Home Exchange and Mystery Shopping

What is mystery shopping and what is the link between it and a home exchange?

With a home exchange you can enjoy free accommodation. Global Home Exchange at http://www.4homex.com offers a wide range of long and short term home exchange opportunities, home exchange information and information on mystery shopping. Vistors can search the site and contact any lister for free. Listers can place their own home exchange listing on Global at an affordable price.

With mystery shopping you can enjoy free meals, products or gas for you car.

On our last home exchange we had free accommodation for 9 days by swapping homes with another family. We used our home away from home as a base to explore another part of the world. We had an entire home to live in free, we could choose to cook our own meals or eat out when we wanted and had a wonderful yard to relax in. We lived like residents and had zero cost for accommodation. No hotel bills, no service charges, no credit card bills to pay when we returned home.

Besides having free accommodation through a home exchange we had 6 tanks of free gas, 4 restaurant meals free (pizza, 2 family restaurants and one Italian restaurant), got free vitamins from a health food store, $10 worth of groceries from a supermarket, 3 free haircuts and got paid to evaluate several small retailers.

These are just some of the benefits of mystery shopping while traveling. Both mystery shopping and home exchanges help make traveling more affordable. However, you don't need to travel to be a mystery shopper. There are mystery shopping opportunities close to where you live. But what is mystery shopping?

What does a mystery shopper do?

As a mystery shopper you evaluate service. You act as a regular customer but are being paid for your evaluation. Every assignment is different. You start by signing up with a mystery shopping company. Its free to sign up and you should never have to pay for mystery shopping information. Companies pay you for your evaluation.

Once you are signed up you either wait for opportunities, sent to you by email or by a phone call or you can visit a company web site and request assignments on a first come first servered basis. When you receive a mystery shopping assignment you are also given a date range in which to complete the shop and instructions specific to a particular client.

With the Italian Restaurant, we had to arrive between 6 and 9 p.m., order anything we wanted from the menu, spend at least $35 along with at least one beverage. We acted like regular customers but we secretly noted how we were greeted, how long it took to bring our drinks and meals, how many times the server came back to inquire about our meal and the quality of each food item along with the cleanliness of the restaurant exterior and interior, washrooms and friendliness of staff. When our meals were completed we paid our bill, got a receipt, went back home and filled in an on line report (took about 20 minutes to complete). We got reimbursed $35 for the meal and were paid $10 for the report.

The gas shop was much quicker. We stopped a a specified gas station. Filled up with $18 gas, purchased a small $ 2 item (bottled water) then went home and completed the evaluation. Observations included how quick did the pump get activated, did the attendant make eye contact and smile, did the attendant try to up sell you, (ask if you wanted windshield washer fluid, oil, car wash etc), did the attendant complete the transaction quickly and what did they say as a greeting and a closing. We were reimbursed $15 for the gas and $2 for the purchase.

What types of stores/services get mystery shopped?

Retail clothing, (children, teenagers, men, women). department stores, grocery stores, pharmacies, car dealerships, car rentals, restaurants, fast food, eyewear, gas, oil changes, hotels, resorts, beauty salons, chiropractors, cruise ships, travel agents, weight loss clinics, florists, shoe stores, sporting goods stores, amusement parks, coffee shops, malls and almost any other type of retailer that you can think of.

Who mystery shops?

People just like you. Mystery shopping is available around the world. We have had visitors to our home from Australia and Germany that have started mystery shopping just to save on expenses. We also have received emails from Global home exchange listers in Canada and the USA, owners of other home exchange clubs and people we have arranged exchanges with telling us about the free eye glasses or meals received from mystery shopping.



What do mystery shopping assignments pay and can I make a living out of Mystery Shopping?

Typically jobs pay between $5 and $20 dollars for a report. Most assignments average around $10.     Some mystery shoppers claim they can do 50 to 100 shops a month. Some shoppers are happy to get just have an occaisional free meal and free gas. One shopper we know receives $140 in gas shop reimbursements each month.

For more information about a home exchange or mystery shopping please visit Global at http://www.4homex.com





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