It seems a lot of people like ShadowShopper.com -- Which is interesting because one of the maxims of mystery shopping is "never pay for a mystery shopping job." So, lets settle this once and for all...

For those of you who have used ShadowShopper, was it worth it? Why or why not? Is itsite the one place where you actually should pay to shop? What do you think?

Jacob

I have been with shadow shopper for a long time and have received many assignments as well as referals to other mystery shopping companies.

I paid $29.00 to join the Shadow Shopper and never got 1 assignment. I this it's a rip-off

I joined Shadow Shopper for the second time because I saw what they did for me the first time. Yes, you can get jobs without them, but it wasn't enough to keep me busy. I don't want to spend all my time looking for a job, I want to be working them. They helped me get a lot more than I could have got on my own. I joined them to find out what companies really did have jobs in my area. I don't think you have to stay with them forever, but it's a good thing to do for awhile till you find out which companies have jobs in your area. I joined another company for 1 day, only to find out that all they did for you was show you the list of companies. They didn't send you jobs like Shadow Shopper does. I got my money back that day.

I would not pay to get jobs that's defeating the purpose. If you figure out which companies are with Shadow Shopper's or any other company which charges you for the service you can go to the companies site and sign up free of charge, it may take you awhile to fill out the questionaires but there are also help where software remembers your information and will save you a lot of time filling in the blanks to get registered.

I joined Shadow shopper for the 30 day free trial and I got allot of repsonses. What I did was I filed with every company that sent me emails. That gave me way more than enough contacts for mystery shopping. Once you sign up with so many companies you don't need Shadow Shopper, so I would advise taking the free trial but definitely not paying for it.

Show me the jobs FOR FREE and I will believe you!

When I log into a job, it says only GOLD packages can view? What kind of stuff is that?

I have been contacted about MANY jobs, however I would have to PAY to see the information? WHICH IS IT?

I am a Executive level employee and I am not about to send money to a "maybe" I will profit scheme...the Companies already pay you for OUR services, why do you need to get paid twice?

Colleen Racine-Bryan

I recently join shadowShopper and did not receive any job offers because I was not a paid member, so I paid for a 30 day trial and I still have not received any jobs although I have sent in a resume and BIO for atleast 3 jobs that I would be outstanding for so I'm not very please and my trial run is over at the end of the month.

ShadowShopper is a scam! You are promised all these jobs in your area, but you can't see what they are until you pay. What if it is one job, once every three months? That is not worth buying a membership. There are plenty of free job boards that allow you to find jobs with many companies. You just have to invest some time.

whether its free or payed for shopping.you never get one in your city
or town.



date 12 12 06 at 7:35 p m

I love Shawdow Shopper it was worth every penny for me. I live in the Washington DC area, and I receive more jobs than I can handle. I even signed up for the priority listing for an extra 24 dollars for life plus 99 dollars for a gold yearly membership paid for itself in one month.

I live in the smallest of Montana's seven major "cities." I struggled for months signing up for every Mystery Shopping group on Yahoo and Google, as well as about 50 different companies that I stumbled across. The majority of these sources only handle assignments for New England and Southern states. It was so disheartening to see my e-mail full of available jobs, but none for my area. Even when I would find a company that said they had assignments in Montana, they would be 100-250 miles away with no travel pay. So when I came across ShadowShopper, I gave the free trial a try. I was amazed! They sent me jobs that were specifically for my area. I signed with about 14 companies through them that I am still with today. I paid for a gold membership for 30 days and expanded to merchandising as well. I received one regular assignment that is five hours every two weeks and pays me $30/hr. I let the first membership laps and went on my own again for another nine months. I am now back with ShadowShopper and have assignments with new companies that I had not found before. To me it is very much worth paying for their service. In big cities and states where assignments are abundant, you would not need them. But in rural, small population areas, where there are few chain stores yet, they are worth their weight in gold!

I get plenty of work without having to pay for shadowshopper. In fact, I belong to shadow shopper in a non paying membership(which is a joke). However I get a ton of emails from them and some of those emails are from companies that I do shops for.
I do about 8 shops a week but I could do more if I wanted and I pay out nothing.

Shadow Shoppers just ripped me off for $100.00 because I did not check a box stating that I no longer wanted to be on their list after paying the first $9.99. I have three months left, I told them to keep it. I will never use them again and I am going to try to get my money back. Also I applied for many, but did not get one job in over 40 days.

I love ShadowShoppers. I have been with them for about six months now and I have landed a nice permanent part time merchandising job at a major retail store. The pay is nice and close to home. I also do small merchandising jobs for other companies as they come up. I live in a rule area and not a lot of jobs around this area. I also have contracted to do demos for other companies. I have gotten friends to use ShadowShoppers and they get a lot of jobs also. You have to be ambushes and find out what company is looking for someone and apply directly to their company. Just like with any job, if you want it you have to go get it. ShadowShoppers lets you know who is looking and for what, you have to go get the job. Just because you buy a new car you can't expect it to drive itself. I'm getting ready to renew for a year. I get so many job offers that I try to give them to other people. My friends are thankful for the opportunity to get lots of fun jobs also.

whether its free or payed for shopping.you never get one in your city
or town.



date 12 12 06 at 7:35 p m

I love shadowshopper! I am a bronze member and I pay nothing, I don't have access to all the details of the jobs in my area, but I do get a lot of schedulars who see my profile and give me a call. I get at least one call a week from a schedular needing some work done, and work for some good companys.

I signed up with ShadowShopper for the free trial and was frustrated by not being able to see the whole message in the emails...you have to go to the Gold membership for that. However, I was able to get some company names which seemed to have jobs available in my area. I live in rural AZ so that is not easy!
Because I had included my phone number, one company actually called me about a job that was very difficult for them to place, which really launched my mystery shopping career!

I would not pay for this information, however. Jacob Jans' emails have been a big help in finding new jobs!

Wow,
So many responses to shadow shopper. I believe that it is a good jumping-off place, but if you are cheap you won't want to pay. If you get a job from them it pays to continue the service-that makes sense (like a temp agency-they place you, you pay). Some might consider that being a mystery shopper also includes handing in an application in which you are thought to be positive or not and if you will be an asset to their company. If you can't spell worth anything maybe mystery shopping and reports aren't for you. This seems clear to me anyway, and I liked using Shadow Shopper. I read everything to make sure I knew what I was getting into, after I landed one job that paid well (through Shadow Shoppers) I paid into it and got more jobs, like the girl above said specifically targetting my area. I don't pay for it now because I have other jobs. I also have applied to many jobs on my own, but nothing got responses like Shadow Shopper. If the person looking for you is there why not go to them.

I joined shadow shoppers and I made the fee every month plus more through them. I did not renew my membership with them because I have gotten more then enough jobs thru them to keep me busy as I signed up with the individual companies that were with them. It was well worth the money spent.

I have been a mystery shopper.merchandiser for 12 years and never paid a company to receive job offers. I have a full time day job and consider mystery shopping my 2nd full time job; I always received more offers than I could handle and have always turned down a lot of jobs. I joined Shadow Shoppers for $99 and it paid for itself the first month. I receive approximately 300 or more offers every week; you can pick and choose whatever you want. I live in an area with a lot of job opportunity and work every day if I want to. It is very lucrative for me, as I think of Shadow Shopper as the people who do all the leg work and I just take whatever jobs I want; they already have your resume that companies can read before they contact you; it's very easy and convenient in my case; I've heard from companies I never heard of, even through Volition. In my case, I have only good things to say about Shadow Shopper. If you live in a rural area, you won't get the job offers people get who live in a city; it's just common sense.

I too tried the free trial and found that you really couldn't see any of the jobs unless you payed. With this in mind I payed for a membership. I never got an assignment in the time I was with them. I think that they are a scam and I would never again pay for a Mystery Shopping postion.

I really don't like the idea that say that I have to pay money to get the job. And that you have to be a gold member in order to see the good jobs. I think the companies are a scam and they need to stop taking your money when they know it is for the wrong thing.And I know that around the holidays they need shadowshoppers but they are not using any one.

I am a bronze member. I currently use the service to see what type and number of jobs they post in my area. I also look at which shopping company they are posting for. Most of these, I am already enrolled with. When I see one I do not recognize, I track it down and enroll. It is frustrating to not get all the details of the job. It is also a good resource to see what is out there, before you pay. I am undecided about paying for a membership at this point. However, it seems like the more contacts you have, the more jobs you get. I have been contacted by three agencies in the last week, all locating me through shadowshopper - I guess even free memberships pay off...

you say your program is free but you can only get jobs if you are a gold or silver member. so how does it make your program free?

Two years ago I enrolled in Shadow Shopper for a one year membership. Most of the jobs that were offered were jobs from companies that I was already working for. I have a network of friends that often send me links to other companies that I can enroll with for free. I do not feel that paying for Shadow Shopper is beneficial. I live in a rural area and I posted a city zip code and still the companies were not any that I hadn't been aware of.

On another note.
One thing though to keep in mind. If you live in a rural area and have to drive a distance to shop, you need to weigh whether the drive, mileage, gas and wear and tear on the car and even your time make it worthwhile for the money you receive. It's fun and simple to do, but then there is the additional uploads and paperwork when you get home. Factor all of that, and unless you are doing several jobs a day and many each week, I think you just about work for nothing.

I have never paid to join Shadow Shoppers and will not. I have signed up with about 10 - 12 different companies for free, and have had all the work I can handle. They send me the offers, I do not have to go looking for them. If anyone is interested, Corporate Research International is one of the companies I shop for quite often. There are many other companies I do work for also. I do not have to pay to get the opportunities I have been given.

I have been shopping since March of 2006, and after a slow start, I now have more jobs than I can handle. As much as I hate to do it, I have to turn down quite a few.

I have never paid a cent for any of my jobs, and I still don't think it is necessary. I tried Shadow Shopper for free, and as was mentioned before, I was never allowed access to any of the job lists. What kind of "Trial Membership" is that?

It's true, I had to fill out a lot of applications, but I didn't do all of them at one time and I did use RoboForm. However, it has been worth it because I have several who contact me regularly and I could work every day if I chose to, without paying for the privilege.

I signed up for the free membership from Shadow Shopper. I do not think that it would be worth it to pay. I receive tons of emails everyday from Shadowshopper. It actually gets annoying because I can't see any of the details. However, I think that some of the jobs are for companies that I am already signed up with. I get the email notifications from the companies I am with and then notice that the heading is the same on the shadow shopper emails I get. I live in a suburb of one of the largest cities in the state. I do not feel that driving into the city is beneficial for the price most jobs pay. I stick to my area. I use to get a lot of jobs through Corporate Research International, mysteryshops.com, but I no longer get the quantity that I used to get. For that company, you need to get online and check the job boards all the time. There are too many shoppers in my area. Any jobs that are available with any company go very quickly. Now, most of my shopping is done with Bestmark. After I signed up with them, I did not get contacted for a long time. One day I got a call from the scheduler for my area. She wanted me for a job that is hard to fill. Now, I am on the list. I get notified about all of the jobs in my area. I just have to be quick enough with my responses to get the good ones. Anyway, I think that there are plenty of free sites out there. You just have to find the right ones for your area. There have been numerous links in the emails from Jacob Jans. I wouldn't pay for shadowshopper.

I paid $90.00, and I didn't receive any jobs for my community. What a big rip off.
Be nice if someone could explain this one to me.