This post is in reference to a previous question regarding shopper pay. Elaine Buxton of Confero (www.conferoinc.com) has offered this response.
Thank you for asking such an important question! When you are offered an assignment by an MSPA member company, you will be told up front what is required during the mystery shop visit. In some cases, you will need to pay for an item and be reimbursed for it. This is usually the case for a restaurant shop in which you would pay for your meal and then are reimbursed after submitting your shop report. It is also typical for convenience stores, grocery stores, or other consumer environments which offer small-dollar purchases. In other cases, you may be asked to purchase an item and then return it to the store. Many retailers use this type of shop to evaluate the selling process and then return process. This also allows for the shop to include the purchase of a higher-value item, so this purchase-return set up is common for higher-end retailers. If you are asked to make a purchase, you will be told the approximate amount of the required purchase prior to the shop. There are some mystery shops for banks for which you would be sent money in advance. Those are usually shops involving opening a checking or brokerage account. Banks want to check the process of an actual account opening and to see if associates are mentioning other services offered by the bank. Typically, these freshly-opened accounts are closed the next day by the bank so the shopper does not have an unneeded account and the bank gets its “seed” money back. The shopper is then paid a fee for the shop performed. For these highly-specialized bank shops, shoppers almost always have experience performing shops for the mystery shopping provider, so that the MSP trusts the shopper with the funds.
There are more types of mystery shops than can possibly be mentioned in this post, as shops are conducted for an almost endless list of services such as healthcare providers, automotive services, carpet cleaning, residential cleaning, real estate agencies, apartment leasing and most any type of consumer service. What is important to remember is that MSPA member companies will clearly inform you as to what is required during the mystery shop and when you may expect payment for your shop assignment. It is always a good idea to check with the mystery shopping company to confirm their payment polices before you perform any assignments for them.
Please exercise extreme caution when working with a mystery shopping provider who is not a member of the MSPA. There is a scam that involves you 1) receiving an unsolicited cashier’s check, 2) being asked to deposit it into your personal account and then 3) wiring the money to someone through (typically through Western Union or Moneygram). These types of shops are SCAMS and are not conducted by the reputable companies that are part of the Mystery Shopping Providers Association. Sometimes, though, the scam appears to come from an MSPA member company, as the names of legitimate companies are sometimes falsely used in the scam. Unfortunately, these scams seem “real” since it appears that the company is sending you the money in advance. In the end, these scams involved worthless cashiers checks which the bank would come back to collect from the shopper. To avoid these scams, find the official website of the MSP you wish to contact and follow their online procedures for securely registering your interest to mystery shop. Do not send your personal information via email.
