Part 1

I discovered Mystery Shopping when I was in my first year of college back in the 90's. Back then there were no computers to enter everything in and it was really a pain and not worth it. I never bothered again until over a year ago. I came across a website that made you pay to get information on mystery shopping and decided to do some Google searching to get the information for free. I was a SAHM with 1 child and another on the way. Extra money was something we could use for our new arrival. After hours of searching, filling out forms and writing short essays I finally found some great sites with some fun shopping assignments. Some I could even do with my daughter. Most assignments will clearly state that you can not bring anyone, especially children with you but others say it's OK as long as they are not a distraction. Sometimes you have to take someone with you, like to a restaurant shop. Each company is different in what they pay you, if you get reimbursed for an item and even if you get bonuses for completing them on a deadline. I have found that if you don't do the shop when promised and cancel, they will either drop you or drop your rating so it's harder to get shops assigned to you.

I've done some shops for things I was going to have done anyways, so why not get paid to do it, or get the service free, right? I needed new glasses really bad, but they are so expensive I kept putting it off. Until I came across a mystery shop to get an eye exam and buy prescription glasses. They paid $100!!! Plus you could use any coupons that were available. I looked at it as $100 off my glasses, which I needed to buy anyway. Another shop I did was for an oil change for a Honda at the dealership I usually go to. It was for a free oil change only, no fee, but that's OK, I needed the oil change anyways. Recently my husband and I went to have dinner at a local restaurant and were reimbursed for $25. We had to sit at the bar and eat off of the bar menu so it wasn't much more than $25 so it was worth it. Dinner with my husband, on someone else. I'll take that anytime.


Don't ever pay for a list mystery shopping companies. All this information can be found free on the web. I'm saving you the time to look but sharing with you what I've found. They don't all work all over the US, but you never know when something new will pop up.

Let me know if you have any questions about any of them. I will try my best to help you.

Here are some to start you off....

1. Ath Power - Send me your email and I will send you a referral.
2. Bare International
3. Beyond Hello - Send me your email and I will send you a referral.
4. Business Evaluation Services
5. California Marketing Specialists
6. Cirrus Marketing Consultants
7. Confero Inc
8. Franchise Compliance
9. Harris Teeter
   

That's about it for now, I will post more later in the week. Don't forget, email me or comment here if you have any questions at all!

Happy Shopping!

Part 2

More mystery shopping sites that are real that I've done work for and they do pay.

1. Intelli shop - I have done a couple of shops for them and have been paid.
   
2. ICCDS - This is one of my favorites to work for, they have fun shops. They at the beginning of every month for the month before.
   
3. Kern Scheduling - This company schedules for a few different mystery shopping companies so quite often there are a lot of shops to choose from.
   
4. Service Sleuth - I just did my first assignment with them that I got through Kern Scheduling.
   
5. Second To None - I've only done one shop for them but they paid and that's all that matters. There just isn't a big selection in my area.
6. National Shopping Service - I've done a few for this company, again, just very limited shops in my area. But they pay!

Check them out, there may be lots of shops in your area. Might even be somewhere you go all the time so why not get paid to do it.