I first discovered mystery shopping when I was in college. I was looking for little side gigs to make a few bucks when I found a “wanted” ad on Craigslist for mystery shoppers. My first thought was, “Wow, that sounds too good to be true! I eat and shop and get paid to do it? Sweet!” So I did what any college kid would do. I searched the Internet (cause we all know everything we read on the Internet is true) to make sure it wasn’t a scam and I signed up.
Thankfully it wasn’t a scam, and throughout college I made a few bucks here and there doing mystery shops. From fast food and casual restaurants to travel shops (buying bus tickets…not as fun or luxurious as I had hoped) and spa shops, I was willing to try any “type” of shop once. I certainly didn’t get rich, but I did get a lot of free meals and “stuff”. It sort of fulfilled my desire to eat out and shop, without spending my own money.
About a year ago I started mystery shopping again. It had been a while (almost 10 years) since I’d done a shop and I thought it might be fun to give it a try again. Not many people in know about my mystery shopping, but the ones who do, are usually pretty curious. So here are my mystery shopping frequently asked questions.
Mystery Shopping Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
How much money do you make?
Just as an example, the last two shops I’ve done have been a fast service restaurant and a sit down (middle of the road) chain restaurant. The fast service restaurant shop paid a shop fee of $4 and reimbursed me for the cost of my meal up to $7. The chain restaurant paid a shop fee of $5 (plus a $4 bonus because I did the shop last minute when nobody else could) and reimbursed me for the cost of my meal up to $25. So as you can see I’m not really “making” any money. But I am getting free meals.
If you’re not making money why do you do it?
This probably sounds strange, but I worked in the service industry for many years in high school and college and I always thought to myself, “I wonder if anybody really appreciates how hard I work?” I never worked at large chains so I know I never had a mystery shopper evaluating me, but I hope that someone really did appreciate my service. I also feel like I’m helping business owners and companies “see” their good employees and get rid of their bad ones, which is pretty neat (to me at least).
What kind of shops are available?
It depends greatly on your area. While I can’t say the names of the places/companies I’ve mystery shopped at, I can say that they are generally chain/franchised stores and restaurants. Some are very high end retail stores and some are the fast food chains we’re all familiar with.
How much to do you pay to become a mystery shopper?
Nothing! It’s free to register at all legitimate mystery shopping sites-Never pay a fee! If you’re asked to pay a fee you’re being scammed. I’ve personally worked with both Reality Based Group and Gfk.
Is it difficult to be chosen as a mystery shopper?
Nope, not really. For most of the companies I’ve worked with, you just fill out a brief questionnaire and then take a series of “tests” (read guidelines and answer questions about what you read). You have to have good grammar and spelling because the companies hiring you want accurate and well-written accounts of the experience you had as a shopper.
What am I “judging” on the shop?
Depends on what the owner/franchisee of the store/restaurant/chain wants. Sometimes the focus of the shop is customer service, other times it’s marketing and sometimes it’s pricing. Generally speaking the chains have a standard training for their employees to insure everyone is treating guests the same way. Have you ever seen Office Space where Jennifer Anniston is working at a chain restaurant that requires she wear 37 pieces of “flare”? I’m the person the company pays to make sure that everything is working the way it’s supposed to.
Have you ever had a horrible time doing a mystery shop?
While doing the chain sit-down restaurant shop (mentioned above) I had such a horrible experience, I wanted to leave before the shop was over. When I arrived at the restaurant I was told there was a 45 minute wait. After an hour and 15 minutes I went back to the hostess because there were empty tables everywhere and she clearly wasn’t going to seat me. She said she called my name, but didn’t apologize for her mistake (I was sitting a foot behind her on a bench so I know she didn’t actually call my name). The employees were all gossiping, flirting with each other, playing on their cellphones and writing notes to each other on notepads. They were also eating in front of customers while we were waiting over an hour to get a table. When we were seated it took 35 minutes for our food to arrive (remember this is a chain restaurant that doesn’t even cook the food themselves). Probably one of the worst customer service experiences I’ve ever had (mystery shopper or not). In that moment if I hadn’t been a mystery shopper I would have called over a manager to complain and promptly marched my butt right out of there. But I couldn’t do either because I’d blow my cover and wouldn’t get paid for the shop. Instead I wrote up everything in my report and hopefully if I ever go back there (which is doubtful) things have changed.
Do you mystery shop? Have you ever worked a job that didn’t turn a profit, but had other “benefits” or perks?
Image: Raymond Bryson