BARE International offers mystery shopping jobs paying $5 to $35 to consumers all across the world. If you are at least 21 in the U.S., or 18 anywhere else, you can get in on consistent paid shopping opportunities!

BARE International – Who Are They?

BARE International is a market research company that specializes in mystery shopping projects. They founded in 1987 with the initiative to globalize the mystery shopping market. At the time, these businesses were managed at the local level and BARE dared to do things differently.

As of April 5th of 2016, BARE International performs in excess of 50,000 mystery shopping evaluations per month. Their clientele spans across 149 different countries and includes many big and small businesses. The business operates out of nine cities and has both a diverse lineup of corporate employees and mystery job takers.

How to Make Money with BARE International

As a BARE International employee, you will get paid for ‘mystery shopping’ which means shopping as per their instructions and then filling out an evaluation form detailing your experience. These jobs pay $5 to $35, but sometimes you can make more.

You can work your own hours and enjoy knowing every task you take on is profitable. Payment for any job reported by the end of the month will be sent out around the 16th of the following month. While payments are just by check and electronic transfer, the consistency is a huge plus.

As an Evaluator for BARE International, you will receive emails whenever mystery shopping jobs are available in your city. TIP: Now that they only send out one email per day to each user, the inactive mystery shoppers will have less opportunities to capture; keep a frequent eye on the job board to earn the most you can.

You can also check the job board for available opportunities in your region. It is perfectly fine to take on assignments from neighbor areas — and even from neighboring countries while on vacation!

They are trusted and they really pay — give BARE International a try today.

Does BARE International Really Pay or Is It a Scam?

BARE International holds an “A+” Better Business Bureau rating, and they have been accredited for the past four years. During this time, they have had four complaints made out against them. All of these complaints were closed and none actually made the company look bad.

Their BBB page is a good sign, considering how many companies in the mystery shopping industry catch dozens of complaints every year. But the BBB rating alone is not enough of an indicator — you want to have an idea on what real users experience when working with BARE International in any capacity.

What Do BARE International Mystery Shoppers Think?

GlassDoor.com is a platform for employees and former employees to post their working experience with any particular company. As of April 5th of 2016, the company holds a 3.8 (out of 5) star rating across 46 employee reviews.

This is not bad, and here is how it compares to some other sites we have reviewed — Market Force (2.8/5, 67 reviews), Survey Monkey (3.3/5, 60 reviews), Toluna (3.1/5, 71 reviews) … long story short, BARE International is one of the top-ranking sites around!

The comments and reviews in online forums tell a similar story. While there are certainly going to be some nay-sayers — and that’s normal — the really interesting thing is that few have anything bad to say.

For many, DARE International is one of their “best kept secrets” because there are always shopping jobs available. They are fully trusted on the back-end, so it is a matter of whether the jobs are quick and simple or if they turn into a headache. But it certainly seems that BARE International has a high approval rating from its users.

In short, you will be hard-pressed to find a better mystery shopping company, as many have little flaws along the way that can get expensive. Plus, there are no staggering reviews about ‘failure to pay’ or ‘months of delays’ like you will find for most other paid survey panels.

BARE International PROS & CONS

There is a lot about BARE International that makes it better than its competitors. But the website does not come without its imperfections, and you will want to know what to expect along the way.

Here’s a look at the PROS of working with BARE International:

• You aren’t set up to fail. So many mystery shopping companies will rip off their workers, and sometimes they don’t even know it. For instance, you might be paid too little for a restaurant mystery shopping job. Something like a ‘forced gratuity’ could send the bill above what you are getting paid; BARE International shoppers rarely have to deal with such issues.
• There is plenty work. Things only tend to slow down between Christmas and Valentine’s Day, and then it is ‘business as usual’ for BARE International mystery shoppers. Even newer users tend to get many mystery shopping invites right off the bat. In fact, there have been enough money-making opportunities to keep some mystery shoppers around for over 10 years which should say something!
• Payments are consistent. Checks and electronic payments head out around the 16th of each month, and they are for the amount being reimbursed from the previous month. If requesting payment by check, you can expect anywhere from half a week to two weeks for mail processing.
• You don’t get spammed. Once upon a time, BARE International users would receive upwards of 10 emails per day. This was overkill and it became clear over time, which is why they recently switched to a DOSE messaging system; now members get one email per day summarizing the mystery shopping opportunities available to them.
• Cool contests. It is rare for there to not be an exciting contest on the go. In fact, they were even holding a contest in light of the recent emailing change. This was just a little one — members took a selfie in March of 2016 while browsing the job board, uploaded it and then got entered into a draw awarding four sets of $25 prizes. BARE International also regularly hold contests over social media, so make sure to ‘Like’ their Facebook page when you sign up!

Now, here are some of the CONS of working for BARE International:

• Self-assigning takes time. Only the regulars are entitled to assign themselves mystery shopping tasks at they please. This means you won’t really have a say in the jobs you take on at first. But once you prove yourself, you will be able to pick the most fun and/or the most profitable job you can find.
• Some short deadlines. Typically, a task is handed out with the same deadline regardless of when it is taken. This means you might face a few mystery shopping jobs that have really close turnaround dates. It would be better to have extra time for such assignments. After you become a ‘regular’ with BARE International, you will be able to self-assign based on deadlines as well.
• $2 check cutting fee. There is a $2 fee that goes into cutting each check, which typically happens when the payment information is inaccurate or has changed. As checks are often cut on a per-assignment basis, it is possible to have numerous checks cut at once. Make sure your payment information is completely accurate, or else you could lose a small chunk of change out of your account balance because of this variable.

Still, don’t put all your eggs into one basket … 

If you have great mystery shopping jobs already, join the best survey sites too: Market Force, Opinion Plus, and Toluna.

Should Mystery Shoppers Join BARE International?

Mystery shoppers all around the world have been let down by shopping panels making big promises. In the end, these promises were only made to get them ahead and not their users. It comes with the low profit margins of the industry though; only a few top contenders can keep themselves from the bottom of the barrel!

With many mystery shoppers working for BARE International for well over 10 years, it is hard to argue against them being one of the best around.

Whether they become your ‘bread & butter’ or just another trick in the bag, you don’t want to skip out … join BARE International today!