method #3 -> Mystery shopping

I just added a poll to it, do you recommend this method. This will help people take a step.

Thanks,
Vikas

My friend did this a couple times like 3 years ago and got paid pretty well. I would be interested in knowing some sites out there that are legit.

A few years ago I was able to do shopping for Applebee's. They would pay me $200 a night. I would have to find someone under the age of 21 and see if they would serve that person. Wasn't bad income for that few hours. Wish I could find a part-time gig like that again.

drjonah.....

PM me!I can direct you to a few legit sites.

Roadwarrior could you let me know about some of the legit sites as well. Thanks

I too would like this info

I know from working in retail that there are legit jobs here - I would love to find one, but I'm not sure if I could recommened it as I never came across a legit site..

There is a huge amount of mystery shopping sites out there but its tough to find the legit ones. It was also near impossible to find a list of sites but found an easy way.

Sign up at shadowshopper but do NOT sign up for their silver or gold membership. You will get partial emails about potential jobs but have to be a paid member to read the full email. However a lot of times the partial email will have enough information where you can go directly to the mystery shopping company and sign up.

Shadowshopper is NOT a mystery shopping company, if you pay the money for 'gold or silver' memberships, all you get is a list of companies to go to sign up. Bronze (free) is still good like I said because sometimes the email gives just enough information to find the website.

You can find a TON of information on a forum called volition dot com. There are a bunch of forum pages that people can post about companies, their experiences, pay (or lack thereof), etc.

I had signed up for Shadow Shopper when I first started, and all of the information that you get there (after paying for it of course) you can get for free on Volition, plus you are getting real world reports from real people reporting their experiences with the companies.

There are also forums about Merchandising, which I also did for a while.

What I didn't like about Mystery Shopping was that there is normally a financial outlay and you have to wait 4-6-8 weeks for repayment. I would tend to spend a bunch of money that I shouldn't have, justifying to myself that I would be getting "some" of it back. I would spend more than I would make, which doesn't make any sense at all. Sure I had a nice meal out, but I could make what I ate at home for $8 rather than spending $15 more that I was getting reimbursed. So I stopped doing it, although I still check some sites and shop ones that peak my interest again or if I need to get something at a specific store.

Also there are tax writeoffs if you report your income as self employed, but there is a self employment tax so you have to weigh all of your options.

yea, i wasn't sure about all this. like i said, when i worked in retail, my store has been mystery shopped quite a bit so i knew there were real jobs out there, just weren't sure how they worked. i would consider it but i don't really have too much money to put upfront until i wait for the check :(
these are good tips, though :)

most of the shops pay $7-10 each plus a small (like $3, $5, that sort of thing!) reimbursement. Then you have to upload pictures and/or receipts, write lengthy reports, and in general it is not a quick, easy thing. SOMETIMES you'll find a bonus shop that might pay pretty well, but they are few and far between.

they normally pay no mileage.

I already have to pay self employment tax so that isn't a big deal for me, but I can see where someone could lose money doing this.

One big plus is you can write off travel, lodging etc if you are doing a bunch of shops on a trip. So if you aren't wanting a relaxing, do nothing trip, that could be an option. But you'd have to be doing it and having a good track record before this would work with most companies.