Mystery shopping

[englishteacheralex]

Has anybody tried being a mystery shopper, or known somebody who has done this?

I'm a teacher with a 2 year old son. I always used to teach summer school and bank the extra cash, but when my son was born I vowed to stay home with him during all breaks from work. But staying at home still leaves me with some extra time on my hands, and I've lined up a job with a mystery shopping company because it's flexible and something I can do from home while the baby is napping. (The actual shopping is done on the field, but this seems like actually a small part of the job--it's mostly writing up the audit afterward.)

It seems like a good way of a. getting out of the house b. scoring a little (maybe very little) extra cash for the stash c. getting free restaurant meals for my husband and me, thereby cutting down a little on our food budget.

Any mystery shopping hacks that make it more profitable/efficient?

[Gimesalot]

I did mystery shopping for a while and it worked out.  It will take some time to figure out which assignments are the best, meaning the most money for the least effort.  My best gigs were through marketforce.com.  Unfortunately, they are really strict.  I messed up once, and I am now banned from the site.  So be careful.

Honestly, I would not count too much on the food because it was always junk food. 

One more thing, the shops that pay the most are age compliance shops.  Think R rated movies, buying cigarettes, ordering booze.  So try to find someone that is around 18 to 20 years old to help you with some shops. 

[englishteacheralex]

Awesome hack! I teach high school, so I know TONS of kids under 18 who are looking to make a buck.

[ashelbashel]

FYI -- The compliance ones typically do need you to be between the ages of 18 and 25 for buying cigarettes, and between 21 and 40 for buying alcohol.  I used to be a Mystery Shopper for the company that did the Starbucks mystery shops and that was a great gig!  I would essentially get a free small coffee before work almost every day (I had a long commute so could vary the stores I went to) plus a few extra bucks.  Eventually they needed to "rotate" their shoppers and I can't do those anymore. :(.  It was honestly most convenient for me when I could do shops that were very close by, on my way to other errands, et cetera.

Good luck!

[alaskathryn]

I love mystery shopping and do it to bank money for my vacations; as I'm in Alaska some of my shop options are limited but I've been able to do jobs out of state and can use the business expenses on my taxes.  There's a lot of competition and many shoppers will snag jobs for $10 or under, which I can't ever see myself doing as it's just not worth it to me, but if you can be patient and let jobs hang on the boards until towards the end of the month the prices raise pretty steadily.

The first year I did shopping I took whatever came my way to build up my experience, the second year I started getting schedulers contacting me before jobs would be posted on the boards and now I pretty much have my choice of shops.  I try to get things in a route where I can make $200+ in a couple hours.  Video shops are the best - usually no write ups!

[fuzzy math]

I do some here and there. Most shops it will be difficult to do with a 2 yr old unless your husband is available to watch the child while you conduct the shop. Some places specifically say no children. Restaurants are easier than some in that respect. If you are just looking to fund your restaurant budget it can be a good gig. the person above who got banned listed a place that does my favorite restaurant shops.

[Lanthiriel]

Funnily enough I am also in Alaska and do some mystery shopping. I generally wait until they really need someone toward the end of a quarter and get increased rates. I've only one three this year. A car test drive for $45, a smart phone shop for $27, and an oil change reimbursement for $50. Not a bad haul for maybe 3 hours of work.

I use Bare International and Intelli-Shop. I previously signed up with BestMark, but they usually require a purchase, which I didn't like.

[a-scho]

I have done teaching for summer school(8am-12pm) and mystery shopping. In my particular situation, I made more money summer school teaching than mystery shopping. You won't be able to do any high pay shops with a child. You will have many more options if someone can look after the child while you do shops. But, then again, the whole reason you are not doing summer school is to spend more time around your child, right?
I'm not knocking mystery shopping, but you will spend just as many hours doing MS as teaching summer school for less money. MS isn't difficult, but it does take some time to find your groove. When I first started MS work, teaching was easier because I had had a lot more practice at it. MS was more stressful for me than teaching algebra, especially when it was a shop like Mcdonald's with all their "requirements" you had to remember.......all for less pay than teaching summer school :/
But, if money isn't really a factor, MS is great. I love going out to get some meals for free. My grocery expenditure for the last three weeks was $30 because I'm eating enough in my shops to not have to shop for food or do any cooking or cleaning of dishes. But, I am also single with no kids.