Surveys and Mystery Shopping

[crabby]

I wonder if it would be possible to include a section on surveys and mystery shopping. I do a few surveys but have never done mystery shopping and would like to know how to go about it.

[paidtoshop]

thanks for the suggestion we will look at another section for now if we can populate this thread then will get the appropriate area created

[RainyDayBox]

Mystery shopping in the UK is not that well paid. There are many companies that offer mystery shopping work but not all are worth it. I don't personally do it in th UK but have been secret shopper in the US before.

The jobs I have been offered over here so far have not been worth doing.

[princess_poppet]

wilkinsons pay £10 a visit but u never stand of chance of actually getting a job with them!

[tyroleandancer]

I do quite a lot of surveys.
TNS(nectar points)
Lightspeed(earned £25 gift vouchers so far)
valued opinions(£15 gift vouchers earned so far)
Test and Vote(£20 Amazon vouchers so far)
Ciao(£10.50 in account at moment)

My OH also does them all and also has earned about the same as me.

[penfold]

I do mumsopinions as well. really quite well paid (about 1 - 1.50 per survey), don't come quite so frequently but also tend to be quite interesting.

[janice mac]

Swift research are pretty good, nappy trials, washing up liquid and the best one was hair colour, you go to a salon and they dye your hair (you do get a say in the colour)its usually one of the home kits like nice and easy, you got back about 3 weeks later and they check for fading etc and get paid about £25 for it.

Also Ayton Moon cosmetics, they do a lot of tescos stuff, but also clarins and l@oreal you dont get paid for it but the stuff is usually pretty good.

[princess_poppet]

yea Ayton Moon cosmetics is good i have had quite a bit from them (other saus they dont get much?!?)

[tiger]

I've had nothing from them. Guess I should have knocked a bit off my age. LOL

[6lilpigs]

I just done a survey and trial for valued opinions on some new 'pure heaven ' chocolate. They sent me out a 100g bar of choc orange and paid me 6 quid to eat it. I was once offered a trial of hand cream for 200 pound, I would have had to use cream and photo my hands each day. I never took it up though because we were getting ready to move house. I cant remember who sent that one, I could do with it being sent now though!

[6lilpigs]

Just remembered www.retaileyes.co.uk they are a mystery shopper site with assignments close to you.Lots of pubs come up I noticed, worth a try

[ploverpalace]

Thanks, just registered, definately worth a go! :D

[Gizmos]

Thanks, just registered, definately worth a go! :D

hi and welcome - not seen you around here yet - hope you are finding your way round ok

[tyroleandancer]

Received this link this morning for TNS. You get nectar points for completing surveys.
hope someone finds it useful

http://www.mytns.com/join.asp?scid=ESEN06081&cpid=et&lang=E&ourfreestuff

[Blue Stripes]

I do a TNS offshoot www.shopandscan.com where you zap the barcodes on your shopping with a little gun type thing and once a week attach it to your computer and it all gets uploaded. You get an initial tenners worth of points and then the equivalent of a pound of points each week for your upload. The points are exchangeable for shop vouchers so while you don't get cash there is normally a shop you like you can use a voucher at. Oh yes, it's a twenty pound minimum on the voucher.

[LoveABargain]

Thanks Bluestripes, I've just clicked the link and it looks interesting, do you have to scan ever single thing you buy then?

[Blue Stripes]

Thanks Bluestripes, I've just clicked the link and it looks interesting, do you have to scan ever single thing you buy then?

Sure do. Sometimes the barcode doesn't scan if it's a bit wonky like on a chicken or something. Doesn't seem to matter though. After you've done the initial bit for store and receipt total group give the scanner to the kids & let them zap everything.....or if you're a big kid like me then fight for the right to shoot your shopping :D

[Herbaholic]

I do a TNS offshoot www.shopandscan.com where you zap the barcodes on your shopping with a little gun type thing and once a week attach it to your computer and it all gets uploaded. You get an initial tenners worth of points and then the equivalent of a pound of points each week for your upload. The points are exchangeable for shop vouchers so while you don't get cash there is normally a shop you like you can use a voucher at. Oh yes, it's a twenty pound minimum on the voucher.

Just tried to register and it asked for an Invitation Number and said:-

Please consider the following statements before you register.

* You should not register using someone else's Invitation Number.
* You should enter the Invitation Number exactly as shown (no spaces at either end).
* You should not register using a work PC.
* You cannot register using an Apple Mac.
* You cannot register using Windows 95 or Windows 2000.
* You can only register using Microsoft Internet Explorer.

So how do I get an invitation number???

[tiger]

I've got 3 invitation numbers, but they are for people over the age of 65.
Maybe you have an older relative living with you who could sign up for it ;)
You have to give details of all the family members when you register, so make a note of what you put.
PM me if you want the code.

If anyone else is interested, then PM me.

[Blue Stripes]

Just tried to register and it asked for an Invitation Number and said:-

Please consider the following statements before you register.

* You should not register using someone else's Invitation Number.
* You should enter the Invitation Number exactly as shown (no spaces at either end).
* You should not register using a work PC.
* You cannot register using an Apple Mac.
* You cannot register using Windows 95 or Windows 2000.
* You can only register using Microsoft Internet Explorer.

So how do I get an invitation number???

Never had anything about an invitation number when I joined, 2-3 weeks ago. I'm well under 65 & told them the truth on the sign-up. Wasn't given any invitations either. I did try mytns for the surveys as well & it told you about signing up but could not find anywhere to sign up.

[Blue Stripes]

Re mytns. It has a sign-up now so sorry for speaking a load of rubbish just now!

[whamfanuk]

i am a memebr of juicy brains .... they pay £1 per survery i usualy get 2 a week and they pay instantly with £5 amazon vouchers.... i have an email askign me to refer members anyone wanting referring (i get nothing by the way) PM me with her email addy and name and i will refer you

[Angel]

I would like to do the shop and scan, has anyone got an invitation number that I can use?

[littlemissnaughtymini]

i would like to do it aswell if any one has any invitations

[rosepose]

hi
i applied to retail maxim to be a mystery shopper. The online process is a lengthy form and photo needs to be sent they asked for bank details and Igave them an old account rather than main one as was a little worried if they were for real. Havent done any work yet as was only at weekend but apparently they give you an assignment and usually only ten minutes work. If you pass the initial test you are accepted. Will report back if any good.

[Ermintrude]

I've been a mystery shopper for nearly 5 years now. I'm not doing as much work as I used to as the companies are paying less and less for the work :( it can be good if you want meals out, but don't expect lots of cash for little work!

[Bargainz]

All shop and scanners - remember it is triple points for the next 3 weeks, so don't forget to upload by tonight.

[WELSH-DRAGON]

I signed up for lots of mystery shopping companies, did quite a few jobs but the pay wasn't very good and I wasn't going to make much.

Now I just do the ones I fancy like a night in a nice hotel or a harvester or a pub lunch in some nice local pub. On each job I probably only made £5 or so but the free food was nice and me and OH spent some quality time together.

Of course, my fav ones would be mystery shopping at a certain supermarket beginning with T , there I had to purchase some items, check the fruit displays, buy a cake or something in the cafe and get something from the petrol station. They were great as I was going there anyway to do my normal shopping

Welshy x

[stinky minky]

i do quiet a bit of mystery shopping. I aim to do £50-100 a month. I find most of my jobs are through gapbusters, but i also do grass roots, counter intelligence (which I seem to do M+S alot) retail maxim, Bai and TNS oh and retail eyes.

I find that I can do an assignment quiet quickly now I am use to what i have to do. They don't pay that well, but I do this for my mortgage pig. I have an account which I use and all the mystery shopping money goes in, even the stuff which is refunded spending.

if anyone wants any links I could post them

[plantpot]

I am on a few mystery shoppers books but as yet haven't had an assignment.

I did once get paid £10 for recieving a few bits of mail which was to test how good postal delivery was. The mail never actualy turned up though which goes to show how bad recieving post is in this area (i'm not too bothered as I got £10 for nothing in effect).

[rosepose]

:spy: i have signed up retail maxim and glad to confirm they are legit as i completed the questionaire i thought i did not like the idea of giving info over internet including bank details et al. but was phoned by a lady yesterday who said dont worry do not have to give details if i dont want over net. Am going tk max first so wish me luck. Dont mind not earning loads i am on benefits so only allowed 20 quid a week before they start deductions. I love shopping and window shopping so hope it will be okay.:spy:

[Ermintrude]

I always write down a checklist of things I need to remember. If you're doing a clothes store visit it's easy as you can go and try something on and check your list in the changing rooms :)

[rach109]

:spy: i have signed up retail maxim and glad to confirm they are legit as i completed the questionaire i thought i did not like the idea of giving info over internet including bank details et al. but was phoned by a lady yesterday who said dont worry do not have to give details if i dont want over net. Am doing a clothes shop first so wish me luck. Dont mind not earning loads i am on benefits so only allowed 20 quid a week before they start deductions. I love shopping and window shopping so hope it will be okay.:spy:

remember not to mention what client you are doing an assignment for ;)

[Gizmos]

just been onto testandvote and quite a few more quick 15 pointers added

[Angel]

I recently did two testandvote surveys, and the points have not been credited yet. How long does it usually take?

[Gizmos]

I recently did two testandvote surveys, and the points have not been credited yet. How long does it usually take?

I think they get added when all particpants have entered or their quota is met. I did one yesterday for 4k points and not added

[Angel]

I did one on 23rd and another on 30th January, do you think my points may still be added?

[Gizmos]

I did one on 23rd and another on 30th January, do you think my points may still be added?

I think they should be - what annoys me about the surveys is you answer about 20 questions and hten are told that you are not eligible ....

[Angel]

They are time consuming surveys as well, and you have to earn at least 60,000 points to achieve a gift voucher.

[Gizmos]

too true and have noticed them sneaking in
trick q's ie click the button third from left to verify your place in survey

[tyroleandancer]

I've been waiting to get to 60,000 on Test and Vote to claim another Pix voucher but they have now gone up yo 80,000 for a £20. :mad:

[tiger]

It took me forever to get a £10 voucher off T & V. Then it went to £15, if it's now £20 I probably won't bother with them anymore. I've had so many surveys I don't qualify for.
I'm having trouble with Lightspeed at the moment. I got my first voucher without too much trouble. The second one I never got a code for and can't get an answer from Lauren about it. I've tried claiming a third and just go round in circles. I can't manage to claim it, let alone get a code.
I like Juicy Brains surveys. They're easy to do and you get 25p even if you don't qualify. The trouble is I don't get too many of them.TNS give you 35 points even if you don't qualify as well.
Why can't they all be as easy as to claim as pigsback?:D

[tyroleandancer]

I've had problems with lightspeed getting the codes. The award verification comes thru ok but the actual award code doesn't. I emailed them on both occ sending them a copy of the verification and hey presto code appears.
The best survey site I've come across is valued opinions.

[tiger]

I've not had much recently from Valued Opinions, but they are good.

[Gizmos]

My TNS points get conerted into Nectar which is good

[rach109]

I recently did two testandvote surveys, and the points have not been credited yet. How long does it usually take?

IME they can take anything up to 6 weeks to be credited !

what i do is save the email in a folder then if i ever needed to query it i could forward it to them

<touch wood> ive never had to but a lot of people on the MSE forum have had problems getting the points credited.

[janedoe]

I joined test and vote yesterday and have 2 surveys already for a total of 6000 points and have done all the quick vote things.

[Gizmos]

I joined test and vote yesterday and have 2 surveys already for a total of 6000 points and have done all the quick vote things.

keep checking the quick votes on there as they do get updated quite a bit

[cerys]

Would love to have a go at mystery shopping. I love shopping :cheer2:and eating out. :hungry:
Had a saturday job a few years back and mystery shoppers used to assess me. Would love to try it myself. :evil:
Which is the best way?

[snowball2]

I do retaileyes regularly get quite a few which are good for me, eating out, kids play place. They do a referral scheme so do get someone’s name to refer if you sign up it’s worth £1.50 to them 

There is a list which I used when I started out to find suitable mystery shopping firms http://members.lycos.co.uk/ilovefreebiesuk/ it’s quite useful

I have an account with grassroots but have yet to take up an assignment although they do email & call with them on a regular basis.

I have just signed up with gapbuster and will do my first assignment next week for them.

I do them for a bit of fun and meals out when we wouldn’t usually go

I also do shop & scan did have an invite ages ago for a friend but deleted it, if I have any more I will offer it on here 

[janedoe]

Would love to have a go at mystery shopping. I love shopping :cheer2:and eating out. :hungry:
Had a saturday job a few years back and mystery shoppers used to assess me. Would love to try it myself. :evil:
Which is the best way?

Found this on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Free-petrol-up-to-225-per-month-BP-Shell-Texaco_W0QQitemZ180085665771QQihZ008QQcategoryZ652 15QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

there is various other as well, worth a punt at £1.49

[rach109]

Would love to have a go at mystery shopping. I love shopping :cheer2:and eating out. :hungry:
Had a saturday job a few years back and mystery shoppers used to assess me. Would love to try it myself. :evil:
Which is the best way?

Join up with as many companies as possible have a look here : http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=223762

My favourites ATM are : TNS, Retail Maxim & Grassroots

HTH

:)

[makemoney]

Swift research are pretty good, nappy trials, washing up liquid and the best one was hair colour, you go to a salon and they dye your hair (you do get a say in the colour)its usually one of the home kits like nice and easy, you got back about 3 weeks later and they check for fading etc and get paid about £25 for it.

Also Ayton Moon cosmetics, they do a lot of tescos stuff, but also clarins and l@oreal you dont get paid for it but the stuff is usually pretty good.

I am so new and ovewhelmed by all this stuff.I just tried to find swift research to do some trials but cant seem to get a site.what do i have to log in?

[tiger]

I am so new and ovewhelmed by all this stuff.I just tried to find swift research to do some trials but cant seem to get a site.what do i have to log in?

Hi Makemoney and welcome to PTS. I am sure Jance will give you the details when she's back on here.

In the meantime there is a list of other Mystery Shopping companies on Money Saving Expert, which you might like to take a look at.

Mystery Shopping websites (http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=223762&highlight=Mystery+shopping+sites)

[sandhabibi]

Grrr mumsopinions & valued opinions have changed the rewards so you need minimum £10 now, Just got mine both above £5 too.

[Khufu]

I do a TNS offshoot www.shopandscan.com where you zap the barcodes on your shopping with a little gun type thing and once a week attach it to your computer and it all gets uploaded. You get an initial tenners worth of points and then the equivalent of a pound of points each week for your upload. The points are exchangeable for shop vouchers so while you don't get cash there is normally a shop you like you can use a voucher at. Oh yes, it's a twenty pound minimum on the voucher.

CAn you recommend somebody else to do this? You need to have an invitation and I would like to do it

thanks

[Blue Stripes]

CAn you recommend somebody else to do this? You need to have an invitation and I would like to do it

thanks

Just signed in and looked around the site and can't see anywhere to recommend/invite someone. When I joined I got an email inviting me to sign up from mutual points.

[tiger]

I asked them about recommending somebody a few weeks ago and got this reply:

Please ask them to do the following.

VOLUNTEER

Thank you for your enquiry to join our panel.

Would you please visit our website www.volunteer4panels.com and complete the
online application form.

Your details will then be passed to our Volunteer department who will contact
you as soon as they have a suitable vacancy.

[lmcg123cat]

I have been doing grassroots now for about a year and its brill...do mainly banks and get between £10 and £20 for each one

[Littlemissjojo]

I do shopandscan, have done for a couple of years, does me well for Next vouchers! I also do mystery shopping for Retail Eyes and Grassroots, I've done restaurants, banks, dorothy perkins, b&q, kwik save & so on. Pays £10-£20 a time plus reimbursements, & its fun!!

[ClaireDares]

Yayyyyyyyyyyyy i just signed up to 5 mystery shoping sites all accepted me, and have already had a email saying about a offer to do, not bad at all

[Angel]

I received an email recently from the TNS Shop and Scan panel, asking me to submit details of my petrol purchases in return for an additional 2500 points a month.

Is anyone else here participating in this initiative?

[snowball2]

I received an email recently from the TNS Shop and Scan panel, asking me to submit details of my petrol purchases in return for an additional 2500 points a month.

Is anyone else here participating in this initiative?

no but i wouldnt mind!

I am a shop & scanner, just sent back a paper media questionnaire from them for 2000 extra points which isnt bad.

[nickynackynoo]

Just remembered www.retaileyes.co.uk they are a mystery shopper site with assignments close to you.Lots of pubs come up I noticed, worth a try

hello, is retail eyes only based in Twickenham, or is it the whole company the cover?

Thanks.

[nickynackynoo]

sorry, just realised that last post doesn't make sense! Do they cover the whole country!

[nickynackynoo]

Does anybody do Mums Opinions, and if so have they been paid? I have a voucher outstanding for over 2 months now.

[Becles]

Yes - Retail Eyes cover the whole country and abroad too!

Sadly they don't pay airfares to do the abroad ones though :(

[nickynackynoo]

hello any idea how long Grass Roots take to pay? I did my first assignment on the 20th, so I am assuming it takes a month?

[Rainbowguider]

6 years ago I was approached and asked if I would visit a forum to discuss Tesco's (before PTS member). We met at a hotel, given a glass of wine and a fantastic buffet. We sat in a circle whilst we were filmed and they asked us questions about Tescos. Some people said they shopped there because they would take any MOC without having to buying the product. When asked what we thought about the money off coupons we received in our statement we said that we thought they were trying to get rid of certain products because we didnt buy things that the MOC were for! Have you noticed a change since then, I get MOC and points for things I actually buy now. On top of that we were paid a cash sum of £35 each! Suppose we were there about 2 hours.

[sunflower]

I received an email recently from the TNS Shop and Scan panel, asking me to submit details of my petrol purchases in return for an additional 2500 points a month.

Is anyone else here participating in this initiative?

Yes I am particiapating in this - seems like easy money.

[dune]

just won £100 on the shop and scan draw

cool nice chrismas prezzie

[Littlemissjojo]

just won £100 on the shop and scan draw

cool nice chrismas prezzie

You lucky thing!!!

I always wondered if those numbers were genuine - coz I never won!!!!

Now I know - well done!!!! :)

[dune]

i only check cos i just recieved the newsletter and the last day to claim was the 21st otherwise i would have totally missed it

too right i was lucky :)

[glorious]

Well done congratsx

[tiger]

Congratulations dune

[leeann79]

sorry if answer already been posted, very sleepy and haven't read whole thread.

But I do mediaresearch surveys...but never seen them mention on here - is there a reason for that.

And test&Vote - just registered with them, and not sure what happens now! do I just keep doing the quick polls to make up my money? Do you have multiple account?

thanx for help-off to bed now will read in morning