29th Jul 2025
Reading Time: 4 minutes
Shepper is a task app that pays you to check on businesses in your local area and report back. You can earn easy side money while out and about on your daily activities! Here’s what you need to know.
What is Shepper?
You’ve probably heard of mystery shopping as a great way to make money before. Shepper takes this to the next level, asking mystery shoppers to check out businesses for particular tasks, take photos, and answer some questions. All while they’re on the go, and in their own time! Retailers and businesses like using Shepper because they get the results of the data within 24 hours, far faster than many other mystery shopper services.
Shepper was established in 2016 by entrepreneur Carl August Ameln, known for disruptive startups like Streetcar and Lovespace. After early development years and seed funding, the app rebranded in 2021 and joined with a new partner, Centerbridge. Within just three years, the Shepper community multiplied by more than 20 times, drawing leading brands and retailers to continue exponential growth.
This legacy means users can trust the Shepper brand, and their reputation with their ‘shepherds’ is excellent as a result.
How Do I Become a Shepherd?
Shepper calls its mystery shoppers ‘Shepherds’. It’s incredibly easy to sign up, taking just 15 minutes to download the app and register your profile.
Shepper is a UK-based app, with most of its community in the UK and Ireland. This means there is a high likelihood of finding work in your area, compared to international mystery shopping apps which have a focus outside of the UK.
It also means that you can use Shepper wherever you are in the UK; you’re not tied to a single location. So, if you travel a lot for work or social commitments, you could take advantage of that and find extra Shepper tasks to do in different areas, bumping up your side hustle income fast!
What Type of Jobs Will I Do?
Shepper is more than a mystery shopping service for brands and businesses. Some tasks will involve checking displays in shops or venues, taking photos to show whether items are displayed correctly.
Other tasks could be longer, such as checking out a venue in more detail. Or, you could find yourself doing a spot-check on an outdoor billboard (a fast 5-minute job!), checking on promotional activity, or verifying outdoor signage for a venue or business. There are some great café jobs where you are paid to experience barista-made drinks and meals for which you are fully reimbursed.
You choose the jobs you take, too. There is no obligation to a minimum (or maximum!) number of jobs in a timeframe. This makes it perfect for working around your daily life as you go about your tasks. Jobs can take five minutes up to around an hour, and you know before you select the job how long it should take.
You Don’t Pay Shepper Any Fees
It’s free to download the Shepper app and there’s nothing for Shepherds to pay Shepper – they pay you! You keep 100% of your earnings.
Your tasks are data-based, which means you will answer questions and take photos in the required location.
Shepper is paid by the businesses asking for the tasks to be completed. You don’t pay to join the app, or a membership fee, or a percentage of job fees. It is entirely free to become a shepherd.
How Much Can I Earn?
A Shepherd living in a city can earn around £168 a month on average, based on six jobs a week with an average job fee of £7. But if you want to take on more jobs, you could earn over £500 a month if you take an average of 20 jobs each week! Each job is transparently priced on the map in the app – allowing you to select jobs on your terms.
The availability of jobs will vary depending on your location; in very busy places such as London, you could claim more tasks to increase your income. In more remote locations, such as Devon, Cornwall, some parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland or the Isle of Wight, you may benefit from higher fees!
Where to Sign Up and Get Started
Signing up to become a Shepherd is a great step towards boosting your finances with this easy side hustle. All you need to do is visit the website, download the Shepper app (available for both Android via Google Play Store and iOS via the App Store). Just register to get started!
Available for over-18s with permission to work in the UK and Republic of Ireland.
