What’s Involved
As a mystery shopper, you will be hired as an independent contractor, which means you are not an employee but are instead self-employed. It also means that you can sign on with several mystery shopping companies for a large variety of work. You can get free merchandise or food from some companies in exchange for your feedback. Your expenses are often paid on most assignments.
How much money can I make?
How much money you make as a mystery shopper will depend on a number of factors such as area you live in, number of assignments you take, your availability, the time of year.
Some mystery shopping assignments pay cash and those amounts can vary quite a bit depending on the company, how much information you are required to collect, what products or services you need to purchase in order to complete the shop accurately, etc
What can I do to learn more?
Mom’s Talk Biz
As a mystery shopper, you can go to restaurants, stores, hairdressers, grocery stores, amusement parks or any other businesses as a customer. For example: in a restaurant, the mystery shopper would sit down, order a meal, pay the bill and leave, just like any customer. The purpose of this visit is to evaluate the overall customer service (actual service, knowledge of staff, cleanliness, etc.) that is being offered in the establishment. The Mystery Shopper then writes a report and rates the customer service based on a pre-established set of criteria. Then the report is turned into the business to use for training, employee rewards or any number of uses.
