I received an email for a cell phone shop "Great opportunity to explore smart/cell phones and different plans, and get paid to do it!". Seems similar to others except the pay is $11 and the company wants you to purchase "an inexpensive item as proof of visit". For such a low fee seems a time/date stamped photo would be good enough proof since there is no reimbursement for the required purchase.

what is inexpensive in a cell phone store? I would think
the screen clings that are probably the cheapest cost 4+ bucks usually.

One MSC is touting their cell phone shops for $8. Remember when they were going for $15 or more?

I used to do a cell phone store that reimbursed $15 for a purchase. Nothing was around $15 except for a stylus. Even the screen clings were more than $15 (they were sold in packs and not individually).

I must have about a dozen stylus by now.

I believe the shop the OP is talking about is a cell phone shop inside a Target. I did these last year with the old MSC at $13, and found that decently reasonable (as I never had to wait, the interaction was usually fairly short, and I usually need something at Target anyways). But I haven't done any at $11 yet...just didn't like the $2 cut in pay. Plus I know some folks are wary of the new MSC....

OMG they are sooo boring we should be getting more$$$. I just cannot do them anymore unless they are have a bonus. Just cannot get my acting skills up to par for $8 and they should let us do our own scenarios as theirs are getting a little old and the associates are on to them.

I've done quite a few cell phone shops and the time involved onsite to do a decent job is worth more than $11, imho. And most of the cell shops I've done didn't require a non-reimbursed purchase. I got the same email and deleted it as soon as I saw the payment involved.

I did a few $11-$12 cell phone shops last year where you had to get 3 recommendations.
The amount of work on the reports for the low pay (over a hundred questions plus narratives) was insane! Some of the shops wanted you to take "discreet" (HA!) photos INSIDE the stores and tell them every single phone that was on display if you couldn't get the photos. More insanity!

I've done a few phone shops since then but they were only two phone comparisons and they were bonused at $20 each. I avoid them now otherwise. I would consider a cell phone shop total exploitation for $11 if they required you to make a purchase.

I've seen some $11 electronics retailer shops requiring you to purchase something as proof of visit but they will only reimburse for $1. They said you could buy a pack of gum! How effing dumb is that? Delete ....

I wonder sometimes what the planning process is like when clients and MSCs effectively make the shopper spend more than the shop pays or is worth. Do they think we are stupid or desperate, or do they enjoy putting one over on shoppers? Do these clients want to make money on mystery shoppers or are the MSCs too cheap to give us a decent rate to fulfill the client's requirements of POV?

Shoppers in my area snatch these shops up, so I guess the answer could be yes to any or all of these questions.

If shoppers want to do a shop to get free merchandise or a meal, that's their choice. I want to get paid!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/12/2014 09:34PM by nycrocks.

I've done a few of the cell phone in Target shops. They make a great filler shop on a route . They are incredibly easy and the report is not long at all. I typically pick up something I need from Target--doesn't have to be cell phone related at all-and get some paper towels, bananas or whatever. Problem with those is that the sales people travel as much as I do . I've done a few shops inside the big warehouse places too. The reports on those are pretty involved. I hadn't done one in a while and I forgot that. I probably won't do any more of those unless there is a really good bonus. The kid that was working at the place I did today though was a GEM. I learned more about my cell phone in 15 minutes from him than all my visits to Verizon combined!! I had to pretend I didn't have a phone but he kept showing me all kinds of great things on the phone I was "considering" buying.

You do learn about the phones, and some of them are pretty amazing. When my contract is up, I may actually consider an Android phone over the next iPhone. Maybe ... It's going to be a tough choice if Apple doesn't do something incredible for the iPhone 6.

I have to say, Android seemed cool, with all of the things they can do; however, I dearly miss my iPhone 4s. I wish I had gone with the iPhone 5s over the Samsung Galaxy s5.

teriraia Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OMG they are sooo boring we should be getting
> more$$$. I just cannot do them anymore unless
> they are have a bonus. Just cannot get my acting
> skills up to par for $8 and they should let us do
> our own scenarios as theirs are getting a little
> old and the associates are on to them.


^---- This. All of it! This is it in a nutshell. 100% agreement here.

Tlt14 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have to say, Android seemed cool, with all of
> the things they can do; however, I dearly miss my
> iPhone 4s. I wish I had gone with the iPhone 5s
> over the Samsung Galaxy s5.

I can understand! You can't beat an iPhone for ease of use, in general. I had a Galaxy Tab 10.5 and returned it for the iPad Mini last year and was happier. It would be nice to have the better camera and bigger screen, so I am hoping Apple ups their game.

Many carriers will let people switch early these days, so maybe you can trade up to the iPhone 6 later.

I do the cell phone shops for $20 or more. The last one I did was $30, and I earned every dime! The
instructions were to wait up to 40 minutes for assistance if the associate was busy with customers...he
was, for 38 minutes! My rotten luck! Spent an hour and a quarter just in the store, another 45 minutes on the report. Surely I'm not the only person who thinks sitting around and waiting for someone to
help you for 38 minutes is WORK?

I like them even better at $50. When they hit $50, I do a route.



cease

I haven't seen any cell phone shops for $30 in my area, much less $50. There are just too many shoppers who will work for peanuts in NYC.

It's cool in the beginning, but then the boredom, coupled with the lowered fees kicks in. Yawn.

They only go over $20 on rare occasion around here. A Summer or two ago, there were several in the $25-$35 range, though. But usually just the usual stupid $10-$15.

ceasesmith Wrote:
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> Surely I'm not the only
> person who thinks sitting around and waiting for
> someone to
> help you for 38 minutes is WORK?

As an MS'er, it's work. As a customer, it's insane. With the abundance of competition, what customer would wait over a half hour just to ask some questions?

If I have to wait over 15 minutes, I usually note in the report that if I was a paying customer, I would not have waited.

I too am sick of cell phone shops, but will do them when shops are scarce, especially for the $40 + ones that the Australian company offers when desperate. I have a Samsung Galaxy and love finding out stuff on shops that I did not know I could do with it.

lol $11 is pretty low for purchase too but if you take it on the regular, that's your prerogative. I've seen some for $15, $35, $60. I only take the $60 one.

I have a Samsung galaxy and really wish that I had gotten the Iphone. When my contract is up I will switch to the Iphone - the androids have too much junk on them. That is what I use these shops for now - to figure out the bells and whistles on my android.

Agree totally that a real customer would never sit around for 30 to 45 minutes just to ask some questions. I wouldn't even wait that long if I intended to buy ~ I'd come back another day. And if there's a 'General Commets' section I'm sure to mention it, too.

One MSC, for one of the cell phone clients, says to wait as long as necessary... or at least they did last time I did one. That only was an issue once, when the location only had one guy (he explained, when the horrific wait kept going and going, that there were supposed to be three people... but one was out of the state on a pre-approved vacation, and the other had to go home sick earlier in the day.) I waited there for over an hour. And another customer, who came in just after me, did also. No idea why the other customer waited. This was one of the bonused ones... $35 to $40 if I recall correctly? But after waiting that long it was barely worth it. At least I knew the report on this one was really easy. I could almost feel my soul shriveling up as I sat there.

The sales associate did a really, really good job though. And was so nice, and explained things well, and all that. One of the customer ahead, though, was one of those super annoying ones. Even after realizing what the situation was, they kept asking question after question about how to use their new phone. I mean, down to absolute minutia. Minutia about a dozen or so apps, let alone the general phone itself. Stuff that a normal person would just play around with and figure out, or ask a friend who has a smart phone. But nooooo, they had to keep coming up with stuff to ask about forty some times. It was them, in fact, that took up most of the hour. :/

Phoebe70 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I used to do a cell phone store that reimbursed
> $15 for a purchase. Nothing was around $15 except
> for a stylus. Even the screen clings were more
> than $15 (they were sold in packs and not
> individually).
>
> I must have about a dozen stylus by now.


Sell them on eBay! I am always losing my stylus and have to buy new ones constantly. Another way to make a little extra cash!

I've been wondering, ever since seeing a lot of mystery shop emails for cell phone stores, how absolutely over-saturated the market is with phone stores. I seriously have no idea how they make money- a few of them have more than one phone store on a block here in New York. I imagine they're all cannibalizing eachothers' business and they can't afford to pay much for mystery shopping.

I have a cell phone shop scheduled for $25. The shop normally goes for $8. The report is easy and there is no narrative. I can finish the shop in 20 minutes and the report in 15 minutes. Whenever I do these shops I ask for and get a business card as soon as possible. Have you ever had a rep not have a business card? New reps sometimes don't have them. Sometimes they are out of cards. Too bad some shoppers take these shops for $8 because if the MSC can offer $25 to get it done then that is a tip-off to how much the MSC's share is.

> Too bad some shoppers take these shops for $8 because if the MSC can offer $25 to get it done then >that is a tip-off to how much the MSC's share is.

Not necessarily, as I understand it. It's entirely possible that the only reason they're able to bonus some to $25 is because others were taken at $8.

Did a cellphone shop today for $25. At the beginning of the month it was $8. The report took me 10 minutes, no narrative. I'd say it worked out to $25/40 minutes. Why are these shoppers doing these for $8? Maybe right now they've are excited by $8 but it wears off after awhile once you find out they are worth more.

Cell phone shops are a big part of my income. Of course most have a bonus. I wont do the $11 I will do the $15 but that is the least I will take. In my area anyway the T-mobile, Sprints take no time. AT&T take a little and Verizon takes forever. Verizon I need at least $25.

Hear Hear! I now have a policy of emailing schedulers representing MSC's offering shops at ridiculously low rates, telling them I really would like to work with them, but that I run a business too, and cannot perform shops that will not allow me to make a profit. I then tell them that the shops they are posting would require a fee of at least $XX.XX to be paid for me to be able to perform the shop, and then, I would be more willing to accept the shop if it was one of several that I could make a route out of. The amount I quote is reached by estimating the amount of time it will take to do the preparation, perform the visit, prepare, and submit the report. If all those things reach an estimate of 30 minutes, for example, and my acceptable hourly rate is $40, then I could do the shop for $20, plus reimbursement. I have made it a policy never to do shops requiring me to spend money that won't be fully reimbursed on top of a fair fee for my services.

The funny thing is, IT'S WORKING! I no longer get pestered by the MSC's who want a freebie and reliable MSC's who recognize their shoppers as professionals and who compensate them fairly, keep appearing on the horizon. I find some of these companies by consistently checking the Volition & MSPA lists, as well as working with jobslinger.com. I think that MSC's don't offer fair compensation because we, as shoppers, don't always demand it. Too many of us get involved in the crap shoot of trying to negotiate for bonuses. That's not my scene, and I have found a way to avoid the necessity of doing it by setting limits with the companies who want my services.

I will do an $8 cell phone shop if it fills out my card on a visit to a distant city or part of the city.