I have a lot of opinions about everything posted here. I was very 'green' when I accepted an Ikea shop. It was the worst WORST idea I ever had. To say that I was there for six hours would be the minimum. I was jaded by the high pay. I ended up in the garage of Ikea crying my eyes out after six hours. I then attempted the report which took OVER six hours. in the end, they rejected my report and I did not get paid. I never worked for that company again. Worst experience, and nearly ended my 'mystery shopping' career. My husband is still affected by how horrible that experience was for me.
Do not expect to make a ton of money in this industry unless you are willing to spend an extraordinary amount of time with it. I was paid exemplary scale at one point with one company whos head encouraged me to get the gold cert. I did so upon recommendation, and have had steady work with it ever since. However, I could not definitively tell you if it was because of my cert or just because I signed up. Not to mention, most 'jobs' are between $5 and $50 on average at best.
There are times when I did an amusement park just to get the free tix, but my time there was not 'fun' because I had so many aspects of the job to do. My family got to enjoy it, but for me it was something where I would not have otherwise been able to go there except that I got paid to do it.
I've been doing this pretty much full time since 2006. If you have ANY questions please DM me!!
Best!!!