Frequently Asked
Questions |
Q. What is a mystery shopper?
A. Mystery shopping is a tool that is used to provide business
owners with an objective, unbiased accounts of their customers'
experiences. These reports provide valuable information that the business
uses to ensure they are meeting their customers' needs and correcting
problem areas that can affect their bottom line.
A mystery shopper
is someone who poses as a legitimate customer in order to provide their
first hand experience to the client. Mystery shopping evaluates customer
service, product knowledge, employee training, and the company's sales
process. Each shop is different in that each client is looking for
specific information pertaining to their business. Your job as a shopper
will be to observe different aspects of your experience and "objectively"
report those observations. You will be provided instructions and/or
guidelines that must be followed while conducting your shop, as well as a
survey form which must be reviewed before you do your assignment. Once
your shop is complete, you will then fill out a detailed report that
entails the different areas of the business you were asked to observe. |
Q. How do I sign up to be a mystery shopper?
| A. Click on
this link and sign up. |
Q. Why do I have to give my email password?
| A. You need a password to get into our system to do shops for us.
You do not provide your personal email password, you choose whatever
password you want to use to be able to access the system. |
Q. How
do I find companies to sign up with to become a mystery shopper?
| A. You can find mystery shopping companies to sign up with online
for free. Job ads placed in the newspaper or online should be investigated
carefully, as most are not legitimate. You can find over 200 companies you
can sign up with for free at http://www.mysteryshop.org/. There
is not one site that will register you with all of the mystery shopping
companies at one time, you will have to spend some time signing up with
each company individually. |
Q. What are some of the requirements to
be a mystery shopper?
| A. You need to be able to write a good
report (good reporting skills are listed below). You need to be at least
18 years of age. You will need to have a computer. Always be sure that you
can do a shop that you apply for. Check the job specifics before you
decide to apply to do the work. You must have the ability to take digital
pictures and upload them to your mystery shops. |
Q. Once I am
signed up, how soon will I receive a shop assignment?
| A. If we
have shops in your area, you may receive an email with a job posting
within a few days or weeks. If we do not have shops in your area, then you
might not receive any offers until we are hired by a company with
locations in your area. We do suggest that you register for other
companies at mysteryshop.org to
make sure you have a chance to get more work. |
Q. I am already
registered with Sassie for another company. Do I need to register for you
on Sassie?
| A. Yes. Sassie is a software program that is used by
multiple mystery shopping companies. Each company that uses Sassie
operates independently and has their own shopper database, therefore you
must sign up for each company if you wish to shop for them. |
Q.
What is Shopper Certification? How do I get a certification number?
| A. The shopper certification is something that is offered by the
Mystery Shopping Providers Association of which we are members. Since you
are considered an independent contractor, we cannot train you as a
shopper, however the association can provide the training which is
acknowledged by all MSPA member companies. The certification serves as a
type of "learning" tool and teaches you about the industry. It is optional
and will not keep you from being a mystery shopper for our company. It can
give you a step up for getting job assignments. For example if a scheduler
has a choice of two shoppers that they have not used in the past and one
is certified and the other is not, the certified one would more likely to
be selected over the non certified one because they have taken steps to
receive job training. If you should choose to do one of the
certifications, only complete the certification at http://www.mysteryshop.org/. We do
not recognize other certification programs. |
Q. I have already
received my certification number from MSPA. How do I register this number
with your company?
| A. There is a place on our application to input
this number, just update your profile. Only MSPA certification is
accepted. |
Q. I do not have a computer. Can I mail you my
application?
| A. Mailed applications are not accepted. We do all of
our shops on the Internet, therefore you must have a computer to shop for
us. Email notifications are how we contact you if we have a shop available
in your area. |
Q. Why do I have to pay $29.95 or ANY kind of fee?
| A. There is NEVER a fee for shoppers to pay in order to shop for us. If you paid someone a fee to sign up, more than likely it was a
scam. NEVER cash a check and wire money to "another shopper". You will be
responsible to the financial institution for those funds once the check
bounces your account. |
Q. I paid a fee to sign up to mystery shop
with your company and I want my money back. I got an email and/or check
that had your name and address on it. I paid a Monthly membership fee that
I want to cancel.
A. We never ask for money for you to sign up to
mystery shop for us. More than likely you are a victim of a scam. Many
advertisements promise that you will make a lot of money mystery shopping
if you will only send money to sign up or pay a membership fee. You can
find hundreds of legitimate mystery shopping companies to register for
free with at mysteryshop.org.
There is also a job board on that site you can check for mystery shop
assignments in your area.
Unsolicited recruitment ads are being
sent at alarming rates to email boxes. Unfortunately, anyone can put
someone else's name on an email and send it out via the internet. That
does not mean the email actually came from our company. We have scam
warnings against this on our web site. The industry has tried without much
luck to stop these people, but there is not a lot we can do. None of these
groups are actually in the mystery shopping business and many of the scams
are being run from overseas. Never cash a check for thousands of dollars
and then wire funds!
Never provide your personal bank account
number to pay for a "Monthly membership". Many times the scam will go in
and take a large amount of funds from your bank account since you have
given them access to your information and authorized the initial transfer
of funds. |
Q. How can I tell if what I got is a SCAM or not?
| A. Never pay a fee to anyone to sign up, purchase a book or list
of names, nor should you ever pay a membership fee. No mystery shopping
company will charge you money to register on their site. One would never
apply for a job where the company asks for money up front so you can start
work. Companies that promise high paying assignments, "lots of
assignments" in your area or other "too good to be true" offers to entice
you to register should be investigated further before registering. If you
get an unsolicited email telling you that you can become a mystery shopper
and that you need to email them your personal information should be a red
flag. You can find mystery shopping company names, phone numbers and
websites at no cost on the MSPA site, http://www.mysteryshop.org/. Call
the company if in doubt. Only register with a company that has a valid
MSPA logo, do not send personal information via an email. If you do not
find the MSPA logo, move on. |
Q. How do I find out about available
shops?
| A. We will send you e-mails regarding shops that are
available in your area when something becomes available. You can also
check the job board on our Sassie website. |
Q. How do I apply for
these shops?
| A. There is a link at the bottom of shop notification
email that takes you to the page to apply for the shop. If the word
"scheduled" is next to the city, that means that the shop has already been
assigned to a shopper. |
Q. What if I apply for this shop and don't
get the job?
| A. We may have many shoppers in one area applying for
the same job. You may not get the shop this time, but you may be chosen
the next time a shop is available in your area, so please apply again. |
Q. What happens when I am accepted, how much will I be paid and
how do I report my shop?
A. Once the scheduler books the mystery
shop and you are the one accepted, you will receive an e-mail telling you
to go to your shop log at www.sassieshop.com/2mysteryshoppers to review the shop instructions. Also, you must confirm you are doing the
shop so that you have access to the survey form you must review before you
conduct the shop and fill out afterwards. Confirmation also ensures that
the shop you are assigned is not canceled and rebooked.
Review the
shop instructions and survey form. If a shop is not completed as
instructed, you will not be paid for the shop or your reimbursements, if
any.
Make sure you verify the address and visit the correct
location. Once you have completed the shop, you must log on to the Sassie
website, go into your account and the report will be there for you to fill
out (click on view/submit). Remember, when you accept an assignment, you
have agreed to do the shop and report it by the deadline. The report will
be sent to the account manager or editor where it will be reviewed to make
sure all of the information the client is looking for is in the report.
Payments vary for each shop, you will know how much the shop pays
when you receive the shop notification. Many shops also require that you
send in documentation such as a card or receipt along with your report for
verification purposes. We must have that documentation before you can be
paid. |
Q. What if I have to cancel my shop?
| A.
Occasionally, shoppers have emergencies that call for a shop cancellation.
If that should occur, just e-mail your scheduler and explain your
situation. There are times an extension can be granted. If a shopper
accepts a shop and cancels numerous times, a note will be made in the
shopper's profile each time and if this becomes a common occurrence, that
shopper may be deactivated. |
Q. When can I expect payment after I
have completed a shop?
| A. We do not use PayPal. All checks are cut
at the end of the following month the shop was completed. For example, if
you complete a shop in October, your check will cut at the end of November
and then mailed. Checks will be mailed to your home so please make sure
your address is up to date in your profile at www.sassieshop.com/2mysteryshoppers. |
Q. Why is my account deactivated?
| A. There have been times
a shopper will accidentally deactivate himself by clicking on the wrong
button or personally requested the account be deactivated. If that is the
case, then send us an e-mail with your name, home address and e-mail
address that you registered with and we can reactivate you. There are
other times shoppers are deactivated for not completing reports on time,
not responding to e-mails asking for updated information on a report, poor
writing skills, numerous cancellations of shops already scheduled or
falsifying and/or copying reports. |
Q. How can I be reactivated?
| A. Just send us an e-mail explaining your problem and our staff
will review it for consideration to determine if you can be reactivated or
not. In cases of multiple identities and falsifying reports, accounts will
not be reactivated. |
Q. I need to update my information. My e-mail
/ address / phone number has changed, what do I do?
Q. My password doesn't work. What do I
do?
| A. Be sure that you are trying to log into the correct mystery
shopping company's website. Many shoppers work with more than one company
and many mystery shopping companies use the Sassie system, so make sure
you are using the correct login information for our company. |
Q. I
have forgotten my login and password. What do I do?
| A. Simply
e-mail us a request by clicking on the appropriate link on the Shopper
Login page. the Sassie system will immediately email your password to you. |
Q. What makes a good report?
A. Pay attention to detail.
Make sure you visit the correct address, purchase the required items, ask
specific questions provided on your survey form and/or follow the scenario
you were given to complete the shop correctly as noted in the shop
instructions.
If you cannot complete your assignment, notify your
schedule immediately. They may be able to extend the due date or
reschedule the shop to someone else.
Read and follow the shop
instructions, and review the survey form BEFORE completing your shop.
Use correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
Each
sentence should begin with a capital letter, and make sure you write in
complete sentences.
Do not use abbreviations.
Make sure
all of your comments match your yes and no answers on the survey form. If
you marked a question no, make sure to explain why.
For required
narratives, be sure that you have written a good report with plenty of
details. This allows the client to get a clear understanding of what took
place during your visit. Sample narratives are included in your shops
instructions, in most cases.
Never cut and paste comments from
another shop and just change names and a few details. All visits are
unique and the reports must be written based on the individual experience.
Be accurate, fair, and tell the truth. Please report both positive
and negative experience in an objective manner.
Do not give
opinion, just state the facts as to what happened. Avoid such statements
as "I felt" and "I think".
Unless you have specifically been told
to do so by the mystery shopping company, never reveal yourself as a
shopper.
You are representing the mystery shopping company you are
shopping for, be professional, polite, and conduct yourself in a
business-like manner. If you have a poor experience, the client will be
able to take note of this from your report. Please do not cause a scene
with the employee or management.
Do not take any paper work in
with you to do a shop.
Fill out the shop immediately upon leaving
the establishment to ensure that you do not forget any details.
Be
discrete! Do not take notes or conduct yourself in a way that could
identify you as a shopper. In most cases, if you are identified, you will
not be able to shop for the client again. This may also jeopardize your
ability to shop for the mystery shopping company again.
Submit
your report on time and respond quickly if the editor has questions about
your report. |
Q. What do the shop ratings that I receive mean?
| A. We do not rate shoppers. The Sassie system gives an automatic
grade of 5. If you see this as your grade, it only means that was the
number that was automatically set up with you filled out the application.
We do not adjust it. |
Q. What are some things that can help me to
get more shops or keep me from getting shops?
A. Always write good
reports-see above.
Do shops before the due date. In most cases,
the sooner you get the shop done, the more shops you will receive.
Punctuation is important, even in filling out your application. An
application filled out in all lower letters or in all caps can keep a
scheduler from even considering you for a shop because it shows lack of
detail in your writing.
Shopper certification helps.
Never
accept a shop unless you are sure you can do it. If you must cancel,
notify the scheduler immediately. If a shop is not done and the scheduler
is not contacted, you can be deactivated from the system.
Communicate well with your scheduler. Be sure you confirm a shop
that you have accepted. If you have any problems with the shop, let your
scheduler know as soon as the problem arises. |
Q. How much money
can I make as a mystery shopper?
| A. There is no set amount one can
make as a mystery shopper. If you are only signed up with only one mystery
shopping company and they do not have any clients in your area, you will
not make any money. It is recommended that you sign up with multiple
mystery shopping companies to increase your chances to receive more shop
offers. You can also check the MSPA job board (www.mysteryshop.org), as shops are
often posted there. These companies who have posted the jobs might be the
ones you would sign up with first since you know they have work in your
area. |
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