Need Extra Cash?

You’ve probably seen the banner ads all over the place—Earn Extra Cash Become a Mystery Shopper.  But most of us don’t even know what mystery shopping is.  In short—mystery shopping entities focus on assessing retail customer service by hiring people like you and me to “shop” and rate our interactions with the store’s customer service employees.  Usually, retailers don’t hire mystery shoppers directly but instead contract a third-party vendor to handle the mystery shopping for them.

Mystery shopping vendors hire everyday people to go into stores, act like a shopper and report their findings.  The retailer then assesses the data and can train their employees based on the feedback.  Usually, when you’re hired by a mystery shopping vendor you get paid once you send them your report of your experience.  Sometimes, they may ask you to take pictures of a certain display or store shelving set-up to help them see if products are being displayed properly.

The good news is:  mystery shopping usually pays between $10 and $15 dollars per assignment and can provide easy income when you need extra cash.  The bad new is:  you need to be careful because there quite a few “scammers” out there who promise to pay and either never pay you or charge you a fee to become a member of their “service” promising big returns on your investment.

To steer you in the right direction here a few reputable mystery shopping companies that will pay you for your work:

BeyondHello.com
AboutFaceCorp.com

Also, check out mysteryshop.org—a very informative website dedicated to providing legitimate information about the mystery shopping industry.

We’ve all seen the thousands of banner ads and spam mails that promise to help you make a fortune off of Ebay.  The reality is very few of us have the time or inclination to scour garage sales and yard sales to scrounge up enough stuff to make a living from Ebay or Craig’s LIst.  But, Ebay and CL are great tools when you need extra cash.

Here’s a quick way to get some cash in your hands now:  Think Small!  That’s right, we suggest that you find just 3 things to sell today.  All of us have at least 3 things that we no longer use or need that can be sold on Ebay or Craig’s List today.  Just look around your house and you’ll be amazed at what it just sitting there waiting to be sold.  Here’s some suggestions:

Appliances You Don’t Use or Have Duplicates of (i.e. blenders, waffle makers, toaster ovens)

Partially Used Gift Cards (see our previous post on this)

Stereo Equipment that you no longer use

Household Items (lamps, fans, window A/C units)

Lawncare Items (mowers, weed eaters, garden tools)

Childcare Equipment (Strollers, Car Seats, Baby Clothes)

You get the drift!  Remember, with Ebay and CL you’re selling locally and internationally so there’s a market for almost everything–even if you don’t think it has much value.  Rather than just letting stuff you don’t care about or need collect dust–sell it today get some extra cash.

I’ll keep digging if you keep reading!