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:

One of the first questions asked by potential secret shoppers is how to begin. It’s pretty simple.

1. Read through websites of mystery shopper job provider companies to find those who offer the type of jobs you want in your area.  If you don’t know how to find these websites, take out a membership in a directory of mystery shopping provider companies.

2. Register as a secret shopper on those websites. In some cases you may need to take a test, but most of the mystery shopper companies do not require this. The more companies you join, the more shopper jobs will be available to you.

3. Sign up to get emails of job openings from the companies that you register with.

4. View the “job boards” of the websites of those companies.

5. Sign up for the jobs you want to accept.

6. Wait for confirmation that you have been assigned to the jobs.

7. Study the requirements for the job so that when you do the shopping job you will know what to observe. Make sure you thoroughly understand every aspect of the assignment. You won’t get paid if you don’t give all the required information.

8. Do the shopping job within the time frame of the assignment.

9. Log onto the website of the assigning company to fill out the online report about your shopping experience. Be thorough and clear in your descriptions of your shopping job experience.  You will probably have to scan and upload a receipt for your purchase or fax a copy to the company.

10. Wait for your pay!  (And while you’re waiting, do some more shopper jobs!)