Mystery Shopper Jobs Are Family Fun!

You’ve heard of mystery shopper jobs, right? The idea is that you actually get paid to go shopping! So on the surface, it sounds absolutely wonderful, who wouldn’t love that? But as you dig a little deeper you realize there are a lot of lists where you can sign up, and then wait. Then wait some more. Finally the waiting gets old, and the dream of buying a new pair of shoes - for free - is gone.

That’s the problem with mystery shopper jobs, sometimes called secret shopper jobs, there are tons of companies out there, but most are not too serious about putting you to work. At least that was my experience. I got on a bunch of lists, then when I did get an offer, it was to go look at a house for sale. Now, I may could have pulled it off, but the idea of going meet with a real estate agent on on my day off, with no intention of buying a house, was outside of my comfort zone. Another assignment, was to meet with a swimming pool company and price their installations, again, outside my comfort zone.

My main intention all along was to find some cool restaurant and have a free dinner, not be on the hook for a swimming pool! So finally, I found an ad for a secret shopper company, and I though to myself, maybe I would give it one more try. I reluctantly signed up, expecting to be ignored. But within 48 hours I had my first assignment. It was for a restaurant just up the street, and get this, we had to order beer and hot wings! I’m serious, we literally had to order beer and hot wings. Now I don’t know about you, but that’s my kind of job assignment!

Now that I’m all set up, I can kind of pick and chose between new assignments, only selecting the ones that really interest me. We look at our mystery shopper jobs as mini adventures from our everyday routine. We always have a good time, and never spend a dime. I would caution against thinking you could make this a full time job. It could be done I suppose, however, it would require a lot of work. Most of us would rather make this fun, and not so much like work. The reason I say it would be tough, is that most of the mystery shops we’ve done, we were simply reimbursed for our expenses. So there was not real profit.

Some jobs do offer the opportunity to pocket a little money as well, but for the most part it’s a free night out, or shopping trip, or theme park, or whatever you want it to be. Again, the main idea is to have fun, no worries, just add a little adventure to your routine.

Mystery shopper jobs are out there, but if you waste your time with a company who’s not serious, you won’t get anywhere! You have to somehow get your hands on a list of the best mystery shopper companies out there. Once you do, you can become a mystery shopper yourself. Go for it!