Hello everyone! This mystery shopping seems like a fun and exciting addition to anyone's life. After a few days research, I decided to try it myself

I've signed up with a few online "Mystery shopping" websites (The free ones of course, I'm no fool to pay for a "Only $39.00 for a lifetime membership for mystery shopping training and services, BUT WAIT IF YOU ORDER NOW.." I'll save you the rest )

My only problem is.. I live in a "small" town of about 40,000 In British Columbia (Penticton) And a close drive to a town of about 180,000 (Kelowna) and I can't seem to find any local listings for these areas. I'm stumped now for my next step. Surely there has got to be listings in this area? Can anyone help me on where to look to find them?

Thanks!!

Are signed up with all of the Canadian companies?

Hi Colt2 and welcome!

I too am a newbie to mystery shopping. When I first started I had only signed up with about fifteen companies. I was able to get some shops but I found that by signing up with even more companies, I found more opportunities.

What works for me is to sign up with one or two new companies every couple of days. I have a Word document with the log in links for all my MSCs, along with the user name and password if they are "odd" ones that the company assigned to me. Some people use an Excel spreadsheet for this instead, but I am learning Excel now and am not ready yet for that.

The top several MSCs on my Word document are companies I work with frequently. I check their job boards every day.

The next section is comprised of companies I have worked with but not as often. I check if I have time, but don't worry too much if I can't check on any particular day.

The following section is made up of companies that have jobs in my area but that I have not worked with yet.

The last section is everyone else... those I have't worked with and that rarely, if ever, have shops in my area. Those are mostly ones I signed up with in the beginning before I knew what I was doing.

I also have a different Word document entitled "Don't sign up with these!" Since I learned what a good idea it is, I now research companies before signing up with them. If they don't pay, I don't sign up! LOL!

My advice would be the same as most folks here... sign up with as many MSCs (Mystery Shopping Companies or Mystery Shopping Providers) as you can. You'll find information on companies at the very bottom of this web page.

Good luck, colt2!

Let me suggest you sign up with Jobslinger.com--not the paid JobslingerPlus but just the regular free Jobslinger.com. This allows you to enter your location and see what shops are in a given radius from you. Most of the jobs you see have likely been taken, but it lets you know what companies have recently shopped in your area because they are slow to take down posts once the jobs have been filled. Those are the companies you want to focus on signing up with first and watch their job boards.

Jobslinger pulls from the companies that use the SASSIE software for reporting, from the job board at Volition.com and from the MSPA job board. There will be companies that use other software, don't post work at Volition or at the MSPA, so it is not a full list of work by far and thus does not eliminate the need to sign up with other companies.

Thanks for all the help everyone. I signed up for the Jobslinger and that worked perfect! Thanks Flash

Hi everyone my name is lisa and iv just registered and im not sure what this is all about .Were are these companies and how do we find them, and what do we have to do to sign up.do we go to the stores or do we do this online im confused hepl!!!!!!

Hello Lisatyler - Lucky you, you found this board. At the bottom of every page you will see a link to a list of mystery shopping companies. You need to go the website of a company and sign up there. Then you can sign up for jobs with that company. You will get instructions, and you will do your reports on line. You will be paid after your report is accepted, and most shops will pay $8.00 to $15.00.

No reputable company will send you a check ahead of time or pay you ahead of time. You do not have to pay any money to sign up with the companies or get jobs. You sign up, you take assignments, you do the jobs, you make the reports, and you get paid. Eventually. Some of the companies have a long pay cycle and its better to not get excited about pay day. It gets here when it gets here.

Before you shop for a company, you can do a search on this board to find out what other shoppers have to say about the company. Most companies have some dissatisfied shoppers and a lot of happy shoppers. If you find a company with NO happy shoppers defending the company, you might want to shy away until you know more.

Some good major companies for you to start out with are Corporate Research, Maritz, Bare, and Market Force. Be aware that Corporate Research will post all their jobs at initial low fees, and the fees will be increased throughout the month until someone picks up the jobs.

I'm going to suggest you sign up for one job and do it. Then sign up for another one and do it. After you get comfortable, you can start signing up for multiple jobs in one day. Keep reading this forum. All you need to know is here. If you find a poster putting out the kind of information you want, you can click on the poster's name and it will take you to a place you can read all posts by that person.

ok thank you for that,now withthat all been said i just got my frist job sheet with about 50 little job or thing to do and all of them require me giving out my presonal info for things like inssurencse quotes appiling for attending school i have to give them my phone witch they will be for sure caling me back is this right

That is NOT a mystery shop. That is affiliate marketing and I promise you that you will regret having gotten snagged into it. It may not be an outright scam but it is abusive and you will be hounded by all of the 'free trial offer' and quotes companies you sign up for by phone because you now have an 'existing relationship' that bypasses any Do Not Call registry of your phone. RUN RUN RUN RUN. Historically once you have done your first 50 you will need to do another 50 and another and another before you will get paid.

Lisatyler - I don't know exactly what you have but a job sheet with 50 things listed requiring you to give out personal information is not right. That sounds like one of those survey scams rather than a mystery shopping job. Please apply to Corporate Research, Market Force, Bare, or Market Force and you will see how the application process to mystery shop works. If you don't have a specific mystery shop to perform and report after which you will be paid, it is in no way a mystery shop. You don't do mystery shops on line.

swell this lady is jennifer from mystery shopper she is how i found youshe told me to come and start by reading all the treads just like you said todo. so she and this is a scam or what. now im not sure what the hell to do. this sounded like it would be fun thing to do.where do i go from here.

You stop asking aimless questions and start to read what's available on the forum so you can decide where you want to go from here. It takes a lot of work. There's a lot to read so you can understand what to do. Then you will have to apply with companies, provide your SS# and personal information, and sign a confidentiality agreement in order to request assignments. If you are given any assignments, you will perform the assignments according to written instructions and then you need to write reports using excellent spelling and grammar.

Your repeated clueless posts make it sound like you are not willing to put in the time or effort and the spelling and grammar in your posts makes me believe you may not have the writing skills necessary to succeed in mystery shopping.

Lisa,

I tried to help you through Private Messaging (PM's). It sounds like you do not know how to use a computer very well, and your forum skills are limited. (It may not be true, but I am judging based on your posts and the PM in ALL CAPS that I received.)

I have deconstructed your post here and replied to you.

In the future, when you post:

1. Complete and correct sentences please.

2. Grammar, spelling, punctuation will help US to understand what it is you are trying to find out. If you cannot complete your thoughts correctly on a forum - how are we supposed to help you? ALSO - keep in mind, WRITING SKILLS are very important on surveys/reports. Mystery Shopping Companies will not want you working for them - if you cannot write well.

3. SEE BELOW for my responses.


lisatyler6371 Wrote:

YOU Wrote: > swell this lady is jennifer from mystery shopper
> she is how i found youshe told me to come and
> start by reading all the treads just like you said
> todo.


MY Response: Please re-write the above. Can you not see how it makes absolutely no sense? From what I can understand: (a) Who is Jennifer? Can you be more specific? What is her Signature Line in her email? What company does she work for?

MY Response: This is a FORUM. A forum is a place where people gather to post questions and answers, to chat about "stuff", to make friends, learn, etc. This is NOT a "COMPANY".


YOU Wrote: >so she and this is a scam or what.

MY Response: Sounds like "Jennifer" is sending you on a Scam Hunt. Yup - you guessed correctly. She is trying to scam you - or, scroll back up to see what Flash wrote about the email:

Jennifer's "jobs" = Affiliated Marketing = NIGHTMARE = RUN Far Away!!


YOU Wrote: >now im not sure what the hell to do.

MY Response:

1. You ignore "Jennifer".
2. You put her email address as SPAM.
3. You immediately cease all communication with this "Jennifer". Or, if you were more internet savvy, and knew how to handle spammers - I would tell you to email her back and play games. However, from the way you are posting here - I hate to say it, but it sounds like this is not a good idea. (and just so you don't think/feel I am picking on you - my husband would be told the exact same thing. He would fall for this, and he would not know how to handle a scammer/spammer. I do, I have, and I find it fun to whittle away boredom).


YOU Wrote: >this sounded like it would be fun thing to do.where do i go from here.

MY Response:

1. Mystery Shopping IS a fun thing to do. BUT:

---> You are NOT *listening*!! You continue to write about some email you received about some 50 jobs and personal information. We have advised you several times that this is a scam, or, as Flash said, it sounds like marketing affiliation traps or survey traps. You are hanging on to "Jennifer's Email" like it is a pot of gold. Delete it, ignore it, or set yourself up to be bombarded with marketing surveys that pay 10 cents per survey if that - if EVER.


2. You clean up your posts. Going to beat a dead horse here - but clean up the grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and start writing coherent sentences. In order to be a successful shopper, you MUST have fairly decent writing skills. Thus far, your posts are just ramblings and make little sense.


3. You start READING. You go to the "NEW MYSTERY SHOPPERS FORUM" - scroll down to the bottom of this page and it's the 4th Forum Link under "GO TO FORUM". Click on that link. Then, at the top of the page are what is called "STICKY THREADS". Start with the first one, click on that thread title. READ through the thread. Read it again. 100% understand? Read it again. Rinse and repeat this process with ALL of those sticky threads.

When I first became a shopper in October 2011 - I spent 3-4 days just READING through pages and pages of information so I had a better understanding.



*Edited to add more info**



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/29/2012 02:12AM by r@inyDayZ3.