Secret Shopper–Legit?

Lately, since I almost signed up for some freebie type survey advertised
on MUA, I've been getting a lot of spam about becoming a secret shopper.
I wouldn't go near it except for the fact that I also hear ads on the
radio for it. It sounds too good to be true, claiming to give you big
bucks in store credits and allowing you to keep what you buy. I don't
care for the fact that one I looked at wants credit card info, but I
wondered if anyone has any experience or knowledge of what seems to be a
big trend in advertising lately. Is it for real or just some new sleaze?
I would think everyone on this group would be doing it if it wasn't a
scam.

Some of it is legit and mystery shopping has been around for a long
time. However, if a company asks you for money up front to pay for a
list of secret shopper agencies, don't do it. Legit marketing
companies will pay you to do the shopping and will never ask you for
any money. They will also offer to pay for any expenses you incurred
while shopping like articles they asked you to buy, food you consumed
doing a restaurant search and film developing if you were asked to take
photos anywhere. If you are seriously looking for more information
about mystery shopping go to this website
http://www.wahm.com/index1.html
This is mostly geared for women who work from home, but many of them do
mystery shop and can point you in the right direction.
Good luck.
Susan
http://susansspa.blogspot.com/

wac...@AOL.com wrote:
Thanks for all the info. I'll definitely check out that site since it's
apparently respectable. From what you, Melanie and Miss J say, it's not
something you can really do in your off hours,
but might be something to keep in mind for when I retire. (Now I'm
really in dreamland)!
Sure sounds like it would be more fun than being a schoolgguard, anyway.
Leslie

Leslie wrote:
It's gotta be a scam...I've heard you have to pay to be on a 'list' to
get involved. Sounds like the same kind of scam they run for
modelling...pay to be a model. Ya right.
If you have to pay anything, steer clear.
melanie

When I lived in California I was hired by a temp agency to do some
Secret Shopper work. I checked out apartment complexs, Various shops,
from Mom and Pop operations to big department stores. I had a lot of
fun it. It was a job. They paid me. Not the other way around.
Miss J
www.kittenwtw.com

On Wed, 4 Jan 2006 19:11:40 –0600, Miss J wrote
(in article <1136423500.036477.211...@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>):
Lol, I just looked at your site and watched the Martini ad. Sheesh, we don't
get that kinda tv round these parts ;–)
––
Cheers!
Dennis
Remove 'Elle–Kabong' to reply

On 1/4/06 4:26 PM, in article
15633–43BC67B9–1...@storefull–3138.bay.webtv.net, "Leslie"
<Miss...@webtv.net> wrote:
Trendsource.com is a legitimate company, and they have frequent
opportunities, at least in So Cal. I haven't seen any clothing store
opportunities though! Mostly office supply, sandwich shops, video stores.
Dellapina

Ditto. I have done it. you should not have to pay. If you have to pay,
there's something wrong.
They PAY YOU
Stevie

"Jennifer Dellapina" <dellap...@netscape.net> wrote in message
news:BFE1EA64.134B7%dellap...@netscape.net...
Yes, it's real, yes it pays you, but the money is not that great. I have
shopped for over 3 years and it's more for fun than anything else, and in
those three years, I've seen fees decline, making most assignments not worth
my time. There are a lot of high end dining that are reimbursement only, but
the reports are extensive. It is not as glamourous as it sounds. :–) Pretty
much if a store exsists, it is shopped, or has been. (Not counting small mom
& pop stores)
Dellapina, there are some clothing stores. And some favorite discount
designer stores!

"Lol, I just looked at your site and watched the Martini ad. Sheesh,
we don't
get that kinda tv round these parts ;–)
––
Cheers!
Dennis "
You know if they showed it here, someone would have a hissy fit! LOL.
I found this commercial to be very sexy without being offending in
anyway.
Miss J
www.kittenwtw.com

the direct link is http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2657506. The clip
on my blog will not play for everyone, I guess it depends on your
connection and browswer.
Miss J
www.kittenwtw.com

"Miss J" <kitten...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1136482359.985802.119...@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
I can't get the ad at your blog. Can you post a link to it?
Smokey

I've done it before – back in the days of less disposable income (i.e.
before I went back to work full time), it was a good way to go out to eat
and have it paid for. That said, I spent a LOT of time writing their
reports, taking photos, faxing receipts, etc.
I had better luck with weekend demonstrations in stores and merchandising.
For demos, I'd make around $50 or so for about 6 hours. The merchandising I
did consisted of putting out literature and hanging shelf adverts at CVS.
It paid $11 per store and we have 8 stores in my city.
As others have said, never pay for registration, access to lists, etc. They
pay you!
beth

I did a couple of weekend demos.
One job was at Costco modeling Sterling Silver jewlery. All I had to
do was walk around the store and bring people to the counter.
Another job was at Main Place Mall spraying perfume on people. It was
for a cheap drug store brand perfume (that I can't remember the name at
the moment). The man in charge video taped me talking to the people
urrrrrrrgggg! I wasn't not cut out for that job because I am shy.
The worst job I had was doing a demo for Sprint. They had us in a
booth at a mall. We were giving free phone calls all over the world to
show people how clear Sprint sounded. The calls were suppose to be
five minutes but the people would not get off the phone. LOL
My friend's retired mom does demos currently. She loves it. She works
with food or electronics. She also does displays in supermarkets.
Miss J
www.kittenwtw.com
http://kittenwtw.proboards82.com/

amen to that!


"fanclub" <...@fanclub.com> wrote in message
news:Wtbvf.9783$ka.8...@tornado.socal.rr.com...

I've done a bunch of Mystery Shopping for stores like Subway, Sharper
Image, Oakley, Cousins subs, and Helzberg. They don't pay much, and
espcially now that gas is so expensive, you have to really figure that
into your costs. But if you're going to the mall anyway, or if you can
hit a lot of stores within a small area (like the Subway shops––I'd hit
like 6 stores a night) it's not too bad. I've seen some that pay more
money (like $200 is the most I've seen) but require a loooooong report
involving several visits to several different departments of a store.
It didn't seem worth it, to me. Try mysteryshop.org for a listing of
companies. You would apply to the companies directly, then they would
contact you when studies come up in your area. If you have to pay to
join, it's not reputable. I've made better money doing focus groups.
They usually pay around $75/hr for groups and once you get on a
company's list, they call you pretty frequently with studies. I first
found out about them through ads in my local paper. They're pretty fun
and you get to find out about new products before everyone else!

How strange to see this topic come up––I was recently thinking I hadn't
been called for a focus group in a long time. Of course, I don't have
much free time now but damn, they were fun! The bestest one ever was
for upscale SUVs; it took several hours, maybe three or four, but I got
paid something like $250 or $300. And you always get paid in
cash––good deal, sez I!