Mystery Shopping-some tried and true

I really like doing mystery shops. Before I go into listing shops I have done or my husband has done, I want to give some advice. In my opinion, some shops are a waste of time. For example, if there is a fast food shop that does not pay a fee but simply reimburses you for the cost of the food (~$8) then you have to account for the time you spent. Before the shop you had to find the shop (or it was e-mailed to you), then you had to read the instructions and be careful to comply with them all, then come home and spend about 1 hour filling the information out. That doesn’t sound like you get much out of it except for free food-but free food is free food-but it is even better when you get free food and a fee for doing it. However, if you were to do the same restaurant shop every month then you wouldn’t have to read the instructions all the time and you wouldn’t spend so much time filling the report out because you would know ahead of time what you needed to look for and what was going to be asked on the report.

Some companies require you to give your S.S. # which is for tax purposes (they only use it if you make over $600 with them, then you will be sent a 1099 form and have to have the taxes taken out on your own). I am very much against paying for a mystery shopping site, so that is why I am providing these links to get you started. So all in all they usually pay you a fee and reimburse you for your purchases up to a specific dollar amount that was specified by them. Also, many companies deposit your money into your PayPal account so you would need to set one up if you don’t have one already. These companies expect you to comply with all their rules and instructions. If you do not you will never be able to do shops with them again, or be on probation for a few months with them, or get a lower point scale (e.g. instead of being a 5 out of 5 you would be a 2 out of 5 which is not good).

Clicking this link will bring you to a page of certifications. Some companies you sign up for will ask you if you have a certification level. I don’t have any certification but I still have done shops. However, if you don’t have the certification you might not be a first choice for some companies but if you just want to do a few shops then I personally don’t think you need it. Plus the first certification level costs $15. Just something to think about.

What I did is I registered with www.shadowshopper.com for their free month trial. ShadowShopper sends you e-mails from companies that need shops done. Then I signed up for the companies they e-mailed us that needed shoppers. I canceled with ShadowShopper before the end of the month and just worked off of the list of companies I took from the e-mails I was sent by ShadowShopper.

This site is great for discussion and offers some postings for mystery shops: www.lilaslounge.com.

Read here for some great articles: http://www.startupjournal.com/ideas/services/20050208-spors.html

DataQuest, Ltd. 1-800-292-9797 ext. 147 (no website exists to my knowledge; done 3-5 mystery hotel shops at Sheraton hotels, including the Sheraton Yankee Clipper in Fort Lauderdale, Florida: they pay you $25 plus you get for $50 room service, and $50 at the hotel’s restaurant and you are reimbursed tips for the bellman, valet, etc. *NOTE: there is a lot to report on but if the person you are bringing along knows what is expected they are an extra help to you-my husband always noticed things I may not have noticed).

www.satisfactionservicesinc.com (sign up online with them, wait a few days and call-they say not to call but to wait for an e-mail from them but in the 2 + years I have been with them they have sent me probably 2 e-mails. From calling them I have done numerous (5 or more) valet parking shops at condominiums (paid about $10), 2-3 Wing stop (paid $5 plus reimburse food-never would have tried them if it weren’t for this shop and they have delicious flavors of wings), a fun and entertaining water taxi through Fort Lauderdale Florida waterways, 3-4 Original Steakhouse restaurants (~ $5-10-it is a steakhouse with big tv’s that have sports on), an ice cream shop, Miami Subs (~ $5 plus reimburse food), and eyeglass world (~ $10).

www.baidata.com (my husband did a Harley Davidson shop for $19 and a Bank of America shop for $10 and didn’t have to spend money at either of them)


Some others that are similar in style to baidata.com are the following:
http://www.sassieshop.com/2kern/shoppers/LoginShopper.norm.php

http://www.sassieshop.com/2sutter/shoppers/LoginShopper.norm.php

http://www.athpoweronline.com/shoppers/LoginShopper.norm.php

http://www.sassieshop.com/2ipsos/shoppers/LoginShopper.norm.php

https://www.sassieshop.com/2sgmarketing/custom/shoppers/LoginShopper.norm.php?mode=&EmailH=&password=

www.sassieshop.com/2nis

https://www.shopnchekshopper.com/XP2/ (I did an Outback restaurant with them once)

http://www.sassieshop.com/2mysteryshopinc/shoppers/LoginShopper.norm.php

http://www.servicecheckreport.com/shoppers/LoginShopper.norm.php (got paid $7 and went to a movie with my husband and got a free meal)

http://volition.com/mysteryUSA1.html (sign up for these as long as you don’t have to pay-I have signed up for a few but not all because that is a lot-near the middle on the left side of the screen is 2 more links for an alphabetical list of mystery shops)

http://evaluator2.second-to-none.com/evaluator/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fevaluator%2fDefault.aspx

http://www.mymysteryshop.com/shoppers/LoginShopper.php

http://www.kinesis-cem.com/ShopperSignUp.html (I went bowling and got a free meal)

http://www.jancyn.com/work.php

http://www.gapbuster.com/xec/default.aspx?culture=1033

http://mysteryshops.com/ (their instructions look a little too confusing for me, so I have never done any shops with them before)


Don't forget to sign up for free at http://www.agloco.com/r/BBBS4943 (refer to post A New-Internet Craze?...or Just Hype in January)

Ebates/Upromise, etc...Comparing Reward Programs

Through the years I have heard of numerous reward programs from UPromise and Ebates (coupons offered on their site in addition to cash back) to Jellyfish (the cool thing is it is a search engine so you can compare a product’s price from different stores and then get your cash back on top of that lower price and the referral system allows you to earn cash back when your friend purchases) and MyPoints. Currently I am only using UPromise (you can cash out with them as well but only up to 4 times a year and you have to send a letter and it is a little more trouble than Ebates). I was beginning to wonder which ones were the best so I began to do research, however, I have been saved numerous hours of reading and comparing online by finding this chart that compares reward programs. It even shows the percentage of cash back (or points) for the store you shop from. You need to note that this is from October 31, 2006 so the information will be somewhat different. The analysis is also discussed here. I encourage you to compare when you are about to purchase something online. I would compare the top three on her chart for the store you are shopping through and then look at the site online and compare for the most recent listed cash/points back percentage. It looks like Ebates, FatWallet , and Jellyfish are the top ones! If you have questions you can personally write to Becky Ford (writes for the Chicago Tribune) at comparerewards@yahoo.com.

Not sure you want to trust one person’s comparison, then check out www.probargainhunter.com.

Here is a cool program too: www.mytroops.com. It is like all the other reward programs but you can sponsor a person in the military and they are the ones that receive the rewards like gift certificates to online toy stores or flower shops. There is also an ongoing blog www.mytroops.com/blog/. Or for moms (and dads too) there is ClubMom in which you can earn points as well and share stories and pictures and advice with other moms-a whole network!

Since reading this, it looks like I am going to most of my shoppinng through Ebates (plus the fact that you get $5 bonus for signing up and I do too!) or Jellyfish but I will compare before hand. However, UPromise is good for shopping in person at stores. It is so easy to redeem cash back at certain restaurants, traveling (like booking a flight or cruise or rental car), grocery and drug stores. It is great because I don’t even have to think about it to get money. The reason is because on their site I register my credit and debit cards along with those grocery savings cards you get to put on your keychain. So when you use those cards at participating stores (which are a lot by the way!) then a certain percentage gets put back in your account. The list goes on for the things you can get money back on-moving services (Atlas and Allied Van Lines), mortgage (CitiMortgage), gas stations (Exxon, Mobile), food (McDonalds, Schlotzsky’s Deli), etc.
Good luck and have fun saving money while you shop!

Don't forget to sign up for free at http://www.agloco.com/r/BBBS4943 (refer to post A New-Internet Craze?...or Just Hype in January)

For US, Canada, and Europe: Get Paid to Drive Facts and Info: HERE!

Attn: Americans, Canadians, and Europeans:
Here is another great way to make money. It is car advertisements. Before you stop reading because you don’t want your car to be fully covered (full car wrap) there are companies I will list where you can opt for a magnet or cling on. (Most people need to drive at least 1K/mo and live or work in a big city area that you drive to). Just sign up and if they need a person in your demographics then you’re in luck. Apparently, I haven’t been in that luck but I still sign up anyways just in case they need me or someone can’t do it and I am next in line. Both the car wrap and magnets or cling on’s are done by the company and will come off without damage to your car. Also, some of them offer free cars that all you have to do is insure and pay for gas-SWEET! I would beware and never pay for a “membership” fee to get in a database for the possibility of your car being wrapped. With some companies you have to allow them to install a GPS tracker (not for your personal directions) so they can keep track of where you are going. When you sign up they ask you what day and what time you travel, for example Mon, Wed, & Fri you drive to school and Tue & Thur you drive to work, and on Saturday you drive to the gym, etc. Some companies require a contract for a year (could be more or could be less) and often times the stipulations required you to wash your car twice a month and meet once a month with a representative of the company that wrapped your car. If they ask you to have your car wrapped but you don’t agree with the advertisement you can opt out. The variation in pay, such as $40-120 is dependent upon what the advertiser says.

http://www.mangomoose.ca/ (for Canadians but I don’t see a sign up area, so please call 1.866.939.7274)

http://www.ad-wraps.co.uk/ (for Europeans)
Between £66 & £200/mo and GPS tracker

http://www.ad-wraps.co.uk/free-car-scheme.htm#x (for Europeans)
Free car scheme

www.adsaroundtown.com
All states aside from Texas
Applied on rear or back side windows (not a cling-on)

www.adsmartoutdoor.com
Free Nissan Xterra or a Volkswagen Beetle offered
$350/mo for a car wrap (only available in select cities), GPS tracker

www.drivingpromotions.com
Up to $300/mo & at least 1K miles/mo, GPS tracker

www.autowrapped.com
Free car program offered (no details listed)
From $200-$400/mo for full wraps or $100-200/mo for partial wraps
800-1200 miles/mo and GPS tracker

http://drivers.freecarmedia.com/
Up to $400/mo for full car wrap

www.alienadvertising.com
Advertisement (window cling) is applied by you on only 2 back windows
At least 1K miles/mo and paid $40-120/mo

http://www.ad-wraps.com/
Desn’t give much info about payment or miles

http://www.adwrapsmedia.com/ (looks similar to the ad-wraps.com but not sure)
Free car program offered
U to $400/mo


www.autowrap.com (BEWARE: do not use the listed sites from this link-they charge you a fee which is ridiculous when there are companies that don’t charge a fee)



Don't forget to sign up for free at http://www.agloco.com/r/BBBS4943 (refer to post A New-Internet Craze?...or Just Hype in January)

How to get Gift Cards for little cost to you

Here is an example of what I signed up for that I wrote in this post (almost) Free Trial...with Benefits!



You pay $1 for the trial and get a $25 Visa Gift Card. I did that with GreatFun and Traveler's Advantage.



Don't forget to sign up for free at http://www.agloco.com/r/BBBS4943 (refer to post A New-Internet Craze?...or Just Hype in January)

$500 Gift Card for only $4.80!!! Sweet deal!!

(almost) Free Trial....with Benefits

So I was curious about these free offers and how they work. Some offers require you to sign up for services (free trials, small cost for a trial, or just paying for a service) and/or require referrals (where other people sign up for a service and have to pay-the logistics of all that are too much of a hassle for me so I just go on to an offer that doesn’t require a referral).

I found this link: www.YourTopBrands.com

I signed up for it on Thursday, February 15, 2007. You get a $500 AmEx gift card (GC) (it is less than $600 so you don’t receive a 1099 form and have to pay about 30% taxes on it) and only have to sign up for three services (some offers for the same amount you have to sign up for 6 or more services).

There are 3 pages which have about 10 service choices and from those I did the following:
Page 1: Complete Home w/ free $10 Lowes gift card (30 day trial, no initial cost)
Page 2: PriceStore by Bargain Network w/$25 WalMart gc (be careful because it is a 7 day trial and thereafter is a charge of about $39.80 and it initially costs $1)
Page 3: CallWave (30 day trial, no initial cost)

I called YourTopBrands and asked about how long it would take for those services I signed up for to show on my status page that I had completed them. The representative said the companies have up to 30 days to let YourTopBrands know that I signed up with them. That is the part that stinks because that would mean I have to keep the Price Store past the 7 day trial and pay about the montly cost). However, for fun let us say I canceled all the services at the 30 day mark:

Complete Home: +$10 Lowes gc
Price Store: -$39.80 +25 WalMart gc
CallWave: nothing

The total cost is $4.80 for a $500 American Express gift card. TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!!

Here is a link so that you can read more on your own for YourTopBrands http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?t=13985&page=1&pp=40&highlight=yourtopbrands and come up with your own opinion on whether you think it is worth it. On this link and other forums within this page there are lots of people who have received gift cards, checks, gifts (t.v., PS3, laptop, etc). Honestly, I will keep with the lower dollar amounts so as not to pay taxes on it and as to not sign up for numerous services that would be a hassle to keep track of. Still, it is neat because it is semi-free. The “profit” outweighs the initial cost.

Some other sites that people have had more luck with are:
www.nuitech.com, www.brandarama.com. But it would be wise to read through some of the posts and threads to get an idea of how it all works: www.anything4free.com

Some people have had to wait 5 months before they received what they signed up for. It can be frustrating but worth it. Plus, lets say you spend $100 total on the services you had sign up for (usually about 24 services) and you receive a laptop-you can turn around and sell that and make money off of it or give it as a gift!

Don't forget to sign up for free at www.agloco.com (refer to post A New-Internet Craze?...or Just Hype in January)

Military-Great Banking with USAA

I have got to say that USAA by far is the best bank I have ever heard of. Okay, here is the brief background. My husband was in the military and we had Bank of America Military (supposedly offered better services since he was in the military, one of those wasn't the savings account interest. So after about 1.5 years with them, we switched to USAA because a co-worker of his was using it and always raved about it. Unfortunately, this is opportunity is only for those who have another service with USAA or are currently in the military. So tell those you know who qualify about it. They have the MOST amazing service every. My husband and I have our checking and savings, life and renters and auto insurance, and auto loan through them. They are actually nice and genuine and care. They do not work on a commission so they aren't there to sell you a service, just to help you! It is actually enjoyable to do business with them.

Checking
-Free ATM use worldwide

-Free Deposit at Home

-Free USAA Bill Pay Online

-Free rewards on debit card purchases with no annual fee

-No monthly service fee

-Pays interest on checking account

-Free checks forever

Savings (3 different types)
-USAA Savings: minimum $25 to open & as high as 4.25% APY

-Performance First Index: minimum $10,000 to open and as high as 5.20% APY

-First Start Savings: minimum $1 to open and as high as 4.25% APY

Don't forget to sign up for free at www.agloco.com (refer to post A New-Internet Craze?...or Just Hype in January)

Paid to Read E-mails

I have been with this program on and off since June 2006 $InboxDollars$ .

You have many options with this site: you read e-mails for pay (1-10 cents/e-mail), answer and qualify for surveys, play games, and complete cash offers (does require some pay whether S&H return if you don't decide to keep the product or a $1 fee for the trial, etc-but is worth it sometimes). You have to keep track of the cash offers you sign up for like a 1 Month Trial membership, if you don't want to keep it them cancel before you are going to be charged at the end of the month. I have done 5 offers and have $50.50. Plus, $5 for signing up to begin with. But only $4.92 for "reading" (clicking) 158 e-mails which is $3.11/hour (salary of a waiter or waitress without a tip). But hey, it is mindless clicking of the e-mails and the cash offers are great (just think about the steps ahead of time and if you are going to return it how much will that cost you and if it evens out or you have to pay more for shipping it back then it is not worth it.)


Another I use is Hits4Pay and you get $10 just to signup! It is mindless "reading" again for about 2 cents per e-mail. So I have read 204 e-mails and have $4.08 so that is about $2/hour-which sounds worthless. But you just click and then do whatever you are doing and come back to it. I usually get about 8 e-mails a day. It will take awhile to get a good amount of money but doing it won't take much time! So sign up: Hits4Pay

I wouldn't recommend MatrixMails simply because I get only 1 e-mail worth 1 cent about every 2 weeks. So that is a waste of my time to even have. However, you might have better luck with your demographic or interests. So if you want you can click the above link. Let me know.

Don't forget to sign up for free at www.agloco.com (refer to post A New-Internet Craze?...or Just Hype in January)

Type and Get Paid-finally!!

So I signed up for this site. I will let you all know how it works out in the amount of income it produces. I found out about it from paidopps (refer to right side for blogs I read). It is for new bloggers who may not have a page ranking in google and are just beginning to market themselves, which is where I am at right now. So check it out-it even has an affiliate referral program. Woot! Blogsvertise.com


Also, per paidopps suggestion I have signed up for many paid to post forums including: Mylot.com, ThePost, Betlik.com, and PaidLots.com! Check out her page PaidOpps Blog for more details.


Don't forget to sign up for free at www.agloco.com (refer to post A New-Internet Craze?...or Just Hype in January)

A Small but Useful Tip

Just a tip: I try to be very cautious when things say free this or that. I am sure all of you readers are as well. However, what I usually do to verify if it is a scam or not is check if other people had posted problems with the website or company. I will the following in the search engine box, like google.com, "free money from home, forum" and often times it will come up with people discussing it with either good or bad experiences. Hope this helps to serve a reminder or new advice. (more to come on how I saved myself a lot of money from being a victim of a scam!!)

Don't forget to sign up for free at www.agloco.com (refer to post A New-Internet Craze?...or Just Hype in January)

(almost) Free trial....with benefits!

So on Jan 30, I signed myself up for a free trial of www.Travelersadvantage.com and www.greatfun.com just to get $20 worth of Exxon Mobile gas gift cards and $10 gift card at Circuit City just for paying $1 for the trial at Great Fun. Today I called to cancel so I wouldn't be assessed a fee at the end of the month. Well the lady at GreatFun offered me $40 worth of rebates (the explaination she gave me was that I spend a total of $40 at any place such as gas station or restaurant and turn the receipts in to them and I get money back for that as an incentive) so I figured I would feel it out once I got the rebate forms in the mail. Say I end up being assessed the monthly fee (I think 11.99) and I get $40 rebated that is about $28.01 in free money back to me. We'll see. Either way I have used my $20 in Exxon Mobile gas cards and it works great!!

Now, my only thing I will update is on whether I pay the $11.99 for the rebates. Gotta take some risks sometimes...


Don't forget to sign up for free at www.agloco.com (refer to post A New-Internet Craze?...or Just Hype in January)

A New Internet Craze?...or Just Hype

I just joined AGLOCO.com for FREE. What is AGLOCO and why should you care?! Simply because it is quite possibly the next wave like youtube.com or myspace.com. It has a goal of reaching 10,000,000 members by July 1st and it is well on its way. Hear me out on why you should join too: AGLOCO pays you, as an Internet user, your fair share of the value created while you surf. Usually other people make all the money but being a part of this NETWORK is why you get paid. For example, all the people who post on youtube weren’t getting paid anything but the ones who started youtube did get paid when they were bought by google. This is where the difference is-you get paid for being a part of the community. The bigger the network-the bigger the pay!! But remember it is definitely not a “get rich quick” gimick.

Here is the deal with AGLOCO: you will download a Viewbar (soon to come but right now the focus is building a network) and you control what arrives on your screen and what data you allow to be collected. AGLOCO is a 100% Member owned company which rewards the Members who help build the company (meaning you get some of the money for doing what you normally do!). It never costs anything to be a member. AGLOCO is a newborn but already has a Buzz going and that is why I am helping to increase the buzz. Think about it-we google or search online all the time, right? And do we get paid-NO! and we should so that is why I am all about this. If you google the term AGLOCO you will find many articles about it.

So if you want more please click on my link http://www.agloco.com/r/BBBS4943 to be added to my network and you can build your own and connect off of many others. There is a blog on AGLOCO to read and understand more about it because at first I was a little lost on the actual point of AGLOCO but now I am very excited. Might as well make money while you play!