You will want to research the company through Google or another search engine when signing up for a mystery shopper. There are some legitimate companies out there that you can make decent part time money, but mostly there are the scammers. Be careful of the places that will require you to pay money upfront.

You will shop at the store, and report your results. For a little while you will be out of pocket the money that you spent to do this but you will be reimbursed plus compensated for your time. It is easy work, and you can get several jobs a month if you want to sign up for that many. It’s not a daily job where you have to do this every day.

What if you want to do this without signing up for a company?

You can go to the different retail stores in your area and ask them if they could use a mystery shopper. You will have to set your rates, and how often you would like to report back on the store. It wouldn’t hurt if you had your questions and answers already filled out before you go and talk to the manager or owner of the store so that you can tell him exactly what you would be reporting to him, and they may have more items for you to report back to the about.

Some of the things that you may what to check for them:

Cleanliness of the store

Customer service – was the employees helpful to you? Did they speak to you, were they on the phone or cell phone while you were there? These are all things that the owner/manager may not see when they are there. Usually when the manager and owner is there, everyone is on their best behavior, it’s when they are gone that employees may not be doing what they want to do.

Price comparison of several items with other local stores. Owners may not know or have the time to compare prices of some of their things to different stores. This could be a great selling point for you.

You could create a whole list for your questionnaire to show the owner/manager of the store before you go in. Usually they will add to it if they have concerns about some of the things of the retail shop.

Whether you work for a company or do this yourself it’s still a great way for you to earn extra cash in your spare time.