Forum Alias: miketfse How long have you been mystery shopping? I’ve been shopping for part time pay since December 2012. In my FT career, I have done competitor comparisons, some mystery shopping, and franchise standards compliance for over 5 years. Where are you shopping? Southern Alberta and all over Saskatchewan, Canada. It depends where my business…
There are many questions that come up repeatedly on www.mysteryshopforum.com that will be compiled in a series of articles here in the Mystery Shopping Magazine. We hope that this will be a convenient resource for you to find the answers you are looking for regarding the tips and techniques and tools used in this business….
Overview: Car dealership assignments are commonly available. The pay varies widely, but is often around $15. The best assignments pay well and let you test drive luxury super cars. But there are shoppers who, plain and simple, don’t like car shops. I can understand it. You need to have as thick a skin as a…
Company Overview: One of the first things new mystery shoppers should be aware of is that it is never necessary to pay for the opportunity to obtain assignments. The overwhelming majority of the time, any entity that requests money from a shopper is usually a scam operation. Those that aren’t necessarily scams are still of…
Company Overview: It is common for mystery shoppers to be open to alternative earning opportunities such as those involved with merchandising, exit interviews, audits, and more. There are also options that don’t fit nicely into any category listed here that are fairly easy and pay reasonably. One mystery company specializes in such information-gathering assignments. Mintel…
A herd of foreign tourists milled around at an increasingly frantic pace, all straining to look out the windows of the travel center. It wasn’t like that only a few minutes before when I wandered to the back of the gift shop area. A sound very much like firecrackers going off came from somewhere out…
There are many questions that come up repeatedly on www.mysteryshopforum.com that will be compiled in a series of articles here in the Mystery Shopping Magazine. We hope that this will be a convenient resource for you to find the answers you are looking for regarding the tips and techniques and tools used in this business….
Company Overview: Smaller mystery shopping companies tend to have advantages over larger entities, such as maintaining a more personable relationship with their shoppers. Yet they are also at a disadvantage when it comes to being able to offer steady assignment opportunities. B Business Solutions is one such company. It has been operating since 1998 from…
Company Overview: In the haste to get signed up with mystery shopping companies when starting out, it is easy to skim over information provided on their websites which state their policies. When those policies involve payments made to shoppers, and the shoppers are not aware of those policies, shoppers can become unduly annoyed and/or frustrated….
Overview: The name of these types of assignments should be a dead giveaway – pun intended – that you won’t be having the time of your life while completing one. A bit of gallows humor from time to time is to be expected while discussing such assignments. Few mystery shoppers are truly comfortable with the…
Welcome to Issue Thirteen of Mystery Shopper Magazine! This issue features a story by Cettie that is both hard to believe, and terrifying. Few people have been unlucky enough to encounter a gun fight, much less while on a mystery shopping assignment. Cettie is one of those people. And we’re lucky she survived to tell…
Welcome to Issue Twelve of Mystery Shopper Magazine! It’s hard to believe we’ve come this far. In our twelve issues, we’ve reviewed 25 mystery shopping companies, and 19 types of assignments. We’ve also profiled 3 mystery shoppers, and shared quite a few adventures from Cettie. And we’re just getting started. Our hope is that we’re…
SHOPTALK II Every industry has their own language. The world of mystery shopping is no different in that respect. It can be confusing to both experienced and novice shoppers from time to time. As this field expands, more specialty terms are developed. Each issue of ShopTalk will explain some of the more commonly used lingo….
Forum Alias: Walesmaven How long have you been mystery shopping? Since 2005. Where are you shopping? I regularly shop routes from Virginia to New York, occasionally getting into the Carolinas and Florida. What got you started? I was planning to travel the country in my retirement years. No matter how I tweaked my anticipated budget,…
Overview: Trying to figure out what to do for dinner? Too busy catching up on your mystery shopping reporting to cook? Don’t worry about it. With one phone call you can have your meal delivered to your home, or you can have it ready to pick up. Pizza assignments can be a fun change from…
Company Overview: This will be a short but far from sweet review. This mystery shopping company has been generating a lot of discussion on the Mystery Shopping Forum in the last six months or so, especially recently, and none of it has been positive. Nationwide Services Group is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. Surprisingly, this company…
Company Overview: One of the great things about the community on the Mystery Shop Forum is getting the heads up about issues with MSCs. In some cases, this has alerted shoppers to problems of non-payment and other business practices that are unethical. However, sometimes warnings go up that must be taken in context. This is…
Entering the restaurant I was pleasant greeted by a waitress who tried to ignore my somewhat disheveled appearance. It wasn’t every day that a customer appears to have lost a battle with a wayward box of talcum powder. I was shown to my seat and placed my drink order, wishing ardently that they served something…
There are many questions that come up repeatedly on www.mysteryshopforum.com that will be compiled in a series of articles here in the Mystery Shopping Magazine. We hope that this will be a convenient resource for you to find the answers you are looking for regarding the tips and techniques and tools used in this business….
Overview: Shoppers that are interested in looking at and learning about what kind of new techno toys are out there on the market will want to check out this assignment. There is a bewildering array of desktop computers, laptops, e-readers, video games, tablets, and mp3 players available. It seems like every month there are new…
Company Overview: Some mystery shopping companies regularly post assignments at offensively low fees and reimbursements, yet incredibly, they have a loyal following of shoppers. Ritter Associates is one of those companies. They’ve been in this industry since 1974, so they are well aware of the usual payment rates offered by other MSCs. They also have…
Company Overview: Sometimes there seems to be a disconnect between what shoppers are asked to do while on an on-site visit and what is truly feasible and realistic. One mystery shopping company that “gets it” is Associate Consumer Evaluations. The founders of this company, Tiffany Steward and Julie Simbo, were inspired to create a business…
Welcome to Issue Eleven of Mystery Shopper Magazine. If this issue proves anything, it proves the value of the mystery shopping community. Why? Because the issues we bring up are first brought to our attention by mystery shoppers who are active in the community. In fact, the contents of this magazine are largely based on…