Money Making Monday

*If this is your first time visiting my blog, go here first to learn how it works!*

Things to remember for making money online:

1. There are lots of different ways to make a few extra bucks online. Notice, I said "a few extra bucks!" Anything that promises you $1000 a week or more, is probably a scam!
2. I promise that I will only offer you programs that I personally have used or know some one they've worked for!
3. Most of the legitimate ways to make money online are paid to read/click email programs and survey programs that earn a few cents or points that accumulate into cash or gift cards.
4. I highly suggest creating a separate "junk" email account to use for things like this so your personal email doesn't get lost in it all! Hotmail, Yahoo, and Gmail are quick and easy, among many others!
5. If you are interested in more offers that the ones I've highlighted already, check out the banners on the right side of my blog!

Welcome to Money Making Monday

Today's feature is mystery shopping!

Recently there have been several scams claiming to be shops for Western Union, where people were sent a check, asked to cash it, then use part of the money to wire through Western Union and keep the rest as their fee. Turned out, the checks were fake and they were personally responsible to pay the bank back the money they had wired.

So avoid anything like that, but there are legitimate companies!


It can sometimes be time consuming, so weigh out the pros and cons before you make your final decision to accept a job.

I've recently done several for a companies that hire mystery shoppers for cell phone stores and grocery stores. One I did for a cell phone company that I currently have a contract with (and the pay was higher because I had to be an actual customer!), that worked out nicely because I really did need to talk to someone about problems with my phone!

I've also done some for another cell phone company where I did not need to be a current customer, but I was "looking" to switch over.

You'll often be asked to perform scenarios, and I find its best to stay true to your own reality- ex: when I did the shop for another cell phone company, I explained my legitimate and real complaints about my current company such as not getting reception in an area I'm in a lot, etc. When I did a grocery shop and had to ask for advice on cooking meat from the butcher department, I asked about cooking ribs in the crockpot, which I was planning to do anyways!

Make sure it's really worth your time! My grocery shops have given reimbursements for groceries I've bought up to a certain amount, and it was at a store I wanted to shop at anyways and often feature here on my site! Even though the shop itself only paid $10 the reimbursement for groceries made it worth it!

Other ones I've passed because they are too detailed for too little pay, in my opionion. One sandwich shop I was offered required me to check out way too many details, talk to too many employees, and hand out a prize for a well done job, but barely paid anything over $5 reimbursement for a sandwich, so I passed on that one!

Here are a couple companies that I can personally reccomend if you are interested!


All mystery shopping companies are outside buisnesses that handle all shops for well known stores, so while you probably won't recognize these companies names, you will recognize the names of the stores they offer shops for.

• GFK Mystery Shopping -pays through PayPal, grocery, cell phone, sandwich and valet parking shops. They are great about emailing new shops, emailing updates, and my contact person always quickly answers questions!
  
• DSG Associates, Inc - pays by check, cell phone and financial shops (I've only done cell phone!). This one hasn't been sending me emails lately, so I check in whenever I remember to!
  
• TNS - this one I can't find a place to sign up for, but I've been a member for so long I can't remember how I first did it! I've done lots of shops at major electronics retailers and a couple restaurant ones for this.
  
• Focus On Service -this one is specifically for LongHorn Steakhouse. I keep trying to get a shop, but they are always filled! I do know someone who has done this one though! They reimburse your meal from $25-$35 AND offer $10 bonus for completing surveys on time. Yum!
  
• Shadow Shopper - this is actually a database that puts you in contact with other companies. It is how I became a part of both GFK and DSG. They send several emails a day so definitely use your junk email! You fill out a profile, then companies can contact you for jobs when they need people to fill them. You can also pay to see who the companies are yourself so that you can sign up for them, but I haven't done that! GFK and DSG both found me and emailed me. They do offer free trials which I've considered signing up for but haven't!

~Stacey of Daisy's Deals~



Please email me for questions, suggestions, and anything else at daisysdeals (at) hotmail (dot) com. As I begin this journey, please bear with me as I am still learning myself! If you see anything that you feel is inappropriate or against store/website policies please "politely" let me know.