There are a lot of people that want to try mystery shopping. Perhaps they heard that there was a lot of money to be made once you were in the system or they feel that they just want to get even with some people who get bad service. The fact is, there are a lot of misconceptions out there about what exactly is expected from a mystery shopper. This article will help to clear up some of those misunderstandings.



If I've heard it once, I've heard it a hundred times. Someone has a bad experience at a store because of a rude employee and they just wished that they could be a mystery shopper. The reality of being a mystery shopper is much different, however. In the first place, you can not randomly walk into a store and evaluate the employees. You will be given specific assignments that you will have to follow, each of those assignments having their own set of instructions. At times, you will be required to ask specific questions of the employees in order to test their response. At times, however, you will not be asked to have any real employee interaction and at other times you can not name the person that gave you service, either good or bad.

The second thing is that many people think that they will be able to make some easy money. That is also not true. Sure, there is a lot of money to be made and it is certainly fun, but it is by no means easy to accomplish. Being successful with secret shopping is a lot of work and you are going to have to be organized and busy with the work in order for it to make you any real money. Most of the people who get started with mystery shopping simply enjoy having a night out on the town or enjoying a movie for free. At times you may be offered a special job directly that will pay additional funds. These jobs will either pay more money or will be in exchange for such things as a dinner at an upscale restaurant.

Many people that are interested in getting into some mystery shopping also think that they can just go anywhere that they want to go. Each mystery shopping network offers a variety of places to shop and very few of those networks have any crossover businesses. In order to have the widest variety of places to secret shop, you will need to join several networks. Some of these networks will offer places that you will want to frequent, others will be limited but may help to fill some blank spaces in your schedule.

All in all, mystery shopping offers you many opportunities. Revenge on bad service just happens to not be one of them. What you will get is an ability to make some extra money, go out to dinner and to the movies for free and have some fun along the way.