mystery internet shopper

[wbarnes8723]

Has anyone done this. Does anyone know if its legit? They don't ask for any money and claim to give you the money you will need beforehand.

[sgontu]

Not all are legit and its very easy to get cheated and when there is big money claims on internet, stay away from it.

I ll tell you how the cheating can happen.

You will be sent a 200$ check to shop something and the items say cost you only 50$ and you think you are part of their program already:)

Then they ask you to do a western union transfer of the remaining money to some other participant with a legit address.

They ll also tell you they ll send you a separate check for participating.

Since you already have the check with you for 200 , you kind of believe them and do that transfer of 150$ to someone.

You also not tend to say no since its their money they are asking you to transfer.

And within a week your original check will get bounced from your bank where you deposited it.

And you have no one to contact and the account you transferred money through western union never existed and you cant track a western union money transfer once done.

Read it on the internet.

I d definitely join if some of the existing survey companies start up a mystery shoppe but not something like a mysteryshopping.com

be aware my dear friends, The internet has bought in all possibilities - good and bad.

[wbarnes8723]

it says they do everything through paypal

[sgontu]

What you are looking at might be legit or might be not.

Please wait if some other members have more inputs.

[idylatoo]

It is impossible to know if the site you are looking at is legit without knowing exactly what site it is.

Most mystery shopping places do not pay too much. You mostly get reimbursed for small purchases and perhaps a small meal at a restaurant if you're lucky. Most of the offers I've gotten are for places I don't need to shop and thus are not worth my time. The offers/jobs that you get vary widely by location - you could be in an area with lots of jobs or with little to none at all.

Generally you have to pay out of pocket first then submit a copy of your receipt along with a report and/or fill out a survey about your experience. Sometimes you have to do all three. This is another reason I don't do jobs for stores I don't normally shop at - it's a lot of trouble and if they aren't happy with your report/survey responses they might not pay you.

I view it a lot like getting free samples online - why send away for something that you don't use or don't need? Then you're stuck with more clutter that you have to either waste and throw away or otherwise deal with.

Like sgontu said, there are a lot of scams out there for mystery shopping. The scams are usually similar to survey site scams - a lot of sites tell you to PAY before they'll give you jobs. Much like survey sites, you don't need to pay a thing to get the legitimate jobs. If you discovered this site in your email, chances are it's a scam.

There are several legitimate sites out there, but I cannot tell if you are looking at one of them or not without knowing the web address.

[seven]

I must agree with the post above mine. There are all kinds of scams on the internet. I've been online for almost 15 years and have learned so much in my time on here about scams and spam and stuff you should just ignore. I've actually heard of people doing this(being a mystery shopper) and making good money at it but there is really no way of knowing which sites are legit unless you know someone who has had a good experience with a company and can tell you about it and vouch for them. That is one reason forums and sites like this one are so valuable. Getting to hear first hand what people have experienced out there and learning.

[footfree]

I tried to be one once.There was to much work for so little pay.Plus they don't reimburse for gas.

[idylatoo]

I tried to be one once.There was to much work for so little pay.Plus they don't reimburse for gas.

This is another huge issue for me. I don't think mystery shopping is worth it unless you manage to snag a job for a place you either normally go or would go for a special occasion. Then you end up being reimbursed at least partly for an expense you were already going to incur.

If it's something you have to go out of your way for it's a lose/lose situation.

[rosiesmom]

You have to be careful with the mystery shopping thing. I have turned down requests to do this because it doesn't seem that the pay is much for all your time and trouble. Didn't someone already say this? I recently received a request from my bank to do the same thing in their branch office. Everything took effort and they would pay $25, but it would take 2 months of work. So a lot of businesses are getting into this.

[hpilgrim1]

I got this same invite. This is a scam. Mystery shopping companies do not pay upfront. Be careful - scams are on the increase....