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Mystery
Shopping for Money
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If
you enjoy shopping and interacting with others, then mystery
shopping may be for you. It could provide you extra income doing what
you do anyway - shopping for groceries, going to banks or department
stores.
What
is mystery shopping?
After finishing your shop, you report your findings to the company
which hired you. For doing this, you are paid for your time and for the
items that you purchased while doing the shop.
Who Gives Mystery Shopping Assignments
Mystery shopping assignments are given out by establishments which
depend upon retail customers for their business. They could be
departmental stores, auto dealers, banks, hotels, fast-food outlets,
gasoline stations, sit-down restaurants, drug stores, computer stores,
warehouse clubs, wireless telephone providers, bookstores, etc.
Why Mystery Shopping?
The changes
that may result from such shops could be anything from a strategic
placement of items for reduced service time, improvement in the staff
hiring, training and rewards program to stocking of better quality of
goods which attract a lower rate of returns from customers.
Is there money in mystery shopping?
Yes, there is but not as much as some hyped ads may lead you to
believe.
Businesses want to know the impression the
customers are getting when they visit their outlets. Are the premises
kept clean and neat? Is the staff courteous and helpful? Is the
customer kept waiting unnecessarily? Do they greet the customers with a
smile and say 'Thank you' when the customer pays for
the purchase? How is the customer treated when s/he wants to return the
purchased items?
Answers
to such questions help the establishments to improve their profits and
popularity. From this on-the-spot audit, they learn what changes need
to be made to make their establishments more customer-friendly so that
a first-time customer becomes a repeat customer and also spreads a good
word about it to
friends and relatives.
Mystery shoppers are generally paid about $10 to
$40 per shop plus the cost of the items they have to buy during their
assignment. Some companies let the mystery shoppers keep the items they
purchased during their shop.
When you are doing a shop in a food outlet, the food you eat is a
freebie in addition to what you get for the assignment. But sometimes
you may get only a free night's stay when you are evaluating a hotel.
All this means is that you don't get rich by doing shops. But if you
treat this as a paying hobby you will certainly get extra income while
doing something you enjoy.
You can build steady income if you can get regular jobs every month.
For this you have to build up a relationship of reliability with the
hiring companies. If you are available to do a job at a short notice
and don't let them down after taking an assignment, they would be more
likely to call you before other shoppers when a job becomes available.
Another thing that would count in your favor is writing your reports
with clarity. You need not be a PhD in English for this but you must be
able to express what you mean to say. Needless to say you should be
observant and remember to evaluate all the points that you have been
asked to by the hiring company.
Where to find shopping jobs?
The internet is the obvious choice when looking for mystery jobs. Look
at the ads that you find. Also do a search on a search engine with such
keywords as �how to earn as a mystery shopper,� �mystery shopping
jobs,� or �mystery shopper company.�
Look at various sites to get the feel of the work availability. The
sites that you should go for are those that have searchable databases
of available jobs. As you can work as a mystery shopper where you live,
search the database by your location. Then apply for as many openings
as you can comfortably handle as this is a way to get a fair number of
assignments every month.
A word of warning:
No legitimate shopping
opportunity site asks you to pay a fee or buy a
training kit. In fact genuine sites provide you detailed information
and
instructions to carry out an assignment.
So be careful when you are
asked to pay to join a mystery shopping site or which promises training
to become a mystery shopper for a fee.
Beware of such sites. In a word, don't pay to work. You
don't have to.
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to Succeed with Affiliate Programs
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