Comments on: HomeGrownMommy Weighs in on Mystery Shopping

By: Andrea Gilgulin

Andrea Gilgulin — Thu, 28 May 2009 21:00:41 +0000

I tried mystery shopping a couple of years ago on the recommendation of a co worker, who claimed she made easy extra money. Well, it was anything but easy! As Jennifer said, in her excellent review, there is lots of pre and post work to the job. Besides that, I was sent to review cellphone plans at stall within a store. The clerk who assisted me was very pleasant, but it was obvious she knew little about the cell phones. My Dad went with me, and after, he said, you know if you write up a bad review, the clerk could get into trouble. I thought about it, and as I couldn’t even download the forms I needed to complete the review, I just quit the company. That was the beginning and end of my mystery shopping career!(I was only going to get $9.00 for all this anyway.) I was thinking of giving it another try, but after reading Jennifer’s review, I think I will stick to my freelance jobs for extra income.

By: Joshua

Joshua — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:48:42 +0000

I’ve heard of people doing this before but like Jennifer was saying about the competition it would seem that a lot people would be out to this. By the way great review Jennifer! Until this post I didn’t realize that soo much paper work and time was going to be invested… and terrible pay. I usually get an e-mail once a day or so offering great money to shop or eat out or… what ever. Last Feb. I got scammed by someone posing as a Secret Shopper Company, the short story is that I was sent a counterfit check. I stilly owe Chase Bank a fee, and now its going to make it a lot harder for me to get an account. Totally stinks, but I was smart enough to turn over all info. to the Counterfit Secret Service. Now I check every thing thru the BBB and never pay to get paid, I maybe missing out but I’d rather missout than get ripped off or mess up my name. Thanks to the I’ve Tried That team, you guys do great work and I never fail to open a new blog from you.

By: A.F

A.F — Wed, 27 May 2009 00:07:14 +0000

I feel your pain.

I found personally that in order to make any significant money I had to attempt to schedule 4 in a day(the limit allowed) Starting with 2 mystery shops or price checks then finishing off with a mystery shop at a fast food and an end cap reset (found a couple of marketing setup positions) on the way home.
My circuit around the town could net me about 20 dollars in a day… after I deducted the cost to me in gas. Unfortunately the waiting period of 4-8 weeks was the last nail in the coffin. It is a great idea if you could find good paying mystery shops… and drove an electric car!

By: HallyZ

HallyZ — Tue, 26 May 2009 21:25:26 +0000

I have a friend who does mystery shopping, and she says she is a nervous wreck every time she gets sent out on assignment. The only way she manages to do mysetry shopping is because she is home all week and pretty much works on weekends only. She has mentioned that there is a lot of paperwork involved in mystery shopping, and if you screw up, you may not get paid.

I have also inquired about mystery shopping (and even once signed up for a service), and the assignments that came in were just ridiculous. You had to be present at a certain store at a certain time, then do a whole mess of things, and the payment for all this work was just dismal. For the $5-$7 I might earn by mystery shopping, I could just as easily spend half an hour typing up an article for Associated Content or Textbroker- and all in the comfort of my own home!

I do wonder how mystery shoppers manage to pay their bills when they are working for below minimal pay wages? PPC, Mystery Shopping- these are certainly the sweat shops of the new century!