“Make Money Eating Out!” “Get Paid to Shop!” “Get Rich Without Effort!” These ads pop-up and blink all over the Internet, full of fantastic claims and “true” stories. They will tell you about the woman who makes $10,000 a month—just for shopping. This man retired a millionaire after a short time as a mystery shopper. Sounds great. Then you read the fine print. Just send in $29 for the mystery shopper kit, and you, too, will be on your way to riches in this lucrative field! “Well,” you say, “$29 is such a small amount of money, it can’t be a scam.”
If you respond to such an ad, you are likely to receive outdated information and access to a poorly designed, difficult to navigate website. You will likely be redirected to other places to find out about mystery shopper jobs available. There will be no customer service and no refunds. Chances are, no one will ever even respond to your phone calls or emails. You have been the victim of a mystery shopper scam.
As in any other home business or work-at-home venture, you should beware of anyone asking for money to help you become a mystery shopper. No legitimate shopper opportunity will require you to pay a fee or buy a kit. The mystery shopper scam preys on our desire to get rich quick. It also exploits a stay-at-home mom’s need to contribute to the family’s income.
Another red flag that you might be facing a mystery shopper scam is promises of riches. No one should promise that you could get wealthy being a mystery shopper. Mystery shopping itself will not make you rich. It is a very low-paying job. It is actually better to think of it as a hobby with perks, especially in the beginning.
With careful research, it is possible to find paying jobs as a mystery shopper. While it probably will not make you rich, you just might make some extra money doing something you enjoy. What could be better?
Visit Mystery Shopping Providers Association for more information and job listings.
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Legitimate Mystery Shopper Jobs
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In recent years, the mystery shopping industry has become popular and is growing steadily as an additional source of income for many. As it is fairly easy to earn money doing mystery shopping, there is a lot of competition for these jobs. The past few...
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How to Become a Mystery Shopper
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Imagine getting paid to eat out, shop, and run errands — all of the mundane things that you have to do anyway. Such is the life of a mystery shopper. Mystery shoppers are trained individuals who visit establishments and pose as customers. While they are...
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Mystery Shopper Guides
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A mystery shopper or a secret shopper is a person who acts as a customer in a chosen establishment such as a restaurant, amusement park, toy store, grocery shop, jewelry store or department store, and reports to the company about the type of service they...
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How to Land a Mystery Shopper Job
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Are you looking for a way to make some extra money? Are you fairly intelligent, articulate, and pleasant? Can you pay close attention to detail and provide a careful description of what you see? Do you enjoying shopping and interacting with others? If you can...
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Mystery Shopper Websites
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Mystery shopping is the practice of employing trained shoppers to secretly evaluate customer service, employee integrity, operations, merchandising and product quality. Companies can use the feedback from mystery shoppers to learn about problems in their firms and rectify them. Mystery shopper websites are becoming extremely...
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Secret Shopper Scams
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There have been numerous scams over the years involving the Secret Shopping industry, which include advertisements that seek to attract applicants by offering lucrative pay and Secret Shopper Jobs. These ads will charge a “small fee” ranging from $20 to $50 for registration and promise...
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Popular Mystery Shopper Companies
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So, you’ve heard all the hype about mystery shopping. You, too, would like to get paid to shop, eat out, stay in hotels, and go to the bank. If only you knew how to get a gig like that. There are a couple of different...
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Free Mystery Shopper Opportunities
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Mystery shoppers visit establishments and pretend to be customers. Businesses from auto dealers to fast food restaurants hire mystery shoppers. These shoppers conduct assigned transactions for the purpose of consumer research. They observe such things as employee responsiveness, customer service, product quality, and business cleanliness....
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What Is a Mystery Shopper?
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Sign on to the Internet these days, and you’re bound to see ads announcing, “Get paid to shop!” or “Make money eating out!” Most savvy Internet users instantly think, “scam,” immediately click off, and quickly forget the ads. Do not be too quick to dismiss...
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How to Join a Mystery Shopper Network
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In any industry, it is important for employees to interact. It helps to set standards, ethics, and pay, among other things. It also sets up camaraderie and a sense of community. Especially in industries where much of the work is done online, people can easily...