Mystery Shopping....

nightsong

jazzyjustlaw wrote:

https://www.grgresearch.com - they say that you are responsible for paying tax and Ni on it sounds like a load of hassle to me

This was certainly my experience of mystery shopping. If you already do a tax return it's fine (though it will involve extra work) but if you don't, do you really want the hassle for what is quite a small amount of money, unless you are fairly dedicated?

I also found I had to learn scripts, effectively, which was quite nerve-wracking. OK if you are a born actor!

DaisyNelson

I joined Retail Eyes recently and was initially disappointed as the jobs offered didn't appear to be very local. However I have now done one job and was pleased to be paid £12 (about an hours work) and re-embursed £20 for the amount I spent. Not bad as they had an offer on and I only spent £10. So far they haven't asked for proof of purchase as they seem to regard it as a fixed price!

summerday

nightsong wrote:

This was certainly my experience of mystery shopping. If you already do a tax return it's fine (though it will involve extra work) but if you don't, do you really want the hassle for what is quite a small amount of money, unless you are fairly dedicated?

I also found I had to learn scripts, effectively, which was quite nerve-wracking. OK if you are a born actor!

I must echo this sentiment I'm afraid. I have mystery shopped for various companies for almost 2 years now and on the whole I feel it isn't worth it for the amount of work that's involved. Since I started mystery shopping I have noticed the length of the forms to be completed increase dramatically with lots of detailed comments expected, and the biggest pain is the tax return. Bear in mind also that if you already work you will probably end up paying some tax at the end of the year when the IR get your tax return.

Also the number of people who have gone into mystery shopping in recent years means the market has got saturated so pushing job fees down and the perks (such as printing costs etc) in some cases also to go down.

So due to all this I have stopped mystery shopping as it wasn't worth the hassle anymore. There is probably only one agency I would consider still working for who pay a fair wage for the amount of work involved although they do expect very high quality and professional reports. I will PM you the details of this one Ancasta.

Sarah.

Becles

Mystery shopping, merchandising and auditing is my sole income. For a huge list of companies, see here:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=57920

Apply to as many as you can and see which ones work best for you. It's hard to recommened particular companies, as different jobs require different "types" of people. Jobs may require people of a certain age group, sex, with kids, etc., and your location is a deciding factor too.

If there is anything I can help with, feel free to ask. Good luck!