Is it worth is to join Shadow Stoppers and pay?

No absolutely not!!! Most of us get plenty of work without spending money on certification. Although it seems that most shoppers in metroplolis areas get certified, because there is so much competion. I accidentally signed up with ShadowShopper and made my 99$ back in one day. But I mulitask, not just MS. So really it paid off, and you can get the ShadowShopper wanna be certification for free. Before you sign up and pay for anything, do the free stuff and see what kind of offers ya get.

Kristee, thank you for that information because I started to pay shadow shoppers today for a 90 day trial for now listen to this on the first page it said $9.99 for 90 days then when I clicked it said $19.99 and the next page said $39.99 for 90 days. I tried to send them an email to ask which was the right one because I wanted to try it for a very short time, and I cannot get in touch with them at all. They send me the job offers all of the time, but they do not let you really ready them and what is required. I have the Bronze which is FREE but that does not help at all also I have a Silver Certificate, and they do not seem to recognise that at all, and I do not know why because I have it posted on MSPA and when I fill out applications I always put it down but Shadow Shoppers does not seem to recognise it, and I assumed Silver Certification worked with any Scheduling Company or as long as you got it. Has anyone else had that problem? I am going to get the Gold, but I may as well get it through MSPA because we all know they are there to assist us. Please, if anyone knows about Shadow Shoppers and how they work, please let me know.

Shadow shoppers ACCOUNT levels are not the same as the MSPA Certification levels.

Shadow Shoppers is like a clearing house/scheduling company. They get notifications from all the mystery shopping companies, then whoever has an account with shadow shoppers will get notification. They're just like a pass-thru...

There are 3 account levels, bronze (free), silver (cheaper option) or gold (most expensive). This is not MSPA Certification.

I did not find them to be useful with the bronze membership. They basically send you teaser ads hoping that you'll buy the silver or gold level account access. You can find plenty of work for free with out the subscription--things on jobslinger.com or volitions website.

MSPA certification is a test that you take and shows to companies that you take shopping seriously. I am silver certified and did not find a big difference in how many shops and what kind of shops I got after getting the certification, but I figured that the $15 fee was worth a shot. And I only paid for the certification after I made enough money mystery shopping where I could consider it an investment in my business.

I don't know if it was worth it. But, I did get some shops through Shadow Shopper. But, I have file a very valid complaint already in the forum. It is really simular to the first subject message about the fee and how they want to trick you about the cost. They even went into my account and tried to withdraw the funds after I had agreed to 9.99/for 3 months as a gold member. I like you did see the different charges but, I went for the cheapest. I am new and I needed to make money not give it away. After I complained to them with emails they have not contacted me since.

where do I go to get certified, is there a specific place please let me know. thanks

As a bronze member I have discovered that the name of the company making job offers is often *in* the "ha ha, there are great shops out there, but we're not going to tell you how to get them cause you didn't pay" emails I receive. By googling the comapny name I was able to locate several companies who offer work in my area.

teresa

Companies like Shadow shopper is trying to take over the industry. I feel they are trying to create jobs for themselves. Were there's a will there is a way. But, I do think their method of accessing your personal account is not fair and honest. I do think they also need a middle man. Paypal would could be an intervention for companies as Shadow Shopper. Because who's to say how often they will change the website and change the cost per month per membership. The instabilty that Shadow Shopper has demostrated is mentally and emotionally upsetting. There was no one in the company that I could confide in to fix the problem. No one to say that it did happen. But, you can read your own emails and see that more than me had the same problem. This industry is not the money making industry it portrays. The pay is way below the cost of living and mileage or distance is not even a concern. I really believe the companies are getting a lot of money but the shoppers are getting cheated out of their work and skills. And some evaluators do not even realize that business do change. They expect the same report to be as the one before. I think the companies need to know a little if not more what the business is like and maybe fore play the shop before they deny anyone of their pay. I the shopper do not have any security with the companies evaluator's or the companies like shadow shopper who can take without giving.

I certainly agree Chicken that the middlemen here are an unnecessary expense. While a mystery shopping company may pay the same whether it is scheduled through an outside scheduler, a "service" such as Shadow Shopper or by a shopper just signing up for it on the company's job board, it does indicate that pay is pretty arbitrary because obviously outside schedulers and such do not work for free.

I don't know if these companies realize that they shoot themselves in the foot with their pay offers. While for the most part mystery shopping is unskilled work, there is competence that comes with experience. But folks who are competent and must feed a family cannot do it on mystery shopping money because it is low paying and erratic in availability. Most shoppers drop out within a few months because of disgust with low pay, slow pay, shop rejections and sometimes arbitrary behavior by the companies. As they "burn out", they tend to flake on jobs or just do enough to maybe get by. When the companies in turn get disgusted by shopper unreliability and send out tirades like the recent global email by Jeremie Roberts of Strategic Reflections, it only increases the gap between shoppers and companies. I don't know what their shops look like in other parts of the country, but in my area Strategic Reflections offers a $10 fee for a shop that cheap companies pay $15 for and more decent companies pay $20, $25 and $35, so of course he has problems finding shoppers and of course they are going to have little sense of loyalty to Strategic Reflections to get the job done.

I too joined shadowShoppers for a trial period. I found some of the very same shops they has listed bt doing a google search. I'm not a member anymore.

I joined shadow shopper for a 90 day stint. I think I'm going to let it expire after that. I was hoping to find those Cruise line shops they kept advertising. The emails are exactly the same as before. I don't see anything about Cruise Lines, ever. That's false advertisement if you ask me! Does anyone know who does the cruise line shops? I live in Florida, it would be easy for me to do some.

sorry I don't know anything about cruise shops, hope someone who has been in the business for a while will help
Devi

Mystery shopping is slow no matter what comp. u go through.I gone 2 or 3 comp. and they all say the same thing .there is no work.

Generally shops such as fine dining, upscale hotels, cruises and such go to experienced shoppers who have proved, based on less difficult jobs for the company, that they can perform them well. Any of us, any time we start with a new-to-us company is a "newbie" as far as that company is concerned. The companies that have this type of shop generally want narrative samples of your writing in their registration material. That narrative is likely to be descriptions of dining experiences (best and/or worst), service experiences (best and/or worst) and often a narrative of your experience as shoppers. If you apply to companies such as these with only a few months of shopping experience or narratives that are not well written and show that you understand the difference between subjective and objective comments, you are unlikely to get approved as a shopper with them. Most generally you get only one opportunity to sign up with a company, so if you have been rejected once based on writing or experience you are unlikely to get a second chance.

Get your feet wet, "pay your dues" and when you have matured as a shopper, then go for the whale shops.

I don't know anything about shadow shopper they are always emailing me I cannot give an intelligent answer on that company because I had no involvement with them.

The main companies that I get replies from for jobs is Bestmark and Certified. Also Nationwide which only send me jobs if I know someone 21-27 who can try to get carded at TGI Fridays.I guess I need to sign up for more since I am new at this. I signed up for the 43 companies from Jacob Jans and only hear from about 5 or 6.

You need to be proactive and go to THEIR websites and look at THEIR job boards. Not all companies email out to shoppers unless they are having difficulty filling jobs. Similarly most companies don't post their jobs on forums and such if they are not having difficulty filling them. This is one of the advantages of Jobslinger.com, it automatically posts EVERY job from many of the companies that post on SASSIE and it posts jobs from the job board at the MSPA and Volition and I believe a few other locations. But not every company subscribes to have their jobs posted on Jobslinger.com so there are many opportunities you could miss if you don't check each company's website. I still think, however, that Jobslinger.com is a super way to initially get started finding some companies that shop in your area.

Thanks, I will try tomorrow.

Cheryl

I have worked thru them I think there fine but there are companies thousands you never pay a fee to join go to walletboosters it sa afree list of mystery shopping companies there are thousands.and other work offers as well. sincerely esimons