What About Mystery Shopping?

 

One of the most fun and sought after part time home based positions is as a mystery shopper. These are especially good if you’ve got something else fulltime that is paying your bills because these assignments are usually good for perks and extra cash rather than from making a living. People enjoy doing this job, though, because of the different rewards involved.

 

A mystery shopper is someone who is paid in some form to eat in a particular restaurant, shop in a particular store, or even go see movies in certain theaters. These people are independent contractors for a company that specializes in helping businesses make sure they are being operated the way they should. The mystery shoppers are given assignments and report their findings back to the company who issued them.

 

The company takes the information from the mystery shoppers and passes it on to the business home office they were working for. Any negative situations are promptly dealt with and any outstanding circumstances are rewarded. This is how the businesses can tell if they need to change employees or managers. It also shows them if there are certain employees that need to be rewarded or given a promotion.

 

The main reason that mystery shopping is not usually a viable option for full time financial support is due to the method of compensation. For instance, gas used to get to the location and back home will be repaid usually based on mileage. If you’re visiting a restaurant, your meal is free. For shopping, you’ll be allotted a certain amount of money to spend and you get to keep the items you purchase. Of course, different companies pay in different ways but those examples are the typical form of payment. If you latch onto a company that pays per assignment, that’s the company you should work with.

 

People who do mystery shopping tend to really enjoy it for many reasons. One that’s high on the list is that of the feeling of being a private detective in some ways. The mystery shoppers are, in essence, “undercover” when they go on an assignment posing as just another customer. They love the acting aspect of it all and, of course, the perks don’t hurt in the least.

 

As with every other type of work from home job, there have been scams attached to mystery shopping in the past. Usually this involved mystery shopping at banks where the shopper was sent a bad check to deposit and then wire money to a certain destination from that check. The shopper was told to keep the rest of the money as their fee for performing the assignment. The problem came in when the check bounced, leaving the shopper holding the bag and in debt to their bank.

 

However, as long as you’re sure you’re working with a reputable company and you avoid any assignments involving cashing or depositing checks and then wiring money, you should be fine. Most people find, in the end, the mystery shopping can be a fun, exciting and lucrative second job.