Mystery Shopping Q&A

I received an email from a reader who had some questions after reading my post about SecretShopper.com.  For the benefit of other readers who may have the same questions, I’m posting the email and my reply:

I just recently applied to be a secret shopper on the same
website you did and I am debating whether it’s worth the while.  You
said that you only received $23 from the company, if they made you buy
something from the store did they pay for it? Also I am concerned
about the fact that i gave them my SSN, probably not a good idea.  If
you could email me back at your convenience I would really appreciate
it.  Thank you!

T.

Here’s my reply:

T,

I only received $23 from the SecretShopper.com, because I only completed one job for them.  When you sign up as a mystery shopper, you decide what jobs you will take – there is no minimum workload.

I did have to buy a minimum of $11 worth of merchandise.  This job did not reimburse me for the purchase – it came out of the $23 they paid me.  Every job is different – some reimburse you for merchandise, others pay you a flat fee.  Some do both.  The terms of each job should be available to read before you agree to it.

I think your SSN is safe with Secret Shopper.  I checked them out thorougly before giving them mine.  They ask for it in case you make more than $600 with them, so they can file the appropriate tax documents.  Some companies ask for it up front, others wait until you earn a certain amount.

It’s generally not a good idea to give your Social Security Number out over the internet, but it is sometimes necessary when you are getting paid for something.  The key is to make sure a company is legitimate before giving them any personal information.  Here’s a post I wrote about avoiding online scams.

J.

I haven’t spent much time on mystery shopping since that first job.  I’ve earned some money from both mystery shopping and surveys, but neither one pays enough for me to make it a priority.  For that reason, I probably won’t write any more posts about mystery shopping or paid surveys.  I will report on anything else I find that proves profitable.

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© 2008, Jonathan Johnson. All rights reserved.