Get paid to shop - £10 a go!

Kantankrus_Mare

Oh and I forgot to say.....i tried signing up for the wilkinsons one but cant seem to get on the bit where you look for work in your area. Either its a scam or im doing summats wrong.

Just seemed to be going round in circles

amd

Signed up last week and did my first visit at the weekend! Had to go to a store a bit further away - but it should pay for the petrol and we got a nice day out to the seaside to boot! (Of course I had to buy something too....just got the cheapest thing - a wee £1 necklace in the sale - will do for daughter's birthday!

Await my tenner with anticipation.

luckystar_3

Kantankrus_Mare wrote:

I am a mystery shopper with a company called Focused Sales Marketing.

They dont seem to have a web site but I have been getting pub and restaurant visits off them for the past couple of years.

Its not enough to make a lot of money out of but I see it as a free lunch or drink and money is sent in cheque form a few days before assignment.

They pay approx £22 for a meals visit and anything from£10 to £15 for a drinks visit.

FSM don't pay fess, they only advance you the money for your meal/drink so you won't make ANY money from them, never mind "a lot" !

luckystar_3

amd wrote:

Signed up last week and did my first visit at the weekend! Had to go to a store a bit further away - but it should pay for the petrol and we got a nice day out to the seaside to boot! (Of course I had to buy something too....just got the cheapest thing - a wee £1 necklace in the sale - will do for daughter's birthday!

Await my tenner with anticipation.

If this was for ABA Counter Intelligence then you are supposed to buy something costing at least £8. It states that in the brief they send. The £10 is supposed to be to cover your purchase.

luckystar_3

supermum wrote:

I did this for a while but couldn't get enough work to warrant it and got fed up having to pay out so much money for the purchases and having to wait up to 7 weeks before I got reimbursed. Good luck to you all but be warned it's poor money for a lot of work and oh don't forget the TAX MAN!

I totally agree with Aunt Eek and kernalpop/supermum. I have been mystery shopping for about 8 years now and would never do this if I could afford childcare. As soon as my kids are all at school I will be looking for a proper job with decent pay and no horrid tax return to think about.

Most days I get home at 6pm, make tea and then spend all night filling in reports. Most of the companies which send me to complete restaurant visits don't pay enough to cover the cost of the meal and so I end up out of pocket! I do them because this is the only way I get get to go out for a meal, but as already mentioned most of the places I would never go to if I was paying myself anyway!

I would never disclose fee amounts or clients, this is VERY unprofessional and against the confidentiality agreements I have signed with the companies I work for.

I have had many holidays and weekends away from mystery shopping companies, but let me assure you, this is not the norm! It is only after helping out with countless undesirable assignments and building up a good reputation for myself over the years that has led to this! Good luck to anyone taking this up, you will find it much harder work, and for less reward than you imagined! Those bragging about freebies may fail to mention that in 99% of assignments, you have to return the item to the company, or take it back to the store for a refund!

[Deleted User]

Ekip wrote:

Another good one to apply to


http://www.macphersonmysteryshopping.org.uk/

Please, please, please DO NOT SIGN UP WITH THIS COMPANY. They are really well known for being appalling payers.

I did three jobs for them last year and they took literally months to pay, and that was only after several telephone calls. They are well known amongst mystery shoppers to be unreliable.

Sorry, Ekip, not having a go at you for mentioning them, but just thought I should warn people, as more often than not, us mystery shoppers are doing it cos we need the money!

I have mystery shopped with lots of different companies for about six years now, and have learnt to pick and choose which jobs I do, to avoid the ones which don't pay enough to cover your expenses. There are companies out there who pay for mileage and parking expenses, and these are generally the best ones to work for.

This site

http://www.mysteryshoppersuk.com/

and the forums on it are a good source of information for anybody interested in mystery shopping.

HTH

Kantankrus_Mare

In response to Lucky Stars comment on Focused sales Marketing......

yes they advance you the money but you dont have to SPEND all the money they advance you and at the places I am sent, £22 is more than adequate for a meal for two and just a receipt is required to prove you have done the visit.

I dont necessarily do it to make money anyway.....me and hubby love eating out and find this enables us to do it more often than we otherwise would.

Like wise for drinks visits.........£12 well covers one round of drinks and leaves a little over making a cheap start to a night out

Squiggles_2

cmathews wrote:

Please, please, please DO NOT SIGN UP WITH THIS COMPANY. They are really well known for being appalling payers.

This site

http://www.mysteryshoppersuk.com/

and the forums on it are a good source of information for anybody interested in mystery shopping.

HTH

Please note, I run this forum and we're currently at our maximum number of members! Although we haven't closed registrations, there will be some delay before these are manually approved so new ones will sit on a waiting list for a while. The Reg terms make it clear

amd

Luckystar,

Originally posted by Luckystar.
If this was for ABA Counter Intelligence then you are supposed to buy something costing at least £8. It states that in the brief they send. The £10 is supposed to be to cover your purchase.

I got my tenner (cash!) 2 days after completing the questionaire. I have re-read all the documentation and can't see anywhere that I should have had a minimum spend to make. In fact, they even tell me I can return the goods later. £1 purchase doesn't seem to have been a problem in my case.

Cromer

I work for NOP they pay well for visits and also pay milage. I have gone to National Trust places ( this is a good job I get to look round, buy something small in the shop and lunch all paid for), Woolies, Banks and lots more. I live in a small town and still get work on a regular basis.
I have been doing this for 3 years, I cannot make a living from it but it is good fun.

I hope this help someone

http://cybershoppers.nop.co.uk/