Hello helloooo

I was just curious, when you are online what resources do you use when looking for new mystery shopping companies? Google, Bing, Social Media?

Let me know!

I started using the list here on this forum. You can look at all the posts here about each company and get information before you decide to sign up as well. The best resource yet.

I only shop the shops that I like, and are beneficial to me. When I started, I read the forum. Reading between the lines, in large part, I was able to determine the MSCs that shopped the locations of interest to me. I used Google, as in "who mystery shops XX in XX city/state?" Mixed results there.

I do not use social media as it relates to shopping.

I get them from a wide variety. I've signed up with quite a few that were referrals from other shoppers. Some I've signed up from the job board here that posted jobs I found interesting. I've tried to hit most of the official list here on the website. Some have been from discussions on the forum. And a few were profiled in the magazine.

I use the articles in the Mystery Shopper Magazines for suggestions.

I use a variety of resources. Googling for stuff I think I'd like and perusing craigslist have worked out a'ight for me. Craigslist, at least in my area (Fort Lauderdale), seems to be increasingly popular for MSCs.

A woman at church gave me four to five companies to start, then I had to expand on my own.

Being new to MSing, I created a jobslinger account and searched for jobs in a 50 mile radius of my home. Then I wrote down all the MSCs listed and began signing up. I only shop a radius of 15-20 miles, but figured if a company had something listed within 50 miles there is a pretty good chance they would have some thing closer to home for me. You can sometimes guess the client if it is not already listed on the description on Jobslinger.

I must be a bit dyslexic tonight, cuz I read the title as "How do you look good for mystery shopping companies?" and was looking forward to reading about makeup and hair tips.

It is an interesting process. When I came back to shopping more than a decade ago this forum did not exist but other forums did. I spent a lot of time reading there. I found that when I googled the name of one company I could sometimes find a list of companies that someone had posted on the internet. Some of those lists were obviously very old. There were lists that included the street address to write to the company to join, lists that included website addresses and lists that included clients and/or types of shops performed. My policy was to register with any company I found. If I was accepted as a shopper, the chances were good that the company was still alive. Many many companies I never heard back from nor did I get an acknowledgment of receipt of application.

Where possible, I did a first job for each company to test the waters unless I had found excessive comments on forums regarding non-payment. As I'm sure folks have noticed, shoppers differ wildly in whether they think a company is good or bad when they talk about quality of instructions, of the shop, of the payment and of the editing. What works for me may not work for you and vice versa. The critical bottom line to me in judging the health of a company is whether they pay as agreed, when agreed or before. If a company states 3 months to pay and they pay in 3 months or sooner, that is fine because they are upholding their end of the contract. If I didn't know that it would be 3 months when I contracted with them, shame on me because I failed to do my homework. If they take 3 1/2 to 4 months to pay when we contracted for 3, shame on them.

I have done some completely stinko jobs for not much money, but they only got my services once. While some of these companies have fallen by the wayside, others still exist and still get 'bad press' from shoppers as being cheap, stinko jobs. Over time my shopping has evolved to working primarily with companies that pay reasonably without having to slap on bonuses to get the shop up close to what it should have been paying in the first place. I appreciate their professionalism. That doesn't mean that I never get bonuses from them, but those bonused shops are generally because some other shopper flaked and they knew I wouldn't or it was a shop that the content did not interest me, but the hefty bonus did.

I use the forum list and then research the topics on that MSC. I tend to go for companies that pay 30-60 days and avoid the 90 day pay MSC's because I feel that is an excessive amount of time to wait for reimbursement. I also use google to give me a hint of who is shopping who. The best ways that I have found companies that pay decent and are reputable is through this forum. Just read between the lines - there is a wealth of info.

Don't forget to register with all of the scheduling companies. I have received good shop requests for companies I was not signed up with through the scheduling companies. I have signed up and shopped for the new company within hours this way. Some even have their own job board.

This will also put you one step closer to the editors and schedulers if a company uses a third party company. You can look at the email and then go to the scheduling site and get the direct phone number of a scheduler.

Here is a little list I have (in no particular order):

[www.bldschedulers.com] BLD Schedulers
[www.ctcss.com] Coast to Coast Schedulers
[www.kernscheduling.com] Kern Scheduling
[www.qualityscheduling.com] Quality Scheduling
[www.summitscheduling.com] Summit Scheduling
[www.redbrickscheduling.com] Red Brick Scheduling

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2015 09:37PM by scanman1.

I follow the recommendations on here, and also I like to verify with MSPA North America the legit companies.

Thank you scanman1 for providing the names and links!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/31/2015 02:04PM by pheatley.