deserved vacation. If you’re like me, you’ll probably find this story very inspiring. Here’s Tom, in his own words:
It is hard to believe that it has only been a little more than one year since I first began my new life as a Mystery Shopper. After completing three hundred seventy five mystery shops and having earned more than $7,000, it is fun to look back and remember how this adventure all started.
How I got started
Over the past many years, like many other folks, I saw many an Internet banner ad or junk email, all of which promised a path to easy and quick money, simply by getting paid to Mystery Shop. I never paid much attention to these ads, as I, like many others, simply dismissed these ads as a lure by scam artists to separate desperate and gullible people from their money. It wasn’t until I faced a large pay-cut at my previously stable full-time job that I stumbled across, almost by accident, the whole world of Mystery Shopping.
It was a mostly by happenstance that I learned that Mystery Shopping was indeed a great way to make extra money each month. I was browsing a blog that listed and rated many different paid survey sites when I noticed an entry about Mystery Shopping. Because I agreed with many of the blogger’s posts about paid survey sites, I knew that I could trust her opinion about Mystery Shopping. This is where it all began for me. Now that this blogger pointed me in the direction of well established and reputable Mystery Shopping firms and schedulers, I was off and running.
Within a couple days of signing up with a couple of these Mystery Shopping schedulers, I received my first email, altering me to a mystery shop opportunity. The shop offered to pay me $24 for less than one hours’ work. After successfully completing this first shop, I knew I had stumbled across a great way to both make extra money each month and also improve my family’s standard of living by getting paid to do many of the things we already did anyway.
My life before Mystery Shopping
Before I began Mystery Shopping, I always longed for extra work to help make ends meet. At my full-time job, my fixed salary gave little to no opportunity to get paid for any overtime or extra pay. Many times I thought about applying for a second job, but in every case, I always decided that I didn’t want to be away from my family on a regular basis.
Like many single income households, our family lived paycheck – to – paycheck. There was never very much extra money at the end of the month to do anything we wanted to do. Rather, my paycheck barely covered all of the things we had to do – things like paying rent, buying food, and paying the utilities bill.
Life after Mystery Shopping
Mystery Shopping fundamentally changed our family’s financial outlook. There are many unique and beneficial aspects of Mystery Shopping when compared to traditional employment.
Mystery Shopping has allowed us to pay for some of things we wanted to do, e.g. take an extended family vacation to visit the in-laws. The beauty of Mystery Shopping is that a person can do as many or as few shops as they want. To pay for our extended family vacation, I took every mystery shop I could find for two months. In the end, I earned almost $2,000 in a two-month period, and completed 75 shops in the process. Without Mystery Shopping, our family would never have had the extra money to even dream about taking this long overdue vacation.
Converting the Non-believers
Over the past year, I told many of my close friends and family about my new “second job.” Most of all of them had the same initial reaction – disbelief. Most of my family and friends told me they thought that Mystery Shopping was a big scam. I enjoy sharing stories about the types of shops I complete, about my travels, and about just how much the extra money has helped our family. Many of my friends, after listening to my success stories then ask, “So, how can I get started as a Mystery Shopper?” I then direct my close friends and family to the well-established companies in the Mystery Shopping world (e.g. Volition forums, the Mystery Shopping Providers Association, or other major Mystery Shopping firms’ websites.)
My Favorite Shops
When I first got involved in Mystery Shopping, I would take almost any assignment. After a few months, I learned that it was better to be more selective and only do shops that I enjoyed and only accept jobs that paid enough to properly compensate for the time and effort required to do the shop and then complete the necessary report.
My favorite Mystery Shops are those that require me to go to a new car dealership. My most enjoyable gig for this type of Mystery Shop was when I completed 15 new car shops within a two-month period. For this particular group of shops, I was reimbursed for my mileage. This extra pay enabled me to travel up and down my State, take a mini-vacation, and get paid all at the same time.
Another one of my favorite Mystery Shops involve going to a local pizza joint. I stumbled across the firm that scheduled shops at my family’s favorite local pizzeria. Although this particular mystery shopping company paid quite slowly, they paid well and always paid for each and every job I completed. Although this company has since lost the contract with this pizzeria, our family was able to enjoy almost a full year of free pizza, all from our favorite hangout.
I too have recently discovered mystery shopping and found some favorites. I especially like Bank shops but refuse to do overdraft shops, post office shops are simple and rather lucrative, and grocery shops help me get groceries I would not usually buy. Some of the fast foods are okay but some are too involved to be fun and profitable. I am going to keep on. I don’t expect to get rich but it helps the limited income go a little farther.
I am just getting started, can you list some of the comapnies you shop for.
This seem like something I woulld like to so Please seed me imformation to where I can get started
I started out mystery shopping when I was looking for something to do part time. A magazine suggested going to Volition which I did and sign up with some of the companies there. They have a list of mystery shopping companies. Market Force is a good company to start out with.
Tom, you’re the first mystery shopper I ever found that enjoys car dealerships! They’re offered to me all of the time and pay extremely well but it’s just not my idea of fun. My favorite shops will always be restaurants. I love to eat out anyway and I often get to try places I never even knew about! I’ve learned to pick and choose too but I’ll never give it up. It’s a job that’s fun!
Hi, some of this guys take so long to pay. Some 2/3 months after the shop is done. Wish the clients of these mystery shopping companies, can pay within 1 month. People do this for the extra income!!! So pay within or less than 1 month after our reports are submitted.
Its a great opportunity!One of the best that the internet has offered…!!!
I have bee mystery shopping for 10 years. I have done banks,casual restaurants,fast food restaurants,storage businesses,office supplies,department stores,one Disney tkt shop,many apartment shops,nursing home job applicant shop,movie theaters,grocery stores and others I cannot think of at the moment. I too refuse to do car dealers-too time consuming and not my “thing”. I have a lot of busy weeks and a lot more slow ones. I have never made $2000 in two months much less $1000 in two months and I am signed with probably 25 companies some of whom have called me directly and offered bonus pay. It isn’t and never will be a full time job. Any company has stated that. Good luck to all.
I was laid off from a job at a Nursing Home where I played guitar and piano for 23 years. I only worked on day a week, but the pay was excellent.I also lost a part time job as a music teacher. I am a model and do photo shoots, TV commercials and small parts in movies. The pay for this is very good, but I was not able (yet) to make up for the loss of income from the two music jobs. I have been a mystery shopper for almost 9 years. I love it. I “act” different parts for different jobs. I go to Nursing Homes and inquire about placing my mother (who has been dead for 11 years!). I go to car shops and spend a few minutes, take a test drive, go home and do the report…and do the follow-up a few days later. I go t Whole Foods and get free groceries,plus a fee. I have done cosmetic shops, very high end departments stores (Gucci, Prada, Coco)…apartment shops, fast food (too many details for too little pay..and I do NOT eat hamburgers) I do Five Guys and give the burger to my husband. I do furniture shops, retail women’s, men’s, children’s, accessories, high end purses,golf shops, shoes, sneakers shops, jewelry, gifts, car wash, vitamin shops, electronics, sports clubs, banks, financial planning inquiries, wall-paper and paint, mattresses, draperies,high end furniture, discount big box stores,coffee shops, computers, cell phones, Good Will, gift shops at rest stops ont he highway.I have shopped them all. I love doing mystery shopping. I ask for bonuses because I am a reliable, dedicated shopper. I do my reports as soon as I get home. I have learned a lot about writing the narratives. It is very important to have a relationship with the schedulers. I have established relationships with the schedulers that I work with. They call me and offer me shops because they know they can rely on me. The understand that due to my modeling career, I may be called into the city with very little notice so we may have to reschedule. They are understanding, because they know ME.I will not take a shop that offers less then $10.00 (which is very low), but if the shop is easy, I will do it. I do not like purchase and return, but I can buy the item at one store and return it to another branch. I am usually rembered as a customer (not as a shopper) so I prefer to go to a different store for the return. I think that the companies should pay much more for our services. We are very important; and should be compensated for the good work we do.
I’ve been a Mystery Shopper for many years. I’ve done all kinds including billboard audit, which in my opinion are the easiet, take the less time, and pay the best money. I must say, $7,000 in a little over a year sounds more gullible, unlike a few who have claimed to make $7,000 a month, give or take a little! But still, all in all, most cannot quit their job and replace with Mystery Shopping. If you are only working part-time and only making a rough $100.00 a week you can, but most us of need to make more than $100.00 a week. And, Mystery Shopping is not a guaranteed source of income, so if you absolutely need to make a certain amount of money per week, you cannot just rely on Mystery Shopping. Some weeks there may not be any available Mystery Shopping jobs in your specific area or in the industries you like to shop. Basically, it is a hit or miss type of job. Mystery Shopping is a fun and flexible job, but it’s not for everyone. And, everyone has their opinions what shops they like to complete. In my opinion, I hate shopping restaurants. When I go out to eat, I like to relax, enjoy my food, talk to my family and/or friends about different things that are happening. I don’t want to have to be worried about making sure I captured everything that was requested in the report, and if I missed just one little thing, I won’t get paid or reimbursed. Some of these reports are tedious and very time consuming. Same as completing a Mystery Shopping cruise…who wants to take a vacation, but yet work…how can one honestly say they actually enjoyed their vacation, when in fact they worked throughout their entire vacation? A cruise shop is one that you can’t just complete the report when you are finished your vacation, it’s one that you work on throughout the entire cruise, during the day and night, and is much more involved. Sure, your cruise is paid for, you may get a few hundred bucks besides the paid cruise, but was it really a vacation, when you had to work the entire time? Plus, majority of the shops to not pay upfront fees, everything is out of pocket, they will reimburse you when your shop is approved, after you submitted the report. To bad if they didn’t like your report, your not getting reimbursed.
I’ve been a mystery shopper for almost a year now and I love it. My partner is on disability and mystery shopping helps us pay bills and buy groceries. What the government pays in disability dosen’t cover much, so mystery shops come in handy. It has also led me to the world of merchandising which is fun as well. I now work predominately for 2 merchandising companies and fill in the extra hours with mystery shops!
It’s a great life and fun too!
I love mystery shopping also. Otherwise,I wouldn’t stick to it for the past 10 years. One cannot always ask for a bonus with every shop no matter how well the schedulare knows you. You also have to watch your spelling and grammar if you check that post you’ll see. I’ll continue it for as long as possible. In the meantime,I fill in with paid surveys and focus groups. It’s a lot better than sitting in an office.
I was sent info from a company that sent me a check for over $4000. They do their mystery shops a little different in that they pay you up front becuz they realize that many companies pay for your secret shop after 30-45 days. It was an actual check made out to me. I never cashed it or pursued anything becuz it seemed too good to be real. I plan on calling the BBB (which is what the guy told me to do if I wanted to & I will call the bank the check was drawn on, and the company that was on the check. (The number I called was on the letter w/check.) what do you all think about this?? Has anyone else heard of a company that does this??
I forgot to add that the guy that I talked to said that $350 was my pay and the rest was to shop with, but that I can keep the merchandise. I was to send them copies of the receipts to show that I actually shopped, and I was to fill out secret shop forms. Sounds great, but I’m real wary. The guy told me to check them out so I will.
Michele I would not do that they are most likely a scam ,I would go to Volition and read on there and you will find a lot of company’s to do shops for I have been a shopper for a long time ,and I did a lot of checking out company’s before I would work for them ,if it shows to good to be true it is most likely a scam ,
this is great info