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Secret Shopping: Is it for you and your family?

© Bonny Albo

I have recently started working with Secret Shop NET, a Calgary-based mystery shopping company that acts as a contractor for shopping assigments across North America. I had applied to work with them approximately six weeks ago, but honestly never expected to hear back from them. Boy, was I ever surprised when I received a call on my answering machine from the Western Canada representative, saying that I had been hired, and was to log on to their web site to start my training!

To say the least, Secret Shop NET has proved to be much more than what I had ever anticipated. All training, applications, and jobs are online, although I have received quite a few calls from my supervisor about jobs that needed to be done in my area, as well as leads to other companies that were looking for shoppers in my area. The pay is great, and the benefits even better - where else could we get free gas for just going to fill the tank? Nowhere else that I can think of that would be legal!

Now, by no means would this be considered a full-time job. Quite the contrary - it is more like casual employment, where I am responsible for taxes and unemployment insurance deductions. But then I got to thinking - what if I could work for several different mystery shopping companies? It is not like there is any sort of conflict between working for different companies. In this field, it is actually encouraged!

So, I searched for other companies. And searched, and searched, and searched. It was not easy going, but in the end I was actually quite proud of myself how many companies I could locate on the Internet that offered the same type of contractual employment. Here is the complete list of companies, along with a brief (and, in some cases, very brief!) description of what the company is looking for. And let me know if any of you are successful in receiving work from any of these listed groups - it would be great to know!

Dollar Stretcher - Various people have posted here, regarding mystery shopping companies, resources and pitfalls. Make sure to check it out!

Sinclair Service assessments - A very realistic view about working as a secret shopper, including income potential. Page is slow to load - programming & graphics heavy site. No international positions when visited, but many US locations , including Texas, Alabama, California (huge list), Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan. For a complete list, visit Areas We Need Shoppers.

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