Mystery Shopping

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Mystery Shopping Company
(060210)

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Get Paid To Shop
By: Stacy Perez

Did you know you can make money shopping and eating at restaurants? It is true! You can get paid to have fun. It is called Mystery Shopping.

What is Mystery Shopping? Mystery Shopping is where you are an undercover customer and get paid. Companies hire Mystery Shopping companies to make sure their employees are doing what they are supposed to be doing.

Have you ever went into a restaurant and the service was just horrible? Maybe the food was not prepared correctly? Maybe you went to Wal-Mart and there was garbage clutter throughout the store or even clothes off the racks. I know my Wal-Mart is this way. Companies do not know what is going on at their stores or restaurants and they need to depend on a Mystery Shopper to report what they see to them. Bad customer service equals lower profits. Obviously, good customer service equals higher profits. It benefits companies to pay Mystery Shopping companies to make sure they have good customer service.

Is Mystery Shopping a real way to make money? Yes, it is. I have heard of women making a full time income Mystery Shopping. I have not Mystery Shopped in a few months, because I recently had a baby. When I was Mystery Shopping, I did it on a part time basis.

How do you start to Mystery Shopping? When someone asks me about Mystery Shopping, I ask them if they have ever completed marketing surveys or attended focus groups. The reason why is because some Mystery Shopping companies ask. If you have never mystery shopped but have completed surveys or attended focus groups, I think it will help you on your application. When I filled out my very first Mystery Shopping application, I had completed marketing surveys, attended focus groups, and also shopped apartment complexes through my outside job at the time. This information is helpful if you have that experience.

When starting to apply with Mystery Shopping companies, I recommend only filling out a few applications at first. Why? Well companies like experience and if you fill out too many applications, some may never call you because of not having experience. That means you wasted your time. I would start off applying to a few companies and get established as a shopper. This way if companies start calling you, you wont be overwhelmed. I can tell you once you are comfortable and applying to a lot of companies, your phone will be ringing off the hook.

What is nice about being a Mystery Shopper is you are an independent contractor. An independent contractor is not employee of a company. You will not receive any benefits, vacations or sick time. The benefits of being an independent contractor is you work your own hours and you work when you want. Being an independent contractor, you will receive a 1099 at the end of the year if you made over $600.00. You do not have taxes taken out of your checks so that means you will be reporting it to the IRS.

Mystery Shoppers must be detailed, observant, neat in writing, and creative. Mystery Shopping companies have hired you to check out a store or restaurant and depend on you to provide as much information as possible. You basically, want the Mystery Shopping company to get the feeling they shopped the store or restaurant themselves.

When you get your first assignment you must read everything a couple of times. You have to make sure you know exactly what the company wants you to do and what information you must collect. If you forget to do something or forget to record something, the company may take part of the money off or not pay you at all.

When you go on the shop do not carry paper and a pen to take notes where people can see it. Last thing you want is a store or restaurant knowing you are a Mystery Shopper. You must not tell anyone at the store or restaurant you are a Mystery Shopper. It would defeat the purpose of you being there, right? When I have shopped grocery stores, I make notes on my grocery list. If I shop a restaurant, I secretly make notes under the table. If you need a stop watch to record how long you were standing in line, how long your food was served, etc.; I recommend using your cellular phone or a watch. If I am not able to secretly take notes then I immediately write everything down when I get into my car.

Now you must take your notes and complete the evaluation form. Again make sure everything is detailed and complete. Make sure you keep all your receipts. Most cases you mail the receipts to the Mystery Shopping company. If you have to mail in your evaluation forms and receipts, make sure you keep a copy for your records. I think most companies have online submission forms, take the forms by fax or take the forms by phone.

Mystery Shopping companies usually pay out on the average two to six weeks. You must give them your social security otherwise they wont pay you. They need it, incase, they issue you a 1099.

Mystery Shopping is not a get rich opportunity. It does take work and the pay is not big. If you are looking for a way to make extra, legitimate money then you may want to consider Mystery Shopping. Mystery Shopping is fun! Getting paid to eat and shop is great!

If you are interested in receiving Mystery Shopping jobs, you can subscribe by going to: http://www.topica.com/lists/MSopenings/ This email list gets about 30 emails a day and is moderated by me. We have close to 6,000 Mystery Shoppers, Schedulers and Companies listed. Only jobs are posted to this email group.

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Copyright 2000-2008, Stacy Perez, successful work from home mother who has inspired and helped many parents work from home. Visit: www.DotComMommies.com

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