Mystery Shoppers

[eddieMX07]

Today I clicked on an interesting link titled "Undercover Consumers" on MyYahoo Page. Below the link, their was a statement that said "An estimated one million people really do earn extra cash as mystery shoppers".

Click Here (http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8611205&ch=4226720) to see the video. That video is from ABC.com so I think it's a legitimate way to earn cash but I'm far from an expert on this topic.

So in this thread you can post everything that is about Mystery Shoppers. If you are a mystery shoppers, then please feel free to share some of your opinions and experiences about this topic.

[eddieMX07]

That ABC video made me more interest in looking for some information on mystery shoppers. Well today I will post my most recent findings.

eMystery Shoppers! |The next generation of shopping online! (http://www.emysteryshoppers.com/index.html)

Get paid to shop!

Emysteryshoppers is a professional online mystery shopping company that has been providing private mystery shopping services to business's across the world with fantastic results, which makes us the virtual business world TOP pick for mystery shopping.


As a mystery shopping company we are always recruiting new mystery shoppers that we feel can fulfill our clients (business's that need virtual mystery shoppers) needs.


The pay rate starts at $15/ hourly for anybody we decide is a proper candidate to represent emysteryshoppers. Generally we're looking for people who can dedicate at the least 2 hours online everyday (whenever you like, you set your own schedules), to do online mystery shopping.

Online mystery shopping involves, sampling free offers, paid offers (we will reimburse you for any fees at your pay date), as well as writing reviews for the companies of their customer service.


Occasionally a company whom we sent you to mystery shop online at will contact you. In the case of such contacts it is important that you are able to not reveal your mystery shopper status to the customer service, and act as a interested client, in order to evaluate their customer service.


If you think online mystery shopping could be something you'd be good at, please feel free to contact us with this form below, we always look forward to new employees who are dedicated and serious workers!

FAQ

What kind of payments do you offer?
We are always open to suggestions, but as of now we will issue checks on a NET30 or NET15 basis which means you will be paid promptly .
How do you differentiate yourself from similar offer sites?
Simply that we follow through on our promise to give you what you want. Part time to full time income just through shopping as you normally would online.
How long does it take to get my payment?

It will only take a very short time to get referrals and fill out the offers. We check our admin panels daily to see which members have qualified for payouts. Sometimes the larger accounts can take up to a month to process and ship as we need to verify your information and referrals.

[eddieMX07]

Well I found more information about Mystery Shoppers from this website (http://www.mysteryshopperjobs.com/).

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[maplaver]

Hi,

I came across a nice site today, that had a good list of online job opportunities. It mainly had a good list of sites that recruit secret shoppers, i checked a couple and they seemed legit.
If anyone is interested you should check it out. It also has lists of jobs, for customer care, online jurors, writers etc. The list of online suveys is not so good though, your free surveys, is still the best in that. :)

You can check the site at www.workathomedesk.com.

It's free so check it out ;)

[maplaver]

How To Spot A Work At Home Scam (http://workathomedesk.com/articles/wah/spot-work-at-home-scam.htm)

Here are some tips that will help you determine whether a job is legitimate or a scam in just minutes.

Do they charge a fee?
If so, it is a scam. A legitimate company will not charge you to work for them. Period. Occasionally, you will come across companies that charge for training, but most often they will deduct the cost from your first few paychecks. This is rare, however. Most companies will provide free training. There are also a few companies that will charge for the cost of having a background check performed on you. Again, this is pretty rare. Home business opportunities will often charge a start-up fee, which includes a kit containing product samples, training information and more. Don't confuse these opportunities with telecommute positions. Very often they are advertised only as "work at home" -- not telling you whether it's a job or a business opportunity. If there is a start-up kit you need to buy, it is a business opportunity. If there is a "fee" to begin working for them (often called an application fee, or administrative fee), it is a scam.

Is the website sloppy?
This alone doesn't always point to a scam. I've seen some legitimate companies with horrible websites too. However, scammer websites are usually very sloppily put together, with tons of spelling and grammatical errors all over the place. Not always - sometimes they do have web design knowledge and a spell-checker. Also, are they using a free web host like Geocities or Bravenet? (Example: If the domain name reads http://XYZClerical.bravehost.com or http://www.geocities.com/XYZClerical - they are using a free web host. Owning their own domain, it would read like this: http://www.XYZClerical.com) Website hosting is so affordable nowadays, it is rare to find any legitimate companies that would use a free web host.

Contact information
Click on the "Contact Us" page of the website. Is there a street address and telephone number? Or just an email address or P.O. Box? Legitimate companies will give you their true contact information. Is the email address from a free email provider like Yahoo or Hotmail? This doesn't always mean it's a scam, sometimes companies don't want to use their main address and get bombarded with resumes. Still, use caution if you see a free email account being used, especially if it's the only form of contact available. If a phone number is given, call it. Do they answer with the company name like a real business? Or do you get dumped right into a voicemail box? Again, that might not mean it's a scam by itself, just something to consider.

Testimonials
Does the website feature testimonials? These are usually glowing reviews from people who are allegedly working at home for this company. Why would a company want to do this? Remember this: testimonials are most often used in sales copy. They are trying to "sell" you something if they use testimonials. Legitimate companies will rarely use them. I have seen a couple of real companies with testimonials on their websites, so it does happen, but not often.

Excessive income claims
"Easy work, great pay!" That's a big red flag. No legitimate employer is going to flaunt easy work for great pay. Instead they usually say, "Salary commensurate with experience." Meaning, if you have experience in that field, you will probably earn more money than someone who doesn't. If an ad claims, "No experience necessary!" - be wary. There are certainly employers who will train you and don't require experience, but if an ad is flaunting the fact that you don't need experience and will earn great money, watch out. Especially for jobs you would expect to need experience for, like typing or data entry. If the job is extremely simple (like stuffing envelopes), ask yourself why a company would pay so much money for someone to stuff envelopes when they could buy a machine to do it for far less money? Use common sense. Compare the job to the income. Does it sound near what you'd earn in your local area? (Most work at home jobs pay LESS than what you'd earn outside the home, not more.)

Targeting particular groups
Does the ad focus on one particular group of people like Moms, retirees or college students? This is usually a warning sign. Why would a legitimate employer care if their employees are moms, dads, grandparents or anything else? The only exception I can think of is perhaps contracts for models and actors. Obviously sometimes agencies have a need for people with a certain look, or from a certain age group.

Involving your personal accounts
This is a biggie. There is a common scam going around right now that involves an overseas company wanting you to sell products on eBay using your own account, and accept payments from the buyers. You then subtract your "commission" and forward the rest of the money onto the company and they ship the product out to the customer. Wrong. What actually happens is the company takes the money and never ships the products, and you are now in big trouble with eBay for taking the money and not delivering the product. It is incredibly easy for legitimate companies to get a merchant account nowadays, there is no reason why they would need you to use your own account and forward the money to them. Don't fall for it. Another similar scam is a company (or individual) needing to send a large amount of money by check to you, they ask you to deposit the money into your account and then withdraw most of it (you get to keep a portion of it for your troubles) and send it to them by Western Union or other money transfer system. Unfortunately, the check takes a few days or even a few weeks to bounce, and you now owe that money back to the bank. Except you don't have it, because you already wired it out to the person who sent you the check! Steer clear of any type of "job" that requires you to use your own accounts.

Asking for too much information
Does the application ask personal information like your marital status, how many children you have, your age, ethnic background, etc? Employers have no business asking these questions. It is illegal for them to base your eligibility on these factors, and you are not required to give this information. Also do not give your credit card number, social security number or banking information to any company unless you know they are legitimate. The company will only need this information if they are actually hiring you. I recommend leaving that blank when applying for jobs. If you get hired, they should furnish you with a real tax form to fill out, where you will supply your social security number. (Don't just send it through email to them.) For banking information, they only need that if you are signing up for direct deposit, and they should give you an actual direct deposit form to fill out and fax or mail back. They should not need your credit card number for any reason. If they are paying you through Paypal or another online payment system, you can provide your Paypal email address to them, but do NOT give them the password!

Whois Search
Go to http://www.whois.com and search for the domain name (http://www.company.com). Who comes up as the Registrant? The company name, or an individual? It is possible that the website domain could be registered under the owner's personal name instead of the company name, so this alone doesn't mean they are a scam. Is it a private registration (you can't get the details)? Again, that alone doesn't mean it's a scam necessarily. Finally, look at the date the domain was registered. If the website gives details about how long the company has been in business and the domain registration differs greatly from that, be wary. If they claim they've been providing work at home jobs for 10 years, but upon looking up the domain name you see they've been online for a couple of months, that's a red flag.

Do some research
Write down the company name and the name the domain is registered under (if applicable). Go to http://www.google.com and type the company name in quotations, plus the word Scam, like this: "Company Name"+scam - see what comes up. Any negative experiences detailed on message forums? Do the same with the individual's name that the domain is registered under. (Also try replacing the word "scam" with the words, "scheme" or "fraud.") You can also search for pages that mention the company domain name, like this: "www.companywebsite.com" - Google will return results on any page that mentions that term. Then go to http://www.BBBOnline.com - http://www.RipoffReport.com - and http://www.ScamBusters.org and search for the company and individual's name.

Ask around
If you still haven't found any negative information (or any information at all), ask around. Visit work at home message forums and ask about the company. Use the forum search function to search for the company name and individual's name. If it's a scam, surely someone has heard about them.

Finally, compare any work at home position with positions available in your local area. Does the online job seem like something you'd do in an office setting? Does the pay match the level of experience needed? Does the pay match the complexity of the job? Could a company automate the job functions rather than paying you thousands of dollars to do it? Remember that most companies are trying to save money, not make their employees rich.

Most importantly, listen to your gut. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. I hear so many people say, "I had a bad feeling about it, but I wanted it to be true, so I took a chance." Don't do it. If you have ANY doubts or concerns, pay attention to them. You'll save yourself a lot of grief later on.

[eddieMX07]

I found more information abotu mystery shoppers in an ABC News article. This article is three pages long and has over 600 comments from people who are experienced with this topic.

Click here (http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Consumer/Story?id=5318387&page=1) to read this interesting story and don't hesitate to post your own comments on this topic.

[RedScorpion911]

Hmm....interesting post...I've always wondered how to get into the mystery shopping business. Not too long ago I saw something about it on the news, and how they have to be so secretive about what they are doing. But with all the shopping and spending large amounts of money, how much are you really getting back? Are you even proffiting?

[Heath]

Great information, Eddie. I'm not at all familiar with the Mystersy Shopping offered online. I worked for a market research firm years ago, and mystery shopped various bank branches for a national bank. It was a lot of fun, except for the fact that I can't find my way out of a bag and kept getting lost in Charlotte. I was paid very well, and had to write reports on customer service, if they mentioned their promotions, etc.

On the other hand, I did get an email from a blog member who had signed up for mystery shopping somewhere (I never found out which one it was) and she was never paid. Don't ever join any Mystery shopping venture that requires ANY money upfront. Those are scams.

[eddieMX07]

Great information, Eddie. I'm not at all familiar with the Mystersy Shopping offered online. I worked for a market research firm years ago, and mystery shopped various bank branches for a national bank. It was a lot of fun, except for the fact that I can't find my way out of a bag and kept getting lost in Charlotte. I was paid very well, and had to write reports on customer service, if they mentioned their promotions, etc.

On the other hand, I did get an email from a blog member who had signed up for mystery shopping somewhere (I never found out which one it was) and she was never paid. Don't ever join any Mystery shopping venture that requires ANY money upfront. Those are scams.

Well I'm completely new to the mystery shopping thing. When I first heard of it I thought it was a scam, but when I was the ABC video, I decided to look for more information on this. So far I have found a lot of news reports on this from FOX, ABC and other news sites. That lead me to believe that mystery shopping was a real way to earn some extra cash. Of course their will always be people will use this to scam someone who doesn't know nothing about this. That is why it's important to do research before you give anyone cash.

[maplaver]

did it once, didnt like it, got out of it :eek: