Mystery shopping involves the evaluation of businesses to determine the level of service received by their employees. This evaluation can occur on the client’s premises, by phone or at the shopper’s home.

A mystery shopper is hired as an independent contractor and not as an employee of the mystery shopping company to evaluate the businesses. The mystery shopper is assigned an assignment, reviews the instructions and form to determine what particular things to take note of.

You must possess excellent writing skills in order to explain in a clear concise manner that others can understand, what occurred during your shopping experience. You do not interject your opinion, you only explained what happened so that anyone that reads the report is able to understand what happened.

You must also be detailed oriented. There may be certain details that you are required to comment on during your shop such as names and descriptions, clothing, certain signage, etc. You will not be able to write down these details immediately, so you will have to commit them to memory.

You must be able to meet deadlines. Our clients expect their reports within a certain amount of time. You should be dependable enough to meet not only the deadline of conducting the shop but also submit the shop the same day the shop is conducted.

Payment varies depending on the location of the shop, client requirements, length of the report and various other factors. In addition, some shops involve payment only, payment and reimbursement for expenses or they may be reimbursement only.

If the shop requires you to make a purchase, you will usually be reimbursed up to the total maximum reimbursement amount. For example, you select a fast food shop that has a maximum reimbursement amount of $5.00 but your purchase totals $7.00, you will only be reimbursed $5.00.

Once your application is approved, if there are assignments in your area, you will be able to login into CS ShopPro, and view the requirements, instructions and forms for each shop. When you find an assignment that tickles your fancy, you can self-assign it.

That is a personal choice that you will have to make. Most mystery shoppers are part-timers and only shop occasionally. Chances are you will not be able to generate a comfortable salary doing mystery shopping full-time.

Payments are made by ACPVIEW through PayPal only. You must have a PayPal account in order to receive a payment. To open a free PayPal account, visit the PayPal site.

ACPVIEW highly recommends shopper certification through the Mystery Shopping Providers Association (MSPA), which is our trade organization. They offer Silver and Gold level certification. MSPA Shopper certification will provide you with an accurate peek into  the mystery shopping industry. Visit the MSPA site.

Any person seeking a job should not have to pay a fee to the “hiring company”. There are a host of other companies that provide lists of potential mystery shoppers to mystery shopping companies. These companies charge a fee to mystery shoppers to be listed in their database so that mystery shopping companies can find shoppers in a particular area or city. If you choose this route, please investigate the company to make sure that they are legitimately used by mystery shopping companies, prior to paying a fee. A good site that you can investigate companies on is volition forums..

We encourage you to sign up with as many mystery shopping companies as you’d like. Seek out all mystery shopping companies, not just those located in your immediate area. Mystery shopping companies have assignments available based on their client locations, not the mystery shopping company's headquarter location. There are companies that sell lists of mystery shopping companies. Some of these lists are outdated. You can find lists of mystery shopping companies online FREE by just doing an online search.  

Most mystery shopping companies only accept applications online and do not accept applications by mail. Click here to go to ACPVIEW’s shopper application.