Mystery Shoppers  are in business for themselves.

Independent Contractors

Almost all mystery shoppers are Independent Contractors who work from home. The Mystery Shopping Company, a Secret Shopper works for, does not withhold taxes from your earnings. If you earn more than $600.00 during a given calendar year, you will receive an IRS form 1099. A copy of form 1099 is furnished to the IRS and you are responsible to report and pay taxes on your earnings.

At the same time, you can deduct normal business expenses such as mileage, telephone and a home office. You should consult with a professional tax consultant about your individual situation. I am not qualified to give advice on tax or legal matters and only write about my own experience as a mystery shopper.

Mystery Shopping Company expect certain things from you as an independent contractor. Not every Mystery Shopping Company will expect you to have everything listed here. However if you plan on working for a number of companies you should be prepared to provide these items as they are your part of the independent contractors agreement.:

Reliability
	Only sign up for jobs you are 100% sure to complete. All Mystery Shopping Companies   keep track of uncompleted assignments and will terminate your agreement if you do not complete a number of shops.

Detail Oriented
	On every assignment you will be required to produce a report. To write an acceptable report you have to be observant of the details at your assignment and be detail oriented when you write your notes and later, the report.

 

At least a high school education
	This is a requirement that can be waived if you have good observation skills and a firm grap of the english language both grammar and spelling.

 

High speed internet connection either cable or DLS Access to a computer
	You will be downloading assignments and uploading reports. Dial up connections are just to slow for that.

 

Permanent Telephone Line ( I use only my cell phone )
	.Often a scheduler or an editor will need to call you with a question. They do not have time to leave messages and wait. I use only a cell phone so that I am available at any time.

 

Ability to check and receive E-mail at least once per day

You need to have an email address just for mystery shopping. This will help you greatly in staying organized and not missing communications from the Mystery Shopping Company. If your internet  provider does not offer you more than one address there are a number of free email accounts offered, the three most popular providers are hotmail.com by Microsoft, yahoo.com by Yahoo and gmail.com by Google. Do NOT use an account with AOL, most Mystery Shopping email is blocked.

 

Good command of the English language
	On most assignments you will have to converse with client's employees. You need to be able to converse without being conspicuous.

 

Good writing skills

Many reports require you to write about details of your experience. These reports must be grammatically correct because the client will see the report and it reflects on you and the Mystery Shopping Company. Most Mystery Shopping Companies employ editors but if they have to correct very many spelling and grammatical errors they will tell you about it and may even terminate you. Editors like it simple and they too just want to get the job done.

 

Ability to follow instructions
	Assignments and guidelines which you receive from Mystery Shopping Companies have detailed instructions on how, when where why to perform an assignment You will be expected to follow these instructions to the T or your report will be rejected and you will not be paid.

 

Reliable transportation
	This is self explanatory. If you do not have transportation available you can't perform the assignment.

 

Digital Camera with date and time stamp, minimum 640 x 480 resolution
	Many, but by no means all, Mystery Shopping Companies require you to take digital photos of the facility you are auditing. The uploads are always in a 640 x 480 resolution and most of the time have to be smaller than 200 kb per picture. Later I will show you how to meet these requirements regardless of the size of the original photo.

 

Scanner or at least a fax machine
	About 75% of Mystery Shopping Companies require that you send them a receipt. The absolute easiest way is to scan the picture and attach it. Some shoppers take a digital picture of the receipt but that is a little more difficult to produce a clear copy.

 

Printer to print guidelines and check sheets
	You should always take a copy of your assignment with you when you go shopping.

 

Adobe acrobat reader installed on your computer.
	Many assignments will be sent to you in PDF format. If you do not have an Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer you can download it here for free.

 

. MSPA Silver or Gold Certification

MSPA is an acronym for the Mystery Shopping Professional Association. MSPA is primarily for Mystery Shopping Companies, but is beginning to cater more to Shoppers too. They offer two professional level of certifications and virtually every Mystery Shopping Company recognizes the MSPA certification. The Silver Certificate is the basic certification which states that you understand and will adhere to the professional ethics and requirements of being a shopper. This certification will cost you only $15.00 and it will open many doors for you. If there are two applications  from two different shoppers before a scheduler and one is silver certified and the other is not certified the assignment 9 out of 10 times will go to the certified shopper. Click here to take the first step to being a Professional Mystery Shopper.

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