How to Become a Paid Tester/Mystery Shopper
- Bunmi
- Mar 27
- 8 min read
I personally know someone who has been mystery shopping for over 10 years. Not only does he make spare cash, he gets to paid to eat in restaurants, try out products, and visit fun places like mini golf or movies.
Mystery shopping can be a great way to earn grocery money and is also a way to enjoy treats as a family at no cost to you. Your earnings increase based on how long you've been with the company, in many cases.
All you do in return for the company is share feedback. The average feedback form takes about 20-30 minutes to fill out, but there are jobs that are more intensive.
Mystery shopping has been a hot topic on the group page.
Here's what one anonymous mom said:
"Mystery shopping update for those interested. I’m posting anon begrudgingly because spammy DMs awaking my inner honey badger is not in my life plan today! Ahem.
Okay, so…I’ve been in this group since it was a little teeny baby group. Now it’s grown into a big angsty tween so I wanted to share a few things about mystery shopping for those group newbies that might be interested. I’ve done this for about six months now.
This is what I’ve learned about the job and the companies where I freelance.
1. Here are the basic skills it requires.
- Objective observation and reporting
- Customer service assessment and feedback
- Compliance and standards evaluation
- Data collection and analysis
- Timely and detailed reporting
That’s all fancy talk for being detail oriented. There are pages of details even for simple shops. You need to understand the job, memorize what’s needed, take mental notes/discreet photos, time things and successfully complete reports. It feels overwhelming in the beginning but once you have your feet under you, it’s easier.
2. In my experience, this is very much just play money and not enough work to pay my bills. Right now I freelance for about eight different shopping companies. Depending on the job, I make $9-$100/shop. For me, I use it primarily for getting free things and play money. For example, today I did two car wash shops. They each took about 45 minutes total with the drive, I made $30 and have two clean cars.
The $100 shops are few and far between but I’ve proven myself with that company so I can get more in the future. Today I saw a golf course shop that paid $350 but you had to pay for 2 rounds, lunch and a beverage on the course. That probably balances out but a fun, free golf day if you like that!
3. Each company has their perks and challenges. Some pay really quickly and others pay weeks later. Some have very detailed instructions and some do not. Some pay well and others don’t. Some require reports that take 5 minutes and some take 3 hours. You just need to do a few jobs for each company to see which ones you like best. Signing up with multiple companies is how I started.
Here are the companies I’ve tried and my thoughts:
•Mystery Shopping Service
My favorite company so far. High paying jobs. Good schedulers. Fast payment. I would only work for them if they had enough jobs for me.
•Presto Shopper app
Someone in this group told me about it and I love it. It combines the jobs of multiple companies and shows them all on a map. So if I’m running errands or waiting for a kid, I can check what’s around me and do a quick job. You have to be signed up with all of the companies but this is a nice consolidated, efficient way to find shops.
•Bestmark
Websites rave about this company being the end all but I have been underwhelmed. Maybe 1 or 2 jobs near me (compared to 25+ with other companies) at all times. I’ll get an email asking me to take a job and when I respond, it’s gone. Meh.
•Marketforce
This one is just okay. Their job selection is average (mostly fast food), low paying and one job I did didn’t even reimburse enough to cover what I was required to buy. I notified the scheduler because I thought it was a mistake. Nope! Not worth it.
•Sinclair Customer Metrics
Scmshoppers.com is another big one and I really appreciate how well they communicate with me. They are really dialed in and their details are good. Unfortunately, they don’t have a ton of jobs to offer regularly either. When they do, I snatch them up but in general they don’t have a lot (in CA anyway).
•iSecretShop app
Another app I use which combines different company shops. I find a lot of restaurant shops here, golf courses and phone shops. For example, you’d call a college requesting info and report on how the call went. Easy money. This app also has a bunch of other options for scanning projects (scanning 1900+ upc codes at .06/scan). Also, something like that feels like a slow death and is not worth my time but there are other valuable shops on that app.
•Amusement Advantage
I was super excited about this one because we have four young kids. The shops are amusement parks, movies, museums, aquariums, etc. Fun, right? Well…I quickly found out that the reports for these shops are 3-5 hours long. Some require a certain amount of hours at the location. There was one shop that was a slam dunk. 2 hours at the fun place, then a quick report. Easy! I requested the job and the scheduler told me I could have it, but only if I did this other job first. I looked at the details: SIX HOURS at the venue plus a 3-5 hr report plus an hour commute. It would have ended up like $5/hr. I wanted to tell the lady her own company needs to be mystery shopped because that is insanity. I still check occasionally but not often.
Fitness club shops, restaurants, retail stores, hardware stores, tire shops, valet service.
Pays $10-$25 or reimbursement for meals (around $50) on average or services (around $70)
You’ve got to be fast. Good shops are waitlisted quickly.
•Reality Based Group
Grocery store audits
Few opportunities overall but I keep trying.
A Customer’s Point of View
Transportation shops
I am doing one of these for the first time next month. Each leg of a bus, train or trolley is $25. You can also sign up for routes which are an entire loop of stops. I’ve seen many for $325 but you’re on the bus from 6am-4pm. Bring a tushy cushion!
If you’ve read this far, well done!
The moral of the story is that it’s time intensive, not a lot of money but has some nice perks and free stuff."
Sarah N. shared her experience:
"Mystery shopping update for those that were interested.
I started looking at companies a few weeks ago and this is what my experience has been so far.
Signing up was easy for all companies. I thought there would be a selection process but essentially, it’s just signing up. You sign a contract acknowledging that you are not a company employee but just a freelancer. They also have a confidentiality agreement. You are handling your own taxes and there are no benefits other than items you get reimbursed for.
Main things I’ve learned.
If you are looking for significant income, you need to work many jobs. Most of the shops (jobs) I’ve seen are a small payment ($5-$20 is common) and sometimes a reimbursement for what you’re required to purchase. Sometimes it’s a meal or a retail item. These shops aren’t worth it to me unless I’m already near that area. Driving for 30 minutes for a $12 shop doesn’t work for me.
Another company focuses on finding certain items, like an inventory check. They have the last known location and they need you to find the item. They want photos of the item and the matching UPC code. It’s like a treasure hunt but if you like that kind of stuff, it’s $5-$6.50 per item. Again, not a great use of my time but if I plan errands ahead, I might search quickly for something or make it a treasure hunt for my kids.
A few companies are much more communicative than others. Some jobs are definitely worth with my time. I did four shops last week and made $325 before taxes. This week I have a bank shop, a fast food place and a restaurant and will make about $50 plus a reimbursed dinner for our family.
You need to be a pretty detailed person and have good communication skills. For one shop, as an example, there are 8 pages of details. Things I need to look for, timing I need to note, conversation points, what I need to buy, cleanliness checkpoints, etc. And most shops don’t want you to take any notes so you have to memorize a lot of information. Then you need to factor in writing your detailed report with your findings. If you mess up or don’t follow the direction correctly, they don’t pay you.
You have a lot of freedom to work as much or as little as you like. If you like free stuff, this is for you. If you need a lot of income, it might be harder.
Here are the companies I’m signed up with, which I’ll list in order of my best experience with their staff and the most lucrative for the least amount of hours.
Primarily senior living, golf courses and hotels. Pay is $50-$100 per shop.
Sinclair customer metrics
Primarily banks, retail, services
Marketforce
Primarily fast food and retail
Restaurants, gas stations, Costco inventory shops
This is the “treasure hunt” app for finding “lost” inventory.
Bestmark
Primarily hotel shops. Just started with them and am underwhelmed by the lack of shops but I’m hopeful more will be posted.
I hope this helps!"
Desiree H. had some good advice:
"I did a few years back. The shops through Sassie were my favorite, but I only still have an account through Amusement Advantage. I’m not sure Sassie is still around. (Typically Sassie shops I made specific purchases at a grocery store plus interacted with employees from 3-5 departments, posed as someone interested in renting an apartment, or did dinner shops at specific restaurants.)
Make sure you’re not paying to access shops - that’s a red flag. I stopped because most of the shops I couldn’t take kids with me and my husband’s schedule became much less flexible. But there are some like AA that sends you to zoos and amusement parks and you can take people / family with you.
It paid less than the others and I felt the reports were much more intense and detailed, requiring many more interactions- however, it meant a free excursion for my family plus a little bit of extra pay for the shop / report. (Usually pay was $8-25 plus any required expenses that were reimbursed. If shops aren’t filled then there may be bonus pay offered.) If you’re looking for subsidized excursions it’s not a bad gig."
If you're looking for an easy way to earn some extra money or just have a fun night or day out with your family, this could be for you. Good luck!
This is a really interesting gig, have you heard of apartment mystery shopping? This woman has been doing it for 20+ years! Here is the website she mentioned:
Her tips: Look for the shops with good bonuses. You can make $100 with just the bonus. She does 4-5 shops in one batch. There are shops available all over the US.
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