You’ve heard about mystery shopping and would like to give it a try. But how do you find mystery shopping jobs where you live? How do you know they’re trustworthy and you’ll get paid for your work? Read on and we’ll give you some ideas to get started.
How do they work?
First, a bit about how the industry works. Companies need to know if customers like their products and if their services are performing the way they want.
The feedback they need is more valuable if it comes from their customers. But most companies don’t have time to chase down this data from actual customers.
So they hire other companies, service providers, to get this information for them. The service providers use mystery shoppers (not employees, but rather independent contractors) to collect this information to give to the companies. You need to find service providers to get your mystery shopping jobs.
Where to look
Now you know what they are, but where do you find reputable service providers? There are a few different paths we suggest you try:
- Better Business Bureau (BBB)
- Mystery Shopping Professionals Association (MSPA)
- Google/Bing
- Using this site, WOWIT
Better Business Bureau (BBB)
Perhaps you didn’t know that the Better Business Bureau is still a useful resource in this day and age. They are still very actively involved in the marketplace and, of course, they have an online presence. You can find them at www.bbb.org.
BBB Search
BBB has a search feature on the main page that lets you find companies. If you scroll down the main page there is also a category section on the left side of the page.
You’ll need to click the “More Categories” button as mystery shopping is not one of the most popular. When all the categories are displayed, select the appropriate letter of the alphabet and find the category you want.
NOTE: You won’t find mystery shopping, you’ll need to look for secret shopper instead. Then you can begin researching each company listed.
Mystery Shopping Professionals Association (MSPA)
The Mystery Shopping Professionals Association supports both mystery shoppers and service providers. They want to improve the industry itself and provide consistency to establish some minimum standards. Their global site is at www.mspa-global.org.
MSPA Search
From their global site, you’ll need to choose the region where you live from the global map. The different regions have slightly different ways to search.
From the Europe/Africa region and also the Asia/Pacific region, you scroll to the bottom of the site main page, under the section “MEMBERS & PROVIDERS”, and you’ll see a link for “Find a Provider”.
From the Americas region, click on the “SERVICE PROVIDER SEARCH” selection on the far right of the primary navigation menu. Then enter the filter options to find service providers in your area.
The MSPA sites are a really great way to find trustworthy mystery shopping service providers.
Google/Bing
When we first began hunting for service providers, we relied on search engines. You will find a lot of service providers and also a lot of reviews of those providers. The challenge is figuring out which ones are legitimate and trustworthy.
So while using a search engine is a great way to start, you probably need to do more research before you jump in and register. That’s when you want to head to the BBB or the MSPA sites or this site, WOWIT, to help narrow down your options and avoid any scams.
Using WOWIT
We understand how hard it can be to find good, reputable service providers. And that’s why we’re doing our own evaluations and posting them here for you.
We’ll tell you whether we have personal experience with the particular provider and outline everything we’ve learned. We hope this makes it easier for you to earn some extra money.
Scam alert
You need to be on the lookout for mystery shopping scams as there are always people out there who are happy to take advantage.
Some key points to watch for:
- Legitimate service providers will never charge you a fee just to see their shop listings.
- Be careful with your government identification. If you need to perform a shopping mission that requires you to be a certain age, then it makes sense that the service provider needs to confirm you meet the criteria. Otherwise, ask questions and be skeptical.
- Real service providers will not ask you to cash cheques or send money transfers. Never!
- Be careful with companies that ask you to make large purchases as part of your shopping mission. These could be completely legitimate but you probably want to do some other, smaller shops with that provider first to confirm you get paid.
- Finally, if it seems too good to be true, then it is!
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Conclusion
There are many excellent service providers out there for mystery shoppers. It can be a great way to earn some extra money. But before you register or go off on your first shopping mission, do some research.
Use the BBB or the MSPA, do some research online, and use this site to get more information about the service provider. We want you to have great experiences with mystery shopping!
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