I am a mystery shopper. I did not plan on becoming a mystery shopper, I fell into mystery shopping. It all started when my daughter wrote an eguide: Become a Mystery Shopper. She asked me to help her set up a web site, and I offered to read the eguide. I knew she had been doing mystery shopping but I did not know much about mystery shopper job opportunities. After reading the eguide, I decided I would see if I could find mystery shopper jobs for myself, and I did. Here are some tips if you want to become a mystery shopper.

You will need basic equipment: a computer with access to the Internet, email, and a stop watch or a digital watch that displays seconds. Many shops require pictures or scanned receipts; you will find more shopper job opportunities if you have a scanner and a digital camera. So, once you start making money, you will want to make the investment in the additional equipment.

There is more to mystery shopping than ‘just shopping’! You will be required to observe and remember details from each shop. You must be able to focus, and remember all the requirements of the shop to be sure you ask the right questions, and perform the shop exactly as required. You must be organized and prepared for each shop. After each shop you will be required to complete an online questionnaire with the details of the shop.

Banks, national restaurant chains, movie theaters, grocery stores, discount stores and convenience stores are examples of the businesses that have mystery shopper jobs. They do not hire a mystery shopper directly, but go through a third party mystery shopper agency. The agency will manage the mystery shopper program for them. The agency will post the mystery shopper job opportunities, track the results, and pay the mystery shopper.

Some mystery shopper jobs are questionnaires and are multiple choice forms and may require a short paragraph. Other mystery shopper job opportunities require a very detailed written description of the mystery shopper experience. Be sure you understand the reporting requirement and that you are comfortable with completing the mystery shop.

A mystery shopper must be very organized. You have to keep track of the job opportunities assigned to you: the date to shop, the date the report is due, and of course whether you have been paid. Typically, you will be paid once a month for the completed mystery shopper jobs. So be sure you know the payment schedule of the mystery shopper agency, so you know when to expect payment.

In order to pay you, the legitimate companies will require your social security number or tax id. Be sure you are registering with a legitimate company on a secure web page. (A secure web page will have a lock in the right corner of your browser and the URL at the top of the page begins with https not http.) Some companies pay only PayPal accounts, and your registered email with that company and the email associated with the PayPal account must match.

And remember a legitimate web site with mystery shopper job opportunities will NOT charge a fee to view the mystery shopper jobs.

Author Bio: Gail Sterner works with businesses to ‘get the word out’ regarding their products or services on the web. To learn more about mystery shopper job opportunities check out Become a mystery shopper

Category: Jobs
Keywords: mystery shopper job opportunities