How To Make Sure You Get Paid To Shop...
When you are first get involved with mystery shopping it is important to note that you are not an employee, meaning that you don't actually work for a company and they won't be paying a regular paycheck. You are what's defined as an Independent Contractor.
Let me explain a little better what a contractor is...
An Independent Contractor is a lot like an electrician, builder or plumber. You call one of these specialized personnel to come to your house and help you fix your toilet or get your lights working again. They don't work for you per se. You don't send them a check every two weeks. You only pay them for the job or service they provide. Well this is exactly how a mystery shopper company will pay you.
Be forewarned, you will not be paid the same day that you complete a job. The average shopping jobs will have a waiting period of 30 days. Don't let this worry you. It just the standard way they secret shopper companies like to operate.
To clear things up, lets say on May 1, you complete your first paid for shopping job. You can start looking to get paid after the first of June. It might seem like a long time to wait to get paid, but after you get past this \“lag time\” you will start to receive your paid to shop checks and payments on a consistent basis. (that is of course if you continue to sign up for and complete jobs regularly.)
Why does it take so long to get paid shopping?
When you submit your final report you are not the only mystery shopper who represents this particular company. Therefore, It takes time for mystery shopping companies to collect information from all their secret shoppers. They have to edit all the reports. Get back to their client with the reports. Go over any questions about the material submitted, Get payment from the client, so they can in turn give payment to you.
It is important to note that when starting out that you may not see a check for 30-60 days. So you will want to make sure that you watch your budget very carefully. In the first months.
Also realize that your payment will more than likely vary from month to month, based on availability of jobs in your area, demand for shoppers in your area, and the amount of available high paying shops. Plus you may get into a situation where you have to wait to be eligible to do the same type of shop for a company. For instance, you might be required to wait up to 6 months before going back to shop at the same bank.
So make sure you don't blindly jump into the paid to shop career field without making a quick assessment of your situation and create a starting out budget to make sure you run out of money. I don't want you to get into a situation where you have spend all your “right now” money and have to wait 30 days before getting reimbursed.