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. Â 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. Â 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. Â They refused to refund any part of the fee. Â Unless you’re doing a lot of these shops, this fee is a big ripoff. Â 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.