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Mystery Shopping for Money
If you enjoy shopping and interacting with others, then mystery
shopping may be for you. It could provide you extra income doing
what you do anyway - shopping for groceries, going to banks or
department stores.
What is Mystery Shopping? For mystery shopping or 'doing a shop'
as it called, you visit an establishment like a normal customer,
buy an item or make inquiries about products or services. But
while doing these usual customer activities, you are noting the
behavior of the staff, the quality of service and product,
cleanliness of the establishment, the time it takes for the
staff to attend to you. In short you are sizing up the
establishment.
You have to do all this without letting the staff of the
establishment that you are there to check up on them. This is
why it is called mystery shopping.
After finishing your shop, you report your findings to the
company which hired you. For doing this, you are paid for your
time and for the items that you purchased while doing the shop.
Who Gives Mystery Shopping Assignments Mystery shopping
assignments are given out by establishments which depend upon
retail customers for their business. They could be departmental
stores, auto dealers, banks, hotels, fast-food outlets, gasoline
stations, sit-down restaurants, drug stores, computer stores,
warehouse clubs, wireless telephone providers, bookstores, etc.
Why Mystery Shopping? Businesses want to know the impression the
customers are getting when they visit their outlets. Are the
premises kept clean and neat? Is the staff courteous and
helpful? Is the customer kept waiting unnecessarily? Do they
greet the customers with a smile and say 'Thank you' when the
customer pays for the purchase? How is the customer treated when
s/he wants to return the purchased items?
Answers to such questions help the establishments to improve
their profits and popularity. From this on-the-spot audit, they
learn what changes need to be made to make their establishments
more customer-friendly so that a first-time customer becomes a
repeat customer and also spreads a good word about it to friends
and relatives.
The changes that may result from such shops could be anything
from a strategic placement of items for reduced service time,
improvement in the staff hiring, training and rewards program to
stocking of better quality of goods which attract a lower rate
of returns from customers.
Is there money in mystery shopping? Yes, there is but not as
much as some hyped ads may lead you to believe.
Mystery shoppers are generally paid about $10 to $40 per shop
plus the cost of the items they have to buy during their
assignment. Some companies let the mystery shoppers keep the
items they purchased during their shop.
When you are doing a shop in a food outlet, the food you eat is
a freebie in addition to what you get for the assignment. But
sometimes you may get only a free night's stay when you are
evaluating a hotel.
All this means is that you don't get rich by doing shops. But if
you treat this as a paying hobby you will certainly get extra
income while doing something you enjoy.
You can build steady income if you can get regular jobs every
month. For this you have to build up a relationship of
reliability with the hiring companies. If you are available to
do a job at a short notice and don't let them down after taking
an assignment, they would be more likely to call you before
other shoppers when a job becomes available.
Another thing that would count in your favor is writing your
reports with clarity. You need not be a PhD in English for this
but you must be able to express what you mean to say. Needless
to say you should be observant and remember to evaluate all the
points that you have been asked to by the hiring company.
Where to find shopping jobs? The internet is the obvious choice
when looking for mystery jobs. Look at the ads that you find.
Look at various sites to get the feel of the work availability.
The sites that you should go for are those that have searchable
databases of available jobs. As you can work as a mystery
shopper where you live, search the database by your location.
Then apply for as many openings as you can comfortably handle as
this is a way to get a fair number of assignments every month.
A word of warning: No legitimate shopping opportunity site asks
you to pay a fee or buy a training kit. In fact genuine sites
provide you detailed information and instructions to carry out
an assignment.
So be careful when you are asked to pay to join a mystery
shopping site or which promises training to become a mystery
shopper for a fee. Beware of such sites. In a word, don't pay to
work. You don't have to.
About the author:
Nissar Jagani runs a website Online Income Resources
where, among other resources, he features a Do-it-Yours
elf Guide to find your best opportunity yourself without
relying on others
Written by: Nissar Jagani
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