There are comments from time to time from new shoppers that they have signed up with various places and have been offered no jobs. Perhaps a little clarification of the process would be helpful.

When you see a posting on a job board, you need to follow the directions. Those directions may be to contact the scheduler or they may be an invitation to sign up with a particular company. Or they may be to sign up with both the scheduler’s company and with a particular company. You need to follow these directions or you have no chance of being offered the job.

In this business there are the companies that are putting the shops together for shoppers to perform. These are usually referred to as the MSPs or “companies”. There are also scheduling companies that rarely if ever have shops that they have put together but rather are scheduling jobs for the companies did put together the shops. Most frequently you will be reporting a completed job on the MSP’s website, but again, you must follow instructions because there is variation in how reporting is handled.

You will not be assigned shops unless you either assign them to yourself (“self-assign” shops) or you request them and they are assigned to you.

For some MSPs you can self-assign at least some shops even if you are a beginner. For some MSPs you can self-assign some or all shops after you have completed a number of acceptable jobs for the company. For some MSPs you not only cannot self-assign or request shops, but they may not even post what shops are available on their website. These will contact you and generally do so based on the application that you have provided and their current need for shoppers in your area.

The quickest way to find who shops in your area is to sign up at Jobslinger.com. This website is free and has jobs from many of the companies that use the SASSIE reporting system, jobs that are posted to the MSPA job board and jobs that are posted at Volition.com and a few other places. Once you have signed up, put in your zip code and the distance you are willing to travel one way for a job and see what companies have posted jobs in your area. Most of these jobs will be gone already, but sign up with the companies you see listed because they are shopping in your area.

Mostly you have to be in the driver’s seat, getting yourself signed up with companies that may have jobs in your area, checking their specific job boards and doing what you need to do to take or request the jobs you want. Sitting and waiting for schedulers to call you is not going to work generally until you have done some jobs for the company. Emails are likely to be sent out to hundreds of shoppers and expecting to get to the website first to claim a nice job is not realistic. Often once you get to the website you still need to request the job, so even if it is still open, you are going to be in competition with other shoppers who may be better known to the company. Going to the website to try to snag a job only to discover you need to go through some training before you can self-assign or request the shop is also going to slow you down and by the time you finish the training, you are likely to find the job is gone. So wherever possible, do the training in your spare time for shops you see that you might like so you are ready when the job becomes available.

And of course the most important is that once you have been assigned a job, always do it to the best of your ability so it reflects well on you, on your ability to follow instructions, on your professionalism and on your reliability. That, in the long run, is what will make you a cherished asset of an MSP or a scheduler.


Edited to add several additional notes:

[www.mysteryshopforum.com] is this forum’s list of mystery shopping companies
[www.volition.com] is the list of companies at Volition.com

This forum features a “Search” feature at [www.mysteryshopforum.com] If you want to find out about a company or an issue, type it into the box on the left and first try 30 days to see what you find. You can also search for longer time periods using the drop down menu. If you get too many choices, try to narrow your search by being more specific. (Let’s say you want to find out if anyone knows anything about Service Sleuth. If you put in “Service”, today you would get about 30 results from a search of the last 30 days. If you put in “Service Sleuth”, you will get 1 result. If you expand your search to all dates, you will get about 30 results which will give you an opportunity to see some old job postings as well as some shopper comments.)

Note that with the rarest of the rare exceptions, legitimate mystery shopping companies will NOT send you money in advance of doing a job. You need to request or self assign a job to get it—it will not be sent to you along with a check to go do it and take your pay out of the money sent. Getting such a check is a scam. Do not attempt to deposit it. Mystery shops generally pay between $4 and $20 and they usually require that YOU pay up front small amounts for purchases that will subsequently be reimbursed to you with your fee if the shop is accepted to be sent along to the client.

Thanks for the advise,every little bit of information and web sites counts and I appreciate your input. Any other things please feel free to help us new shoppers. Although I did some jobs and have alittle experience under my belt it helps from those who have done it longer and have additional knowledge. Thanks again, Kathleen

thanks for clarifying this. i got approached by one company but a redflag went up when they said that they were going to send a 'check' ...? i have been researching this for a while since that happened. i would never cash a check as I know that is a scam. thanks again for your wonderful advise.

That is very good information from Flash. Now that she has explained everything all we have to do is follow just what she is saying. At least I have gotten some good advice on these Forums a lot of times, and I get good grades on my work and wonderful little notes telling what a good job I have done. I have not done too many of the Mystery Shopping jobs, but I have done a few, and I really enjoy it. Sometimes you will get disgusted when you do not have any work for some time, but what I do is I notify the Scheduling Company to let them know that I enjoyed working for them and look forward to doing more and then the next couple of days the Scheduler calls or emails you them selfs. You do not have to write a lot just a little to let them know that you are still around, and you will get work.

There is no harm in just staying in touch with them but do not write a book to them just enough for the Schedulers to know that you are willing to work and do a good job when you do it. I feel as if most of us that read these Forums really like what we do, and sometimes we do get discouraged but believe me, they are there to assist you really they will because the Schedulers have to answer to someone also.

I heard they are coming out with a new system, and they will not be using Schedulers much any more. As, a matter of fact I read it today. I wonder if anyone else read it or heard about it if so, please let us know.

Every job that you perform will be edited by someone before it or data abstracted from it is sent along to the client. Editors will award your shop a score of some sort. With some companies you will be emailed with your score, with some companies you can see the score on their website or on your shop log and on some you will not know whether your job was accepted or rejected. There is no standardization either in the score range (1-10, 1-5 etc.) or whether you will even know what sort of scoring you got.

The jobs that report via the SASSIE system have an option of showing you your scores. Scores and comments are generally sent along if they are posted to your shop log--and it probably is an automated email as it will have the same information you see on your shop log.

Most generally new shoppers are given "well below average" as a basis before they have performed any shops. In the SASSIE system that is a 5. It is up to you to turn in good shops to bring that score up. Some companies make this difficult as the jobs they post may require a score of "8 or better" for many/most of the shops they offer. While on occasion you can appeal to a scheduler to allow you to try an "8 or better" shop, if they have other shoppers who want the job who do fit the requirements, they will award the job to them. Any appeal needs to be well written and grammatically correct because, after all, they are taking a chance on you.

Generally a 10 on a shop means you followed directions well, succeeded in all aspects of the shop and the report you submitted required little or no editing before being sent along to the client.

A 9 generally means that some editing was required but mostly you "got it".

8 means the shop was overall decent though they may have had to contact you to clarify ome issues.

7 is just average and below 7 is barely acceptable to not acceptable at all. Late reports, incomplete reports, snotty comments and "flakes" all fall in that below 7 category.

A flake or bad attitude on a report can sink your overall average pretty fast.

Your scores generally get used in being awarded shops. One MSP clearly states that their preference for shoppers is: Folks they have previously worked with, folks with MSPA certification, folks with an 8 or better score--the higher the score the more likely you will get the shop.

The same MSP also indicates that attitude is very important to them. Our natural instinct is to get defensive when our work is questioned. If an editor calls or emails wanting clarification, try to keep emotion out of your response. Yes, you told them 2 times in the narrative that the associate did not greet you or give you a parting remark and you checked the appropriate boxes on the questionnaire and now the editor wants to know if the associate thanked you for your business. You marked the question block "No" and in the narrative you told them he silently handed you your change without getting off his cell phone. It is tempting to get exasperated thinking "I told you that already!! There was no parting remark." HALT, don't get snotty. Just tell them that "No, he did not thank me." In reality he could in theory have thanked you at some point during the interaction but just not at the end of the interaction, so they need to clarify that "No" that you marked. And yes, sometimes you get the impression that the editor can't read with any comprehension, but keep that opinion to yourself and be all sweetness and positive if/when they contact you.

Thank you Flash! You explained the process to very well.

Cristi

Thanks for the advise, It really is so important to make sure that you get every box checked, and grammar is very important and how you word your report. You must give them a image as if they were there with you and they understand everything. Certain shops I see are more picky than others,but either way it is so important to get your story to them done correct and understandable. Thanks for the advise flash,I learn so much from you and sneakers and Joan.You really help so much,I learn more and more each day.....Keep up the good work. Kathleen

I have just found out about "Mystery Shopper." Could someone please tell me what step 1 and 2 are to get started! I am really interested in doing this but am out in the cold about how to get started and where.

roxylady1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have just found out about "Mystery Shopper."
> Could someone please tell me what step 1 and 2
> are to get started! I am really interested in
> doing this but am out in the cold about how to get
> started and where.

If you read Flash had alot of information on what to do to get started, and it will help you so much just doing alot of reading on the forum of past notes that were written. There are alot of knowledgeable people on there, and you can sign up with alot of good companies. Just read what flash had to say and read alot more on the forums, and the job listings if you like them have information to sign up for that shop. Good luck.

Hi all just getting started in NJ any good companies I should sign up with. Just seeing some bank jobs and phone calls which neither pay is great!!! where are these higher paying jobs that everyone is talking about?

Bank jobs are generally better paying jobs so I'm not sure what your expectations are. Check Jobslinger.com for companies that shop your area, sign up with them and see what they offer on their job boards. Some jobs you become eligible for after you have done a number of jobs successfully for the company.

Thanks for your response. I was making $2.50 for a Bank phone call and $10 for a visit, does that sound right? I see some people are making $15-$20 on shops. I was wondering where one finds these shops. Thanks Again!!!

Yes, phone calls are generally very low paying, but then how much expense do you have for them? I have done some more complicated phone shops, making upscale hotel reservations using my credit card, then changing the reservation and ultimately cancelling them or doing an extended discussion about refinancing my mortgage (or starting to set up a mortgage for a new home) or discussing conference facilities for various size groups for specific dates and services that paid a whole lot better. While your standard phone shop takes less than five minutes, the more extensive may require an hour or more of phone time and pay sometimes in the range of$25 to $30.

As for on site bank shops, standardly a drive thru or teller shop will pay around $10. The drive thru for one of my banks pays I think $9.75 and $10 for the teller. These are quick and easy shops with quick and easy reports. "Platform" shops pay in the $20-$35 range ($40 for a timely report on one), but generally they include evaluations of the inside and outside of the facility, lobby personnel who interact with you (or don't), teller (including getting yourself referred over to a banker/loan officer) and the banker/loan officer. You earn your keep on these shops in the amount of time spent in the bank and the size of the report. If you enjoy talking to someone about your finances (real or hypothetical) to see what their suggestions are, these jobs can be a blast. If it is something you are uncomfortable with it will be nothing but tedious.

Thank you so much for your input, is there any suggestions on who to apply with and which ones are just not worth the time? Sorry to be so annoying...

Many, many MSPs have bank shops and it depends very much on what area you are in and what banks are in your area. My "best" company shops credit unions that are in 5 or 6 counties near me. I haven't heard of folks shopping with them elsewhere. The shops that have always been "cheap shops" are the Bank of America ones, that just aren't worth the gas for a bank with such crummy service and policies that it isn't worth having an account there.

Bank shops are frequently listed on Jobslinger.com as many of the companies that shop them are SASSIE companies.

Thanks Flash I appreciate your time in answering my questions for me!!!

There is also other companies that pay cheap too, but there is one company ,Im not sure if I can mention the name but they have alot of shops(banks) and pay good and the communication is great with them,they are a professional polite great group of people.It depends on your area what is open for all companies.....Flash Can I say the name of the company? Not the jobs,just the comapny. I Love to deal with them and I get treated great. PS You give great advise on everything...how long are you doing this and how many hours a day do you work at this. I appreciate all you did to get me started. It helped me alot, and I want to thank you.
Any new bank companies that you know that I can look into.I mainly stick to that.I passed a test for Apt complex but I hate to give my personal information to people...same for car dealerships....what do you think of that? goldierebel

The general rule is that you cannot name the client and the MSP in the same thread. I don't remember what companies may have been mentioned in this thread but I know that Bank of America has been mentioned as a client I don't think any other specific banks have been named, so MSP names EXCEPT for the one that does Bank of America should be fine.

I work at this odd hours. When I am doing housework or yardwork I take frequent breaks, check my email, check a few companies for jobs and get back to what I was doing. I generally go out to do shops 2-3 days a week if I can get them organized right. I've been doing this a few years now, though I did it a lot many years ago.

Hi, I thought you can say the company but not the shops under them. I do this as much as I can but Im picky.I try and pick and choose and get bonus when needed. I love one company ....you can finish it and they are wonderful to me. I started doing alittle ptc sites to fill in on my time I am bored and want a few bucks eventually,but I Love this. I dont like too complicated jobs or ones that have long reports that take so much time, and the ones that I have to pay out.....Right now I need the money coming in. I looked on our log and jobslinger yesterday for jobs,youjust have to keep checking in on the websites of my favorites so I dont miss anything.
Well thanks and any thing you want to tell me you have my email thanks goldie



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/2008 01:05AM by goldierebel.

Thanks for the info

hello am from nigeria , how can i find a mysteryshoper's company here and how can i get started. here is my Email address johnojerry@yahoo.co.uk.

I am interested in signing up with different companies. When you sign up they want a lot of personal information. How comfortable are you with giving out this infomation >birthday date...etc?

If it is a company I feel sure is legitimate and the website is secure (look at the URL bar to see if you see a padlock or other indicator that it is secure) I have no problem at all. If it is a legitimate company that I have heard good things about, I will give the information on a website that is not secure. If it is a company I have never heard of, I will do some research about them before signing up whether their site is secure or not.

References for legitimacy: [www.volition.com]
the list in the 'sticky' here [www.mysteryshopforum.com]
the list of companies at MSFreedom.org
I also have found several other lists on the internet, but since I don't know if those have been 'shopper tested' I generally will use the "search" feature on several forums for information. Many of the lists on the internet are just "borrowed" from forums and other websites. If I still find nothing, I will Google the company directly and see if I find any commentary about them. I will also use whois to make sure that the contact address and information on the company website can be correlated to the site registration information.

Hello, I am a shopper "newbie". Just completed the Silver Certification Course and am planning to do the Gold. Question, please. Is it wise to pay a fee to a web site which lists jobs?

The question is what do you hope to accomplish for the fee and do you have any solid evidence that the website will provide it?

I have never paid to shop. I do not ever intend to pay to shop. From the experience of other shoppers (aside from the Southern California area) I see no solid and believable support from shoppers that they DO get 'more or better' shops with MSPA or other certifications that the rest of us mere mortals. The only justification I can see for Shadow Shopper and similar pay to shop websites are if you either do not have the imagination or time to go look at job boards of the various MSPs to find the jobs posted there. I also find it to be of considerable concern that shoppers already snagged into 'pay to shop' sites are given potential financial benefit to tout the sites and get other shoppers to sign up and pay their money.

You have lists of companies here and on other forums and at the MSPA that are not flim-flam outfits that are going to 'sell you lists'. They are offered to you at no charge--you just have to take the time and energy to sign up and check their job boards. You will not ever get legitimate jobs from a company you are not signed up with. Shortcuts generally are how folks lose money with 'too good to be true' offers. ANY time ANYbody is asking you for money--especially when related to mystery shopping, which is very competitive in many areas of the country--you need to back away and really think it through. It is not just that it is 'voluntary' or 'only $15' or 'only . . .' per year or whatever. The bottom line is whether you are willing to do X number of shops to pay for the 'service'.

I suspect that in my shopping area the schedulers are willing to give 'newbies' a shot on a job or two--after all, that is how I was able to get started since relatively few of the companies I work with allow newbies with them to self assign (and I am a 'newbie' every time I sign up with a new-to-me company). That gives you an opportunity to build your reputation with the company. They all evaluate their shoppers, whether you get to see your 'score' on their website or not. Do marginal or poor work, you won't be invited to shop again for them unless they have a hard time filling a job. Do a good job that doesn't cause undue grief to the scheduler or editor, you will shop for them again in most cases. If they already have a cadre of good shoppers, those longer relationships may get first crack at stuff, but keep trying.

A quick example. A company I am allowed to do particular shops for every 90 days. There is a group of 5 shops I do every 90 days. I have been doing these shops every 90 days for about 3 years. I have received a score of 9 once (3 years ago) and all the rest are 10s. The shops were posted last evening. I have no idea how many folks applied, but I got all I requested. I would have been surprised/disappointed and annoyed if I didn't. But next month they will post and unless they have a long time shopper for them, a 'newbie' may get a chance at them. Or if this month I had been unwilling/unable to do them, a 'newbie' would likely have been given a chance. As a long time shopper with these folks, I go out of my way to request and perform these shops in part to keep the company from needing to go to 'newbies' who would be my direct competition.

I did a one month "gold member" trial of Shadow Shopper from Nov 24-Dec 22 for $4.99. I made sure to cancel 2 days early, as they are WICKED and UNFORGIVING about charging if you don't (according to the reports of many shoppers on several forums.)

I don't want to pay every month to shop, and get plenty of jobs as it is. But as a cheap offer landed in my lap, I figured, okay, $5, lets see what I can get for a month. I did get some jobs I would not have gotten. I had a company (not MS) contact me directly through SS about doing 8 shops for them. A local company here in HI. I am going to do it, and it pays pretty well. $20 per shop. For a shop that "gargantuan, hungry MSC" pays $8 to do. Very similar survey. Places I have shopped for the aforementioned MSC (but they did it for a national company whose service is sold at the stores.) I got another job that paid $30 per visit to swap out game cards in DS's; 7 stores total. I got another, too, from Amusement Advantage that was *super easy* and fun and paid $50. I am signed up with them already, but I don't get to see the jobs without the hassle of signing into their system, and then it is usually a 4-5 hour gig at a zoo that I am SO not interested in, that I quit visiting. So being able to see the description in my email worked for me there, too.

Overall, I end up a few hundred dollars richer. But part of this is timing and luck. It would not give me the same results month after month. If you can do a SS trial and are good are remembering to cancel on time, you might want to try and see if you get some decent leads.

I, like Flash, am pretty sick of seeing the other paid company's tag line used to recruit others on people's email, though. And since you can't take a test drive there, only you can decide whether its worth $30. For me, I decided not now, maybe not ever, after speaking to the prez of the co. You can call him. He will speak to shoppers. Warning, he is very "salesy" though, so put on your shopper hat.

:0-)

Dee, that sounds like a good and proper use of Shadow Shopper. You are already signed up with the companies you know about that shop your area. Certainly that information can be obtained by use of Jobslinger.com for free. You are also signed up I am sure with a number of companies that are not currently shopping your area. So you are using Shadow Shopper for additional leads temporarily to enhance your prospects rather than attempting to use a paid service to provide you with routine jobs. At least in theory, jobs done well for the new-to-you-companies will open doors to you for continued work even after you terminate Shadow Shopper.

My concern with these sites is more that they are viewed especially by new shoppers as a replacement for getting signed up with a variety of companies. My sense is that some of their most frequently offered shops are ones that the companies weren't able to give away on their own job boards or forum job boards.

Certainly a drawback of Jobslinger.com is that it pulls job postings from those SASSIE companies that CHOOSE to participate and it pulls off the MSPA, Volition and a few other job boards around. So by far it does not include ALL jobs in a given area.

I am a strong believer that Jobslinger.com is where new shoppers should begin looking for companies to sign up with and expand their horizons from there via company lists on various forums if they find that they are successful as shoppers.

I agree that new shoppers should use the free avenues while getting their feet wet. There's valuable information to be gleaned by going through the process of searching lists, signing up with MSPs, searching for jobs, and waiting for assignments.

I haven't yet paid for lists or assignments. While $5/month is nominal and recoverable, I don't know what the rate is to continue membership with Shadow Shopper. Dee, I'm happy for you that you had a better month. I'm interested to know if (1) you plan to extend your membership, (2) now that you have history with new-to-you companies, will they continue to send jobs that were previously unavailable to you, and (3) if you do continue with SS, can you do better than just recoup the cost.

Hi Mert,
I haven't really had a bad month shopping...Sorry if I somehow gave that impression. I usually make $500 or more, sometimes $1K or more. I have had a horrible month personally, since my husband got his pay cut 80%. With my teaching job/MS work and his 2 jobs we were okay, not rocking big time, but had a little spare cash to do something fun each month, or buy the kid stuff he wanted, or pay down the bills a bit. Now, I don't know. Time will tell.

I don't intend to renew. I never did. I canceled it two days early. I got a $5 buck deal, and it worked out. Most companies they list I already know. Most companies Jobslinger lists I already know. I got lucky and the timing was right.

I agree with people doing the research. But one method of research is that, too. It all depends on how you use it. I would probably do another cheap month, were it offered, late next year, and use it the same way. I found almost all my companies by V's list and reading the forums. I am signed up with 250 plus. But I only work routinely for about 30.