emysteryshopper.com

For the last year I have been searching for ways of making money on the internet. Most of my attempts to "become rich quick" have been dismal failures. I can’t begin to count the number of "very promising" money making schemes I have joined, only to find out that the site concerned has disappeared, stopped paying international members or simply turned out to be a con. There have been a few sites which have proved successful, where ...
...but the earning potential is so slow that, if you are saving for that latest digital camera or in my case, a CD rewriter, you could be waiting a very long time.

Then, just before Christmas last year, I discovered the EMysteryShopper site. I can’t quite remember how I found it, but needless to say, I probably read an opinion written by an existing EMysteryshopper.


*Who are EMysteryshopper?*

Emysteryshopper ... more

For the last year I have been searching for ways of making money on the internet. Most of my attempts to "become rich quick" have been dismal failures. I can’t begin to count the number of "very promising" money making schemes I have joined, only to find out that the site concerned has disappeared, stopped paying international members or simply turned out to be a con. There have been a few sites which have proved successful, where earning a few extra pennies is concerned (this site included), but the earning potential is so slow that, if you are saving for that latest digital camera or in my case, a CD rewriter, you could be waiting a very long time.

Then, just before Christmas last year, I discovered the EMysteryShopper site. I can’t quite remember how I found it, but needless to say, I probably read an opinion written by an existing EMysteryshopper.

*Who are EMysteryshopper?*

Emysteryshopper is a well established internet company who employ ordinary people, like you or me, to provide feedback on other well known eCommerce websites.

Companies use EmysteryShopper for different reasons. Sometimes the company wants to find out what real shoppers think of their site or a larger web site, which promotes other sites, might want to make sure that these promoted sites meet a certain standard. The kind of things they are looking to find out are:

- is it of a high standard
- does the site live up to expectations of the shopper
- does it compare well to the web sites of their competitors
- does their customer service team respond quickly and helpfully.

Whatever the feedback required, what better way to get find out what people think about your site than to ask the people who use it the most.

Emysteryshopper acts as a co-ordinator for this feedback, allocating assignments to appropriate shoppers and then transforming the resulting feedback into an appropriate format for the company's purposes.

*What are the assignments like?*

The assignments you carry out as an EMysteryshopper all follow much the same format. You are sent an online survey to complete during, or after, your visit to the survey site. This survey generally consists of the following sections:

first impressions,
registration and logging in,
search facility,
shopping basket,
customer service contact,
purchase and refund
final impression

Each section of the survey consists of multi choice option boxes, with larger comments boxes for some questions which require more detailed responses.

Not all sections are required to be completed for all surveys. For example, you are only occasionally required to make a purchase or request a refund, so these sections are often greyed out. Also, if you have visited a site before (sometimes you are asked to survey a site more than once), you would not be expected to register the second time round.

The contact sections involve emailing the customer service department and often also making a telephone enquiry. Consequently, whilst looking around the site, you need to think of a question to ask customer service. This can sometimes be quite difficult, particularly if the site is very comprehensive and has a good help facility. If a question is not easily forthcoming, I often resort to pretending to be an ignorant shopper and ask something obvious! After all, they must have to deal with this kind of shopper regularly, so it is good to check how they respond to the "less informed" shopper.

Although a lot of the survey questions can be answered by checking a box, in order to have your survey accepted, you are required to provide a number of high quality, well considered comments in certain places. The company is, after all, paying you for your opinion, not just for ticks in boxes. Because of this, you cannot complete a survey half-heartedly, whilst doing something else - you really do have to give it your all.

*How long does an assignment take?*

Depending on what is required of you, an assignment can take anything from 20 mins to an hour to complete. I find that I generally have to visit a site more than once to complete a survey, for example, the first time I visit the site, I will have a good look around and add things to my shopping basket. I will then return later on to check if items stay in the shopping basket.

You do also have to wait for the companies to respond to your emails, so although you might complete most of a survey in 20 mins, you might have to wait a further two days to finish it off.

Likewise, if a purchase is required and even more so, a refund, it can be a good few weeks before you are able to add your final comments and "commit" the survey.

*How much do you get paid?*

The payment for a basic assignment is between £2.50 and £3.50. This includes 50p to cover expenses such as telephone calls and postage stamps.

If you are asked to make a purchase, you will receive a £5 purchase allowance. Unless you have to request a refund, you are able to keep whatever you purchase, so that is an added bonus. If you are asked to arrange a refund, you receive a further £5 refund allowance to cover the expense of returning the item.

The purchase and refund surveys can turn out to be quite lucrative, but they do require the most effort. An example of a recent survey payment illustrates this:

Survey payment £3.00
Expenses £0.50
Purchase allowance £5.00
Refund allowance £5.00
Total payment £13.50

My expenses
Item purchased £2.50
P&P £2.50
Return P&P £0.00
Refund £2.50
Total expense £2.50

Balance £11.00 for me

The only drawback with this kind of assignment is that you do have to pay for a purchase out of your own pocket and then have to wait a period of time for your refund and payment for the assignment. Therefore, you do need to have a small amount of spare cash, in a bank account somewhere, for this purpose.

*How do you get paid?*

EMysteryshopper pay by cheque, every month, following a submission of an online invoice on your part. You can send invoices to them as often as you like, or you can wait until they owe you a certain amount, as I do, and then invoice them. I am reliably informed that payment by BACS will also be available in the near future.

When you become an EMysteryshopper you are given your own secure area on their server, where you can keep track of your payments as well as current and past assignments. This area also has a facility for communicating with EMysteryshopper support staff and a "notices" section where information that may be of interest to you (reminders of deadlines, previews of future surveys etc) is displayed.

One important thing to note is that it is your responsibility to take care of tax and NI contributions on your earnings.

*How regular is the work?*

I have been an Emysteryshopper since the beginning of December last year - that is around five months - and so far I have completed 50 assignments. Quite a few of these were around Christmas time but none-the-less surveys do tend to become available very regularly. Assignments usually come up in batches and the deadline for completing them can be anything between a couple of weeks to a couple of months. From time to time, surveys which need to be completed quickly come up for grabs on a 'first come, first served' basis. This is because Emysteryshopper have targets to meet which have not yet been met. You have to be quick to accept them before somebody else does though as I generally find out to my detriment!

When assignments are available, you receive an email informing you and giving basic details of what is involved and the payment. If you are interested in carrying out the assignment, you have to reply to the email. You will then receive a reply informing you that the assignments are available in your personal area.

*What kind of sites do you survey?*

I was planning to tell you specific sites that I have been involved in surveying, but then I thought better of it. It would probably contravene the agreement that I have signed with Emysteryshopper to remain a 'mystery shopper' and therefore, I should not go public with this information.

Suffice to say that the sites I have been asked to survey thus far are mainstream sites, some of which were already favourites of mine and others which I now use regularly.

*How do you apply?*

Anybody can become an Emysteryshopper. You do not need any special skills or experience to do it. Obviously, you do need to have access to the internet and a bank account, or credit card to make the purchases, but other than that there are no restrictions on who can carry out the work.

In order to become an Emysteryshopper, you firstly need to complete an application form online. Part of this form has to be printed off, signed and sent to the company by snail mail. A few weeks later, you will receive an email asking you to complete an assessment survey. This is a survey based on a site of your choice. You do not get paid for this survey, but if it is up to the standard required by the company, you will receive an email shortly afterwards confirming your position as an EmysteryShopper.

And finally…..

My experience of EmysteryShopper has been an extremely positive one. I am enjoying the work and the money it provides is very welcome. Don't be under any illusions though, this is real work and not money for nothing. You do need to be committed to the task in hand and cannot earn an easy buck or two in this way. But if you are prepared to put in the work, your effort is rewarded and not just in monetary terms either. I have become a much more confident shopper as a result of my Mysteryshopping experience. I now know what to expect from a good web site or good customer service and I am far less content to accept poor service.

So, if you like what you hear, pop along to http://www.emysteryshopper.com, fill in the form and wait for the assignments and money to come rolling in!

 

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