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Dear WAHFAQ,
I loved your mystery shopper book and class and have been shopping for a little over a month now. The payments are just now starting to come in and I’m so happy! I’ve been wanting to tell my sister and my friends about mystery shopping, but I know that companies are really strict about their confidentially rules. Can I actually tell people that I’m a shopper? Or do I have to keep this a secret forever? Thanks!
You absolutely can tell people you’re a mystery shopper. Heck, if we couldn’t do that, I’d be in BIIIIIGGGGG trouble! What companies don’t want is you blabbin’ all over town talking about the assignments you did and for what company.
You can tell people that you did a restaurant shop. You can’t tell them that you did a restaurant shop for Billy Bob’s House of Pancakes through ABC Mystery Shopping company that paid $20.
You can tell people that you have three apartment shops scheduled for this week. You can’t tell them that you’ll be meeting with Ginny at Lakeshore apartments, Barbara at Shorewood apartments, and Keith at Wooden Lake apartments.
You can tell people that you shopped a bank yesterday. You can’t tell them that you were at the downtown branch of XYZ bank and they were oh-so-rude…blah blah blah.
Get the picture?
And don’t worry about competition – some Mystery Shoppers are worried that new shoppers are going to take away work from them. That’s not really the case! Mystery Shops are done on a rotation basis. If you shop a specific store, you can’t keep going back there every month! They need new shoppers to come into the rotation otherwise employees will get suspicious if they see the same shopper over and over again.
Now, sometimes you can bring your friends or kids with you on an assignment. Restaurants especially like you going in pairs. When that happens, it’s up to the scheduler’s discretion whether or not you can tell your guest if you’re on a shop. Most times, it’s OK because they can then help you keep track of timings.
Except kids….don’t tell kids anything. They have big mouths.
Happy Shopping!
Think about all the extra money you could make by being a mystery shopper, starting your own business, or working from home for a legitimate company. Take control of your income and check out our LEARN page for a list of classes, books, and more!
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