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| Mystery Shopper Certifications |  Mystery shopper certifications are offered by mystery shopper companies and associations. Anyone who takes mystery shopping as a serious profession can apply for certification. No particular qualifications are required for these certifications.
The Mystery Shopper Provider's Association (MSPA) is the largest international organization proposing certification. MSPA offers two levels of mystery shopper certifications, Silver and Gold. For the silver certification, one has to finish an online course and pay $25. You can pay for the certification by means of a credit card or through Paypal. The online course teaches the essentials of mystery shopping and also gives helpful tips, tools and insights that a shopper must have. The passing score for the online silver test is 80%. If you fail in a silver test you can take it once more in 30 days, but on the fee of $15 every time.
You must be silver certified and also attend a one day conference for gold certification. The cost of the conference is $99. These conferences are regularly held in a lot of large cities. You may know the date and place of the conference from the MSPA website. These seminars will give you a great opportunity to meet owners, schedulers and staff of mystery shopping companies. You can network with mystery shop schedulers in your area if you have gold certification.
For those mystery shoppers who finished an online training program the National Center for Professional Mystery Shoppers & Merchandisers (NCPMS) proposes mystery shopper certification named Certified Customer Service Evaluators (CCSE). This program comprises themes such as shopping 101, business writing, contract organization and final review. The cost of this certification is $128. You should complete 5 clock hours of training over a two year period for renovating the certification.
In addition there are a lot of mystery shopper companies with their own certifications aside from these MSPA and NCPMS certifications. Such companies may be members of these associations or may function separately. A number of these companies do not charge for their certifications. While you are a self-governing contractor, all costs straight connected with the certifications are tax deductible.
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