Mystery Shopping Companies: How to Start, What You Earn and How to Avoid Scams

Short answer: mystery shopping is real, flexible work, but it is part-time and occasional work, not a replacement for a full-time income. You are paid a fee for each visit or call and often reimbursed for what you spend. It is also a favourite cover for scams, so how you find work matters as much as how you do it.

Disclosure: we run Instuly Pulse, a rewards platform. Instuly Pulse does not offer mystery shopping. We mention it near the end only as something you can do in the gaps between assignments.

What mystery shopping is

Businesses use mystery shopping to measure the customer experience from the customer's side. A provider, which is a company that sells these checks to businesses, recruits ordinary people to visit a shop, restaurant, hotel or bank, or to make a phone call, and then report what happened against a checklist.

Typical assignments include:

• Visiting a store and checking service, stock and cleanliness.

• Eating at a restaurant and rating the food, speed and staff.

• Calling a customer service line, or testing an online journey.

• Checking that staff follow a rule, for example asking for ID when it is required.

Providers call these jobs different things, including secret shopping, customer experience audits and compliance checks, but the work is the same: observe, follow instructions, report accurately.

What an assignment actually involves

1. You accept a job. The provider tells you where, when, what to buy or ask, and by when to report.

2. You do the visit or call. You follow the brief without revealing why you are there.

3. You collect evidence. That is usually a receipt, and sometimes photos or a recording where the brief allows it.

4. You write the report. Most providers use an online form with set questions and ask for detail. Late or vague reports are a common reason for non-payment.

5. You are paid. Payment is a fee, plus reimbursement of the purchase if the brief includes one. Timing and method depend on the provider, so confirm both in writing before you accept.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) notes that mystery shoppers typically pay for the product or service themselves and are then reimbursed by the retailer. That matters for cash flow, so make sure you can afford to pay first.

What mystery shopping really pays

Rates vary by provider, type of shop and where you live, and we do not publish numbers here because they change and vary widely. The FTC says mystery shopping jobs are typically part-time and do not usually pay enough to replace a full-time job. What you can do is work out your own rate before you accept a job.

Count the whole job, not just the visit. Here are two illustrations, not real pay data:

In both examples, travel and report writing take as long as the visit itself. Jobs close to home, grouped into one trip, and ones where the reimbursed purchase is something you would buy anyway are where the numbers start to make sense.

How to get started

1. Never pay to join. Registration, certification or a list of jobs should never cost you anything. The FTC says no real job involves paying to get the job.

2. Find providers yourself. Use the names below or a trade association list, and type the address into your browser instead of clicking a link in a message.

3. Register and complete your profile with your location, availability and any relevant experience.

4. Start with simple shops. Short, low-value assignments let you learn the reporting style before you take on longer ones.

5. Follow the brief exactly and report on time. Many providers track accuracy and punctuality, and better ratings often lead to more offers.

6. Keep your records. Save receipts, briefs and payment confirmations for your own tax records.

How to check a mystery shopping company is genuine

Most scams start with a message you did not ask for. Run these checks before you share any personal or bank details.

The cheque scam, step by step

The most common mystery shopping scam has been warned about by UK police and trading standards, Action Fraud and the FTC for years, and it keeps coming back in new forms. It works like this:

1. You respond to an advert or receive a message offering mystery shopping work.

2. You are sent a cheque or money order, and told to pay it in.

3. You are asked to spend a little on a test purchase, keep your fee, and send the rest on by money transfer, or to buy gift cards and send the codes.

4. The cheque is later found to be fake. Banks can take weeks to find out, and the money may show in your account before then. You are left owing the bank everything you sent on.

The rule that protects you is simple: a genuine provider never needs you to send money onwards. You pay for a shop with your own money and are reimbursed afterwards. Anyone who sends you money first and asks for any of it back is running a scam.

If you think you have been targeted, stop contact, do not send anything, and if you have already paid a cheque in, tell your bank straight away. Then report it to Action Fraud in the UK or the FTC in the US.

Where to look for genuine providers

These are mystery shopping providers, which means companies that sell mystery shopping to businesses. They are not employers, and each has its own sign-up process. We have not tested each one for this guide, and companies change names and ownership, so check each on its own website, typed into your browser yourself. Coverage depends on where you live, and many providers only run shops in certain regions.

UK and Ireland

• Customerwise. A UK provider of customer experience and compliance checks.

• Serve Legal. A UK provider known for age-verification test purchasing.

Global

• Market Force. A large provider used by restaurant and retail brands.

• Ipsos. A global research company that runs mystery shopping through its iShop programme.

US and North America

• IntelliShop. A US provider and long-standing member of the MSPA.

• InTouch Insight. A customer experience company with a strong presence in food service.

• Sinclair Customer Metrics. A North American customer experience and mystery shopping provider.

• Confero. A provider covering retail, banking and restaurant shops.

• Jancyn Evaluation Shops. A US evaluation and mystery shopping firm.

• Kinesis CEM. A customer experience measurement firm that runs mystery shopping programmes.

• Alta 360 Research. A customer experience research and mystery shopping provider.

• Ann Michaels & Associates. A customer experience research and mystery shopping firm.

• Shoppers Critique International. A US provider covering retail and service industries.

• ShopMetrics. A mystery shopping and customer experience provider.

Mystery shopping compared with surveys and online tasks

Tax

Mystery shopping income can count as taxable income. Shoppers are usually independent contractors rather than employees, which means you handle your own tax, so check how you are classified and keep your own records.

UK: income from casual self-employed work may fall under the £1,000 trading allowance, which means you generally do not need to tell HMRC if your gross income from it is £1,000 or less in the tax year. Whether it applies to you depends on your circumstances, and our guide Do UK students have to pay tax on side hustle money? explains it.

US: self-employment tax can apply once your net earnings from self-employment reach $400. Net earnings are 92.35% of your net profit, so in practice it starts at about $434 of profit. Our guide Do college students have to pay taxes on side hustle money? explains the rest.

Keep receipts, briefs and payment confirmations. How fees and reimbursements are treated for tax can differ, so ask HMRC, the IRS or an adviser about your own situation. If you are an international student, check your visa's work conditions before you earn money.

Where Instuly Pulse fits

Instuly Pulse does not offer mystery shopping, and we would rather say so than imply otherwise. It is a free rewards platform for adults aged 18 and over, with paid surveys from research partners including CPX Research and PureSpectrum, student deals and skills-based tasks. It suits the gaps: a train journey between assignments, or weeks when no shops are available near you.

Most surveys pay between $0.10 and $5, and you can cash out to PayPal or your bank once your balance reaches $10. Balances and withdrawals are in US dollars, and PayPal or your bank may convert the money at their own rate. Earnings vary, and not every survey will match you, so think of it as pocket money, like mystery shopping.

You can see how Instuly Pulse works or read our guide to paid survey sites in the UK.