Some people just keep a note book which lists the shopping jobs, mileage, amount they have to spend on the job, amount they are reimbursed, and fees that they earn.  Others may keep these records in a computer program such as Excel.  But as you increase the number of shopping jobs you do, it is important to do a good job of record keeping.  You should keep records of which mystery shopping provider companies assign you to which jobs, the names and addresses of where you do the shops, your expenses to do your online reports (such as your internet fees), etc.

You will likely find that it is wise to use a software program that is specifically geared toward keeping records for business and tax purposes.  One such program is Quickbooks, which you can purchase as software or use online. They have several business plans that can help people who work in their own businesses or are employed as independent contractors.  At Quickbooks Online, you can choose the plan that’s best for your business. Right now they’ll let you try it FREE for 30 Days!

One advantage to keeping your records up to date regularly with a program like Quickbooks is that you can feed the information directly from the software into your tax software program. That saves a lot of time and frustration when it’s time to file income taxes. Another advantage is that if you’d like to do a shopping job for a good mystery shopping provider company again, you can go back to the records and access the contact information quickly without having to rack your brains over to get back in touch with them. You can set your record keeping program up to include the URL and login information.

So even if you are a beginning secret shopper, form a habit of regularly recording all the info you’ll need to contact the company again and to have all of the records you’ll need to do your income taxes.  Don’t put it off til April 14th and then try to pull all of your info together from emails and other information you have about your shopping jobs.  If you do, you’ll be frustrated!  If you keep records up to date, you’ll be relieved!

-  Kids under age 18.

-  Those who do not have adequate transportation to get to and from secret shopper jobs

-  Those without internet availability -  Mystery shoppers must log onto the shop provider’s website to get info, file reports, and upload files.

-  Those who cannot write clear, detailed descriptions of their shopping experiences.  (Spelling and grammar are important!)

OK, now that we have that out of the way, if these don’t apply, who can become a mystery shopper? The answer is almost anyone.  There are mystery shoppers who are moms who want to stay home with their kids and make money on the side.  There are students who want a flexible way to pick up some extra income.   Retirees who don’t want to be tied down to a regular job, but want to earn extra cash, make good secret shoppers also.  The unemployed who haven’t found a full time job yet can also bring in much appreciated extra income while giving themselves the time flexibility to look for work.

Others, who are like myself, work at full time jobs, but enjoy supplementing regular income occasionally by doing secret shopping jobs.  Getting a free restaurant meal, a free oil change, or a free eye exam are perks that I’ve enjoyed while being a secret shopper.  My husband and I enjoyed some free wings and cheesecake as a result of my last secret shopping job.  Yum!  If I wasn’t on a diet, I’d sign up to do that one again!

Go Shopping and Get Paid! Photo by Tranкov, stockvault.net

These videos, along with the information on this website, will prepare you to become a mystery shopper.  If you have good observation, communication, organizational, and writing skills and live in an area close to many businesses, you can succeed as a secret shopper.

This video contains basic information on how to become a mystery shopper:



This woman tells of her personal experience with mystery shopping:



Here’s a news report about a secret shopper.

Your mystery shopping job is secret in order to protect the confidentiality of the business you are investigating.  You never know if the person you tell knows someone who works there and might blab about how they know the mystery shopper who just was at their place of business.  The business management that arranges for secret shopper jobs does not want confidential information about their business performance to be leaked out to their employees or customers.  They are paying you to fill out a confidential report so that they can take steps to fix the weaknesses that you might discover or reward employees for doing a good job.

You must not be detected as a mystery shopper when you visit the place of business.  So carrying around a notebook and writing in it would be a big give-away.  So would being obvious about checking the time or carrying a stopwatch.  If the employees of the business suspect that you are a secret shopper, they will go out of their way to make sure that they serve you well and follow every procedure that they have been taught.  If they don’t know you are a secret shopper, they will treat you in the same way they treat all their customers.  And that’s what you are there to evaluate.

Most of the secret shopper jobs that I have done have shown that the businesses are living up to about 85% of the expectations that the shopper report lists.  However some do better, and some do worse.  On the last shopper job I did, the service was considerably worse.  I’m sure that the business management will use the observations that I made to correct the wrong practices of their employees.

So remember that when you do a shopper job, you are not doing it so you can gossip about the business you investigated or about what a good deal you got.  You want to be a trusted mystery shopper who will be eligible to take on many more shopping jobs.

Besides earning extra income from mystery shopping, retired folks can enjoy the free things that come with many mystery shopping jobs. It’s not unusual to get a free meal, a free purchase from a convenience store, a free eye exam, or a free oil change by being a secret shopper. These free perks make a nice addition to the stipends paid by the mystery shopper job provider.

I have friends who are retired and who love to travel. They are registered with three or four companies which make assignments available to them for secret shopper jobs and other jobs such as restocking items in stores and doing inventories. These jobs keep them busy when they want to work and provide extra income to help cover their many trips around North America.

Throughout the year they take several vacations and let the mystery shopping provider companies know that they will not be available during the dates they will be away. When they return home, they always have a variety of assignments waiting for them. The companies they work with know that they will do a good job and will turn in assignments promptly. Therefore they never have a lack of jobs available to them.

This couple have recommended the companies they work for to others who were looking for retirement jobs. Now they have retired friends who are actually doing more jobs than they do! Mystery shopper jobs are a great way to add variety to life, enjoy interacting with people, get some free products, and make extra cash!

Another option for retirees who love to travel is to schedule mystery shopping jobs along the way.  You must have an internet connection to do this, for you have to file your reports online.  By scheduling secret shopping in different areas where you are vacationing, you may be able to take tax deductions for business expenses such as travel while you are doing this.

As an independent contractor mystery shopper, you can claim tax deductions for supplies and services that you use in your business. Keep receipts for pens, notebooks, ink cartridges, auto record log books, day planners, calendars, and anything else that is used for business.  Also record how and when you used them.


You may want to set up a business bank account so that it will be easier to keep track of your business income and expenses. If you are charged bank fees or fees for your checks, these should be deductible also.

You will need to use your computer to log onto company websites to sign up for your mystery shopping job assignments. Also you’ll be using email and filling out online forms to report your findings as you do your mystery shopping. Consider what percentage of the time that you spend on your computer and on the internet that is related to your mystery shopping business. Keep records to substantiate this so that you can deduct a portion of the cost of your computer and a portion of your monthly internet service fees.

You may also need to use your phone or cell phone to call the businesses that you will be investigating. Some mystery shopping assignments include a report on how the business handled your call. Also you may need to call the companies that assign you to secret shopping jobs. If you keep track of the amount of time you use your phones for business versus personal use, you may figure a percentage and claim that percentage of your monthly phone bills.

Think about what supplies and services you use in your business? Don’t miss tax deductions for supplies and services that you use.

You may need software for keeping track of your expenses and income. Also you may need tax software. If you are using these to keep track of your business income and to do your taxes, which include your business income and deductions, then the cost of such software is deductible.

Secret Shoppers Help Business Managers With Valuable Feedback.

Those who don’t understand mystery shopping or who think it is a scam don’t realize that mystery shopping benefits businesses. It gives them valuable feedback that will help them train their employees better and evaluate whether they are serving their customers in the best way possible.

By reading the following article, you will understand why there is a growing market for mystery shoppers. Their feedback is important to companies that want to grow and improve! The number of shopper provider companies and the need for good secret shoppers is increasing because of this.


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Mystery Shopping Improves Bottom Line for Business

by: Daniel Dullum

Keeping a satisfied, repeat customer is an ongoing challenge that all retail outlets face, especially when it comes to building a solid bottom line.

Many factors – positive and negative – can influence bottom line performance, so quantifying the financial return on investment of any new initiative can be difficult. One solution for maintaining customer loyalty is the implementation of a solid mystery shopping program.

“Most companies create a mystery shopping program around a singular need, like an employee incentive or franchisee compliance program,” Matt Wozniak, president and CEO of National Shopping Service, said. “The department responsible for administering the mystery shopping program gathers the field observations and disseminates the information to their group. However, there is a plethora of data that can be extracted and utilized by almost every department within an organization.”

The behavioral return on investment in mystery shopping programs can be readily measured, though, provided the results are effectively used to change employee behavior.

For example, if a mystery shopping program reveals that employees fail to acknowledge customers when they enter the store 50 percent of the time, the company might take specific steps to ensure that employees understand that it is expected of them to greet customers within 30 seconds of arrival. Subsequent mystery shopping might reveal that customers are greeted within 30 seconds 95 percent of the time. Thus, the return for the company is that a specific expected employee behavior has improved by 45 percent.

The financial value of that improvement may be hard to gauge, but consider the benefits of customer retention: a customer who is made to feel welcome and valued is far more likely to do business with a company than a customer who is ignored.

“Customer turnover and defection is a killer for businesses,” said Wozniak. “Keeping a customer for three to six months probably won’t be long enough to recover your initial acquisition expense (advertising, promotions, etc.) for that customer.”

There’s no end to the ways a business can subtly build its bottom line, such as suggestive selling, soft selling, or add-ons. To an extent, all of it works. And it works even better when combined with the goal of maintaining a satisfied repeat customer.

“The numbers can be staggering when you look at how minute changes in frontline staff behavior can influence revenues into millions of dollars,” Wozniak said. “If done correctly, companies can generate a happier, better informed and more satisfied repeat customer.”

As a hypothetical example, Wozniak says that at a store averaging 7,000 transactions per week in a 100-store chain, motivating the front-line staff with incentive programs, actionable mystery shopping feedback and refresher training on suggestive selling can improve bottom line numbers dramatically.

“Just increasing the frequency of suggestive selling on items valued at $1 from the typical 10 percent to 11 percent of transactions, the annual gross revenue can increase by $364,000,” Wozniak explained. “The trick is discovering how managers can motivate frontline employees to consistently and effectively offer revenue-increasing items or services to the daily customer flow.”

Implementing a non-biased monitoring tool like a mystery shopping program, along with enhanced training and constructive feedback, is a step toward the goal of maintaining customer loyalty.

“Most staff members at a convenience store, for example, are initially uncomfortable selling because they’re cashiers, after all, not salespeople,” Wozniak said. “They feel as though they are bugging the customer or are being forced by management to sell something the customer didn’t want in the first place. And at peak customer flow times, suggestive selling becomes just another task that slows down queue times.

“If frontline staff understands effective and unobtrusive selling techniques and has feedback tied to incentive on their performance, the end result will be happier customers, staff receiving positive reinforcement for a job well done, and greater revenue – a win-win-win.”

Mystery shopping programs produce valuable information about customer expectations for a business’s product or service, and how the staff follows company directives. It’s all about the perception of brand performance and how it affects the bottom line.

“Contrary to popular belief, most customers don’t want an exceptional, over-the-top experience during every interaction,” Wozniak said. “They want a routine, pleasant, stress-free, predictable interaction. Exceeding the customer’s expectations every visit is not realistic and is not obtainable for any period of time.

“The key is to identify the correct opportunities for exceptional service and then execute your plan flawlessly and exceptionally.”

To determine which customer behaviors affect a business’s revenue and expenses, Wozniak suggests making a list of four steps.

Step 1: Outline what you want your customers to do more often or less often. Wozniak emphasizes that each item must be “measurable” and something “to be observed.”

“This list would not include customer feelings, opinions or attitudes. Only things that can be measured and observed,” Wozniak said.

Step 2: Wozniak suggests reviewing the list created in Step 1 and remove any items that cannot be influenced by staff interaction or equipment speed. The new list should only include items where specific staff behavior (or equipment performance) can influence customer behavior.

Step 3: Determine how the staff will need to be trained to affect each customer behavior modification, how it will be measured, how the incentives to perform will be implemented, and what equipment needs to be upgraded, refurbished or replaced – plus the cost to implement each part of the step.

Step 4: Create a potential revenue generation (or savings) for each customer behavior alteration process. These will be estimates.

In addition, historical references can be gleaned from mystery shopping providers based on an industry’s specific needs.

“For example, ‘What will we save if we reduce returns by 2 percent?’ or ‘What will we save if we can reduce shrinkage by 4 percent?’” Wozniak suggests. “Or to implement suggestive selling, a retailer could ask, ‘What would the affect be on gross revenue if we increase 10 percent of all sales by $2.50?’ or ‘What will the savings be if our 800 complaint line receives 7 percent fewer calls?’

“By comparing the costs in Step 3 to the potential additional revenue or savings in Step 4, a list of viable staff and equipment changes can then be put into place.”

Wozniak points out that covert operatives – or mystery shoppers – are typically a business’s existing customers. These shoppers are ideal for research because “they retain their individual perceptions of quality, service and cleanliness, but have been given fundamental client-based expectations.”

“Mystery shop data is best viewed over time, taking the aggregate picture as a more accurate representation of how your customers see you and your operation,” Wozniak said.

The theory is: Though customers generally are not experts in the businesses where they shop, they do know good service when they receive it, a quality product when they purchase it, and a maintained facility when they see it.

“Customers want to be comfortable with a business and know that they’ll always be treated right,” Wozniak concluded. “Customers also know that on those occasions when a business falls short – and they will – they’ll make an ‘exceptional’ recovery to show that they’re needed, and they want their business.”

About The Author

Daniel Dullum, an award-winning newspaper reporter and author based in Sacramento, Calif., is an associate in the business development department of National Shopping Service. For further information, visit www.nationalshoppingservice.com.

ddullum@nationalshoppingservice.com

Be A Secret Shopper

When people hear that I do mystery shopping, they are surprised.  One of the first questions they ask is, “Can I really get paid for shopping?”

My answer is, “It all depends.”  It depends on whether you can observe well, not give away the fact that you are on a secret shopping mission, remember all the information that you need to look for while you are on the job, and clearly write answers to the questions that the business wants to have answered.  Your grammar and writing skills must be good.


These are all skills that can be practiced and improved upon.  Many secret shopping assignment companies will rate you on how you did and how well you answered their questions.  By getting good ratings, you’ll put yourself in position to receive more assignments.

It is often best to begin with small shopping assignments that do not have a lot of requirements.  Some of them may be as simple as making a phone call or purchasing a soft drink and reporting on the service you received.  The more complicated mystery shopping assignments may require more than one visit and much detailed information about your shopping experience.

It’s not as simple as going shopping and just telling your impressions of your shopping experience.  You will need to review ahead of time the information that you must report on back to the assigning company.  Then you must complete every part of the assignment and fill out an online form on which you report all of your findings.

It’s not always easy to remember everything you have to observe.  For instance, today I ended up walking back by a store at the mall where I had just mystery shopped and peeked in at the clerk who helped me.  I had forgotten to estimate her height.  By coming back and taking a second look I got that information and was ready to go home and fill out my report.

Yes, you really can get paid for shopping when you submit all the information and receipts that are required.  I have taken on jobs for as little as $6.00 and as much as $130.  Yes, I get paid for shopping.  And so can you!

Mystery Shopping Works for Students.

Pat sleeps til the last minute and then runs off to classes. Between Lit and Chemistry he stops at the library and opens his laptop. Yesterday he accepted a job assignment to check out an online shopping site. So he clicks to the site and moves through it to make a purchase (for which he will be reimbursed), making note of the things he is to check. He jots down some notes and heads off to Chemistry.

After lunch he heads to his room and gets back online. He logs in at the website where he had registered to take the job. There he fills out a form to evaluate his online shopping experience. Once he enters the info, he knows that within a few days $8.00 will be deposited into his Paypal account along with reimbursement for his purchase.

Next he picks up the phone and calls two funeral homes. He has accepted a job to call these to ask specific questions. Once he finishes, he jumps online again and logs into the website of another company that provides secret shopper jobs. He fills out their report forms for his two phone calls, knowing that he’ll soon get $14.00 in his account for doing this.

Pat leaves for another class. Later that day he checks his email and sees that one of the companies that he’s registered with has sent him a job listing for buying snacks at a convenience store. He signs up for that job, knowing that he can do it the next afternoon.

Since he had accepted a job from a different company to evaluate service at his college bookstore, he heads there and buys some pens. That evening he fills out another online report, knowing that he just earned another $9.00.

He figures that later in the week he might register with a few more companies so he can pick up more shopper jobs. He will schedule jobs as he can.

He’s looking forward to Friday night. He was fortunate to grab an assignment for a restaurant evaluation, and he’s taking his date out to eat.  Pat’s having fun and enjoying the flexibility of being a mystery shopper!

College Student Mystery Shopping

Can college students do mystery shopping? College students need a lot of flexibility in their schedules. With studying, sports, extra curricular activities, socializing, and classes, there is a lot to balance. It can be difficult to work a regular part-time job.

Employers like to lock students into a schedule – a schedule that is not always convenient for a college student. And it’s not unusual to take a job based on working 15 or so hours per week, only to discover that the employer wants to keep adding on hours.

This is why mystery shopping can be an ideal job for college students. Students can sign up for the jobs that fit their schedules. With most shopper jobs they can even take along a friend. What student would not like to get paid for taking a friend along to go out to eat or to drop into a convenience store to pick up a snack?

Just like everyone else, students need to get haircuts, get their eyes checked, get their oil changed, etc. These are all things they can get free while doing their jobs as Secret Shoppers! Some secret shopper jobs even involve evaluating service at college bookstores and college food service.

Students who do mystery shopping jobs will need to have a car or go to school in an area with access to good public transportation. This may not work for the student whose school is in a rural area.  But for students close to stores, restaurants,and businesses, it is likely that they can find an adequate number of secret shopper jobs to keep them busy and to earn the extra money they need.

And when students go home for school breaks, they can simply look for shopper jobs there as well. No need to make arrangements with the boss for some time off!

And by scheduling some mystery shopping jobs between home and college, a student may even qualify for tax deductions for travel between shopper jobs.

Click This Slideshow To Get The Best Secret Shopping Books. Become A Mystery Shopping Pro!

Mystery shoppers are sort of like spies who evaluate customer service and how the business is maintained and report back to the business owner.

Mystery shoppers are not employees. Companies who hire you as a secret shopper treat you as an independent contractor, agreeing to pay a fee and/or reimburse you for purchases. Legitimate mystery shopping companies do NOT require you to pay a fee to work for them. You apply to do shopping assignments for them. If they accept your application, you may pick and choose from available mystery shops.  But you have to be fast.  Other secret shoppers in your area may sign up for the available shopping jobs ahead of you.

Some legitimate mystery shopping providers require you to take one or more tests before giving you assignments. They provide you with online reading material and then test you on what you read. They do this to make sure that you understand the requirements, can do simple mathmatics, and can write in a fashion that is concise, clear, and grammatically correct.

There is a Mystery Shopping Providers Association with over two hundred member companies. This association sets standards for the industry and only allows legitimate mystery shopping companies as members. For a fee, you may take a certification course and test from them. Once you have this certification, some legitimate mystery shopping providers will favor you for some of their better assignments. However, when it comes to gaining favor, nothing beats building a record of prompt service and giving thorough reports, no matter how large or small the assignment you fulfill.

Why do businesses hire mystery shoppers? Watch this video to find out: