Shadow Shopper is basically a website that charges users for a list of companies that hire mystery shoppers also known as secret shoppers. Mystery Shopping is when a company hires people like you and me to act as undercover shoppers that visit various stores to purchase a given product or service. Sometimes you're not even required to purchase anything, it's just a matter of visiting the store to evaluate the appearance or customer service of a given shop. The shops that you visit don't know you're evaluating them. At the end of your visit you must fill out a report detailing what you're observed. Whatever money you spent is usually reimbursed plus an additional fee. So you usually get some free products and some extra money for your troubles. It's a great opportunity for stay at home moms and people that have great attention to details.
ShadowShopper.com is very much like the various websites you find on the web that offer lists of survey opportunities for a fee. The problem with these websites and why they're often viewed as scams or have negative reviews is because you can get the information they're selling you for free. Personally it's hard for me to call theses sites scams because honestly books, newspapers and magazines are also offering you a lot of information you can get for free if you know where to look.
Shadow Shopper Complaints
1. Show me the “real” money!
The issue with sites like ShadowShopper.com is how they misrepresent the amounts of money you can make and how soon you can get started. Chances are you won't be able to support your family with mystery shopping or pay some major bills. It's more of an extra money opportunity and how much you can make will depend if you live in an area where they need a lot of shoppers.
2. It's not really free!
The other “shady” thing about ShadowShopper.com is that they offer you a “free” membership. But in their terms of services they clearly state that after your 7 day free trial is up they will automatically charge you, and process your membership. I put the word shady in quotes because this is just a matter of being aware of what you're signing up for and taking the appropriate action. If you cancel before the trial period there isn't a problem. But most people aren't as careful as they should be and forget to cancel the trial and you end up paying for something you didn't necessarily want. Most companies that offer free trials depend on this, so it's not only companies like ShadowShopper.com do employ this tactic. This is where you get many complaints because from what I gather ShadowShopper.com isn't going to give you a refund because you forgot to cancel your free trial. Ideally they should but they are in their rights since they let you know this up front in their terms and conditions.
So Is Shadow Shopper Legitimate?
Personally given that there are free resources that we provide you with legitimate Mystery Shopping opportunities I would pass on Shadow Shopper. I don't think it's a flat out scam because it's not against the law to sell you free information. But they are a little deceptive in their representation of earnings and how easy it is to get started with secret shopping. And just be mindful of the free trial and the terms associated with them and you should be fine if you decide to try them.
Now if you're looking for a legitimate way to make some real money at home, then be sure to check out My #1 Free Recommendation here. And it's really free! There is none of that sneaky charge you credit card later stuff. LOL This company has helped me earn a full time income from home and I'm confident they can do it for you too! So check out this free opportunity by clicking here!
Until next time,
Eddy with a Y!
https://www.shadowshopper.com/shopper/index.cfm this site “HIRED” me then sent me to the ONLY jobs that I had specifically said I would NOT do. Then I get a check in the mail from a bogus company asking me to deposit it in my acct, keep 350 then send the rest by western union and another through moneygram to survey the handling of the customers. I confirmed there was no valid account with the bank it was drafted against and tore up the check. Contacted Shadow shopper live chat and asked for a refund. Told the nameless person I was hired by a scammer, the person said they would look up my account then after a minute or two they closed the chat window. This company is all scam if you ask me.. I needed a job and they tried to steal from an old lady.. Karma is a … well.. you know the phrase. I pray they are busted before the scam any others.
Thanks for sharing your experience with this company. But I can’t say I’m surprised.
Thank you Eddy for the foreshadowing on the job 😉
You’re welcome!
Do not paid for the membership use the free one, all the companies that are on the paid site will call you personally. I was a free member for years and had gone several offers to mystery shop, so I decided to pay the 4.95 fee once to see if I was missing anything, I had all of the mystery shops already listed. I do not make that much money either, I live in a under populated area. I checked email this morning and they charge my 30 dollar, I dont even make 30 a months. Talk to customer service they were rude, waiting for my refund so we will see.
Alicia,
If worst comes to worst just contact your bank to have this reveresed.
You can start by reading this site.
Just another scam website. I followed ALL of the links on this site and they ALL took me to scam websites that wanted me to pay from #37 to $199 for the privilege of being ripped off. Shame on you.
I signed up for free trial and after reading these comments decided to cancel immediately. When canceling membership they had my paypal as a payment method for renewal. HOW DID THEY GET THAT INFORMATION?? I am so glad I canceled!
Hi,
I think you’ve answered your own question. Never cash any checks from strangers. It’s a common scam disguised in many legitimate looking ways. You can read about it here: https://www.workathomenoscams.com/2007/10/16/fake-checks-wire-transfer-scams-fakechecksorg-fights-back/
I just did a search for the address that Shadow Shopper provided, and the address does not exist, and there is no phone number-go figure.
I failed to read the fine print about automatic renewal and cancelled on the first day of February on the same day I received the notice of a charge to my bank account. They refused to refund any part of the fee. Unless you’re doing a lot of these shops, this fee is a big ripoff. The fee amounts to more than three hours of paid shopping.
It’s like that saying goes, the devil is in the details. We’re all guilty of skipping the fine print but its a costly mistake when it comes to work at home offers. Just take it as a lesson learned. Thanks for sharing your experience.
I’ actually don’t have much negative to say about the site. I signed up for a bronze membership, then I did the 4.95 trial. I got some pretty good jobs from them, so for the most part I have to say that I enjoy the site. It certainly does beat search all over the internet to get a list of companies that may or may not have clients in your area. Via SS I’ve gotten shops from some companies that I have not even seen on the MSPA website. Did not care too much for Volition. I was even contacted by a Product Demo agency, who uses SS to recruit, so I won’t knock it, thought it is quite pricey if you are not an off-an-on gold member. To me it’s no more of a scam than Primerica. While SS is not something that I sign up for monthly, I do use them periodically.
‘
Well thanks for sharing your experience. I’m glad you have found value with this company.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
I had a free account for a long time-then when I wanted to access job info-I had to upgrade to see the company details. Ok, so I agreed to a 30 day trial-then $4 monthly fee. Well after only two wks of my free trial someone named xxx with Shadow Shopper charged my acct $29.95-this amount was Not authorized! Thank god the credit co I deal with is honest-they refunded all my money at once. When I saw the charges-I cancelled my account and ANY RECURRING CHARGES and notified my credit co at once!
such practices leave me wondering?
I have been using shadow shopper for 4 months and love it. I first signed up in May 2011 and have been getting great jobs and making excellent income to this day.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
This company has a FBI report on it ! Stay away!
And where is the link to this report so people can read up on this?
When I first looked into Mystery Shopping back in 2005, I came across Shadow Shopper. I did the trial and then joined for a year at the lowest level. During that time. I joined every mystery shopping company out there that posted on Shadow Shoppers site. I do not remember if I ever got a job through SS but I made sure I joined everyone I found. After my year, I canceled my membership and never had any problems with them. I have been Mystery Shopping for 6 years now and earn as much as I would working 30 hours a week. I know people think that if they sign up that you automatically get hired. But you have to work at it a little bit. Once you develop a relationship with the various companies out there, they WILL call you. My e-mail is packed daily with available jobs and I pick and choose what I want. I was very satisfied with Shadow Shopper and had no problems what so ever with them. I joined for the convenience of having mystery shopping company names in one place. Yes, I could have searched for them myself, but I consider the money I spent on that year well worth it!!
I had to cancel my bank card because of shaddowshopper. I had to file a claim with my bank. They do their job as far as putting you out to other companies as far as getting jobs, but end SUBCRIPTION before due date. They took a subscription form my account and i reported it and they put the money back in my account. The next day they took it back out.
DO NOT GET INVOLVED “SHADDOWSHOPPER” ARE CRIMINALS
Stay Away from this company. They do not pay. I am happy with bestmark they paid me promptly. I just filed a complaint with the BBB about shadowshopper.com.
I had to cancel my Discover Card because they wouldn’t back me on this ripoff and my card # is in those thieves data base. If I log on to my profile I can remove the # but if I log off and on again it’s back.
This is by far the biggest scam in book. I went in and changed my setting to not automaatically withdraw money from my account and it was taken out. I tried calling the company and they would only speak with me through email. I explained to them what happen and theywould not refund me my money. They stated that the system should have sent me an email about any changes. I never once received an email. I even went in and changed things around too see if I would get an email.No email!!! The biggest scam EVER!!!
IT IS A SCAM, I TRIED THERE FREE MEMBERSHIP AND THEY DIDNT NOTIFIE ME BEFORE MY MEMBERSHIP ENDED AND THEY JUST TOOK 100 DOLLARS OUT OF MY BANK ACCOUNT FOR SOMETHING I NEVER WANTED
I THINK ITS A SCAM. I PAID $4.95 TO BE REGISTERED TO SHOP AND WHEN I FOUND OTHER SIGHTS THAT DIDN’T CHARGE I IMMEDIATELY CALLED AND CANCELLED. YOU GET VOICE MAIL AND THE RECORDING SAYS TO LEAVE A MESSAGE AND SOMEONE WILL CALL YOU BACK WITHIN 48 HOURS. NO CALL AND MY ACCOUNT WAS CHARGED. NOW I’VE EMAILED THEM WITH MY COMPLAINT.
I registered with 5 or 6 other companies for FREE and have done 4 shops and received payment already from 2 of them. One shop was for a seafood dinner and they reimburse you up to $75 for dinner for 2. We spent $90 including the tip but it was well worth it!! DON’T PAY THEM TO SHOP. THERE ARE PLENTLY OF SHOPS OUT THERE. TRY ServicewithStyle, MarketForce or GFK Mystery Shops to name a few.
Like I said in the review above, I think it’s unnecessary to pay for such a list since plenty of sites like our own list these mystery shopping sites for free:
https://www.workathomenoscams.com/jobs/browse_by_category/Mystery+Shopping/
But that being said there seems to be some people that have been happy with this company so to each their own. However it seems shady that you haven’t been able to easily cancel your account. After all I’m sure they made it easy to sign up.
How did you find these places. I have searched and searched. Keep getting a scam site
Actually once you’ve done the initial work of signing up for individual mystery shopping company they do email or call you when they have shops in your area. I know because I get these emails and calls daily. But again, I’m glad you find value in this service.
Thanks for sharing your experience with us. Sounds like it’s definitely been worth it for you.
I personally have had a great experience with Shadow Shopper. It really opened up the whole mystery shopping and merchandising industry to me. I pay 34 a month for three months and I make that back in two assignments. Now I have gotten to the point that I am signed up with so many companies that my email box is full with job offers every day, but there are still new companies that find me from time to time because I am a member of Shadow Shopper.
So thats just where I stand with it. Worth it to me, maybe not for everyone else.
I was recently burned by them. I would not suggest this company at all.If you do decide to sign up make sure you change your account to say that you will not automatically sign up for a year when your trial is over. They will not refund you the money for any reason! There is no number to call, only through emails can you correspond.
Please be carefull of anyone by the name of Paul Falotico, Paul Smith or Jack Brasswell
It would be helpful if you detailed why, otherwise it really means nothing as to why they should be avoided
Hi,
I forgot to add; I addressed some of the ‘Work from Home’ websites and have been called about 5 times (in the last 4 days). From my experience I think that some of them are just people looking to you to give them money. I am surely ‘skeptical’ about them.
I have recently joined Shadow Shoppers and paid a $24.95 fee. I have filled out many ‘job applications’, etc. I received a call the day after I joined for a job; unfortunately I did not meet the requirements. I know where the job was but I don’t have a regular paycheck, pension, etc. The woman I spoke with (my goodness, she sounded young-I’m in the mid-50’s). was extremely polite, friendly & really seemed to be interested in me. She actually sounded disappointed when I didn’t qualify. So far I’ve spent hours and hours filling out everything but I think that it’s going to be a lot of fun, interesting, educational and profitable once I get my 1st job. I don’t know anything about a $99/year membership but I will certainly re-evaluate my position at that time. So far (haven’t gone too far yet) I haven’t any complaints with Shadow Shoppers.
Sincerely,
Nancy Byng
You found out about the the $99 when your $24 membership expired and the automaticly renewed your membership and upgraded you to gold.
I applied for a position as a Mystery shopper in the Greater New Orleans area. This business opportunity was advertised on Craigslist. The person who contacted me claims to be George Johnson. This person’s English was deplorable via e-mail and when I spoke with him, he was impossible to understand.
The e-mails wanted me to send them my bank account # in order to wire payment. I of course did not provide them with this information. However, I recieved a “Quick Pay” e-mail, supposedly from my bank. I printed out the e-mail and visited an area bank in order to get more information. The branch mgr. said that the bank had not sent me this e-mail and it was probably a scam. When I called Mr. Johnson to confirm this, he was very defensive and said he would forward a website with information regarding their company.
I have saved all correspondence regarding this “position” as Mystery Shopper”.
Following is an excerpt from an e-mail:
“Y O U R E V A L U A T I O N T A S K:
PATRONIZE THEIR SERVICES AT ANY OF THEIR OUTLET IN YOUR AREA BY COMPLETING A SIMPLE QUESTIONNAIRE. SHOP AT THE WAL-MART AND MAKE A TRANSFER OF FUND FROM A WESTERN UNION LOCATION TO ANOTHER MYSTERY SHOPPER IN SPAIN,AND THE FUNDS WOULD BE PICKED UP BY OUR MYSTERY SHOPPER AT THE EXACT LOCATION WHICH A CUSTOMER REPORTED HER FUNDS STOLEN FROM.
1. Cash the check, deduct your commission of $250.00.
2. Deduct another $70 to shop at the WAL-MART store and proceed with the remaining balance by evaluating any Western Union service around you.
The western union charges should be deducted from the remaining balance and not your own $250. However, kindly proceed and have it cashed at your bank,deduct your commission which is $250 and use the remaining balance to perform the task,proceed with the task which is to evaluate any western union outlet and wal-mart store. you can perform the task at any of the outlet in your area and please get back with a report base of the following questions and any other necessary things you notice.
1)How long it took you to get services.
2)Smartness of the attendant
3)Customer service professionalism
4)Name and the address of the wal-mart and western union outlet you evaluate.
As soon as task is accomplished, It’s very vital you forward the full evaluation report including the exact amount sent, the 10 digit western union money transfer control# to the below email and Under no circumstances should the Wal-mart Store and The Western Union Agent know this survey is being carried out on them: georg.johnson@live.com
BELOW IS THE INFORMATION YOU NEED TO WIRE THE FUNDS TO IN SPAIN:
Name: Novaleen Fenol
City: Las Vegas
State : Nevada
Post Code: 89147-8062
Country: USA
Amount Sent :
Yours Sincerely.
George Raymond
THE SHADOW SHOPPER EVALUATION TEAM ®”
There is also a discrepency in the name. Please advise. Thank you!
Hi,
This is just another example of a con artist using legitimate companies and jobs to push their wire transfer/checking cash scam we’ve covered on our scam page: http://www.workathomenoscams.com/scams
It should be ignored.
Is Novaleen Fenol a real person? I can’t find anyone through internet searches… but I also know that this person is doing the check scam thing, They will send out fake checks for whatever reason and ask the recipient to wire most of it back to an assistant for “expenses”… the name of that assistant is .. Novaleen Fenol!
IT IS A HUGE SCAM!!! Google mystery shopping companies and join them all directly (FOR FREE)!
Meritz is a great one, as well as TNS. There are tons out there. And if you live in a rural area, you will have better luck. If you live in a city, it is sometimes hard to get involved with this sort of thing.
DO NOT JOIN SHADOW SHOPPER!!!
You don’t even need to Google them because we already list them for free here:
http://www.WorkAtHomeNoScams.com/companies
wwww.WorkAtHomeNoScams.com/jobs lol
That being said, can you provide more details as to why the company is a huge scam?
Eddie Salomom, can’t you read where they are providing you with the information about ShadowShopper. You must want to give your money away for some odd reason. SMH
1. My name is Eddy. It’s spelled a hundred times on this site.
2. I have no idea what you’re talking about.
Eddy I also wanted to point out, while the sties you mention may list the companies for you, Shadow Shopper emails you jobs in your area on a daily bases. To me that is better then a huge list of companies that will take days to fill out. You have no idea if they are even doing shops in your area.
Eddie,
I work for a large national merchandising company and we use Shadow Shopper on a regular basis to find people for merchandising assignments. They have been a tremendous resource for our company and many other companies. It is not required to pay a fee.
Amy,
Thanks for chiming in. I may have do an update on this company.
Thanks again.
Eddy you and everyone that had a comment was correct. I checked with the post office through their automatic voice response system on the validity of the two money orders. I provided the serial number and post office number. I was transferred to a live representative that informed me that they could not reference the serial or post office number to anything. Therefore, the clerk stated that the money orders are proably fake. After this I still wasn’t convinced the money orders were fake. So I went to the post office to cash them. Just like the phone the clerk said that he could not reference them back to anything and felt the money orders were fake. I told them to turn it into the Inspector General or fraud unit. I knew it was too good too be true.
I received a plain email asking if I wanted to be a MS. I called the number listed and no one answered. After a number of rings the phone line is disconnected. I then sent an email stating I was interested in becoming a MS. I filled out a brief application with a few questions asking about my experience, my address, and phone number. I was not referred to the website and I never completed a trial period. The next email I received was congratulating me and that I would receive an assignment soon. I didn’t think nothing of it because I had applied before on other websites and was never contacted. I received a letter in the mail outlining my assignment and two money orders for $955.00 a piece from the US Post office.
So far so good.
Gina,
I would avoid cashing any random money orders or checks. Visit my scam page and read about the check cashing and wire transfer scam listed there:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/scams You’ve been warned.
@Manda:
Aren’t you so savvy. Obviously a paid writer by shadowshopper.com
@Michelle:
I have to agree with you that it is a scam. Maybe you can find the information for free and maybe it does seem useful and convenient for first time seekers. I was just one of those. It was late. I was stressing about bill overload while watching my dreams of first time homeownership going out the window. I needed to make money fast and can’t work a second job as a single mom when I already work 50 to 60 hours a week. So, I tried it. But all the run around to get to the leads, all the extra work up front when you’re already skeptical of the internet anyway, and the little time I actually had for it, well, as you can figure, I missed my deadline. No reminders are sent, nothing. And to beat all, they make you renew with a year’s membership instead of the three month one they offer. And the new cost of that is a whopping $99! No phone number to call, just an email response from someone with a candid reply about how it’s all my fault. I should have been more careful. I also should have never messed with it in the first place. The service was crappy, the leads were useless, and the information misleading. This company does not deserve your money.
Hi Eddy,
I use your website to look up work at home scams. I am currently unemployed and looking for work. I have tried a couple of things online and basicly it has come down to eirther being lied to or the company has NOT followed thru on their promise to walk you step by step and make sure you (I) earn money. Please let me know if this guy is for real. Or am I going about this the wrong way. work with paul says he can help me earn money. 500.000 TO 5000.00 I dont care about earn BIG money I just want to be happy and pay my bills with out having to be a penny pincher. Can you help?
You do a great service I only wish more people did things to help people like me instead of taking the money I have (which is not alot) and using it for thier own gain. Thanks!
Best Regards,
Danny Thurman
Hi Danny,
Have you visited my scam page and followed the steps in my scam video:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/scams I’m certain if you do, you’ll have your answer about this offer or any other companies you search for.
From what I know pwp claims to teach you about affiliate marketing and in my experience Wealthy Affiliate does a good job of doing this and they don’t misrepresent that’s what they plan to teach you. So you may want to read my review about them:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/wareview
Good luck.
Hi, I totally disagree with you as for as Shadow Shopper.
I have been with them since 2006 , and I’m still with them.
You can pay any of 3 ways.
I pay 99.00 for a year.
Now this is exactly how it works….after you pay the 99.00, you set up your profile has to what you know how to do, an how long etc…1-3 yrs 3-5 etc or no exp.
You put your picture up so the employer can see you.
What happens is different employers looking for people with your skills will send you emails.
YOU then have the choice to apply for the job or assigment or not.
If you apply for the assignment an they are interested they will contact you by phone or email.
There are no taxes due unless you make over 600.00 with “a” company.
Think of it as Kelly services..you go in there an apply…an when they have an employer interested in you for an assigment they give it to you…if you want it.
Only this is MUCH bigger, you can literally work for more than one company at a time.
The best pay though is Merchandising which is what I do.
You can check it out at Shadow Shopper.com
Have a wonderful day,
Mariam
Hi..what is your opinion about “Wealth Connection”?
Hi,
I know nothing of them. However just follow the steps in my scam video listed here:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/scams and you can research this company yourself.
Eddy,
I hope you are having a blessed Advent and Christmas. I got two emails the other day about being a mystery shopper. One came from “AboutFace”. The other came from someone called Susan Brown (email is: resumesdeptinc1@live.com). Now, I know from reading your site here that is someone just emails me with a job offer that should set off alarm bells. Ok, the bells are going off. Have you heard of either of these folks? Also, where on your site is there some legitimate Mystery shoppers leads. Next, how does one make any money doing this? Thanks.
Ed Cohen
Hey Ed,
You already know how I feel about job offers that appear out of the blue especially when they have nothing to do with your skill set. There isn’t anything to figure out, just delete the emails. It’s that simple. Just imagine the same situation in an offline world and what your reaction would be. Chances are you would tell this stranger to shove off because it doesn’t make any sense. The same applies in this situation.
A lot of times these scam artists will use known legitimate job offers or companies to lure you into a sense of security. Eventually they do show their true colors. They will eventually mention something about cashing checks, wiring money or re-shipping some package as part of the job. All of which are scams I’ve covered in my scam page:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/scams So be sure to head there, watch the videos, read the scams listed there and the comments. If you do you’ll never wonder who or what is a scam.
That being said, I’ve written an article about Mystery Shopping here:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/2008/03/20/mystery-shopping/
and I also included a link to legitimate mystery shopping companies in the article above: “Personally given that there are free resources that provide you with legitimate Mystery Shopping opportunities I would pass on Shadow Shopper….”
So everything you need is here as always. It’s just a matter of doing a little digging and reading. I hope it helps Ed. It’s always good to hear from you.
I realize this is an old post but wanted to jump in and give you my opinion. I have been self sufficient working at home since 2005. Although I currently let my membership lapse, I was a Silver member of shadowshopper.com for 5 years and do not believe it to be a scam.
Although certainly not enough to earn a living, I consider MS to be my cookie jar money and by combining MS with Merchandising – have consistently been able to earn anywhere from 2500-to over $5000 a year (and I live in a small remote town in MI’s UP) and most of the work came from shadowshopper.com. So I never considered the site to not be worth the membership fees.
1) If you take working at home seriously, you also take “TAX DEDUCTIONS” seriously, and the membership fees are tax deductible.
2) I have paid for memberships for 3 other shopping sites and would not recommend these other 3 for they are just a list of companies.
3) SS provides real time leads for actual openings in your area, not just a list of companies to sign up for (I do not recommend signing up with 2 or 3 pages of companies in hopes that they may have a job in my area, waste of my time)
4) Many of the schedulers that I have worked for over the past 5 years use reliable sites such as SS as their first stop in filling the positions – they know that serious MSers with experience will pay for reliable sites. – sites such as Volition are only used as a last resource and really aren’t the best of the shopping jobs (you are getting the ‘left overs’ from those who take MS seriously) And this site is often a 1st stop for Merchandising schedulers.
5) There is no way I would have ever found some of the companies who offered me work. for instance the local GFS store has used at least 5 different MS companies in the past 5 years some I have never heard of before, there really is a lot of constant changes in this industry.
6) Don’t expect MS or Merchandising to be a “blow off” job – the better paying jobs expect quality work, you have to be prepared to spend time to study the material and often take tests before you are allowed to work.
7) reflecting the overall US economy, the pay for both MS and Merchandising jobs has gone down significantly in the past couple of years. The $10-12+ shops are harder & harder to come by, with some companies wanting the work done for a mere $5-8 (I’ll pass) – but I did just do a shop yesterday for $25 for Applebees:)
8) I’m not a big fan of the free membership – you really don’t get the full benefits – if you want to seriously try making money, at least spend the money for the smallest pkg (it used to be monthly – more expensive but heck I’ve spent more in a bar on drinks in my day)
ps – I’m not an affiliate, spokesperson or salesperson for them, just a satisfied customer.
Hi Maureen,
Thanks for sharing your comment. It was very detailed and helpful.
Good evening Eddy;
Since I was feeling gabby I thought I would include this email I received that is supposed to be from Secret Shopper. I tried to contact them from their website asking if this was a real offer but have never heard back from them. The assignment is supposed to pay $200. per duty. Maybe I put them off when I told them it sounded fishy to me. Here is the copy of the email.
Steve Allen
“We have a mystery shopping assignment in your area and we would like you to participate”
Secret Shopper ® is accepting applications for qualified individuals to become mystery shoppers. It’s fun and rewarding, and you choose when and where you want to shop. You are never obligated to accept an assignment. There is no charge to become a shopper and you do not need previous experience. After you sign up, you will have access to training materials via e-mail, fax or postal mail.
ABOUT US
Secret Shopper ® is the premier mystery shopping company, serving clients across America and Canada with over 500,000 shoppers available and ready to help businesses better serve their customers. Continual investment in the latest internet and communication technologies coupled with over 16 years of know-how
means working with Secret Shopper ® is a satisfying and rewarding experience. Secret shopping as seen on ABC NEWS, NBC NEWS, L.A.TIMES.
Stores and organizations such as The Gap, Walmart, Pizza Hut, and Banks. One amongst many others pay for Secret Shoppers to shop in their establishments and report their experiences. On top of being paid for shopping you are also allowed to keep purchases for free. Secret Shopper ® NEVER charge fees to the shopper. Training, tips for improvement, and shopping opportunities are provided free to registered shoppers. Mystery shoppers are either paid a
pre-arranged fee for a particular shop, a reimbursement for a purchase or a combination of both.Secret Shopper ® has available for immediate assignment an inspection of the customer service of any walmart in your area. You are to shop secretly and invest just a token. This fee will be paid upfront. During this shop you will visit the location and make several observations as regards the customer service.
You will be required to interact with the shop clerk.
You may conduct the shop alone or as a couple.
The assignment will pay $200.00 per duty
Kindly Fill Out the application form below and we will get back to you shortly with the assignment:
PERSONAL INFORMATION:
First Name………………………………………
Middle Name………………………………………
Last Name………………………………………
Street Address ………………………………………
City, State, Zip Code ………………………………………
Cell Phone Number ………………………………………
Home Phone Number ………………………………………
Age…………………………………………………………..
Current Occupation………………………………………………
Alternate Email Address ………………………………………
AVAILABILITY:
Days/Hours Available
Monday ………………………………………
Tuesday ………………………………………
Wednesday ………………………………………
Thursday ………………………………………
Friday ………………………………………
Saturday ………………………………………
Sunday ………………………………………
Hours Available: from _______ to ______
We await your urgent response.
Thank you for your help.
We look forward to working with you.
Sincerely,
Steve Allen
Secret Shopper ®
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” -Eleanor Roosevelt
Even though I’m new to the internet world someone asking for that much personal information in an email makes me wary especially after recent experiences and it sounds like a awful lot of pay for a secret shop. What are your thoughts.
Have a blessed evening. Bruce the newbie.
I’ve been working with Marketforce for about a year now. Not always consistent work, but it paid off with a secret shopper for income tax services. Not only did they pay for the preparation, but a nice extra for actually doing it as a shop! So far a great company, minus the fact that some times are better than others as far as number of shops they have in my area. It’s “extra money” for me and my family, so it’s all good. They pay once a month either by check or my choice, direct deposit.
Hi Folks,
I simply put my resume on shadowshopper.com, without paying for a subscription or particpating in any free trial; and within a week, I was contacted by one of their schedulers with a really great offer. At first it seemed to be a little shady, and I still am not 100% sure if I am going to be paid. But everything seems to be legitimate. Unfortunately, the agency has a 30 day wait for compensating for the contracted work. The work involved inteterviewing customers at a local restauraunt/travel plaza. I have worked 36 hours and I am suppose to work another 14 hours @ the rate of $13 an hour. It is great work, but I have a great concern about getting paid. Can anyone tell me anthing more about my circumstance?
Thanks,
So a couple weeks ago, I went to sign up with Shadow Shopper, stuck in my zip code and email address, then got to the next page where I saw it was a for-purchase membership club thing. Clicked cancel.
I keep getting emails from them — “Don’t forget to finish your application!!” “We’ll give a discount!!” “Lots of great shopping adventures in your area!!!” “WE ARE DESPERATE FOR PEOPLE IN YOUR ZIP CODE SO YOU CAN HAVE FREE MEMBERSHIP!!!”
Well, I thought…for free? Sure, I’ll give it a try…but let me just Google these people really quick…
Glad I did. I’m not interested in 7-day free membership and while I guess some people don’t mind paying for leads, it was just something I was going to try once or twice when I had some free time, so I’m not interested in investing or anything like that.
Hi Brista,
I hear you. You really don’t need to pay companies for taking surveys, mystery shopping, etc.
We list all that stuff for free. So if you’re interested in mystery shopping, then visit the following page:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/2008/03/20/mystery-shopping/
Hope this helps.
Thanks for sharing your feedback.
Shadowshopper is a scam. Please don’t spend your money on this scam. I have however found a place that you CAN make money at online that is NOT a scam. If you want to contact me and talk more about it please “…email email me: IPCsales@webchatting.com”
Hope this helps,
Paula
Hi Michelle,
I’m sorry to hear about your experience with this ShadowShoppers.com. But you’re taking the right action. It’s always a good idea to pay for any of these work at home type products via a major credit card because usually your credit card company can and will reverse the charge when you provide a good explanation.
Next I want to thank you for providing such a detailed report of why this company is a scam. Too often people run around calling any work at home company a scam and don’t provide any context as to why its a scam. So thanks for being so detailed.
And finally almost any information products (ebooks, magazines, newspapers, etc) we purchase can be obtained for free if people know how to look for it. But for some people it’s just easier to allow someone else to do the work and pay for it. So to each their own. But in this case, the reason why this company is shady is because of what they did in terms of their billing practice.
No means no!
In any event, I’m happy you found our site. Please be sure to check out our scam section: http://www.WorkAtHomeNoScams.com/scams and follow the advice in the video to avoid any more scams. It has really helped many people out.
I would also encourage you to read our articles:
http://www.WorkAtHomeNoScams.com/articles
I’m sure you’ll find legitimate opportunities right away.
Thanks again.
Eddy
I also used the shadowshopper service and I would have to say that it IS a scam. I paid for a 30 day trial ($5) because I could afford it and I wanted to see what they had to offer. I checked the box that said not to renew my membership automatically. The listings they provided only lead me to other websites where I had to register in order to sign up for jobs. All it did was basically provide me with mystery shopper websites that I could have found on a search engine for free. I wasn’t going to renew my membership at all.
But, then I got a notice from my back of an overdraft fee and, it turns out, Shadowshopper charged my bank account $60 for a year membership which I DID NOT authorize. And, of course, Shadowshopper does not deal with customer problems over the phone, so I can’t contact them directly to try and resolve the issue. They don’t even have someone answering the phone. They only deal through email. How convenient. There is nothing on their website that allows you to check your billing status (which I tried to do before my 30 day membership expired) or billing history. I read other reviews that have dealt with the same issue and did not receive their money back. So I’ve filed a dispute through my bank on the charge. Hopefully that will resolve it. But I would never recommend the shadowshopper service to anyone after this experience.
Manda,
I hear what you’re saying. This is the dilemma I face when writing reviews or researching companies that everyone is calling “scams”. Most of these companies are selling information that is readily available for free if you know where to find it.
If you know where to find the info then people view products like shadow shopper a scam because they’re in the know. But for someone that is brand new, who has no clue where to find the info for free and is looking for speed and convenience then it may make sense for them to buy these type of info products.
So I agree with you, it all depends on the user and their situation. For instance people fail to realize that a lot of the information they pay for in newspapers, books and magazines they can get for free in the library or internet. But no one runs around calling their local newspaper a scam.
But I guess because the work at home industry is so riddled with scams it just easier to call everything a scam when it requires a fee. lol
In any event, thanks for your input Mandy.
Eddy
I willingly paid the cash out for the website after letting a “free” membership sit long enough to fill my inbox with alerts of companies. I went ahead and paid it for a month, took the time to take down all the info the site has, get their certifications, and discontinued my subscription for the next month. It didn’t renew against my wishes, I never felt ripped off… I got good quality company leads and have been doing mystery shopping as a side job for 3 years.
I also referred this specific site to a friend of mine, who was as skeptical as me about spending $20 for a website membership and she ended up doing the same thing I did… She lived in a city that provided more opportunities and did make as much as they say you can. She now does it for a living, full-time.
People don’t seem to get it… They’re giving you leads to companies that are advertising needing shoppers. You still have to do the work, and if you don’t want to pay for a company to give you the leads, you have to find them yourself. I loved the convenience, though 🙂
Hope you find something of interest to you.
There is definitely a lot of ways to make money at home if people are open minded and willing to venture outside the box. I’m sure you’ll find something of interest in those articles.
Look forward to hearing how you do.
Eddy
Sure no problem,:) the thing is you must be consistent for a lot of the Work at home jobs that are out there. Thats my problem though I start things and never finish them, (something I really hate about myself, Im working on it though lol) But there is gold in them tar hills JK lol So right now Im reading a lot of your articles and following your advice so Ill be tellin ya how Im doing!
Am I Psychic or what? LOL
No seriously it’s a great site for mystery shopping jobs. I tried to work out something with the owner so I could list the jobs found there on WorkAtHomeCareers.com and link back to their site but the dude wasn’t really interested.
So that’s why I’ve never really bothered to include a link to their site. But since you brought it up, now it’s out there. LOL
Thanks for sharing with us! We really do appreciate when folks are trying to help others work at home instead of complaining and calling everything a scam.
So thanks Rocio!
Eddy
LOL Yeah I actually did a few mystery shopping jobs around 2 years back, II actually found their site very helpful, Im wondering whats your opinion on the site:)
Hi Rocio,
Are you referring to Volition.com?
If not, feel free to post it.
Thanks in advance.
Eddy
Hi Eddy, I know of a sight that has a Huuuuuge free list of Mystery Shopping jobs, maybe you know of that sight as well. Wondering if I could post the name of it here?