What if I am approached by an employee?

The majority of jobs are meant to be mystery shops. A client is paying to find out if their product or display is set up correctly. By letting the stores know what you are doing, the client doesn’t get a true view of what is going on in store.

If you are ever confronted by a store employee while doing a job, please represent yourself and Field Agent well by being respectful and polite. Then, if questioned, you could tell them you are taking photos of a product to get a friend or family member’s opinion, or, some Agents like to wear headphones while doing photo audits, so it looks like they are just listening to music, etc.

However, if you are asked to stop or leave the store by store personnel, then you should politely comply. Then, continue to complete the job you were working on by filling the photo slots with place-holder photos of the exterior of the store location. Also, make sure to provide answers to all of the other questions in the job as well. This way, your job will not be auto-denied by our system and our Data Review team and Support team will be able to see your job come in. 

Also, keep in mind that it is not illegal to take pictures in stores. It might be against a store's policy so they can ask you to leave, but no one can touch or take your personal property without your permission.

Some Agents prefer to not accept jobs that require photos because they do not want to risk being asked to leave. It doesn't bother other Agents. We recommend that you do what you are comfortable with while knowing that we never require any illegal activities as a part of any job.