what would you tell someone who wants to get started in this business? What do you do to get started without taking money out of your pocket?

I would tell them to read all the threads on this and other ms forums, and do a search on how to get started.
There's tons of good advice on these boards for those who are willing to look.

Good luck!

~Christina

how do I know which are scams and which are real? and how much money do I have to invest in shopping trips? How do I get paid and when?

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER pay anybody to get into mystery shopping! If they want YOU to pay THEM, odds are you will get ripped off. A "legitimate" ms company should pay YOU.

You can register using the SAME list of legitimate companies that they will charge you for ABSOLUTELY FREE (see ms company list here, at volition.com, walletboosters.com or several other places)!

Register with as many of them (there are some 500 or so out there) as you can and you will find some that have available shops in your area...and just because they don't have shops in your area right now, it doesn't mean that they won't have a shop later...and you'll already be in their database as an potoential shopper.

It's true that you MAY be required to "front" a few dollars ($1-$10 for
most "new" shoppers) to fulfill the shop requirements and/or in order to then use the receipt as "proof" that you were there and the time of your shop,but MOST ms Companies will reimburse you in your shop fee payment. How much you have to "front" depends on the type of shops you take, how many shops you take and what they require you (if anything) to buy.

When you first start out, put ALL the payments into a "separate" mystery shopping fund and use THIS money to meet any future purchase requirements. This way, you're using ms money to pay for ms purchases and, especially as the balance grows, it will take NO money out of your pocket to do the shops.

So, in essence, apply, apply, apply, read, read, read (these forums and any other information you can find about mystery shopping) and learn, learn, learn.

I went to volition.com, where you will find all the mystery shopping companies from A to Z who do not charge you a fee for the addresses. Apply to as many as you can. I was informed when I started that one out of twenty companies I apply to will have something in my area. There are too many companies that do not charge for Your services, so never pay to mystery shop.
I found this site very helpful. Good Luck

So how and who do I register with? What I don't want is to end up taking surveys and having to buy some of the offers.

The companies listed here and with volition don't do anything like that. You're safe in giving them a chance.

Why is it that companies that wants you to spend money on a business before you know it would work or not? How do I know if things like this is not a scam. If companies like this wants people that bad, they should allow them earn the money before charging them for doing a buisness. I hope you understand what I'm saying.

Do i understand thatu have to be a gold, silver or bronze member in order to join ur company. Please explain this to me. I would like to join, but confused at what I have to do first. Thank-you very much for your time. Debra V.

You do not have to pay to be a shopper (except for shops that are reimbursement, in which you buy something and get paid back)

Go to the list of mystery shopping companies on this site, and at Volition. Sign up for all of them except for the ones who ask for money to join.

You will then begin to recieve offers for shops.

~Christina

Do you want to do it the easy and quick way, or the hard way.

I will tell you the easy way, two steps and I promise you will make hundreds of dollars the first pay period. That is if you are willing to take what you are given and work at it. I remember staying up to 3 in the morning, ready the materials I was sent. (Now I stay up until 3 in the morning writing reports.)

Step 1: Get Jacob's list (it is you, Jacob that has the list?), and sit and watch TV, and fill out every site that is still alive. Think of this like a treasure hunt, because shopping companies love to hide their sign up links. I am on 50 lists, and I still take a while to do a new one. Find other lists, don't pay money for them. (Exception later.)

Want to make this easier? Get the free version of Roboform. You will buy it later, when it gets full and freaks out and fills out your letter to your mother. But for now, the free version will do.

Step 2: Join Shadow Shopper (everyone stop groaning). This is the fast versus painstaking part. You will learn a lot there. They have an intro rate for the first month; I think it is $10; go for the gold, I tried silver and they still cover up the good stuff. Now you have to WORK Shadow Shopper, not just sit and wait (why do people think that!), Email, email,email....but you will work shopping if you do it. The price for SS zooms after the first month; make sure you go into your account and prevent renewal, if that is what you choose. Some people love getting shops sent to them. They promise higher paying shops, and I myself am considering going back, and I make 4 figures a month. Any experienced shoppers have a comment on that? (My email is gentlesky0@yahoo.com).

Love what you do,
Beth

The only way to really keep busy is to apply,apply, apply to every company you can on Jacobs list and Volition like the others have said. I am signed up with over 100 companies and still go in when I get time and sign up with more. I live in a very remote location and a lot of the companies have nothing in my area so I am always looking for companies I can get shops from. I have to drive quite a few miles for shops so when I go I want to have a full schedule for the day. If I leave early in the morning and work all day I have done as many as 34 shops in one day but I worked for 15 hours straight to do it. I can put on about 400-500 miles in a day so usually try to get a few gas stations also along my routes. They don't usually pay much but they do reimburse me for the gas I have to put in my car.

Hi, everyone!

I just posted this elsewhere.

Get a small limit credit card (500 should do), and DON'T use it for anything but shopping. It gives you a way to keep track (as in dining) and doesn't take money out of your pocket.

If you can't get a card because of your credit, call the Small Business Administration. It would help here if you had business cards made (Vista Prints does them for postage). They will help you.

Beth -

Based on your posts here, I think you would make a good Editor. But, I can not figure out WHY you would want the pressures and aggravations of being a Scheduler?!?

Because, silly me, I still think there might be an easier way to skin a rabbit. I spent 25 years as a mediator between battling spouses, I am not a kid, but I am a blonde (throws them off track, ohhhhh, I am having a blonde day..... like the Devil wears Prada), and I speak the same way I write.

If not, it will make a great chapter in the book I am going to write about this whole experience.

The name: Totally Confidential

Does anyone work for the survery companies? I'm trying to weed out all those who will "sell" or "give" my info to a third party and i don't wamt that. That resulted in an avalance of unwanted emails.

How about survey companies. They usually do the "third" party also but I've sound several who do not share info. Any suggestions? Thanks! I'm so tired my eyes are weighted down.

If you read your contract, you will know which companies guarantee your privacy. The contract is binding on both parties.

I have found that all the legitimate MS companies are discreet. But there is a catch. If you break your side of the contract, by revealing yourself, all bets are off.

If you are working, you have agreed to this.

Fay-

Are you looking for Mystery Shopping companies or wondering about on-line Survey/Research companies?

Fay, I have not found a way to avoid the emails; yahoo catches most of them, and every morning, over my coffee, I have a deleting party. I don't even open them... takes about 3 minutes. Occasionally I will do some web gymnastics, and go in and unsub, but I am not sure that that doesn't make them send two instead of one.

I guess its not working too well, because I am up to 1000 unread messages.

Anyone had better luck?

Beth,

the best way I've found to get rid of all that junk is to simply get a new email address. Works wonders. For a few weeks you'll need to check them both, and notify the important people of your new email...But after that you're in the clear. (With a clear inbox to-boot.)

Jacob

I did that, Jacob. Now I have two email addresses with 1000 unread letters. Both going strong.

(wry grin)

Beth

I wish I had remembered to do this before.

Stephanie, I honestly don't know. I was looking at paid surveys, but most of them leave you cold. And then I saw Shadow Shopper, and they made it so easy. Next thing you know, some guy starts sending me how tos about it, and lists of shops. I paid $7 to someone who promised to sign me up on 50 websites, and they were good to their word, because I occasionally still get a new shop company that will contact me, that I never signed up for; the tell tale sign is that the profile is not well filled out, so I fix that and I have a new patron. I did 14 valet shops in two weeks, from a company I had never heard of (and who is well loved for their good and timely pay).

Really, how many bed shops can you do before you fall asleep (I still do them, they pay well, but one week I did seven zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.) So you always need new companies.

The truth is, Stephanie, that I don't ever remember DECIDING to do shopping. It just sort of happen.

Am I the only one with brain loss?

Candy-

I just caught your post from a few days ago about "why" you had to "front" any money for the purchase requirement.

The reason they want YOU to spend it first and then reimburse you is two fold and very simple:

1) They have no to guarantee that you will actually do the shop, so they don't want to advance thousands of shoppers across the country any money that they can't guarantee will be spent for what it is supposed to be spent on.

2) They don't know how much your actual reimbursement will be. Let's say they advance you a dollar but you only spend sixty cents. They are "out" forty cents. I know that this doesn't sound like much, but when you consider that they may have about 200,000 shoppers (more or less), that forty cents becomes $80,000 to the company if, on average, they ALL did it...even if they only had 100,000 shoppers, it would still be $40,000. And THAT'S only for one round of shops!

I hope that sheds some light on the matter for you.

Mystery Shopping may not be for everyone, but it is a very REAL business today and there are MANY people who earn money doing it either part-time or as a full-time job.

The nasty side of the coin is this: When part of your payment is money spent (all of it, typically, with restaurant shops) the client's are getting a steal. What do you think it really costs them to feed you? Pennies on the dollar. So when I see a purchase only reimbursement, sneaky things, I ask myself, "Would I spend money at this store?"

Last year, there was a plentiful shop on CRI that paid fairly well, if you waited until the end of the month. It had a $1 purchase to prove you were there. Nothing costs $1 anymore; the one dollar bill is going the way of the buffalo. They are making a sale of something that most of us don't need, and it finances their shopper services.

Hmmm. Not on my dime.

So I stopped thinking cheap and thought smart. What do you always need? Not a floatation device. I did probably a dozen of these shops, and always bought the same thing.

Batteries. They were more expensive that Costco, but the dollar reimbursement did to some good, after all.