Want to eat for free?  Shop and get free things? Make money?!?

I have been mystery shopping for about two years now and I love that I can earn money while we travel!

 

I know enough to say “yes, it’s legit” and you can make extra money mystery shopping and sometimes eat for FREE and even get paid. You can use the money earned to travel or achieve your dreams. This is money that can be earned while you travel or while at home.

 

In order to be a good at mystery shopping you will need good writing skills, a phone that takes photos and you must pay attention to detail. Some of the jobs require you to enter a store and interact with associates and report back without buying anything, some you can do from home on the phone or computer, and some don’t pay up front but reimburse you for a meal or product you have purchased. All have some sort of reporting to do with deadlines. Over all you will make somewhere between $10-12 an hour mystery shopping (this includes pay and free items.) So not tons of money but I like that I can earn when and where I want.

​

One thing I learned is to NEVER pay to be a mystery shopper. I will tell you what I did to become one. You may know a better way and I would love for you to share your tips in the comments.

​

Step 1 -The first thing I would recommend doing is getting a new email address. You will get lots of email. I didn’t do this and I now regret it and it’s too much trouble to change my email with the 40 odd companies I have signed up with.

​

Step 2 - Now you need to set up a PayPal account that has the same email as the one you just set up above. Almost all of the companies pay via PayPal. Only a few mail checks.

​

Step 3 - Download these apps and set them up. As this is where you will find jobs.

​

ISecretShop

Gigwalk

Presto Instashop- This is my favorite for finding jobs.

GigSpot

Mobee

​

This should take an hour or so but will set you up for success. Kind of like laying the foundation.

Go ahead and work on this and come back for more.

 

So by now you should have a new email set up, along with a PayPal account associated with that email. And you have downloaded the suggested Apps.

​

The first thing you will do is Google "Job Slinger" and create an account. Be sure to select that you want to receive reach out emails. This way you will get emailed about jobs in your area.

​

Once the account is created go up to the tools tab and hit "recruiterator" and find the long list of companies. Click on each company and sign up for as many as possible. This will take a few hours but the more companies you sign up with the more opportunities you will have. You can always break this up and sign up for a handful each day. After you sign up go back to the tools tab and click connections. And enter your password for each company.

​

After all of this go back to the tools bar and click search jobs. You will find a list of all the jobs sorted by the selected distance from the zip code you enter. Have a look at the jobs and apply for the ones that interest you.

​

A scheduler will email you with details of the shop if assigned to you. All shops will require a detailed report so you need to be paying attention to everything and not be distracted while doing the shop. I keep a notebook in my purse and take notes when I can. Each shop once assigned will have guidelines. I recommend reading these when assigned and then again right before the shop. If you leave something out that they ask for, you may not be paid. One time I forgot to take a photo of the front of the store so had to drive back to do so.

​

Make sure you write in complete sentences and spell check everything. Once you submit the work you will be given a grade from 1-10. The higher your grade the more shops you can apply to. And the more likely they are to reach out to you with jobs and work more with your schedule. I have strived to communicate quickly with the schedulers and work to have a score of 10. This has paid off as I was recently offered my first hotel shop!!! So make sure you do a good job.

​

These are just a few of my favorites companies. Depending on where you live you will find some companies have more shops in your area than others.

​

​

A Closer Look

Reality Based Reports

Customer Impact

Amusement Advantage

Intellishop

​

​

If you would like a PERSONAL REFERRAL to some mystery shop companies please send me a message with your email (make sure it is the one you created for mystery shopping) and state “mystery shop” and I will happily refer you and they will send you info to sign up.

All of the above will take several hours to set up. Once done you can decide what jobs you want and when you want to work. I try to schedule several shops on the same day in the same area to reduce my travel costs and make a work day out of it.

​

Don’t forget to go to the apps you uploaded from above to look for additional work. Presto InstaShops links to many of the companies you hopefully signed up for through Job Slinger.

​

So you are now set up and ready to Mystery shop!!! There is little learning curve as you are trying to figure out exactly what the companies want from you. But keep at it and you will be a prefered shopper getting contacted for the best shops.

​

What questions do you have? I am happy to help you if I can.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​