Mystery Shopping Tips

A very serious and costly scam is currently targeting mystery shoppers right now. I have been contacted by several of my subscribers, who have been victimized by it. Unfortunately, some of my subscribers have informed me that someone is impersonating MysteryShopOnline.com in perpetrating the scam.

This is very serious: If anyone claiming to represent a mystery shopping company sends you a large check, DO NOT CASH IT. Even if the bank says it is OK. Even if they claim to represent a company you have worked with. Even if they claim to represent MysteryShopOnline.com. They are lying and out to steal your money. DO NOT CASH THE CHECK. Instead, contact the police, the Federal Trade Commission. Your state’s attorney general may also be a good person to contact.

When protecting yourself from scams in the mystery shopping world, there are two rules of thumb that I follow:

• Never cash a large check from any mystery shopping company, especially as part of an assignment.
• I never give my Social Security Number to any company until AFTER I have completed an assignment with them, and gotten paid for it.

There are plenty of legitimate mystery shopping companies out there, and if you’re a little careful it is relatively easy to avoid scams.

If anyone claiming to represent MysteryShopOnline.com has contacted you about completing a mystery shopping assignment, please send me an email or leave a comment. I would like to get to the bottom of this, and stop the person who is damaging my business. Thank you.

I get asked a lot whether paid surveys are a scam, or if they’re worth doing at all. Well, after spending a few months trying various paid survey programs I have finally formulated a good answer.

If you want to earn around minimum wage, or nothing at all, then paid surveys might be for you! The fact is most “paid surveys” don’t pay anything. They offer cash prizes, or vacation prizes, or some other kind of fancy prize. But you are very unlikely to win.

But, you certainly can get paid.

A word of warning. Continue reading ‘Paid Surveys – A Waste of Time?’

Mystery shopping has ballooned into a billion dollar a year industry, employing people across the globe. But why are companies such as McDonalds, Wal-Mart, and Best Buy paying millions of dollars for people to shop in their stores?

…Because they need independent customers to provide feedback about their shopping experience. This feedback is used for things such as employee training, quality assurance, market research, and even regulatory compliance.

You can get paid to fill up your gas tank just because a company wants to check out the cleanliness of a store. You can get paid to buy cigarettes to ensure that IDs are being checked. Continue reading ‘Here’s Why Businesses Need You to Mystery Shop’

What has your mystery shopping experience been like so far? 

I would appreciate it if you could answer the following questions(not necessary, but useful!) Continue reading ‘Your Mystery Shopping Experience’