S.B. at Be Thrifty Like Us left a comment on my post about mystery shopping. She wrote:

Well, I started out when I visited this blog : A to Z Mystery Shopping.

She recommends the following sites as a start:

KSS International, Inc. www.sassieshop.com/2kern

Service Sleuths http://www.mymysteryshop.com/

ICCDS http://www.iccds.com/

Confero www.sassieshop.com/2confero

Beyond Hello www.sassieshop.com/2beyondhello

Sutter Marketing www.sassieshop.com/2sutter

Game Film www.sassieshop.com/2mysteryshopinc

Another neat site is http://www.jobslinger.com/ This site has available jobs posted from several different companies. You can see what is available and then you can sign up directly with that company.

Let me tell you about the jobs I've done so far. Of course I can't tell you exactly who I shopped but I can give you the basics.

1. Grocery Store - paid $10 fee plus reimbursed me $3 towards any purchase I made

2. Grocery Store- paid $10 fee plus reimbursed me $3 towards any purchase I made

3. Breakfast Shop -paid $7 fee plus reimbursed me the cost of my food

4. Breakfast Shop - paid $7 fee plus reimbursed me the cost of my food

5. Dinner Shop - paid $40 towards the purchase of dinner for 2

6. Grocery Store - paid $10 fee plus reimburse me $3 towards any purchase I made

7. Lunch Shop - paid $10 fee plus reimbursed me $5.40 for the cost of food

Is it hard? No, but it’s not “simple”. You’ve got to be on your toes. You’ve got to make sure you know what your instructions are. I goofed one of my shops because I misread my instructions. Luckily I was able to fix my mistake but that “shop” didn’t count and I wasn’t paid or reimbursed for that one. That’s okay, I chalked it up to learning the ropes.

Pay attention to DETAIL! I never realized how much information a company would ask for. It’s amazing! These companies really do care about their customers and want them to have the best experience as possible when we, their customer, are in their location. They not only want to know if the store was clean, they want to know about bathrooms, parking lots, light fixtures, dust on shelves, how helpful the employees were, etc. Of course each shop is different, but you learn to just look out for those things regardless.

Get everybody’s name and description. Sometimes you just need a name, sometimes you need both. Know who you talked to and what was said. From “Hello, welcome to ____, may I help you?” to “Thank you, please come again” they want to know what the employee said and what you said, too.

Be professional. This is a given!

Don’t be obvious. Again, you knew that.

Have fun, but pay attention. Don’t forget this is a job. It’s okay to enjoy it and have a good time, but make sure you get all the info you need and more.

Fill in your report on time and correctly. Some of the reports can look very daunting. It’s a lot of information to keep up with. If you don’t do it right, they will have to contact you and it could bring down the rating of your shop. Also, it is BEYOND IMPORTANT that you use correct grammar and spelling. You need to use complete sentences when describing your shop. You can’t say something like , “Dirty store, trash lying around, lights not working.” They want to hear. “The store was not clean. There was trash lying around the trash can and on the floor. I also noticed that four of the lights at the front of the store were not working properly.”

Get a receipt! This is proof that you did the shop and it is required for payment.

Many stores want you to take pictures as well. You do have a digital camera and know how to upload pictures, right?

You need a printer and copier. You will need to print information for your shops and make copies of forms or receipts.

A scanner is another great item to have . This way you can scan in your receipts . Of course you can take a digital picture of your receipt and use that.

A fax machine. Many shops need you to fax in your paper work. I bought a scanner, fax machine, printer, copier for my DH for Christmas from WalMart for around $50. This was a super investment for us. He uses it for our ice business and I use it for mystery shopping and coupons (of course )

Another key point is to have a PayPal account. This is the only way many companies will pay you. It’s free to sign up so go ahead and do it before you ever sign up to shop. However, be sure that the email you sign up with Pay Pal is the same email you use for your mystery shop accounts. They must match to receive payment!

Is Mystery Shopping for me? I think so. I’m taking it one job at a time. Right now it’s fun and I’m making a little money. I’ve got 4 kids, one that is not in school yet. I can pick the jobs that I know will work around my moms or DH’s schedule. This way I’ll know someone is there to take care of “D”. When he is older and in school, I can take the jobs during the hours the kids are in school and be done when it’s time to pick them up. In the summer, I can still be home with the kids without having to figure out someplace for them to go. This is a little job that works for me and my situation.

Is Mystery Shopping for you? Who knows, give it a try and find out! If you love it, great! You’ve found a new career! If you don’t like it? Well, you’ll never know if you don’t try ;-)