Hi,
I'm looking for a way to make a little bit of extra money on the side and one of my friends has suggested that a starting point can to become a mystery shopper (I understand there are avenues such as stocks and maximising interest accounts).
My first questions, is how do you make that extra little bit of money?
Secondly, has anyone here been a mystery shopper? If so what has your experience been and where did you begin?
I know where you're coming from… Why do you think i'm asking how it works :'(
I have done mystery shopping and found it wasn't worthwhile. A small job paying $15-$25 will take at least an hour to complete while a large job paying $100-$200 will take many hours and follow up over days/weeks. It is also not consistent enough to be a reliable income.
This. Husband did it, got assigned to a lot of Maccas jobs. Their reporting had to be so specific and detailed, and they would review their store footage before paying you - in one instance they didn't pay him because he ate his chips after his burger or something ludicrous like that. So we were out of pocket for the cost of the meal, petrol and rolls (it was the one on Eastlink in Melb).
A lot of effort for little pay.
Same as delivering junk mail - all the sorting of them is very time consuming, something you might not realise you have to do as part of the job.
Maccas is done via International Service Check and they have very pathetic rules.
You'd like to hustle?
No
Was offered 25 hour minimum selling charity raffle tickets in shopping malls around Sydney.. they pay by the hour and not by commission so you could maybe try that if you feel like it. Can't remember the employer it was through an internal job search with my job access employment provider in Katoomba. Good luck.
The OP said mystery shopper, not mystery seller.
OP also said:
Anyone been a mystery shopper or wanted extra money?
and
My first questions, is how do you make that extra little bit of money?
I've done mystery shopping & focus groups. Focus groups are an easy way to make a quick $100. Mystery Shopping is a bit infrequent and the payment vs time spent is often not worth it. Neither choice is something you could live off as a regular income.
Learn to trade forex?
You can set up free demo accounts and trade demo money until you are ready to trade live so it only costs you time to learn, if you do it the smart way. It's a 3-5 year project though.
WARNING: Get ready to lose some money as well… You can consider it as an self-education fee.
Which is why I made note of the 'free to demo trade' part. If a person has the discipline to to do that for a year or so and THEN use real money they will do much better.
Want Lambo next month then yes, hard lessons are coming, but then I suspect that's part of the learning process as well. :)
The big banks, etc., trading in forex spend tens of millions on systems and infrastructure to support their trading operations. Trust me, the humble mug punter is simply liquidity to the market and has sfa chance of being successful in the longer term. Don't forget it is a zero sum game and the odds are stacked in favour of the insto's.
@Ocker: Just like life really, and yet I personally know people who are doing quite OK with it. The market moves regardless of all of that and if you learn to move with it you can live quite comfortably from the crumbs that drop fro the sharks mouth. :)
Not trying to convince anyone, just letting people there are options for those who aren't afraid to look outside of their box.
Mystery shopping sucks, having to go somewhere you don't normally go, paying for petrol, parking, and a lot of time for not much reward. I did three or four jobs then quit.
If you send me a message, I can give you the email address of a lady in Melb who organises focus groups that you get paid for, next time she sends me one. The pay on them is good.
I've done some market research groups in the past which was normally a fun way to make about $100 cash but I didn't get invited to /qualify for them very often so not a reliable source of income. Now I've moved a bit far away from where they seem to be held and they always seem to be during the day now so I don't do them anymore.
Around the end of June is the hottest time for focus groups I've found (as EOFY and departments trying to use up their budget). I think I fall under a hot demographic so for a while did heaps (talking about a couple a week), the pay is awesome for what it is but as you say, frequency is inconsistant.
The companies running focus groups don't seem to like you doing too many of them. Trick seems to be not to say you've done one in the previous six months. But you need to keep a record of every one you do and for which company so you don't trip up. I averaged about one a month in 2017, but very lean pickings so far this year. But my age goes against me also I think.
I find them interesting, and it's done wonders for my self-confidence and speaking in front of others in a group.
Any leads on where to start looking to join these groups?
Farron Research
Realtime Research
Stable Research
Chit Chat Research
ReplenishQR
Opinionspaid
Purplecorp
Can be a fun job, but pay is not great. Try to get on to a company that will pay you a salary vs project/contracting work. Crossmark is a good company and used to have regional work. I think there is also a forum of Australian mystery shoppers. Field Agent is a good when jobs are available.
Mystery shoppers are scabs, if you do it at least be fair and truthful. Ive heard absolute lies about employees and exaggeration and at the end of the day it can waste everyones time.
Scientific research subject? There was Ad on Facebook the other day for some pharmaceuticals company
I've done plenty of those. Pay is generally not very good as they can only (by law) reimburse you for your time/expenses so if you want decent pay you want something that requires you to stay all day or overnight in the hospital/clinic. I got around $200 per day for a pharmaceuticals study that lasted around 8 hours per day. That was pretty good as the money is tax-free but I did another that was testing pain and involved injecting me with a saline solution to cause an intense cramp-like pain and it only paid $20.
Injected to cause pain for $20 lol no thanks
Ouch :( I'm sorry to hear!
My wife does this. She asks me for extra money then her shopping mysteriously appears a few days later.