Hi I mystery shopped in the past, casually but I'm trying to see if I can make a worthwhile second income from it for awhile. I understand you have to start on the bottom and work your way up, right now I have been doing mostly bank shops. I see many cell phone shops listed on the board that pay only $9, it reads like you have to ask about many different phones sounds like you would be in the store for awhile, I was wondering if anyone has done these and if so how much time were you in the store and how long is the report? Thanks in advance for helpful advise.

It's been a while since I have done these phone shops. They are pretty quick and easy, unless you arrive at a time when the store is busy -in which case you might have to wait 20-30 minutes to be helped. Are they worth the time? That question is different for everybody. I live in an area where the cost of living is very high and minimum wage is $15/hr. The only time I pick these up any more is if I am already at the location and have a few minutes to kill. I also tend to focus on more involved shops that pay more. (I take very few shops that pay less than $50. Most of the shops I do are in the $70-$80 range.

I undrstand what you mean.i like food shops that reimburse you,not just pay the shop fee.

Thanks for the advice.

Hey there,

Does anyone know how long it takes to do a site evaluation?

Thanks.

I have completed several of the cell phone shops that you mentioned. My experience is that many of the employee providers do not really know much about the product they are selling. I can sympathize with this since there are so many different types of phones out there and it is almost impossible to know everything about them all. I have actually stood next to an employee for over a minute waiting for them to talk, to no avail.

Long story short, I give the employee as much of a chance as I can to answer my questions. Generally if they can, they will. If they don't I don't push the issue for fear of being found out. I think my longest stay wasn't more than 15 minutes.

With that being said, I think they are worth it, especially if you can bundle them with other shops in the area.

Hi Maureen. I have done several of the phone shops. I enjoy them as I have not only learned about the newest phones but also different carriers for the service. Some times the employees don't know the phones well. It usually takes at least 30 minutes to complete the shop. A little longer if employee knows his information on the phone and goes into a lot of detail. The survey forms are long. (I think). Also I don't think the folks that want the information realize that to get the answers to all those questions take longer than 5 to 10 minuets. I enjoy these types of shops but wish they paid more.

Figuring in transportation costs would help you decide too.

So true! It's not worth it. Shop takes to long to complete for $9.

I did shops like this when I first started. I did a shop for $20 over the summer, and got paid $75 to do the same shop today. It's fine to build up your reputation and learn. I would never do a $9 phone shop now though.