Any mystery shoppers?

I've done it but I don't do it anymore, even though I still get the offers. In my experience the time I spent is not worth what I get... the mystery shopping companies I know of will reimburse you but not actually "pay" you. For example, for a lunch shop at Bennigan's, they will reimburse you up to $20 but will NOT reimburse tip, and you spend a total of about two hours gathering the info they want, doing your report, etc and now with the price of gas I've just quit doing it (I would always have to drive about 20-30 minutes to get to one anyway).

The company I work with is good, no fee or anything (there should NEVER be a fee for you to get started!), but there's not much around here but Bennigan's shops, and tanning salon shops which I won't do. I'm planning to stay active with them because we're moving in the next year and I'd like to at least get some free dinners wherever we end up - hopefully there will be more available there. Depends on where you live, so perhaps where you are there'd be more for you to do.

Feel free to PM me if you have more questions or you'd like more info!

Heidi

I did it for a couple of years and will still do it when it's convenient. Actually, today, I got an offer for a $40 shop that wasn't far from my home and was for one of my favorite companies. I passed on it as I'm focusing on other things right now, but boy, was I tempted! Sometimes I actually miss certain assignments.

I enjoyed shopping, but be aware that you can burn out on it very easily. Instead, when I do shop now, I only shop for specific clients and for a specific minimum. I've never taken the time to count, but I guess I'm in the neighborhood of about 70 shops (give or take). I've worked for many different companies and done many different scenarios including financial shops, apartment shops, fast food shops, restaurant shops, retail (clothing, jewelry), fitness shops, coffee shops, etc.

Any questions you have, feel free to ask away.

ETA: I wasn't sure about posting another forum, but I see 3TimesMama listed the very best place on the web for all things mystery shopping. Do check out their list AND their forum. Everything you ever wanted to know about the biz can be answered there.