Wondering what ate the best mystery shopping sites to work with?

Have you ever heard of the word mystery shopping and wondered what it would be? Or have you ever run out of cash when there is still a week for the month end? Or ever had doubt regarding which mystery shopping sites are legitimate and trustable, and for which you can work for? All your doubts have a solution in this single article. So basically this article has everything that you want to know about mystery shopping.

What is Mystery Shopping?

Mystery shopping is nothing but, a person hired from the manufacturing unit to visit different stores, their branches and various other shops so that they can have a reality check on the customers’ satisfaction, how their product is being sold, its selling price and hostility of the store staff. The main intention of mystery shopping is to have a complete check on reality happening behind them and to ensure higher customer satisfaction.

How Does a Mystery Shopping Work?

As given in the above chart, if one has to work for a mystery shopping agency, then you must undergo training and should understand on what domain of customer satisfaction, the agency is mainly focusing upon. After implementing their project, you must analyse the data and prepare a report on it.

On your successful completion of the task, you will be either given free product service or you will be given with the assured stipend. One can also be part of mystery shopping by writing an online survey or a test about the questions given; narrating on your experience in nearly store of theirs this kind of jobs will be paid less.

How do You Know if the Mystery Shopping Company is Legitimate?

There exist a few instances, where the mystery shopper, who has been assigned with his/her first work will be given with some amount of money, out of which excluding the stipend of the mystery shopper, the remaining money has to be transferred back to the shopping company.

But the scam is that, the check will turn out to be bogus, that is, it will bounce- but remember, only after the money is sent. Sounds complicated huh? So is the logic of the illegitimate mystery shopping companies. So now, the blame will be upon the hired mystery shopper and he will be accused of the same. Hence the hired shopper will get into such a web that he will be responsible for the money and he should be paying the amount of money that is bounced.

To avoid it, do not involve yourself in money matters, no matter how reasonable it sounds. Politely ask them to give your first task as to visit some of their branches and do a reality check and justify your request saying that you are a fresher. If still, you find things not in place or fishy, then it is better to quit from that company rather than continue and suffer later.

Apart from these, normally none of the legitimate mystery shops will charge you any kind of fees. But if they start to charge you in the reason (read as an excuse for money making() of the certificate, classes, tutorials, goodies or what so ever, consider them as red signal and quit from the company.

If you act like they wish, then there are chances of them making you as their puppet. Don’t let that happen. None of the companies should charge you for your certificates. Coming to the classes and tutorials, very rarely companies conduct classes for mystery shopping, and in case they conduct, it must be free of cost.

Apart from these points, if the company you seek a job in seems to be too good to be true, then there are chances of it being a scam. Because none of the companies pay high, and if they assure you a very high stipend, there are high chances of it to be a scam. So before signing up into any mystery shopping sites, keep these things in your mind.

The Best and Legitimate Mystery Shopping Companies to Work With

1. Gigwalk

Gigwalk has both application and website where people who want their work to be done meet people who are ready to work for them. So basically, it is a bridge between the employer and employee and time-saving application. Since they recruit mystery workers, you can work for this application. It can be as simple as to go the required nearest branch as instructed, utilize the service given and then submit the feedback to these people.

This is one of the trustable applications which are legitimate to work with, without any fear of scam or anything. Once you are done with the work, your assured stipend will be transferred to you through your pay pal account.

2. Call Center QA

Based in the United States, these people hire only those people who are above eighteen years. So if you are a high school student, looking for some extra money in your summer holidays, that’s bad news, you must be minimum 18 years old to apply for this agency. This company is very famous for its transparency; hence one can rely upon this company.

In their official website, it is written that you will earn $5 for your survey for each shop. It is a good offer to earn money. There also exists a referral program which will be not so often, through which, too, you can earn money.

3. About Face

Being one of those sites, which hires a large number of mystery shoppers, makes it trustable and reliable to work with. And here too, you must be minimum of 18 years to sign up with About Face. Most of the workers working for them are from the United States and Canada. This site has been consistently recruiting over 150,000 shoppers every year and very keen on knowing the customer interests and expectations. The payment depends on the complexity of the work given to you. So, in case you are trying for a secret shopper, don’t forget to apply for this site.

4. A Closer Look

One of the promising sites, in the domain of mystery shopping, it provides one of the best services around the world. But the application process may take a bit more time than other websites mentioned before. In order to check your basic skills and to see whether you are fit for the role of a mystery shopper, they do a basic test for 10 minutes which will focus on subjects like English, maths, grammar, spelling and logical thinking.

After this, you need to sign up, and the whole process will take around 30-45 minutes as a whole. And here too, you must be eighteen years old in order to apply for the position of a mystery shopper. The payment will be done as assured, once you finish the assignment given to you.

5. Field Agent

If you are already a nine to five employer in some office and want to try mystery shopping to save and earn more money, the Field Agent website is made for you. Since this gives those tasks which will require hardly ten to fifteen minutes and upon that, the advantage is that they choose a location nearer to your house/office (depending on the place you have signed up with).

You can also do it as a part-time job if you have tight packed scheduled. Since it is an easy task, they will give you a deadline in hours and you need to report your survey/experience within the given time. Once you have successfully finished your task, then you get paid, within forty-eight hours.

6. Intellishop

One more upcoming mystery shopping site, that has a great future is, Intellishop. Here they don’t assign you work. Instead, you can choose your own job of interest and confirm it within twenty-four hours. The task which you assigned for yourself must be completed within ten to twelve hours. If you fail to complete it within that time, you may ask them for an extension, which may be approved. Once you have successfully finished your assignment, you will get your payment through pay pal. At the maximum, it may take fifteen to twenty days to make the payment after all the documentation.

7. Second to None

Second to None does try to offer its customers the best out of all. But it seeks mystery shoppers only from the United States and Canada to complete the task given; you must have either of a tablet, phone or a laptop. As soon as you apply for the job, you will get your assignment. The stipend will be given, depending on your performance.

Lastly, these are the  companies; you can trust and apply for. Think twice before applying for any mystery sites. On utilized properly, it will be a great source of income and a good way for saving money.

Last Updated on February 11, 2024 by NamitaSoren