When you first signed up as a mystery shopper, you had a vision in your head of what mystery shopping would be like. That vision probably had nothing to do with sitting in a fitting room of a clothing store pretending to try on clothes that you could care less about. Instead, you may have had big plans for mystery shopping at your favorite restaurant. Or maybe even bigger plans for traveling and getting paid for it, with free cruise ship tickets or a free hotel room.
While some of these assignment types are few and far between, there is a way to the assignments you want. (Or most of them, anyway.)
Use The Forums. If you simply want to make some cash eating at a restaurant you visit regularly or you have had a few bad experiences at a store and want to let your voice be heard by the store’s upper management, you can use the on-line forums to your advantage. Simply hop on-line at one of the few mystery shopping forums and post a question to your fellow mystery shoppers. Chances are that one of the other mystery shoppers on that forum will have some details on which provider is contracted to mystery shop with that company.
Don’t Be Disappointed. You can use this same tactic to get your elusive free hotel or a big night out at a fancy restaurant. However, don’t be disappointed if you have to search very hard for these assignments. These assignments are few and far between. On top of that, in the event one of these coveted assignments is posted, you can bet that it will be snatched up very quickly.
You may have a much better chance of getting one of these premier assignments by developing great relationships with your scheduler. Some mystery shoppers have had these plum assignments handed to them by a scheduler who likes them without the assignment even hitting the job boards.
When You Get The Assignment You’re Looking For. Whether it’s at a restaurant you frequent regularly or a clothing store you just love, you can get some extra pleasure out of completing an assignment at a venue you like. However, keep in mind that in most cases you won’t be permitted to work at that job site again for several months. You can certainly keep visiting that location on your own, but you won’t be able to get paid for it in most cases more often than every few months. The reason being is that mystery shopping providers don’t want your cover to be blown.
It makes sense to do mystery shopping assignments as stores you already enjoy shopping at, and especially at stores you already frequent. If you’re going to shop there anyway, you might as well get paid for it! And it certainly is a good idea to enjoy your job as a mystery shopping by working where you want to. So by all means, if there is an assignment you’ve been wanting to work on, find out which provider is offering the assignment and make it happen!
Good suggestion. But how do you find out which company does the mystery shopping for a particular business. A year ago I used to do assignments for two large banks in CT. The company lost the contract and I have been trying to find out who now shops these banks. Anyone have any suggestions on how to find this info?
The only thing worse than asking in an online forum which company shops which clients is answering that question. Answering the question violates confidentiality. Even asking a question like that may cause some MS companies to deactivate a shopper. Do not talk about who shops who, online or even offline.
Thank you so much for your help Elaine.
thank you, i hope never to slip and ask
There are subtle and discrete ways to ask and answer questions, that do not violate the IC agreement. Just as there are subtle ways to find an employees name when mystery shopping.
You don’t want to say: “What is your first ad last name and how do you spell that?” to your server when you first sit down at the restaurant, and you probably dont want to go on the MSC forums and say “I used to shop Greasy’s BBQ, on Cholesterol Avenue here in Hometown, with F.A.T. Inc. But they lost the contract when they picked up all the Eats-A-Lot restaurants, so now I need to know who does them. Does anyone know?”
Granted the best way to get a direct answer is a direct question, but maybe it would be better to say, “I enjoy restaurant shops, and used to do quite a few, my favorite was the place with the big pig wearing a chef hat on the menu, but the company I did them for lost that contract. Does anyone know of any companies that do restaurant shops in the Hometown area?”
That way, you have not given away any confidential information, and I can answer your question by suggesting several companies in your area without giving away any confidential information myself.
It requires a little more work on your part, but if you truly enjoy the shops, it’s worth the extra effort.
Any one know what company does Kroger, Fred Meyer?
Use The Forums. If you simply want to make some cash eating at a restaurant you visit regularly or you have had a few bad experiences at a store and want to let your voice be heard by the store’s upper management, you can use the on-line forums to your advantage. Simply hop on-line at one of the few mystery shopping forums and post a question to your fellow mystery shoppers. Chances are that one of the other mystery shoppers on that forum will have some details on which provider is contracted to mystery shop with that company.
I would like to have a mystry shopper in a Krogers or Walmart or Kmart or a Ross Dress for less. Let me know how I can get to these stores. I do not mind having other stores but I would like to have bigger stores to Mystery to shop.