Welcome to the final part of my mystery shopping theme. Over the last three posts I have talked about the main ways to earn money via mystery shopping; traditional, online and app. Last week I posted about online mystery shopping which can find here and the week before it was traditional mystery shopping, you can find that post here.

I don’t include any of my mystery shopping earnings in this challenge as I class them as income but they are a great way to earn some extra money.

What is app mystery shopping?

The mystery shopping app industry is constantly growing; there seems to be a new company offering it every few months. The concept is the same as both traditional and online mystery shopping in that you are paid to analyse the company but the reporting is done through a mobile app rather than online. You download an app which will show you jobs available in your area, you accept the job and visit the venue where you are taken through the steps required. They may ask you to take photos of specific products or displays, ask about the staff and store, or even just want you to take a photo of a street sign. Some jobs will require you to buy something and will reimburse you an amount for that purchase. I once had a task that needed me to talk about the crisp shelf in a local petrol station, I then had to buy a packet of Prawn Cocktail crisps and talk about them for an additional fee.

How do I find app mystery shopping work?

There are a few apps that I recommend you download, the first one if you have an iPhone (there are no plans for this to come to Android) is Field Agent; from what I see, this is one of the best paying apps with the most work. Then there is Roamler who may require you to enter a referral code, if you need one then pop over to The Money Shed and sign up; they have an ongoing code for their members. Others include Clic and Walk, Streetspotr and iPoll.  I also recommend a newer one to the market called Streetbees, they don’t have an app but you do need to use your phone to take photos and upload it via their website; they are kind of a mix between app and online.

How much can you earn with app mystery shopping?

I find that this style of mystery shopping is very dependant on your location. I know many people who earn £1000’s a year doing the tasks but other who really need to go out of their way to make anything. You need to know when tasks are becoming available in advance so you can snap them up quickly so I recommend following them on Facebook, Twitter or The Money Shed. The Money Shed have a good rapport with most of these companies and have many reps active on their forum to answer questions. They get a heads up from Field Agent for location maps and tasks coming up before Field Agent even announce it themselves, and bonuses from Streetbees as their members helped launch the company (often 50% bonuses on tasks).

The listed apps are always useful to have and check while you are out and about as tasks can pop up anywhere; with a chance that no-one else has snapped them up yet. At times you can plan ahead and bag yourself a few a day.

This concludes my mystery shopping theme, I hope this gives you a good idea of how to get into this sort of work and where to look for work. Like with anything I post, if you have any comments or questions then please feel free to mention.