Earning Extra Money by Secret Shopping

I’ve been doing secret shopping now for a couple of years, and I wanted to put a post in here, in case anyone else wants to try it. I can’t tell you who I’ve shopped, because each company makes you sign an agreement saying you won’t. It’s part of the deal.

I will tell you we’ve eaten a lot of great free dinners, seen free movies, and gotten free groceries. It’s not a ton of money, and it won’t replace a full-time income (darn!) but—lots of them you can bring kids in tow, which is a definite plus. And the key to the plan here is that EVERY PENNY COUNTS.

Do not pay for this.

Legitimate secret shopping companies do not charge a fee to sign up. I consider companies that charge a fee for a list of these companies to be a scam. Since the companies tend to be pretty localized on where they offer shops, it may take some digging to find the ones that work well in your area. Start by checking internet bill boards with a search for Secret shopping companies. Here’s a tip, use keywords like “best paying secret shopping company Texas” or “quickest secret shopping company Dallas” rather than just “Secret shopping”. This will bring up more bulleting board entries, and that’s where you’ll find a lot of information (good and Bad) on legitimate companies. One thing I’ve found that really helps is to get certified ($15) through MSPA. They are not a secret shopping company, but rather a professional organization for secret shoppers. After getting certified through them, I noticed the number of shops I received went up, and the dollar amount went up also.

I’ve gotten shops that pay/give free merchandise everywhere from $5 - $105 dollars. Last month, I ate free fast food 3 times, fed my family barbeque at a sit-down restaurant for free, watched 4 free movie rentals, and got $10 in free groceries at a store I shop weekly anyway. Not a bad way to stretch the budget.

Where to start?

Start at the Mystery Shopping Providers Association website. www.mspa.org Take the Silver Certification test (currently costs $15.00). Please note that this fee is NOT a “membership fee” – but a test you take to certify you have the skills to do a decent job. You will get a certificate number, which many of the legitimate shopping companies ask for on their sign up page. There is also a list of legitimate companies, offering jobs. You will need to sign up with each company separately, over the Internet.

Then you’ll want to bookmark on your computer a list of companies that are legitimate, and check their website daily. Most will send out email reminders when jobs are posted, but I find by the time the jobs are posted, most of the great assignments are gone. Check this list daily. Different companies post on different days, so if you can get the day they post (look for a pattern) then check it several times that day.

Be flexible. Many of the better jobs I’ve gotten were emergency calls, last minute fill-ins. These usually pay better, because of need.

Downsides?

Many companies (but not all) require a purchase, and reimbursement is slow. Mystery shopping is slow paying work. It’s taken some companies as long as 2 months to get me a check, even though you enter your results the same day. So don’t blow your grocery money. Many are switching to Paypal payments, and that has sped up the process. Also, once you get started, you can use your Paypal card instead of a credit card to fund shops requiring a credit card. (Some do.) I started out by taking only the jobs with no purchase requirement, or that used a membership I already had (at the time, things like movie rentals and tanning). In fact, I still keep my movie membership and use it only when I have shops that pay for the rental.

Another downside is that many of them ask you to pay cash. This was never an issue for me, as we are trying to live cash-based anyway. But it does take some planning ahead.