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Monday, December 2nd
Secret Shopper is a site that's been around for 30+ years. With a worldwide shopper base, you can work for Secret Shopper no matter where you're located. Open since 1990, Secret Shopper offers on-site shops, phone shops, and online shops for a variety that works for any schedule. You can expect to earn extra cash, free services, free meals, and complimentary hotel or travel stays, and with a mobile app, Secret Shopper lets you fill out your paperwork on the go. However, we could not find evidence that Secret Shopper is accredited by the Mystery Shopping Providers Association (MSPA), but this doesn't appear to have affected the company's reputation.
Tons of local shops with site recommendations too
To see the jobs listed at Secret Shopper, you'll need to join the website. First, put in your name, date of birth, gender, phone and email. You'll also be asked for your address and your tax ID number (or SSN), but you can choose to skip that for now if you just want to see jobs. You'll need to sign three agreements for privacy and your position as an independent contractor. Then, you can head to your shopper portal and begin looking at jobs (also known as "shops”). Notably, Secret Shopper offers you recommended shops right off the bat. We were recommended three that were all within 20 minutes of our location. You can expect to find shops for industries like dining, retail, grocery, banking, fitness, automotive, events, property, hotels, online services, and phone services.
Highly organized job boards with 100+ shops
We love how the job board is organized at Secret Shopper. Each job has an icon to tell you what type you'll be working on. Property shops have a little house icon, automotive shops have a little car, and fitness shops have a running man. You can sort the jobs by distance, city, detail, or location. The recommended shops are based on your demographic information, so the more you fill out, the more accurate the recommendations will be. You can also look at the full list outside of the recommended shops, and we had more than 100 to choose from in our area.
Tons of details to help you succeed
On top of the at-a-glance icons on shop listings, you'll see the location, type of shop (what you'll be expected to do), the distance from your current location, and the flat payment (plus any reimbursement). If you like the concept of a shop from its listing, you can click through for even more details. You'll find a client briefing (which must be followed precisely), and any important notices will be posted in the complete briefing too. For example, we saw one gig for a medspa. If you had previously visited one of these chain locations before, the notice stated that you would be ineligible. The job asked for you to book an IV wellness appointment, upload photos of the building, document the wellness plan offered to you, and write an assessment for the booking process as well as the in-spa experience. There are no details left up to chance, so you'll know exactly what you're doing on each job.
Payments from $10 to $120 per job
If you are less impressed with the payments offered at some of the other companies in our review, you'll love the numbers at Secret Shopper. The lowest payment we saw in our list of nearby shops was $10, but the majority of the gigs were $20 per job. We even saw one for $120 for a single shop. There were also impressive reimbursements for almost all of the shops (up to $99). On some of the listings, you're allowed to bid for a price you think is fair for payment (but reimbursement can't be negotiated). If your bid is accepted, you'll be given the shop right away. Your payment will be sent monthly through direct deposit if you're a US or Canadian citizen. You can also choose a check, and these will be sent on the 20th of every month.
Build a shopper route
One of the special features we loved at Secret Shopper was the Scheduled Shops tab. To maximize your payout for a single day of mystery shopping, you can use Schedule Shops to sign up for routes. These routes will spread out shops (up to 3 per day) that will help you get the most done without doing unnecessary driving on one route.
Solid scores from the BBB and app users
Secret Shopper currently holds an "A+” rating and accreditation from the Better Business Bureau. However, finding feedback for Secret Shopper is a little harder than at other sites. We were able to find reviews for the site's mobile app, where Secret Shopper has a 3.9-star average. In general, mystery shoppers love that the site is easy to work with and that they can pick up some serious cash with mystery shopping at Secret Shopper. While some customers are frustrated with technical issues, most contractors are pleased with the ability to choose their jobs and organize them with a routed day of reimbursed (and paid) shopping. While we would love to see more feedback outside of mobile apps, the response to Secret Shopper is impressive.
Solid mystery shopping experience
Secret Shopper is one of our favorite sites hands down. While we were worried about a lack of accreditation through the MSPA, mystery shoppers are saying we don't need to be (and neither do you). Secret Shopper is legit, and it makes mystery shopping a breeze. With high-paying opportunities and impressive reimbursements, this is a great site to check out if you're interested in mystery shopping. Only the general lack of reviews outside of the mobile app stores and the missing MSPA accreditation keep Secret Shopper from being our top pick, but it easily earns a competitive score in our review.
Ever wonder how different companies check that their stores are running the way they should? While most of us immediately think of watching Undercover Boss, many businesses actually choose to use mystery shoppers. Mystery shopping is a particular job where normal people like you are hired by a variety of different companies to get in-person, real-time data on what's happening inside local stores or restaurants.
As a form of market research, mystery shoppers visit brick-and-mortar businesses to check out things like customer service quality, cleanliness, and the overall shopping experience at a particular store. Sound like something you would enjoy? It's easier to make mystery shopping your next side hustle than you'd think.
You'll need good written and verbal communication skills to help you tell the higher-ups what's going on when you're browsing, but otherwise, as long as you're curious and are ready to use your great attention to detail, mystery shopping will be a great fit for you. The best part? Making purchases is usually part of the deal, so whether you're reviewing a car wash or a luxury hotel, you'll typically get reimbursed for necessary purchases. Plus, you get paid on top of that.
Here's how it works. Generally, you'll get hired through a third-party provider that will post opportunities to evaluate stores and chains near you. (Helpful hint: legit mystery shopping companies will be approved and accredited by the Mystery Shopping Providers Association.) Once a company approves your application, you'll be able to choose an assignment to start shopping.
You'll find restaurants, beauty salons, car maintenance shops, banks, makeup stores, and movie theaters (among many other stores) on the mystery shopper lists. Plus, many jobs let you do hotel stays or airline reviews, so you can travel without spending a dime. If you're someone who likes to explore your local area, try new things, and shop, shop, shop, you'll want to check out mystery shopping as your next side hustle.
The mystery shopping jobs (called "shops” in the biz) are usually listed on a job board on the particular website you work with. You'll be able to see the details like distance, job requirements, necessary purchases, and the reimbursement amount before you even accept the shop. Some gigs let you assign yourself (these are first-come-first-serve), and others require a little extra application to prove you're the right fit. These are usually high-quality or luxury shops that need that particular attention to detail. So if you keep up high quality services while you work, you'll be eligible for the good stuff.
But with so many places out there offering mystery shopping jobs, how can you pick the right one? If you've never applied for mystery shopping before, or you want to get a leg up on the competition, we've put together some factors that'll help you find the best fit for your shopping skills:
To help you start making some extra cash buying the things you already love, Top Consumer Reviews has reviewed and ranked today's top mystery shopping platforms. We hope this helps you get into your next side hustle, all while enjoying the things you love (like shopping, traveling, or visiting your favorite car wash!).
Select any 2 Mystery Shopping Companies to compare them head to head