See how a quick mystery shopping trip ended up with a winning bet!

It's a blog today after a short trip to a local town to carry out three mystery shop assignments. It's the usual shop, lunch, shop scenario that has come to typify my mystery shopping activities at this time of the year.

This will quieten down soon so I'm just making the most of the last of the opportunities.

The first assignment is a home improvement store and this one is very similar to one I did last week I browsed the shop floor for literally 9 minutes and 50 seconds of the allowed 10 minutes before a team member came over and asked if I needed help. For the sale of 10 seconds I could hdve left without going through an enquiry and still earned the same fee!

Fee = £5.00

Reimbursement = £1.00

Spend = £0.71

Profit/Loss = +£5.29

The second assignment was to a national pub chain to assess service times and levels. The timing was about measuring how long to be served at the bar, brought food and plates cleared. The service was about staff knowledge and friendliness. There's very, very rarely a reason to mark these pubs down and this assignment isn't any different.

Fee = £3.25

Reimbursement = £9.75

Spend = £11.18

Profit/Loss = +£1.82

The third assignment is to a bookmakers and this gives me the opportunity to share a little insight of the type of overviews we have to produce for mystery shop reports-

"I entered the shop and I was greeted straight away by a team member from behind the counter. I then browsed the floor for approximately five minutes before a team member approached and asked if I was okay.The team member offered me a cup of coffee. I then looked at the betting football coupons before going to the counter to seek help. The team member was helpful and friendly and made conversation about the upcoming England match."

This is what is called an overview, and it's where the report wants a commentary on your visit. It's best to keep details fairly vague here, as you'll go into more detail in the full report.

Fee = £2.75

Reimbursement = £5.00

Spend = £5.00

Profit/Loss = +£2.75

TOTAL = +£9.86 + a tile, lunch for 2 and a free bet (which actually won and made a further £15.50!!!!)

If you are interested in mystery shopping and want to make a little money, get a free lunch or gamble with someone else's money then you can find out how with my book.

Read about how I went out shopping and came home with more money than I started with!

It's strange sometimes the way mystery shops fall. It's been ages since I did any home improvement store visits then there's two in the same day. Add in a clothing concession in a department store and a coffee shop for lunch and it's a day for generating income rather than gathering free stuff. Let me explain-

Mystery shop 1 is about checking product availability and staff knowledge. I had to check stock levels of certain products before asking someone a question relating to a home improvement problem. The response should have directed me to certain products as a solution.

Fee = £6.00

Reimbursement = £1.00

Spend = £1.55

Profit/Loss = +£4.45

The second shop was a similar home improvement visit. However this one ran a little differently. I was to browse for ten minutes to see if I was approached by a store colleague. On this occasion I want approached, so the mystery shop company required me to make a small purchase and leave. It felt unsatisfactory but those were the instructions.

Fee = £5.00

Reimbursement = £1.00

Spend = £1.30

Profit/Loss = +£4.70

And the third one was the clothing concession, and a rare thing with UK mystery shopping companies - the ability to take the item back for a refund! This is usually frowned upon by mystery shopping companies. They go to all sorts of lengths to warn you against refunding the items you've bought. But with this shop I can take the item back for a full refund any time between 30 minutes and 28 days after my purchase. It means that the whole fee comes in as cash.

Fee = £0

Reimbursement = £12.00

Spend = £20.00

Profit/Loss = +£12.00 (as I will return the item for a full refund)

The final mystery shop was a franchise operation of a massive coffee shop. It was to make a basic purchase and to see if the team member upsold me to any further purchases. It's a basic enquiry and the fee almost covered lunch for two. Not a bad end to a morning of shopping!

Fee = £6.00

Reimbursement = £6.00

Spend = £13.65

Profit/Loss = -£1.65

TOTAL = +£19.50 + a tester pot of paint, 2 tiles and lunch for 2

It's by having these days where you gain money but little free goods that can balance out your mystery shop account. All-in-all, from the preparation, the travel, the conducting of the shops and completing the reports, I probably spent 4 hours on this.

If our are interested in mystery shopping then my Amazon Kindle book is a good point to get started at. It shows you step by step how to apply to become a mystery shopper and then how to complete shops like those above-