My Life Undercover

In August 2008, I moved to Jersey City, NJ with no job, no money, and no place to live.  It was not my idea, but a challenge I accepted nonetheless.  I shared a studio apartment with my sister, with the understanding that I would find a job first, and then a place to live.  She was helpful when it came to ideas for places to apply for work, and in the interim, suggested I should look into secret shopping.  I only had one experience with secret shopping before moving to NJ- lunch with her in Columbus, that was simply reimbursed.

I began looking into secret shopping and found that it could be interesting.  I started off slowly, first a Papa John's shop.  At the beginning of the month, they wanted the pizza to be delivered, and the shop generally reimbursed the cost of the pizza and paid a small commission, usually $6.  As the month progressed, the commission would go up.  Even later in the month, they removed the requirement for delivery.  That meant that I could sign up for a shop in Harlem or Queens and be paid a commission of as much as $20.  My part of the shop was to call the store, order a pizza, and pay attention to customer service issues.  How long did it take to answer the phone?  Did they offer an upsell? Did they thank me for my order?  Then, I would arrive, pick up the pizza, and return home.  The company wanted very specific pictures of the pizza, including photos of the crust after it had been cut.  Free (reimbursed) pizza, some extra money, and a tour of an area of New York to which I would normally never go.  Not a horrible deal.

Since the summer of 2008, I have done secret shopping on and off.  There have been audits at Bed Bath & Beyond, Chase Bank, T-Mobile, McDonald's, Five Guys, and many, many more.  Somehow, I have signed up with probably 25 different companies in the last six years.  Each of these companies email me each time they have a new round of shops, or if they are coming up on a deadline.  This gives me hundreds of opportunities to accept shops, but it also makes for a lot of unread emails.

Some of these companies do more than secret shopping.  There are store audits (going to a store and looking for and documenting a certain product), merchandising (going to a store and setting up a product display), movie theatre checks (watching trailers before a movie to verify the correct trailers are showing, setting up movie displays, checking the number of patrons vs. tickets sold), and several other types of work.

Most companies pay with Paypal or by direct deposit to my American Express Serve Prepaid Card.  I don't have a traditional checking account, so I use American Express.  If you wanted the payments deposited to your checking account, they would do that.  If you don't, you can sign up with American Express or Greendot or another prepaid debit card.  Just make sure they accept direct deposit payments.  Some companies send a paper check, but those are few indeed.  They pay as an independent contractor, so it is my responsibility to report my income.  Theoretically, I would report every penny from every company I have worked for this year, but they generally only send a 1099 if they paid over $600.  Payment can sometimes take up to 45 days, but most companies pay every two weeks or so.

I have received $1200 in a year from a single company, and in November and December of 2014, I made $300 secret shopping.  Is it something you could do for a living?  Possibly-if you were very disciplined and did several shops every day.  Some shops have no purchase requirement and pay $15 or more, and some will reimburse for the food or small purchase you have to make, and pay a commission of $4 or $5.  Some shops pay more, some less, but even $200/month is helpful.  

I am writing this more informational and less anecdotal entry because several people have asked me about my experience or how to become a mystery shopper.  Here are a few tips:
     1.  Most importantly- NEVER pay to become a mystery shopper.
     2.  DO NOT EVER pay to sign up with a mystery shopping company.
     3.  Sometimes emails will pop up offering a shop opportunity if you send certain information.  There is no need to respond to those.  They could be phishing, and there are plenty of other jobs in the sea.
     4.  Some shops require a purchase.  The purchase will be reimbursed, and most of the time, there will be an additional payment.  This is not what I'm talking about when I say not to pay to sign up with a company.
     5.  If any company you sign up with asks for a referral, you can use my name.

There are several ways to find companies to sign up with.  Google is the most obvious way to find them, but is also the one with which you will want to use the most caution. These are some of the sites I use most often.  As you will notice after just a couple of clicks, some of these sites will take you to other mystery shopping company sites.  There are a ton:
www.mysteryshop.org   Scroll down to "become a shopper" and sign up with them.
www.prestomap.com   This site shows a map with available shops around you.  You must then sign up with the respective company.  Each of these companies use a fairly easy form to register.
www.marketforce.com  This is where the theatre checks are located.  Specifically, they can be found at www.certifiedfieldassociates.com  They also work with other companies, but cinemas seem to be the bulk of their offerings.
www2.mysteryshops.com  This was the very first company I ever signed up with. They pay quickly-usually within a week.  This is NOT the norm, but it is appreciated.

There are other companies that offer mystery shops and audits, but the sites listed will get you started. 

If you decide you want to become a mystery shopper and have any questions before or after signing up,  please comment or email me.  I'd love to help you!