So far out of the Make Money from Home series I’ve been writing, mystery shopping has been the most popular topic. So I thought I’d do a follow up post today with more good mystery shopping companies and a few more tips for working with them.
Some Good Mystery Shopping Companies
(These are companies I have worked with in the past)
Cast Retail – Mostly this company does merchandising projects but they do have some mystery shopping jobs. Many of the merchandising jobs are available in smaller towns. There is not job board for this company but they email you the jobs when they are available. They pay on a per-job basis.
GFK Mystery Shopping – This was probably my favorite company to work with. They didn’t have a large number of shops available but they do monthly audits at various stores. The audits are good paying jobs if you have the few hours to spend on them. The company is kind and willing to work with you.
Satisfaction Services – Another good company to work for. They are on the Sassie boards with their jobs and they always seemed to have some available, even in my area.
ICC Decision Services – I seem to remember getting quite a few offers for jobs from this company.
Trendsource – This company seemed to have a few jobs available each month and they were fairly simple and not too involved. They also had some audits available for businesses.
Ritter Associates – Another one with a good number of jobs available each month.
Best Mark Mystery Shopping – A good, reliable company with several opps each month. They have retail and restaurant shops.
Something I figured out early on was that if you wanted to get alot of mystery shopping jobs, you would have to sign up with alot of companies. I took time each day to find new companies to sign up with. I probably signed up with over 200 companies! You don’t need to sign up with that many companies unless you want to make mystery shopping your primary job (or if you want to make sure and get jobs in several different areas)
Another thing I learned was that after a job sits for a few weeks…the companies get desperate to get it done. They have a deadline to get it turned in. This is where you have an advantage of being in a small town. The big city jobs usually get taken rather quickly, but the small town jobs just sit and sit and if no one takes them, they will start offering bonuses. I’ve gotten up to a $200 bonus on one job before! So be patient and make sure you are only doing jobs that pay you well for your time.
Have questions? Email me!
I have always thought about doing that. I was a bartender in collage and had to watch out for mystery shoppers. We got bonuses if we received a perfect score, and fired if it was far from perfect. I am an realtor now so this is something I would be able to do!
Thank you for this post. I wondered what mystery shopping was on line. They used to have them in retail stores back when I worked as a salesgirl, by looks of customer service I do not think they do them in stores any more LOL. Take care.
Linda
Thanks so much for the info…I plan to do this in the near feature!!!
Thanks a bunch for these wondrous tips!
Right now we are in-between jobs…and this mystery shopping is helping us get by! Thank you soo much. I know next month things will be looking better!
I have gotten jeans at Hilfiger, Oil changes at Jiffy Lube, sweats at Aeropostal, dinner at Hard Rock, done gas station audits (really time consuming and lots of pics) and a nice platter at La Creuset. It helps to be 30 minutes from an outlet mall but you can find nice things. Christmas is usually covered and I have even done amusement park exit interviews while my son had fun inside!
How does payment work for mystery shopping??