Is there a secret somewhere?

Hi All,
I'm new to MSing, less than a month in. Learning A LOT as I go. My question to you:

How is it that I log into individual websites to check for shops, there's nothing there. They send an email within hours and ALL of the shops in my area have been scheduled? Is there something I'm missing where shoppers can see shops before they're emailed/released to the rest of us?

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First of all, you need to be signed up with a lot of companies (think over 100) to get enough offers to keep you busy. Usually when an email goes out those shops are going to be picked up immediately, so I'm suggesting you check your email much more often. I'm also suggesting you start checking it first thing every morning, don't wait until mid morning or later in the day.

Experienced shoppers have a pretty good idea when companies release their shops and they're going to be all over them when it happens. You'll catch on to this after you've been shopping longer. Don't get discouraged, keep signing up and keep checking those emails and job boards.

Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.

Thank you! I try and sign up for about 3-4 a day. My goal is 200. I'm at about 40 right now! I appreciate your response.

Sometimes it's just a matter of logging in at exactly the right minute to get your favorite shop. Like Mary said, the more experienced shoppers know exactly when, every month, their favorites are released. If a shop hits the job board at 10:59, likely someone will be logged in and might grab it. The e-mail notification probably won't go out for 2 hours or more. By that time, all the jobs may be gone. And, yes, the big trick is 100+ companies.

It also helps to send an email to a scheduler for a particular project, right about this time in the month, for most companies, and say "Hey, it seems I missed out on the XYZRetail job in my town this rotation. Please keep me in mind for next month."

For new companies that you sign up with, that don't have self-assign, that you apply for a job and it's still in "Applied" status a day or so later, take initiative and shoot them an email, and say "I know I haven't done any assignments for you yet, but I have worked for # of other MSCs, and wanted to let you know I am dedicated to MSing and am committed to performing this assignment well before the due date."

It might seem like ass-kissing, but what it's really doing is letting them know that you follow up and follow through. They are more likely to take a chance on you then.

Start making a list of your companies, and their assignment release schedules. After awhile, you'll start to notice a pattern. Until then, check back often... every day, if possible, so you'll be one of the first to know when new assignments hit.

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Plan the work. Work the plan.

I am also new to mystery shopping and had this same issue. If you have alot of accounts with MSC on the Sassie system and have a smartphone, one thing that I found very helpful is to download the Sassie app to your phone. I now can see an alert at the top of my phone as a notification of a new comes in from one of the Sassie-based MSCs I have signed up for and it relieves me from having to obsessively check my email.

Some companies do control what shops a new-to-them-shopper may see and when. I can think of a few companies where I can see shops about 24 hrs before others. While it may seem grossly unfair to a newer shopper who would just Looooove to 'snag that job', it is a decent business practice of the MSP to let shoppers with a good reputation of good work done when and as contracted for get first crack at anything they are eligible for. Keeps the shopper loyal and the company from needing to reschedule work. I can also think of a company that sends me an email and if (and only if) I respond back that I am interested will I see it on their job board to accept.

Overall, however, the trick is knowing roughly when the shops will get posted (from experience) and being there to grab them. So a company I know of posts usually after midnight on Saturday night. I am sooo there! I learned about that one after looking at times on emails I had on Sunday morning and working back a couple of hours from the time of the email.

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