Mystery Shopping Success Secrets - Lesson 1

How can you become a successful mystery shopper? Find out in this article, and the free secret shopper course available at http://www.IdeaLady.com/

Welcome to Part 1 of ‘Mystery Shopping Success Secrets.’
Over the coming week, you will receive seven strategies you
can put to work NOW to start your mystery shopping career and
build your success.

Don’t wait! Get started now to get more and better mystery
shopping assignments.

Cathy Stucker
Author of “The Mystery Shopper’s Manual”
http://www.MysteryShoppersManual.com/

Success Secret #1
Don’t Get Scammed!

Mystery shopping is a legitimate way to make extra money. It’s
flexible and fun, and it really works! I have been a mystery
shopper since 1995, and I have gotten paid to mystery shop stores,
restaurants, banks, hair salons, dry cleaners, and many other types
of businesses.

Now for the bad news: Because there are lots of people who would
like to become mystery shoppers but do not really understand how it
works, scammers have decided to make money by taking advantage of
those folks.

Luckily for you, you came to the right place. In this lesson I am
going to warn you about the scams, and in future lessons I am going
to show you how to become a successful mystery shopper.

If you are looking for information about mystery shopping because
you received a check or money order, with instructions to wire a
large sum of money to someone as part of a mystery shop, the best
advice I can give you is DON’T! It is a scam.

It doesn’t matter what the name is on the check, or where they told
you to spend some of the money, or whether they said to use Western
Union or MoneyGram, or whether you are supposedly sending the money
to someone in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. or Timbuktu. If you were
told to cash a check and wire money somewhere, you are a potential
scam victim.

No mystery shopping company will ask you to do this. This is always
a scam. The way it works is that some time after the check has been
cashed and the money has been wired, the check bounces. Always. And
the victim is responsible for paying the money back to their bank.
Some scam victims have even been put in jail for passing bad checks.

If you receive a check or money order with instructions to keep some
as your fee and wire the rest to someone it is a scam. Really.

Sorry if the above paragraphs seem a bit repetitive. It’s just that
many of the people who receive these checks, and the bogus “mystery
shopper jobs,” want so badly to believe that they will really make
$200 or $300 for a hour or two of work that they often do not want
to believe that the checks are not real. But they are not. Ever.

This is one of the worst scams out there, and people are still
getting caught by it every day. If you want to read more about
this and other scams so you can protect yourself and avoid being
a victim, take a look at my blog posts at
http://www.mysteryshoppersmanual.com/category/mystery-shopper-scam

There are other scams or near-scams to beware of that use mystery
shopping as a ruse to attract victims. At the least-harmful end of
the scale are companies selling unnecessary services, such as
offering to send notices of job postings. They do what they say they
will, but you do not have to pay for this. Sign up with a few mystery
shopping companies (the companies will not charge you to apply) and
your email inbox will soon be filled with more job notices than you
can imagine.

There are also so-called “mystery shopping sites” that charge monthly
membership fees with little or no benefit. They often make it sound as
though they hire mystery shoppers and they may hire you; however, the
companies that actually hire shoppers will not charge you a monthly fee.

Even more dangerous are the scammers who tell you that your mystery
shopping assignments involve completing a bunch of “offers.” You may
have to use your credit card to sign up for products and services for
which you will pay a small fee up front, then be charged $29.95, $49.95
or more per month, every month. Or they may have you apply for credit
cards, sign up for life insurance quotes or other things that are not
mystery shopping. (Why do they do it? They get paid a big fee for
aquiring leads for these companies. When you participate, you are either
getting conned, or helping them to con the advertisers. Bad mojo
for everyone concerned.)

Now that you know what NOT to do when it comes to mystery shopping,
we will look at what you should do and how to become a successful
professional shopper.

In tomorrow’s lesson, we will look at the qualifications you need to
become a mystery shopper. What is it that mystery shopping companies
are looking for, and how can YOU be the shopper they hire?

Want to jumpstart your mystery shopping career? Learn more
about what mystery shopping companies want from you and how
to be a successful shopper with the information in ‘The Mystery
Shopper’s Manual.’ You’ll get lots of insider information and
tips, as well as a list of about 100 companies hiring mystery
shoppers. For information or to order, go to
http://www.IdeaLady.com/article/msm

Mystery Shopping Success Secrets
A free ecourse from Cathy Stucker
http://www.MysteryShoppersManual.com/
Copyright Cathy Stucker


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