From time to time, shoppers state they want to quit their 9-5 job and wonder if it's feasible to live on mystery shopping income alone. Is it or, at least, is there the potential, over time, to build it to a stand-alone income level?

Mystery Shopper Magazine would like to interview shoppers, who regularly hit this mark (or beyond), to find out how they do it, how much shopping and reporting time is involved and, well, if they're willing to share it, their strategy.

The interviews can either be anonymous or identified by screen name, whichever the shopper prefers. The process is pretty simple: Questions will be sent to you and you reply to the questions.

If you are willing to participate, please PM me or PM Jacob at JacobJ.

Thanking you in advance.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/13/2014 09:03PM by stilllearning.

Is there a cut-off date for responses?

Might be a good idea to edit the post and put that in there.

I wonder if anyone has pm'd you yet? I can imagine making $2k/mo involves a lot of travel and/or high-end shops which took a year or two for someone to luckily work their way up to. And, in that $2k/mo are you looking strictly at pay, or including the reimbursed perks? I think if you are taking into account the perks, MANY of us could be considered, but if looking at the consistent monthly deposits/checks for the pay (not including reimbursement), then maybe a few? We should have a survey on here and find out what percentage of shoppers make a certain amount per month.

@ Storm: I hadn't actually thought of having a cut-off date. Hmmm...

@ Curlzzzzzzz: Yes, I've already gotten a couple of responses. I purposely did not qualify the the pay because, in my opinion, shoppers could be interested in both. Are there any specific questions you--or anybody--would like to see asked?

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I think in order to produce anything useful, the $2000 would be to your pocket after expenses, not just the sum of fees and reimbursements. I could get $2000 a month in fees any time I wanted, but it would cost me $1000 in mileage and other expenses to get it, so I would not be able to "live" on this, at least not very well. $1000 a month with a $500 mortgage payment doesn't leave much for food, utilities, insurance.

In my entire MS career, I've collected $12000 in fees, $4000 in reimbursements, and out of that $16000 that passed through my hands, about $8000 stuck in my pocket and was thus usable for my living expenses. This is in somewhat more than 2 years of part time mystery shopping.

$2000 a month is an income of only $24000, which is possible to live on in some parts of the country, but it would be a struggle without another income in the house in most areas.

Great points! Thank you!

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In my rural area outside DFW I can live on $24,000, in fact that's about what I spend. I live in a paid off house on some rural acreage but it's a good sized house and cost me about $500 a month for upkeep, utilities, and taxes. Those numbers wouldn't work in nearby Dallas. I've had some $2,000 plus gross months based on fees and useful reimbursements including gas doing mostly banks and convenience stores. I recently had a month which was $2300+ and that's not a pace I'd want to keep up month after month. Even so, those months at over $2,000 do not net me $2,000 in money I can spend on myself. The car is a money hole month after month and even though it's a dependable low maintenance vehicle it will eventually have to be replaced. Then I'm looking at a chunk of money to be spent.

I can see higher end shops with larger reimbursements for fine dining, hotels, and cruises but I wouldn't be able to use those higher reimbursements to pay living expenses and I have zero interest in the associated perks. I can see larger income from video shopping but that's going to require travel and therefore greater outlays. I know some people are making this work for larger incomes, but I don't want to be away from home overnight. I see bringing home more than $2,000 a month on a consistent basis without overnight travel and away from home routes as being difficult and not worth the effort and hours required.

I'd be keenly interested in learning about any method used to consistently earn more than $2,000 per month without being away from home overnight. I hope you get a ton of responses and lots of details because that would be helpful. I have a hunch many of us spend way too much time on this for what we realize financially, but it's really interesting work and it's a great supplement. I question whether it's a great sole source of income for most of us but I'm certainly open to learning I'm wrong about that.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/14/2014 06:14PM by MDavisnowell.

It would be nice to have a section just on the magazine. I have searched for it several times but it never comes up. When someone provides a link, I get to read it. I miss out on a lot.

Really, if you're looking for shoppers making $2k per month or more, then that figure should not include reimbursements, because a reimbursement is simply money that you've paid and are going to be repaid by the MSC...it hasn't added to the shoppers bottom line. Example, a dinner shop with a $40 reimbursement and a $15 fee only adds $15 to my bottom line, as opposed to a shop that has a fee of $55, which adds $55 to my bottom line.

True, James, but thirty gas shops that get you two gallons each are sixty gallons of gas you don't have to buy. In that case, it is exactly the same as money. My banks have no reimbursement, and gas is the same as money. For the $1.00 to $2.00 reimbursed for inside purchases on the gas stations, some of that is useful and some is not really income. If I apply it to something I would otherwise buy, it's useful. If I accumulate the little freebies and give them away, that's emotionally satisfying but not financially helpful. I'd say half of my convenience store reimbursements are useful and half are not. So the biggest part of my reimbursements is actually income. That would not be so if we were talking about fine dining, hotels, etc.
Much less of the gross there would be available for living expenses or saving.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/14/2014 11:32PM by MDavisnowell.

You are right, Mary...I forgot about the gas station reimbursement...and I have a route of those the end of the month.

Sandra Sue Wrote:
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> It would be nice to have a section just on the
> magazine. I have searched for it several times
> but it never comes up. When someone provides a
> link, I get to read it. I miss out on a lot.


If you signed up previously, PM Jacob. If you haven't yet signed up, try these links:

[www.mysteryshoppermagazine.com]

[www.mysteryshoppermagazine.com]

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My "to my pocket" calculations includes a factor for "useful reimbursements." I usually count the gas dollar for dollar, a ff meal is worth $2 to me; a sit down meal $5. Oil changes are worth $25. A haircut is worth $15. So if I do one of those, I count those amounts as "returned to my pocket" when evaluating how I did. I count my mileage as 40 cents per mile out of my pocket in that same computation.

I'm trying to arrive at the true out of pocket costs of mystery shopping -- costs I am only incurring because I have a shop to do -- and the true into my pocket benefits -- the fees, bonuses and useful reimbursements. If I get reimbursed for something I don't need (such as buying a small can of paint on a hardware store shop when I have nothing I need to paint) I don't count that to my pocket.

I also didn't count to my pocket the $100 bonus i got for using a credit card i got on a bank shop. That wasn't part of the shop, just a fringe benefit since I decided to get their rewards card. If I did that, I'd still be running up a tab on one of my very first Chase bank shops, since I opened accounts and have booked about $1500 or more in cash rewards. I should throw that into the mix.

Another side benefit is payment for articles in the magazine. I put that on my tax return as part of my shopping income, but I don't count it on my "in my pocket" computation.

All in all ... I've made a significant amount of money when I count in everything I have gained from mystery shopping, even if it didn't come in the form of a payment from an MSC. I've learned things that have saved me money too, and a "penny saved is worth more than a penny earned, because the penny you earn you have to pay taxes on."

$2000 a month is only $66 a day. I work every day. I easily average $66 a day. I don't fly anywhere for less than $200 a day plus expenses.

I love the travel. I don't sleep a lot.

I don't travel in order to do a route. I generally have an assignment that pays for me to get there.

Best job ever? RT to Puerto Rico. I took notes on my iPhone notepad. The editor wrote the reports! How easy is that? I wish that they were all so easy.

I have about 10 places in my town that get shopped on a regular basis. I have to drive 100 miles in any direction to do more than those 10 shops in a month. I'm really not able to travel more than maybe a single overnight at a time due to other local obligations (like cats who will find ways to get even with me if they don't get their quota of lap time every day). RT to Puerto Rico? I might risk getting my shoes peed on for that!

dspeakes Wrote:
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> I have about 10 places in my town that get shopped
> on a regular basis. I have to drive 100 miles in
> any direction to do more than those 10 shops in a
> month. I'm really not able to travel more than
> maybe a single overnight at a time due to other
> local obligations (like cats who will find ways to
> get even with me if they don't get their quota of
> lap time every day). RT to Puerto Rico? I might
> risk getting my shoes peed on for that!

LOL My fat cat is named, "Elvis Presley." He gets so mad when I am gone. He will not leave me alone for hours when I get back. He is super loud. Schedulers often think that I have a baby crying in the background. Nope, it's Elvis talking.

I have 5 huge airports within 50 miles of me. I can fly most anywhere for cheap.

Reimbursements should count as money. Some examples (other than the obvious gas reimbursment) would be grocery shops.

If I do 10 shops a month at $10 a shop AND get $10 reimbursement that is $200 to my groceries.

Another example that I personally use and love each month....

Competative audits... they pay $8 for actual pay and reimburse $12, they are done weekly, with 4 weeks in a month that is $32 pay and $48 in goods. I haven't had to pay out of pocket for pet food, flea treatments, paper plates, trash bags, paper towels or tiolet paper in a loooooooonnnnnggggg time!! Also, the grand baby started Kindergarten this year and all of her school supplies were reimbursed.

One more and this is probably the most profitable one for me... $12 shop with $60 reimbursement. Benjamin Moore paint. I did 4 of them so I made $48 and got $240 worth of paint.

I was able to paint my bathroom, hallway and the grand babies room, including trim and a chaulk board (sm. can of paint) for $0. The other shops I made $8 plus another $10 reimbursement for some hardware shops. I did MULTIPLES of these over time and got all the paint materials including spackle, brushes, pans, painters tape and tarps for $0. Also replaced the flapper and seal on my toilet and insulated the water pipes in the laundry room for $0.

I can't tell you how much more money I have, not just because of the money that I get paid to audit and report shops but for the stuff I do not have to put money out for... that, for me, is just as important.

I should probably add that, with the reimbursements post I made, fitting in some banks, car shops, business inspections and other shops with small or no money out of pocket. It is totally doable to do this as a full time job.

As with any business you have to build it. Market yourself. Show you are reliable and good in a pinch. Schedulers will call YOU with bonuses and shops.

This is my only job, it pays all of my bills, gives me lifestyle shops that I can have fun with and pads my everyday expenses so that I am VERY comfortable. I was even able to take October off (except for my "love them" shops and scheduler emergencies).

$2000 a month is about where I sit WITH reimbursements because, as stated in my previous post, they are just as important to my financial well being as "just making money."

That's where my concept of the "useful reimbursement" comes in.

I think the magazine needs to interview you!

James Bond: .."it hasn't added to the shoppers bottom line. Example, a dinner shop with a $40 reimbursement and a $15 fee only adds $15 to my bottom line, as opposed to a shop that has a fee of $55, which adds $55 to my bottom line."

But, I bet your stomach thanks you...

I dunno. I've done a few food shops where I spent the next day in the bathroom.

Curlzzzzzzzz Wrote:
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> We should have a
> survey on here and find out what percentage of
> shoppers make a certain amount per month.

That would be interesting. It could be done via Survey Monkey. In fact, we could poll shoppers about a lot of different things for the magazine using it. It's free.

I took the liberty of creating a quick sample survey for those who aren't familiar with Survey Monkey. It's just a sample with a couple of questions so you can see the format.

[www.surveymonkey.com]

Thoughts?

@Kate70 "Competative audits... they pay $8 for actual pay and reimburse $12, they are done weekly, with 4 weeks in a month that is $32 pay and $48 in goods."

Are you talking about the $4+$3 per 25 items? If you are getting anything like that to shop the WF competitors in New England, you are extremely grossly underpaid. And make sure that you ask for cash bonus, aka _ _ _.

$2k a month?

I think there are different ways of getting there. With enough responses, the stories should demonstrate how and clarify those differences.

I just spent 10 minutes reading replies to this post and found them all thought provoking . What I didn't see is shoppers factoring in an hourly rate for the time it takes to write and submitt reports, including scanning receipts and uploading photos. Or, how about driving time to and from shops? Driving time, especially in the Southern California area, can be a huge factor and, when added to the cost of gas ... well, time is money. If a shop requires at least 30 minutes at a location, driving time is 15 minutes each way, preparation, writing the report and record keeping is another 15 minutes we are up to 1.25 hours at $10 an hour = $12.50. Shop fee - $12.50 = ? Anyway, just one more thing to add to the thought provoking mix. Oh, and sometimes it is nice to do a bunch of telephone shops while still in my pajamas! Just sayin'

I can't wait to read the article.

Update: So far we have six volunteers with a wealth of experience. (Pun intended. ) I'm almost done with the questions and can't wait to see what they all have to say!

If anyone else would still like to participate, please PM me.

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I certainly don't qualify, but I know some video shoppers on high-end homes, or shopping banks with already having an large existing mortgage, or opening a bank account with a really high beginning balance, and showing them you have a "portfolio" already - those are some examples of high-paying shops I can think of that are pay, not reimbursement. (Uh oh, looks like a run-on sentance). Signed, Night Owl.

DNinCA Wrote:
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> I just spent 10 minutes reading replies to this
> post and found them all thought provoking . What
> I didn't see is shoppers factoring in an hourly
> rate for the time it takes to write and submitt
> reports, including scanning receipts and uploading
> photos. Or, how about driving time to and from
> shops?

The subject of this thread wasn't about how much we make per hour, it was about how much do we make in the month. the amount per hour will vary greatly depending on the experience of the shopper and where they are physically related to the available shops.

I probably work more hours for my $500 than someone who lives in a metro area and is primarily doing video shops. But I still have my $500 in the bank at the end of the month.

Regarding the question of reimbursement vs. income: I have a fairly detailed spreadsheet that I use to track mystery shopping assignments. One of the columns is for "what I would have spent anyway." It's not exact, but for each shop, I try to estimate what spending, if any, the reimbursed items offset. I like to think this helps me keep better track of what I'm really getting out of my mystery shopping efforts.