Just curious, how much?

It really varies month to month for me. Last year, I had a few months where I netted over 1k in fees, not including reimbursements, which added up to another $700-1k/month (I like fine dining shops

). So far, this year has been much less net cash per month (closer to $300/month), because I have been focusing more on reimbursements and lifestyle enhancement shops (fine dining, movies, groceries, gifts for family & friends, etc). I'm also no longer accepting shops that make me uncomfortable (unless super super bonused of course!), so I skip most purchase & return scenarios, or any other scenario that I don't like (car shops, I'm talking about you). Mystery shopping for me right now is more about enjoyment & keeping our costs down. We luckily have my husband's salary plus rental income from property I own, and we can live on that. Mystery shopping definitely allows us to dine out and live it up a little, while staying within our budget. I like knowing that if things ever got bad, though, I could kick shopping back into high gear and focus on fees, and that we could get by on mystery shopping alone if we needed to.

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I've been shopping about 7 months (can't believe it has been that long) and I started wanting to make $500 per month. I do not have another job of any kind and my youngest is a freshman in college so I had a lot of time on my hands. I'm a goal oriented person so the $500 was way to easy. So now I plan a schedule for a minimum of $500 a week. I do not include reimbursements in this. I have a $500 month max on reimbursement outlay so I'm able to do massages, nice dinners, and a few other items that are just reimbursements. So to answer your question I'm making $2000+ per month.

I work when I want and do the shops I want. I will try almost any shop once.

I think as some others have suggested, knowing
what someone else makes overall is not going to change
how much you make personally since many factors
go into it. Knowing how much on a specific route
or shop someone makes like lisaSTL said helps
you to make sure are not selling yourself short.
Being aggressive when you negotiate(and knowing how to)
rates when picking up shops is critical. Knowing when to
say no to a shop is important. Knowing how to propely route shops
to maximize time and savings is also a big help(ex. travel the opposite
direction rush hour traffic moves).
For someone like me who has been doing this for many years,
I can effectively recite which area in every state along the east coast
the msc's have trouble filling. That has given me an edge in being
able to maximize my per a shop average. Now I'm focusing
on adding more southern states to my "knowledge base" including
AL, MS and LA as more msc's are requesting help in these states.

To me all of the above and more is more important in helping
one grow their income then knowing how much someone else makes.

= + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = +
There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots
==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==
When you try to please everybody, you end up pleasing nobody

techman01 Wrote:
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> Now I'm
> focusing
> on adding more southern states to my "knowledge
> base" including
> AL, MS and LA as more msc's are requesting help
> in these states.

Move along. Nothing to see here. No shops in those states.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

I try to take only shops where I get something in return. I got a free pair of prescript sunglasses that I was going to have to pay for, plus $$. Then there's the premium oil change where my oil change light came on while I was on the way to the very shop! And the oil change where I was able to get two bumper to bumper details for our cars because they didn't do the oil change right. And there's the $$$ dinner where we were able to take my mom out for her birthday, no additional $ for that but we all loved it!

So my question is, do you put $ values on that? I figure what these things would have cost me and count that as income.

When you learn, teach, when you get, give. Maya Angelou

it varies, A LOT for me.

I just started a spreadsheet in XL just to see my layout and take home.

I average around $2,000 to $2,500 per month. I'm an accountant (I'm back at school) and usually by the time I claim all the expenses I can legitimately claim I don't pay taxes on it.

I 'make' about $200-300 per month part time but I also have a 'regular' part time job as well.

Ellie in Ohio - trying to get those ends to meet...

If you want another opinion of how much you can make mystery shopping, you might check out jonk's blog. He usually has the link in his signature but it's my frugal miser or something like that. He did a road trip and blogged the whole thing.

Shopping across Indiana but mostly around Indianapolis.

Thank you all for great input! honest one and not so honest one,
we all create this awesome community!
keep shopping.

When I was working MS pretty aggressively and lived north of Atlanta where there were a lot of MS opportunities, I make about $300/mo. Most months, $90 of that was for one particular shop at a large retailer that had a questionare, with I think about 100 questions and during the shop I needed to interact with about 10 employees, getting their name and responses to particular questions. In general, I made $10 to $15 an hour for the shops, plus reimbursements where applicable.

I mainly do reimbursement shops and very few pay ones, so I'm typically owed about $1,200 a month. Lol

IamAMYsteryshopper

Flash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> While there are a finite number of shops available
> to a shopper in any location, beyond that it is
> what you make of it. To a great extent this is a
> needs/goals driven business. At this point my
> needs/goals are a lot less than they were a half
> dozen years ago so I take a whole lot fewer of the
> available shops, yet I still find it perfect as
> supplemental income.

You have described me to a T. I am shopping less and less and expect to soon quit entirely, well, almost entirely - sometimes I do a shop just because I like the schedular who calls or particularly enjoy the shop itself.

Stthohn Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When I was working MS pretty aggressively and
> lived north of Atlanta where there were a lot of
> MS opportunities, I make about $300/mo. Most
> months, $90 of that was for one particular shop at
> a large retailer that had a questionare, with I
> think about 100 questions and during the shop I
> needed to interact with about 10 employees,
> getting their name and responses to particular
> questions. In general, I made $10 to $15 an hour
> for the shops, plus reimbursements where
> applicable.

Not sure I would go as far as calling that aggressive. When I hear aggressive im thinking over 300 shops a month and/or over 5,000 in shop fees.

MDavisnowell Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Raygine - In March I did 86 shops for $1,457.00 in
> fees and reimbursements (mostly gas) and drove
> 1,954 miles. I do mainly gas stations because
> that's what I prefer.

I am a new mystery shopper. My friend said he made $1200+/- in a month doing gas station audits. Now I've just signed up with a big MSC that is newbie-friendly and let's me self-assign. However, the gas station audits only pay $9 with a $2 purchase required, but there appears to be alot of pictures and time required. I wish I knew what is the secret to getting paid $18+/- for a gas station audit. Maybe it's just the MSC I am with (I'm only signed up with one so far).

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Beware! "Two studies published in 2013 and 2014 have found that people who are identified as trolls tend to have dark personality traits and show signs of sadism, antisocial behavior, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I shop part time, and a bad month to me is under $600. I usually do much better than that. I keep registering for more MSC's and I notice I make more every month.

Arguing with fools is like playing chess with a pigeon...
...No matter how good you are, the pigeon will s@^t on the board and strut around like it won anyway.

Not scheduling for ANY company.

missterryus, I can't think of anyone here who is registered with only one company. Try 50, 100, 150 or more.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

missterryus, the company that does a lot of gas shops has many threads of discussion under the Mystery Shopping Companies section of this forum. You aren't reading your homework, you bad bad girl. Start reading company threads in that section and keep signing up with companies.

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

When I started MSing I made about $100 a month. Over the years I grew this to up to $600 a month, and almost always over $300. Since my "injury" and aging I dropped back to trying to do $200 a month. But at present, with the MSP's dropping fees and gas prohibiting some of the areas I used to go do, and fewer shops so no routes work for multiple shops I just try to make enough to cover my contributions to the USO and Wounded Warrior projects, with a little left over for me.
I had stopped completely for a while, but have restarted several good companies and still do 1-2 shops a day. And I don't work weekends.
Being retired makes all the difference. The grocery shops help a lot.

I make from 400 - 1000 per month depending on my time.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking... wondering if zeros got left off or something? Especially since (s)he's in an area where there's "lots of MS opportunities". I mean, I live in an area with what seems to be moderate MS opportunities, and I barely have to try to make $300 anymore, now that I'm at 90+/- MSCs.

I mean, $300/month is fine, but I wouldn't call it "aggressive", is all I'm saying/agreeing with.

techman01 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Stthohn Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> > When I was working MS pretty aggressively and
> > lived north of Atlanta where there were a lot of
> > MS opportunities, I make about $300/mo. Most
> > months, $90 of that was for one particular shop at
> > a large retailer that had a questionare, with I
> > think about 100 questions and during the shop I
> > needed to interact with about 10 employees,
> > getting their name and responses to particular
> > questions. In general, I made $10 to $15 an hour
> > for the shops, plus reimbursements where
> > applicable.
>
>
> Not sure I would go as far as calling that
> aggressive. When I hear aggressive im thinking
> over 300 shops a month and/or over 5,000 in shop
> fees.

Practitioner of the Nerdly Arts.

missterryus Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am a new mystery shopper. My friend said he made
> $1200+/- in a month doing gas station audits. Now
> I've just signed up with a big MSC that is
> newbie-friendly and let's me self-assign. However,
> the gas station audits only pay $9 with a $2
> purchase required, but there appears to be alot of
> pictures and time required. I wish I knew what is
> the secret to getting paid $18+/- for a gas
> station audit. Maybe it's just the MSC I am with
> (I'm only signed up with one so far).

Those $9 shops will become $18, or $25 (or more in rural areas) if they are left alone long enough.

If they are asking you to send money back it is a scam. Do not do that. Go to YouTube and there are videos of other shoppers who have had the same thing happen. You will be out a lot of money if you send the money. The check is most likely a fake check.

don't know...don't care...I'm not in it for the money. I'm an eccentric Billionaire that does this just for grins.

My idea of an agreeable person is a person who agrees with me.
Benjamin Disraeli

When I first started mystery shopping, I wasn't particularly concerned about how much I was making. It wasn't long before I saw the light. I spoke with the facilitator in a video shopping workshop and asked if people could actually make a living shopping. She told me that she did not go out of her house for less than $100/day. I made that my goal. Before I did much video work, it might have taken ten $10 shops/day; if I was lucky, maybe five $20 shops/day. Didn't take me long before I realized that I could make more money doing the video shops and I haven't looked back since.

My advice is decide on how much you need/want to make. Divide by the days you want to work and that will tell you how much you need to make per day. Assuming it's something reasonable, look for shops that will provide you with the highest fee for the least time to be spent.

Good luck.

raygine Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How much do you make as a mystery shopper each
> month?
Last year I averaged $883.00 per month before taxes. That does not include reimbursements.

"Evolve thyself and lose all hate...." Orphaned Land

Last year I made little over $7.000 a year before taxes. I have full time job and I work 2 to 3 hours a day some Saturdays for MS. It is great for adding little money to my retirement income as we get older we need to save all we can.

LOL. Do you pay the Western Union fees with your inheritance from a famous political figure in Nigeria?

Who/which post is that directed at? If it's the one right before yours, why is a little over $7000 a year unbelievable?

Hmmm.

Anyway, I got my taxes done April 14th... I tend to procrastinate. I made 26% more (fees only, doesn't count even the useful reimbursements) in 2013, than I did in 2012. My expenses were within $100 one year to the next. I actually drove 576 fewer miles in 2013 than I did in 2012.

So I'd say I figured out how to work smarter.

Practitioner of the Nerdly Arts.

StormCloud Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> Anyway, I got my taxes done April 14th... I tend
> to procrastinate. I made 26% more (fees only,
> doesn't count even the useful reimbursements) in
> 2013, than I did in 2012. My expenses were within
> $100 one year to the next. I actually drove 576
> fewer miles in 2013 than I did in 2012.
>
> So I'd say I figured out how to work smarter.

My goal is to work smarter.

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Just curious, how much?

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