Hi Shoppers!

I thought this might answer some questions for new shoppers. Basically, the whole getting started process is a crap shoot. Sign up, hold your breath, and jump in.

I am a part time shopper, and I am MSPA silver certified. My first mystery shop was 2/18/14. I am now signed up with 181 companies. Most of those companies do not have anything in my area or anything I am willing to do. I have done (or currently have scheduled) 68 shops with 28 different mystery shopping companies. I have made over $1,400 in fees and have received $4,000 in reimbursements. $2,288 of the reimbursement is from hotels, so not particularly meaningful. After five months, my heart has finally stopped pounding every time I do a shop, but I still forget to note the time when the shop is over.

Companies I have shopped for (number of shops): A Closer Look (8), About Face (3), Ann Michaels (1), aTH (1), B Business (1), Bare (3), Coyle (5), Customer Impact (2), Customer Service Experts (1), Dataquest (1), Goodwin (2), ICCDS (1), Informa (2), Intellishop(3), Int’l Service Check (1), Market Force (3), MercSystems (3), Mintel (3), NSite (1), Person to Person (5), Reality Based (1), Reality Check (1), Regal (5), Satisfaction Services (5), Service Performance Group (1), Service Sleuth (2), Strategic Reflections (2).

My first five shops (way before I found the Forum) were with:
About Face – Cosmetics
Intellishop – Assisted Living
Market Force – Fast Casual
A Closer Look – Upscale Dining
Reality Based – Valet Parking
Types of Shops: Banking (11), Fine Dining (10), Parking (8), Integrity Bar or Buffet (7), Hotel (6)

Other benefits from shopping:
-learned about a local bank paying 1% on checking accounts
-saved $177 on a hotel room I had already booked for a family reunion by using the free hotel night I got from signing up for Chase Marriott Rewards credit card
- $100 from Bank of America for signing up for their cash rewards credit card
- Found the Forum :-)

Biggest tip I got from the Forum: buy a digital voice recorder



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/2014 05:12PM by Bayberry.

Ditto for me. I've been shopping for nearly 8 months, part time and have basically the same results. I already had a digital voice recorder that is perfect. It is a SANSA Sandisk MP3 that clips to my bra. It is so small in footprint, about 1 1/2" by 1". Plus it already had all my music on it! I just upload the voice recording to my PC for a permanent record and delete it off my MP3 for the next shop.

The only thing I would add to Bayberrys post to make sure that you have your record keeping intact. Whether you make up something yourself or use something from one of the threads here, keep a record of:

1) shops you have applied for with the dates and fees
2) shops that you have been accepted for but have not yet worked
3) shops that you have completed but have not yet been paid for
4) shops you have been paid for with the amount received
5) list of all MSC's you are signed up with, along with your ID, password, and URL
6) names and contact numbers for schedulers, editors, and anyone else within the MSC

I am sure that I may be missing something and welcome any additions!

CureMS is right.

I have a spreadsheet where each row is:

MSC name, Date of shop, Shop description, fee, reimbursement proposed, actual cost, mileage, amount due, date received, paypal, check or DD. Then I have type of shop, scheduler, phone number, etc. It was very easy for me to gather the data for my post. On a different sheet, I have a list of every company and password, payment info, clients.

I also move all assignment emails into an email folder, same with reviews and payments.