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What are the pros and cons of mystery shopping?

January 7th, 2009 Leave a comment Go to comments
  1. momdlw
    January 9th, 2009 at 00:42 | #1

    I do Mystery shopping but not much anymore. They take to long to pay and want you to do so much discriptive writing. It take up to a month and 1/2 to get paid. However their are a few good ones out there.

  2. dragonfly03246
    January 11th, 2009 at 09:27 | #2

    I currently do mystery shopping in my area and some of the pros are:
    – that it’s fun and rewarding, you get to get out of the house and make a little extra money on the side and you’re voice gets to the owner/operator.
    – If you’re a people-watcher then it’s perfect, 90% of the time you do secret shops and get to watch people and observe how they act and react to different scenarios and questions.
    - You also get to go places if your willing to put the cash up front. I’ve done a shop at an aquarium and it was great to get out of the house and have a little fun while “shopping”. I was even able to bring my husband. We ended up getting all of our money reimbursed and made a little extra.

    A few of the cons are:
    – it’s not about the money, you make a little extra but in order to make enough, you need to do shops each day. Some pay well $15-$25 and others pay aroud $5 or $8 per shop.
    – Sometimes there is a lot of paperwork. You need a good memory to be able to write things down you have observed. You also need a scanner to scan receipts and whatever else is needed.
    - You pay up front costs and then are reimbursed according to shop instructions. Most of the companies I contract for pay quickly (2-3 weeks). There are a couple, however that take a month or more.
    - You use your gas and are not reimbursed for it. You also have to file a 1099 for taxes if you make over $600 but on a side note, a lot of the gas and mileage can be deducted.

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