You probably want me to just list out the top twenty mystery shopping providers and call it a day. You’ll have a list to go off of and will start doing more shop assignments and earning more money. Unfortunately, finding the best companies to work for is a personal matter and is not as simple as going off of someone else’s top 20 list. What’s best for you is not necessarily best for the next shopper. But there are things you can do to determine which companies are good for you, so you can make your own customized list.
Where’s The Job? First, you’ll want to research which mystery shopping providers have a lot of shops in your part of the world. There’s little point in spending your time applying with providers that don’t have a lot of shops in you area. Message boards and blogs are great areas to get this information from. If you can’t find the information readily available, go ahead and post a question on the message boards.
What’s The Job? We all have our own unique preferences. What you like doing may not be the type of assignments the next shopper enjoys. It may be the difference between certain types of jobs, such as restaurant shops versus movie theater shops. Or it may be more specific. Perhaps you like doing Target shops over Office Max shops. While you generally won’t know which providers have shops for specific retails until you’re actually signed up, shop providers typically provide the type of shops they do on their website. For instance, a provider may state that they provide shops for the restaurant industry nationwide, specifically for chain restaurants. If you have a lot of chain restaurants in your location and enjoy doing restaurant shops, this may be a company that’s worth your time applying for.
What’s Required? It all boils down to paperwork. Some providers are absolutely notorious for tons of paperwork. Reports are generally customized for each specific company the shop is for (such as Walmart or Cinemark movie theaters.) However, some providers in general require a lot more paperwork than others. While mystery shoppers aren’t allowed to discuss which company they did a shop for, they can (AND DO) talk about the providers. Check the message boards and see what’s being said about a specific provider. If you see a certain provider mentioned repeatedly as having a lot of paperwork with inadequate compensation for it, it may be a good idea to stay away from that provider.
How’s The Pay? Some shops may not pay very well, but they also may have limited requirements and a short report. Other shops may not pay very well, and have a ridiculously long list of requirements followed by an even longer report. In your research on the message, if you see one company mentioned repeatedly for inadequate compensation, that’s a sign to steer clear. If shoppers are complaining about the paperwork on the message boards, it may be worth your time to fire back a question about the pay. If the company is paying well for that extra-long report or adding in extra travel pay, you may want to consider that company. Keep in mind that what may be an insufferable amount of work for one shopper may not be such a hardship for you, especially if the price is right.
It may help to keep in mind that $10 for a shop in New York City doesn’t stretch too far on a New Yorker’s budget. But $10 in Baton Rouge may be another story. So pay attention to the location that mystery shopper is in also.
With a little bit of research combined with a grain of salt about what you learn on your research mission, you can develop a list of the top ten or twenty providers that are best suited for you.
I’ve found in joining some mystery shop sites the testing is ridiculous!! Shopping isn’t rocket science but the questions made it seem like rocket science. Then when I passed the test and went to check out “shops” they were paying $8 for shops requiring interaction with 6 people working and a 26 page questionnaire. This same company was doing shops for fast food stores. OH MY what a mess!!
Does the client for these companies really have that much information they want on a shop?
Seems pretty crazy to me if they want the shops completed.
I try to look for the shops that pay the most. I have found that unless I need something from a store that’s being shopped, it’s a waste of time from a “gas & time” point of view. I try to avoid the ones that tell me they will pay me to spend more than I am making to get a “bargain”…with no returns. Try to stay “in budget” on restaurant shops…They pay for one, barely two, forget three, and stay home for four.
Has anyone worked for corporate research and national shopping services. I worked for them for six months and finally took them off my list…pay was terrible.
I, too find it ridiculous to have take a quiz in order to earn $5-$8 to talk to 6 employees in different depts., inquire about lawn mowers etc. I look for shops that pay no less than $10, I won’t travel over 15 miles one way unless I guess a gas allowance. I’m in this parttime, to make $200-$300 dollars a month, taking quizzes and reviewing pages of guidleines is too involved.I shop mostly banks,cable companies and stores. I’ve been doing this for 2 yrs. and it has worked out well for me.
yea I also wont take any jobs from them. Four dollar gas shops with pics.
They called me to do a shoe shop for them, I said ok over the phone, wen i got home and seen that i had to buy a pair of shoes than return them.
I cancled the shop,they didnt tell me that i wont get my money back for the shoes only a store credit. Heck if i need some shoes i will go to walmart. ‘LOL’
Wow – I apologize for my typos. I submitted this in a rush as I was heading out to do assignments. My apologies to all!
I haven’t been doing this for a long time but learned alot on my own and from the forums you can read and learn alot from others experiences. I get alot of assignments for things that I have to spend hundreds of dollars and return and some they only give store credit and then you send the information to the company to be reinbursed.I dont have hundreds to spend and wait for reinbursement a month or two later. I look for the higher paying jobs that mainly are bank jobs and some stores.I’ve seen the low paying jobs and its just not worth it.Now we all pay so much in gas just to get to the jobs, and sometimes you end up with negative earnings. I’m learning real fast. Any advise would be helpful on NY shops that are really good to work for. Thanks
I am doing okay at mystery shopping so far except that I get disorganized and the worst part for me is keeping time. I just don’t know how to keep the information in my head and the timekeeper I use is not reliable and I don’t have the funds to spend any more money on this stuff until I get paid for shops and reimbursed for expenses, which are net 45 days for some shops. Also, I have found that any liquid on receipts will make the information disappear and will make the liquid inks disappear. Where I live it gets extremely hot in a car and ball point pens don’t work so I am switching to pencils as the “liquid” pens don’t work and liquids smear them. Any suggestions beyond the obvious one of being more careful?
Bona
Southern California
I do think that it is all about making sure the job is a good fit for you. I live in a fairly rural area and was honestly quite surprised with the number of shops I have been able to do. Will I do the $4 gas shop with pics. You bet for 2 reasons. 1) it keeps me active in their data base. 2) It is literally at an intersection I turn at on my way home from work. The trip just became tax deductible mileage.
I always try to do a quality job and will absolutely make sure the job gets done, even the couple of times it turned into a nightmare, but the schedulers will soon learn that I will do what jobs I say I will do. That said I try very hard to look for the hidden advantage. My kids are in a lot of sports, sometimes I am driving over 50 miles for that, doing a couple of shops along the way allows me to off set the costs of where I was already traveling. If I know it is going to by a busy night, it is a great time to add a pizza or sandwich shop. The chain restaurant may be reimbursement only, but it is one of hubby’s favorite places so instead of paying $50, we are going and only out $4. We like to go there a few times a year anyway.
I balance these with the ones that add money to my bank account. You just need to keep in mind your reason for choosing to commit to taking a specific shop. If you don’t know why you are taking it, I think you are much less likely to be satisfied with completing the task.
I’ve done a few for National Shopping. One was a visit to a language learning ctr. They were offering a bonus, so that one paid higher than the usual $7.
I’ve done a lot of mystery shops for Gapbuster. They call me from Australia and offer me bonuses anywhere from $10 to $30 to do a job for them. Their reports are not overly complicated once you figure them out and I also get reimbursed for meals.
After 6 months I believe I have this worked out.
1) Invest in a $37.00 hand held tape recorder: clipboard with several blank sheets of paper: 2 pens – 1 red. 1 black.
2) Keep away from the fast food reports – timers, seconds et al. Then the form filling….
3) Start building a matrix for similar types of reporting jobs – apts, retail where you have to write events.
4) Schedule Monday am, to ‘collect’ from your Eml and plan the week.
5)Write concise, precise, correct English in a readable manner.
6) Respond to schedulers who look after you.
7 This is a business – treat it as such.
Byron. Retired bus exec. World traveled.
I have been mystery shopping for over ten years. I love to shop! When I first started mystery shopping, I used to shop all types of stores. Now, with the the cost of gas being a major expense, I only shop companies that offer things that I can REALLY use… supermarkets, gas, oil change, and banks (no purchase required). Also, I shop several stores in route to either home or work. I never go out of my way for an assignment, unless they are paying a bonus. On average, I make enough $ to pay my car note and insurance. (I actually bought my car based on my mystery shopping income alone). It is a lot of work, but you have to stay committed to completing at least one assignment EVERY DAY. You can also get more assignments when the schedulers know that you will DEFNITELY complete an assignment that you have taken. Also, stay away from companies that require a fee to shop. Happy shopping!
Pease help…I am looking for the company (companies) that shops Pathmark, Albertsons (Acme) and/or SuperFresh.
In response to Corporate Research not paying well. I agree but I stay signed up just in case something good comes along. Another one like that is Certified Reports. Only takes a minute to check for jobs when the email comes in. I have been doing this for 7 years and still don’t make $200 per month. I have no job now and still can’t get enough shops.
Just trying to find a way to earn some extra money on the internet. I am unemployed and appealing disability.
Thank You,
Melinda Burdeshaw
I do some shops for Corp.Research, but they have many that are not worth the time and effort.All the training and photos are not easy. My local and favorite grocery( in the carolinas)has many shops each month. I get a lot of my groceries for free this way, we all eat, don’t we? I am looking for more shops, too.
I agree with Janie… Corporate Research does not pay well at all. A $5 assignment does not not pay for the gas used to get to the store (especially when it is currently $4.17 + a gallon – where I live), the time to shop and observe all of the information that they require AND complete the report. I have not shopped for them in a while, but I remain on their database – just in case something comes up.
Also National Shopping Service had reduced their assignment fees drastically. I usually only complete their gas assignments when they offer bonus $. They require you to complete (what seems like 10,000 questions – 21 pages of questions!!!), take a digital picture, get a receipt AND identify yourself to the inside cashier and make copies of their forms for you to present to their CSR)… all for $4.00 reimbursement in gas, $1. food purchase and $4 assignment fee. That really takes the enjoyment out of mystery shopping, because in addition they take almost two months to pay you.
I am still trying to locate companies that assign supermarkets (Albertsons [Acme], Pathmark, SuperFresh, Genuardis)… can anybody help me?
I have done a bunch of shops for a company called Tell Us About Us. They are always friendly and pay on time. Good solid company to work for.
To all of you out there who think it’s just fine to do $4.00 and $5.00 shops. You are the ones ruining it for the rest of us who will only do shops worth the money. These companies know you’re out there and that’s why they lower their fee’s. How can you think that you come out ahead $4.00 with all you have to do for that $4.00?? Even if it is an easy shop..Time, report, pictures. I have been a shopper for 8 years and have seen so many companies lower their fee’s. I did shops for $15.00 that are now going for $8.00. I personally won’t do a shop for less than $10.00. Those $4.00 shop fees do go up when no one takes them.