Mystery shopping jobs have been quite popular with the masses for sometime now. Many individuals are happily employed as secret shoppers while many are still waiting to join the league. Following are some frequently asked questions that will help clarify the doubts of those aspiring to become successful secret shoppers.
Q: How can one differentiate between the terms ‘Mystery Shopping’ and ‘Secret Shopping’?
A: Though both the terms are the composition of different words, they signify the same meaning. A mystery shopper or secret shopper is a professional hired to evaluate a company’s product conditions and employees’ conduct while they attend to the customers.
Q: Are mystery shopping jobs available in rural areas? Can an individual work from home as a secret shopper in case there aren’t any job opportunities in his area?
A: Though the chance of the availability of mystery or secret shopping jobs in rural areas is comparatively less, one can easily carry out mystery shopping assignments online. Many companies have provisions for individuals to fill online questionnaires as a part of their mystery shopping assignment and get paid in return.
Q: How reliable is a secret shopping job when it comes to earning real money?
A: Secret shopping is indeed an excellent way to earn additional income during one’s spare time. Companies hire reliable individuals in order to carry out effective service checks and assess product conditions or standards of customer service for better business performance. At the end of every assignment, a secret shopper is paid a good amount. Again in certain cases, a secret shopper might have to purchase a product as a part of his assignment. In such cases, companies compensate the amount later along with the basic pay and also allow the shopper to keep the product for free.
Q: How much can a mystery shopper earn after completing an assignment?
A: The remuneration of a secret shopper varies depending on a number of factors, like, the type of assignment, amount of time spent during the assignment, and of course, on the company standards. Again, the monthly income of a mystery shopper depends on the total number of assignments he completes each month. For this, he needs to sign up with multiple mystery shopping companies.
Q: Who employs the mystery shoppers?
A: Mystery shopping jobs are generally part-time jobs in which the secret shoppers are independent contractors, i.e. self-employed. Hence, they need to abide by the government’s tax rules as per their income tax slabs. They are also entitled to certain tax deductions, like, health insurance, office equipments’ costs, etc.
Q: How to differentiate a legitimate mystery shopping company from a scam?
A: It’s simple! Those companies that do not guarantee a job that can transform an individual from rags to riches in a day or two are genuine. These companies clearly state there terms and conditions, payment modes, etc. when an individual looks forward to signing up with them. For more information, one can log in to blogs or forums and check out what experienced individuals have got to say about the same matter.
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