Mystery Shopper Jobs You Can Apply For
Mystery shopper jobs can be found on job boards at many different mystery shopping companies. Once you submit a FREE application to a company, many times you’ll be able to look over many different assignments in your area. If you read the details of one you like, you can click “apply” to request that assignment. The mystery shopping company will get back to you whether you get the assignment or not. It may take a few days before you hear anything, unless it is an assignment that needs to get completed right away. Then, you would find out pretty quick whether you get the assignment or not.
The key to getting mystery shopper jobs is to apply for many different assignments. The odds are in your favor that you will get at least a few assignments.
Here are some mystery shopper jobs or assignments that are available to people like you:
- dentists
- optometrists
- wireless
shops
and the list
goes on.
Is mystery shopping legal? Learn more about it here.
Many mystery shopper jobs require you to make a purchase, especially if it’s a restaurant assignment. You pay the entire bill (including tax and tip) at the end of your visit. Once your report is accepted, you will be reimbursed for all or part of it later.
Most restaurants will give you a spending limit to which they will reimburse up to. Some may pay the shopper an additional $10 or more for completing the report. The reimbursements always consider the tax and tip.
After you pay the bill at the restaurant, you must keep the receipt. When you enter your report, you have to FAX or scan it and upload it to the mystery shopping company. The receipt shows the location, time you visited, and what you ordered. The company will be able to tell if you followed the instructions for the assignment. If you visited at the wrong time, or the wrong location, or ordered a wrong item, you usually won’t get paid. You definitely won’t get paid if you forget your receipt.
I’ve had quite a few mystery shopper jobs at retail stores that required me to purchase a small item so I could get a receipt. The amount to be reimbursed would be something less than $2. (The purchase would be a candy bar or a soft drink.) This was to show proof that you visited the correct store, on the correct date, and at the correct time.
Now, there is as app on your smart phone that can track your location at any given time. This technology replaces the small purchase requirement in some cases. You must get approval from the mystery shopping company before using this app or you won't get paid for your efforts.
What do mystery shopper jobs pay?
Mystery shopper jobs have a wide range of payment from phone shops to video mystery shopping.
A phone shop can pay between $.50 and $10 per call. I received $.50 per call to ask 3 questions to several donut shop owners. I received $2 for every phone call for asking 10 questions to customers of an urgent care client. Phone calls to education facilities will take longer and have more detailed questions. Some of these assignments pay $10 or more.
Apartment mystery shopper jobs usually pay $25 for a successful report. Many times, an assignment that needs to be completed right away will have an extra bonus ($10 to $15) for the mystery shopper. Some of these assignments have quite a few questions to answer and require some detailed narrative. Your visit usually doesn’t last long, but you need to tour an apartment if you’re asked to do so.
New home builders pay $35 to $50 for a written shop. These assignments will take longer than apartments, but may have the quite a few questions to answer and a lot of narrative.
Video mystery shopping pays more per assignment than written shops.
Video mystery shops usually pay double what the written assignments pay. People who own their own hidden equipment can get themselves a lot of quick assignments when something urgent comes up. Most hidden video assignments don’t always have the same questions and narratives to write. They have to upload the video to a share file program. Mystery shopping companies will have specific instructions on how to do that.
Another form of mystery shopper jobs are audits, which pay between $10 and $25 usually. I’ve done assignments where I had to record which computers and printers were on display at a retail store. If the list you’re assigned to has 25 items, the pay would be around $10. If the list is 50 items or more, the pay will be closer to $20 or more. You may have to take a lot of digital photos as well and upload them to your report.
One thing to be careful about here is the size of the assignment compared to the pay you receive. I’ve done audits where there was more than 100 questions to ask and dozens of photos to take – for only $20. The assignment took an hour on location and several hours to complete at home. You can’t always tell the size of the assignment when you apply for it, but you’ll want to avoid these kinds of assignments where the pay is not commensurate with the task at hand.
You can get paid in several different ways. Many companies will send out a check once a month. Others will do direct deposit to the account you want it sent to or to PayPal. Others will do PayPal only. If you don’t have a PayPal account, it’s FREE and easy to set up. Just visit www.paypal.com.
You
can read more about the mystery shopping business by clicking on my book (and eBook) titled Take That Job and Mystery Shop It!
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