Real Reviews by Real People of Mystery Shopping Sites

Hi, my name is Scott Welch and I'm one of the founders of Top Site Reviews a website that reviews various online opportunities to try to make sure that people don't fall for the fraudulent or scam sites (I myself have been a victim in the past; this is why I got started doing this). I also created a blog called Paid Survey Site Reviews which is a companion and sister site to this blog. That blog is dedicated to reviewing Paid Survey websites so that ordinary people like you and me can give feedback on which paid survey sites actually made them money and which were scams and a waste of time. In similar fashion, this blog is dedicated to reviewing the Mystery Shopping industry to tell which sites/companies are worth joining and which are just garbage. For those who don't know, 'Mystery Shopping' is a multi-million dollar industry employed by almost every major business in the nation. Mystery shoppers are paid to shop at stores, eat at restaurants, watch movies, and then report back to the company that employed them how they were treated while they were shopping (or dining, or whatever the specific mystery shopping job entailed). In this way businesses can monitor and enhance their customer service. Mystery Shopping is a real business and I myself have done it on many occasions (I prefer the jobs that entail going to the movie theater as I'm not as much of a 'mall' person and I love movies, but that's neither here nor there). Companies and businesses are constantly seeking to recruit new mystery shoppers and the jobs themselves usually take less than an hour to do (sometimes a lot less). Plus on occasion the mystery shopper gets to keep what he was being paid to shop for free. The problem is that (like so many other things on the internet) it's hard for someone who's interested in becoming a mystery shopper to know which websites and online services really have REAL mystery shopping opportunities and which are just out to rip people off. So I've put together this blog to relate my own experiences and to invite others to share their own reviews of which mystery shopping sites are for real and which ones are not.

Friday, January 12, 2007

What I can Personally Recommend

I've been asked constantly by readers to list my top picks of which mystery shopping sites are legitimate and should be joined. I'm always surprised at this because I've had my top picks listed over at the Top Site Reviews Mystery Shopping webpage for some time. But just in case you missed it there, I'll go ahead and list my top choices here too.


Keep in mind this is a fluid and changing list. I'm not married to my choices and if a new mystery shopping site pops up that really impresses me, chances are I'll add it to the list. At the same time, if a mystery shopping site I have listed suddenly starts sucking, off the list it will go, pronto. So, without further ado, here's my picks...

My #1 Pick - Secret Shopping Center.com
This is without question the best mystery shopping site out there. They have a database of companies seeking mystery shoppers that is bigger than any other mystery shopping site, and it's filled with the genuine article - companies that are legit and really do have mystery shopping jobs available. Secret Shopping Center.com has a load of bonus stuff for it's members (including a big section on paid surveys which comes free) and also has a 100% money back guarantee, so if you join and find out mystery shopping isn't for you there isn't really no risk.


My #2 Pick - Shop Until You Drop
Ok, forget the hokey name (which might be the worst in the industry, lol) Shop Until You Drop is one of the best mystery shopping sites out there. It's been around for a while now, and is well organized with a fairly decent directory of mystery shopping companies. They also offer a Shopping Assignment Database that can be searched by City, State or Postal code and have an instant email notification service of Jobs Available in your area. This was my #1 pick for a good long while until Secret Shopping Center.com came along, and is a very good mystery shopping site.


My #3 Pick - Get Paid 2 Shop
This one is the first I ever joined, and has been around for quite a while. They're pretty good, fairly good directory of mystery shopping companies, good customer service, and a 60 day money-back guarantee. I don't think they're the best (obviously I would have listed them in the #1 slot) but they are a valuable resource for anyone serious about mystery shopping.


My #4 Pick - Paid For Free
Paid For Free isn't just a mystery shopping site, and that's actually the problem. It's a huge site with resources for all kinds of real opportunities for those who want to work from home, whether it's being paid for doing surveys, paid for driving your car, or numerous other fields. They have a fairly good section on getting paid to shop (mystery shopping) which is why I include it on this list. The problem is that while there is nothing wrong with their site, they don't focus on mystery shopping very much. And the other sections of their site are just 'ok', nothing to rave about. All in all it's a good site to join, and the mystery shopping section is fairly good, but I can't rate this any higher than a #4 pick.


So there's my picks in the mystery shopping industry. I do want to make it clear that I do much more in the paid survey industry (You can see my reviews of paid survey sites here) than I do mystery shopping, so I very much welcome comments and recommendations from others on what your own experiences have been.
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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kinda surprising to see that this blog is hosted by a guy. I really thought mystery shopping was something that pretty much only women did.

January 12, 2007 at 8:44 PM
Anonymous said...

This is in answer to natasha's comment that mystery shopping was for women only. I'm a 27 year old man and I do mystery shopping, and I know I'm not the only one. I've found there's plenty of mystery shopping jobs for men. Do you think Hooters restaurant is looking for women to mystery shop them when their target customer base is mostly men? So while I'm not sure there are as many jobs for men as there are for women in this industry, I do know from personal experience that there are plenty of mystery shopping jobs for men.

January 13, 2007 at 1:09 AM
Anonymous said...

Never heard of Paid for Free or before but I've been a member of Shop Til You Drop and Secret Shopping center for a good while now. Both are good sites but if I had to choose Secret Shopping Center is the better of the two. As far as my personal experience it's been good so far, I've already done a couple of mystery shopping jobs at a local restaurant and a superstore (can we say names of companies? don't want to get into trouble)

January 13, 2007 at 1:15 AM
Anonymous said...

Just want to add my 2 cents. I joined SecretShoppingCenter.com a few months back and was fairly satisfied with the purchase. I still haven't registered with half of the mystery shopping companies they have listed but I'm already getting 2 and sometimes 3 mystery shopping jobs a week.

January 13, 2007 at 5:09 PM
Anonymous said...

Well... the 'free' sites listed here are either not really mystery shopping sites or they aren't really free, like that shadowshopper. Don't get me wrong; they all seem like good sites and I do think shadow Shopper is an ok service but has anyone heard of any mystery shopping sites that are free to join? Oh, of the sites listed in the free section I think I like Inbox Dollars the best. You get 5 dollars when you join and then they send you surveys and emails that will pay you even more.

January 13, 2007 at 5:14 PM

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