Mystery Shoppers

Most of those opportnities are scams. You don't get paid for your mileage, wear/tear on your car and when you go on a mystery shop, you spend your money. Most especially don't pay the company for any materials, etc.

I've done focus groups in the past and they can be fun but still it is not a money maker.. I may be paid $100 for the hour but that does not cover my drive, wear/tear on my car/parking, my time. When I do it, I do it for fun and just go shop afterwards, not to sock away money.. there is not enough in it for that.

Maybe you can babysit, or if you are good at something like cooking, knitting, etc.... holidays are coming up so sell your crafts!

I did mystery shopping for about three to 6 months.

I got paid for about half my reports. The employer would look for reasons why they didn't want to pay for the other half. In a couple of instances, I didn't get paid because I used the wrong letter style. (New Times Roman instead of Arial.)

You never get paid enough for the time you put in. They say its a good way to get a "free meal" if you do restaurant shops, but it isn't. There are too many employers that don't pay or are so late in paying and you have to repeatedly remind them they owe you money. And IF you are doing a shop where you have to buy something, you are out the price of what you bought plus loosing your time if they decide not to pay you. I found that the employers won't fight for you with the company you did the shops for, but the company you did the shop for still got the report.

Good luck to you and yours.

Consumer advocate Clark Howard was against this. I don't remember why he told the caller not to do it. But you can probably check his website.

I worked through Sinclair for awhile. It is a bit of work, you have to follow very detailed instructions and fill out a detailed report afterwards and turn in your receipts. I didn't have trouble getting paid. It was just hard for me because I got so nervous doing it. If I had to ask a question at the store I felt like they surely new I was a phony ;-). For one I had to specifically buy an itme to return it. The mystery shops go quick here so I haven't done it for awhile.

www.sinclaircustomermetrics.com

Also search on mystery shopping and variations as there have been other questions about this and suggestions on who to work with.

I had a friend who was a mystery shopper. She got paid in gift cards to use at the store. it wasn't usually very much, but enough to get a new blouse once a month or something. Not something you can use cash wise to help build up a savings. I don't know what company she went throguh, not all are reputable.