See how I continued my Christmas shopping, and someone else paid me to do it!

I've carried out three mystery shops in a city local to me today. It was free parking for two hours, only a little petrol and only three hours out of my time, including preparation, the shops and data input afterwards.

The first mystery shop today was at a national gift store (to say any more would be to give it away) as a concession in a department store. The store is known for it's quality products and service, and the team member today was outstanding. The scenario was to ask about advice for a gift but be as vague as possible. This means that the team member has to do all the leg work in finding out about who you are gifting to before making a recommendation. The team member asked loads of great questions and made a fantastic recommendation. The product was priced up at £13.00 but scanned through the till at £6.25 so I was even happier at that!

Fee = £5.00

Reimbursement = £3.00

Spend = £6.25

Profit/Loss = +£1.75

I always like to find somewhere for lunch when I'm shopping and the second mystery shop today helped me with that. It was a cafe inside another store and the task was to measure the service levels above the quality of the food. The brief was to be fastidious - the slightest slip in standards was to be marked down. But this was a team on top of their game, so there were no issues at all. Another free lunch (I thought there was no such thing!) and I'm on my way to the last shop.

Fee = £5.00

Reimbursement = £3.00

Spend = £5.30

Profit/Loss = +£2.70

The third and final shop today was at a gambling outlet. The idea was to browse and see if a team member approached me, offered help, talked to me about promotions or any other interaction. These can often be difficult for the team members as they are often left to work on their own and have little or no opportunity to speak with customers at length. The team member I encountered today was good when I approached him but had no opportunity to approach me - so marks down for proactivity but marks up for interaction when it actually happened.

Fee = £2.75

Reimbursement = £5.00

Spend = £5.00

Profit/Loss = +£2.75

TOTAL = +£7.20 + a Christmas gift, lunch for 1 and a free bet (if it comes off another £52!)

Are you interested in mystery shopping in your free time? Looking to earn a little money while out shopping. It can be easy if you get the right information. Check out my Amazon Kindle book, which will talk you through the process of becoming a mystery shopper.