Is the retailreportcard.com mystery shopper thing legit?

Question

This popped up on my yahoo mail, so I hope it's on the square. I do love to shop, and I am opinionated, so mystery shopping sounds like a good gig. I'm just reluctant to jump in. Has anyone tried this woth this firm or another like it?

Answer 1

As a mystery shopper with 7 years of experience, I have yet to hear a good thing about retailreportcard. There are MANY legit mystery shopping opportunities out there. It's easy enough for a new shopper to get started; just sign up for a few easy shops on some of the self-assign sites, complete your assignments on time and accurately, and keep an eye out for more assignments. It doesn't take long for a shop scheduler to notice when a good, new shopper is in the database.
The general rule among mystery shoppers is "Don't pay to shop." but there are a couple of exceptions to that. Hire A Shopper (www.hireashopper.com) and ShadowShopper (www.shadowshopper.com) are both databases that are used extensively by schedulers seeking new shoppers. It's up to you to decide whether or not the modest fees are worth the wider exposure, but it sure saves time on filling out dozens or hundreds of applications!

Answer 2

Company
ProductTestPanel.com - RetailReportCard.com
Address:
3830 Forest Drive
Columbia South Carolina 29204
U.S.A.
Phone Number:
803-790-8381
Fax:


Ok, I just HAD to post another complaint against this company, since I saw ONLY ONE against them.

Essentially the other guy only seemed to have Spam Problems from them. But the main thing these guys are doing is setting people up. They promise a $1000 shopping gift card to major chains, like Costco. And even bonus gifts upon completion of "All the terms", like a free laptop too! So, you're thinking WOW! All I gotta do is buy a few things, fill out a survey or two and jump through some hoops, and maybe spend $200-300 for products I might need anyway... like printer ink.

Ok, I did that too. But, according to the 'terms' you gotta choose 2 'offers' at each of 3 Tiers. Tier one and 2 only gave me 8 and 5 choices respectively. Of those only about 2 even seemed remotely legitimate. But, I did them, and got through it. But here is what Tier 3 holds for you! You gotta buy 2 of only 3 choices, and each choice is over $1000 approximately... AND it's stuff you would likely NOT want or need... like a $2000 jewelry box... a European vacation WITH train rides as the main element... OR how about kids furniture with a $1500 minimum purchase (when each set only costs like $600). What are you gonna do buy 3 sets of kids' furniture?

THAT'S THE SCAM! They make it so rediculous at the last step... there's no way you'll jump that high! Therefore they're making money on their referral programs, and maybe 1 in 1000 people might actually do the last step!

There it is in a nutshell!! I'm somewhat of an Internet veteran, and I've been avoiding these things for years. I just wanted to see about the $1000 Costco thing... you know for food for the family. But, they got me too! I thought maybe I could really read into the details and jump through the hoops, and just turn around and jump back out... NOPE! They get ya'!!

Grant
San Diego, California
U.S.A.