If you love to shop and love being paid, you may have seen advertisements, websites or unsolicited emails inviting you to earn money as a mystery shopper. Many of these advertisements use major brands and corporations to lure unsuspecting people in to sign up to their companies in the promise of lots of work.
However, the reality is that most of these companies fail to deliver on their offers. For the most part, most of these offers do deliver some jobs. Whilst you may get the odd job or two, chances are the riches that were promised to you on signing up are a long way away. One should remember that mystery shopping is seen more as a part time job than a full time one.
There is one way to avoid these fraudulent organisations however. Most will offer lucrative jobs which can immediately be noted as a scam. Another thing to look out for is those that require potential secret shoppers to pay a fee for information about these jobs or a list of mystery shopping companies.
Reputable mystery shopping companies will never charge for information. An application is never charged as you are providing the service. NEVER pay money to anyone to become a secret shopper. It also should be noted that reputable companies offer jobs via a secure and professional environment where a username and password are required.
Here are 5 quick tips that you need to follow when starting out:
1. Never pay a fee to join
Any company that asks you to pay a fee upfront is more than likely trying to scam you out of your money. In my experience, only one company that I have joined asked for a fee when I joined. This was only $5 and was taken out of the first job for administration purposes rather than asking for it upfront. Always treat companies asking for money as suspicious.
2. Search the Internet for companies accepting applications
Many companies are on the lookout for new shoppers, with some demographics more in demand than others. If you find a company, research them first before putting your details down. Do not go through agencies claiming to get jobs for you! You will get more jobs if you deal directly with the mystery shopping companies rather than a middleman.
3. Only submit your application online
Nearly all mystery shopping companies accept new shoppers online only. With the advancements in technology, pen and paper is no longer used. Sending your resume and cover letter to a company by 'snail mail' may go unnoticed.
4. Be careful with your bank details
Sure, you may find a company through a search engine but you still need to be careful. Anyone can register a website and make it appear as though it is legitimate. If you don't feel comfortable placing your bank details down, don't!
5. Do your research!
Try and find out as much about the company as possible. As mentioned earlier, avoid so called directories and deal directly with the mystery shopping companies.
With these tips in mind, you should be set to begin looking for mystery shopping companies. Do you research for every new company that you are looking to join and you should avoid being scammed.
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/6266261
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.