If you love to shop it can seem like the perfect job. And in a lot of ways it is a perfect job. For a lot of businesses, this is the best way to know how their employees actually treat customers. Being a mystery shopper can require different levels of responsibility. You could just work part-time and do certain shopping assignments. Another option is to land a gig with a mystery shopper agency. In other words, get access to a bigger network.
The easiest way to get into mystery shopping is to join one of the websites that provide mystery shoppers to businesses. These include Best Mark, Sinclair Customer Metrics, Intelli-Shop, Market Force, and Experience Exchange. The application process is pretty straightforward and should include an interview. Once approved to join their network of shoppers, you’ll be able to see the secret shopper jobs that are available in your area. From there, you can pick the ones that look the most interesting. You might be required to buy a certain item when you’re shopping at a store, but you always get reimbursed. Secret shopping companies can pay by direct deposit or by check, and they made it onto our Side Hustle Master List for the flexible schedule they provide.
Concept | |
category | Business Services |
Takeaways | Payment is in the form of gift cards to Mobee's selected stores or in the form of donation to charity; requires travel to stores |
complexity lowhigh  | Capital Required lowhigh |
skill required lowhigh | time required lowhigh |
return potential lowhigh |
 | learn more |
What to Watch Out For
Becoming a mystery shopper isn’t without its risks. The main one is to realize that there are a whole lot of scams online trying to get you to be a shopper. One of the dead giveaways is that a scam will require you to pay a fee to see the jobs that they have available.
Legit mystery shopping company, they will be short on shoppers and won’t make you go through that step. Other things to look out for include payouts done by Western Union or interviews that are conducted by instant messaging apps. That most likely means they don’t have an office in your country and are scamming you from overseas.
Here are a few useful articles to learn more about secret shopping:
Useful Resources:
- The Best Mystery Shopping Companies to Work For
- How I Made $14,000 a Year Mystery Shopping
- Secret Shopper Jobs: What You Need to Know to Succeed
- How to Become a Mystery Shopper
- How to Become a Secret Shopper (With Pictures)