Free Mystery Shopping, Look Out For Scams!

Legitimate quality assurance work does exist and many job seekers look to mystery assignments as a secondary source of income. However, it is very difficult to build a stable and steady income from this line of work. In addition to lucking out on living in a populated city where there are many shopping opportunities, one has to battle the needy pocketbook of Uncle Sam when it comes to taxing the independent contractor.

While State and Federal tax make it nearly impossible to find a free secret shopper assignment, the quality assurance industry is not to blame because these jobs do exist.

Death and Taxes

You cannot outsmart the tax laws by finding free secret shopper work that offers compensation in the form of a free meal or free merchandise rather than an outright monetary commission for your service. While small exchanges for your services seem trivial individually, they do add up and you are require to claim them on your yearly income, these items are taxable. It is unlawful to omit the exchange of property or service from your tax statement.

Taking a chance or thinking that you will not be found out or they will not bother to audit you is like playing Russian Roulette. Think about this, these free secret shopper coporations file income tax reports and all those small meals and merchandise values add up to big dollars. That business is reporting where all those dollars went. The IRS is likely to notice if there are discrepancies between what the business reports versus your personal income statement.

Scams and Fraud

Do not be naive enough to think it is impossible for you to become a victim of free secret shopper scams. Unfortunately, there are people out there who promise independent wealth, so long as you buy their secret book to success or register to receive their list of shopping assignments.

As a rule, we are all taught to believe that there is no such thing as a free ride. That is exactly the mindset that con artists use to lure in their victims. A shopper should never pay to join a group of shoppers or pay a set-up fee to receive a list of job opportunities.

The quality assurance industry is perhaps the only one that goes against this rule – there is such a thing as a free ride. The truth is, it should cost you nothing to become a shopper.

Separate the Wheat From the Chaff

Even if you are wearing your super-commonsensical goggles, you can still find yourself being lured into false free secret shopper ads that promise gold at the end of the rainbow. The most legitimate shopper jobs are usually mixed into search engine results alongside the fraudulent ads. It is up to a very resourceful and skeptical shopper to determine which ads are for real.

Would you apply for a part time job at a local restaurant and expect to pay an application fee just to be considered for employment? Of course not, that is absurd! Likewise, why would you pay a quality assurance company to consider your service. After all, it is them who are in need of filling these positions in order to fulfill contracted work for their clients. It only makes sense that they openly accept applicants without requiring moneys.

Some legitimate shopping jobs do require the shopper to purchase a product, for later reimbursement. These jobs should be accepted with caution, and only after looking into consumer reports and business bureau records.

Merriam Boat Storage

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Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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