@supersavvymommy wrote:

I'm the one who is taking the low-priced shops, and am not ashamed to admit it. I'm a single parent with 2 kids who have complex special needs. I started mystery shopping in November 2015 to provide for my family. Due to lack of income, I was three months behind on the electric bill. I have a college degree in communications and have earned great wages in the past. But the special needs do not allow for me to do "typical" work, as there are often medical emergencies. So, I do what I can, when I can. I will take shops for $10, if they're just around the corner and take 20-30 minutes, or are a route filler. I see that some here aren't fans of AA. Well, thanks to AA I was able to take my youngest son rollerskating, for the first time. I could never have afforded that otherwise. And we rarely had the finances to eat out, until mystery shopping. So, I think it's all about perspective and the reasons we do what we do. I will eventually start passing on the lower-paying shops, but for now I can't, even though I'm highly skilled in other areas as, unfortunately, skills alone don't pay the bills.

Excellent post. It deserves its own thread. Discussion?

Great post! It's easy to be judgmental about other people's choices when it feels like those choices affect you (i.e. you feel like all jobs are being paid at a lower rate when people accept low paying jobs). But I'd bet that very few people are taking low paying jobs for the fun and adventure of going to Fast Food restaurant and having to time a bunch of things, take a bunch of pictures, watch for specific stuff the staff does and then go home and fill out a report. People likely take those jobs (for the most part) because they need them.

But there are some people who do this for fun, so it's good to remind them that there may be consequences to other shoppers when you take that lowball offer for a shop. I'm not saying don't do it if you need the money, but if you don't need the money, then be aware of what it may be costing other shoppers if you take it. Just something to think about.

I would like to see the entire industry pay more however, as AustinMom pointed out, there are good personal reasons people may take the lower paying shops. I have seen shops at $0 fee and many with a fee of $3-6 which is even lower than what AustinMom mentions at $10.00. I do not need the money and shop for other reasons. I rarely take a job at that low a pay unless the reimbursement is for something I would like and seems worth it to me. If the industry were to adjust their pay scales so that shoppers would earn a minimum of minimum wage when accurately figuring out time based on reading notes, doing the shop and reporting with a reasonable travel time figured in as well for someone who lives in the area of the city the shop is in it would be more fair then it is now where pay for some shops seems to be based on the shopper having an apartment above or next door to the shop they are going to, can speed read, can type and download at lightening speed and never run into any difficulties at all that might cause the shop to take longer and above and beyond that have a fairy godmother paying for their gas, cameras, cell phones and computers etc necessary for the job. If that were true then the lower paying jobs would still be available for those who absolutely need them and those who can afford to be more picky can still take the higher paying jobs when they come along.
As more and more of the country moves to raise minimum wages this industry needs to do the same while being realistic about the time it takes to do a shop.

When I first started Mystery shopping 10 years ago I took all of the low paying shops. They were a great learning experience for me. I didn't always agree with the editors, but did learn from them also. I have never had more than one scheduler problem. I also am so experienced that what might have taken me half and hour to write a report, now takes 10 minutes, depending on the report. I shop because I enjoy it. I think of all the people who have to work for the minimum pay rate. I always compare my time and money to theirs and am thankful that I don't have to work for hours at such a low rate.
SUPERSAVVYMOMMY! GREAT JOB! Thank you Austin Mom for bringing this to our attention.

I shop for fun and to get out more. I appreciate the shoppers that are doing it out of neccessity. I'd never complain about them taking the lower rates. Any thing I want to shop will come up again I'm sure.

Hi AustinMom,

Thank you for posting this about supersavvymommy. I get irritated to see when someone complains about another person taking lower paying jobs here. There are numerous reasons people would do this. I know that it is better to get a bit of something as opposed to a lot of nothing. These people who complain do not understand motivations of people differ for whatever reason. Another thing is some people really are better at skills than others. They may complete the job in 50% of the time that the person who complains they cannot take the lower pay. A company wants a person with better job skills who can get the job done more professionally.

For the people who complain consider this. I find it unacceptable to work near full time for an employer and not receive benefits. I worked for a community college that hires tutors part time. I worked 8-12 hours weekly. Some of my former coworkers worked 29 hours. Now you are temporary so you get rehired every year. These people had college degrees and settled for working 29 hours with no pay increase or benefits. Now that is near a crime to me. You have no job security and the employer benefits as if you are a full time person. It would be okay to do this for a few years but I knew people doing this for close to a decade.

Just my two cents. Best of Luck!

"They may complete the job in 50% of the time that the person who complains they cannot take the lower pay."
I don't negotiate for higher pay because it takes me longer to do the job.

"A company wants a person with better job skills who can get the job done more professionally."
By your logic this means they should be paying the more professional person less money.

It all depends on where you live in Denver there are plenty of shops that pay fairly well ans some that don't. I ma just saying take the low paying ones last so maybe they will get the hint. 5 Guys does not pay much and the 3 buck bonus just for you is a joke in my opinion, since they call me with 14-18 offers on a fairly regular basis. Smashburger has a more complex form and usually pays nothing or just a few bucks.

Look for the better paying shops I have had my carpets cleaned twice for free and the survey was simple.
New car shops will range from 25 bucks up to 150, usually 60-75 is the top.

I don't have a problem with people taking shops at low fees because of their circumstances. Heck I don't even have a problem with people taking shops at low fees for any reason. I just find it humorous when *SOME* of those people then either a, complain about the low fees or b, talk about how bonuses never show up in their area. The fees are low because *SOMEONE* finds it acceptable to do the work for that fee. Bonuses never show up because someone is taking the shops at base rates and there is no need for a bonus.

It's like how some people don't realize that shopping is just as much a supply and demand business as any other. Perhaps even more so. I have a rural route that I do every quarter, many of the shops are in tiny towns of 500-1000 people. I REFUSE to do any shop at base rate in those towns. It's not because I'm trying to gouge the MSCs or I think they are desperate, it's simply supply and demand. Those shops are simply worth more than base rate. Always. On the first day of the shopping period. Not because they are harder or further away or any other reason than simply there is 1 shop to do and 0 shoppers do to it. Supply of shops > number of shoppers demanding shops. Some MSCs understand this and are great to work with. They had much rather pay me base rate + half of what they would have to pay the last few days of the shopping period to get it out of their way. Some MSCs don't understand this and I rarely work for them. :cough:Maritz:cough:

I am in your same boat. And $10.00 shops are fine as long as your not loising money on gas and such. I would be homeless, without mystery shopping. My only gripe is when people do $2,$4,&$5 shops. There is no way you can maje money on those. You should look into doing video shops. Pay much better.

It is an economy of scale.......sometimes schedulers have a hard time finding someone to accept an assignment in a more obscure location and the fee goes up. I have received $35 routinely for a $15 bank assignment because the target is out there in the sticks and there are few shoppers in the area. Last fall I drove up to Montreal from Boston and back. I completed three assignments on the way up and four in the way home. My gross was $260.00 and, on top of that, I will be able to deduct over 500 miles @ .575 off the top so essentially it is tax free. Consequently, sometimes waiting to see what happens is a good strategy but if you hold out for more you may be out of luck. However, like an auction, we are bidding on jobs and as the fees increase so do the number of interested parties, In my case I do this because it is "extra money" for me to indulge my hobbies but for others it is a living. Because it is unpredictable income often these folks will do a job for less because they need the money whereas I do it because I want the money.

@manemmy956 wrote:

I am in your same boat. And $10.00 shops are fine as long as your not loising money on gas and such. I would be homeless, without mystery shopping. My only gripe is when people do $2,$4,&$5 shops. There is no way you can maje money on those. You should look into doing video shops. Pay much better.

As the post implies, just because one person does not understand does not mean the pay does not make sense to someone else.

I am fortunate to have a number of fast and casual food clients along my normal commute. I am in sales, I am already eating out often. Every $7 to $12 in reimbursed meals is a tax free reimbursement that has, similar to your situation, kept me afloat. I'd not be eating lunch some days if not for mystery shopping. The small fees add up. As I have said before; a $10 fee means less to me than a fully reimbursed meal. A food shop with a combination of fess and reimbursement averages around $6 in fees at base, very few are bonused.

As for someone suggesting specific types of shops, not everyone can or wants those shops. I can not shop for cars, I sell them. I have no time for video shops, not interested.

I am adding low paying gas station shops, on my commute route unless bonused. Problem with them is most are low fee so make no senses to me between the required purchases and observations, plus eventual rotation restrictions. I at least found one that heavily reimburses gas and a meal. Like my food example above, $10 in reimbursed gas plus $10 in food nets me a lot more than a fee only shop.

On the same path, there are plenty of cell phone shops all around me. I am evaluating them towards expanding my income.

I also do some simple audits and merchandising.

More often than not, it's the shoppers like you who just want some extra money who end up taking assignments at lower fees

This is my living and for that reason I don't do jobs for less unless it is for someone I've developed a good working relationship with and they know it is a favor. Once you lower your rates, it is damn near impossible to raise them again. I also cannot make a habit of taking assignments like your trip to Montreal since it resulted in a loss on paper. Too many losses and my business could get reclassified as a hobby which would mean losing all my business deductions.

Good points Lisa! I have often said I wouldn't do certain jobs if I was standing in the store already. That works great when you have many to choose from, and not much time (I work full time). BUT, you do what you have to do to get the $$$. It all adds up. Yes, I've done some where the mileage rate (for taxes) was more than what I got. But in the end, still make money. You have to take some "bad" with the good.

Lisa,

Not sure whom your talking to? No one is lowering their rates.

Let's look at this a different way. A MSC posts a new round of shops. An aggressive shopper, putting together shops to meet their income objectives, signs up for their quota of shops right away. Within a few days this shopper has a reliable month mapped out. This shopper may have a less flexible schedule as well, they have to plan in advance.

Another shopper has the ability to handle higher paying, time consuming, shops that require they travel to various locations. This shopper waits for, and sometimes does not find, some of those low paying shops to be bonused. This is a luxury choice, not a peace of mind choice. They have a flexible schedule, or at least the ability to fit things in better than others.

The first shopper makes more collectively across the shops they can perform, a fair and equitable work condition. The second shopper makes more on one individual shop, so be it.

I was actually responding to the person who made the trip to Montreal which is why I mentioned it in my post

I don't agree shoppers loading up on the front end with low paying shops are making more collectively. The assumption shoppers are waiting for a bonus is incorrect. You will find most shoppers earning a higher income are quite proactive. Negotiating skills combined with flexibility results in a higher net income. Check out posts from folks like bgriffin and techman for shoppers earning a full time income. If memory serves, they are both booked several months in advance and few, if any, of their shops are at the posted base rate.

The aggressive shopper taking dozens of lower paying shops may have another problem, seeing their income stream dry up when rotations kick in. It's a common complaint on the forum.

When I first started mystery shopping, I was in similar circumstances to supersavvymommy. Both of my kids have disabilities. One son's were so severe I wasn't able to work even a steady part-time job. My at-home business was slow due to an industry-wide recession, and I was in semi-retirement from my other self-employment career. Things were tough.

I took low-paying jobs as a way to "get in" with some MSCs that have a lot of shops in my area. I needed any extra amount of money I could get. I'd drive distances for what I thought were decent bonuses. I did the local $10 cell-phone shops, and took some that were, say, 10 miles out of my way (one way) for $15 or $17. I thought at the time that was good. As it turns out, though, the MSC I wanted to get in "good with" as a way to get better jobs have no better jobs near me and have even stopped offering bonuses on the local ones they do have. So much for that idea!

Although my cash flow "seemed" better, I got my calculator out and started trying to pinpoint my profit. As it turns out, I was losing money on some of these jobs when I factored in actual gas expense and my time. So, I changed my parameters for taking jobs. Now, both sons' health issues are more stable, and I can work a regular part-time job. Both my businesses are doing better, especially since I've come out of semi-retirement on my marketing communications and writing business. But I still can use any extra money I make from mystery shopping! I've signed up with many more companies, and am finding higher-paying jobs local to me. I'll never do another $10 cell-phone shop! (Unless, just maybe, I'm in the store anyway and it's a 10--minute shop and 10-minute report).

I see cell-phone shops at $6 and $9 from a certain company. I, personally, don't see how anyone can make a profit at that, even if the store is across the street and there is no expense involved. We have to put some sort of value on our time. Better, imo, to find a $17 or $18 shop and do one of those instead of two of the others.

As far as shops like what AA offers, I totally agree with supersavvymommy. We do one for them that would cost us a lot of $$$ for a family of four. The shop helps a lot. And we used to love doing the B-Dubs shop because otherwise, we'd probably never go. So, for some families, a reimbursement with no fee or small fee is the only way they can enjoy some activities. Even now, we still can't do everything it is we'd like to. Those shops make it possible for us to do so, and are worth it, even with the reporting requirements.

But I'd caution anyone who takes these very low-paying jobs because they really, really need the money to think about the time involved and ask themselves: "Could I be doing something else with the same amount of time that would generate more income?" I think we shoppers sometimes look only at income vs. hard expense, and we don't actually put a monetary value on our time. "Oh, I have $10 in my pocket I didn't have before, and I only spent $1 in gas, so I made $9." But how long did it take to make that $9?

Everyone has different motivations. I, for example, have added a lot of low-paying phone shops to my repertoire lately. This is not because I value myself or my time less. I am going to have a major abdominal surgery in mid-March and, for a few weeks before and several weeks after, I am going to be mostly homebound. I want to prove myself to the companies that handle these types of shops so that I have at least some work available to me during the 8 weeks or so that I won't be able to do much of anything else.

You are also keeping a hand in the business instead of disappearing from their radar for a couple of months which has value

I could probably add a different perspective, as well. Msing is my means of getting out of debt in 24 months. I am a salaried employee at my f/t day job, plus I have three young teens at home who are constantly going in different directions. When discussing p/t work with my SO, we agreed that I wouldn't work for less than minimum wage and I needed something flexible. I then clarified that further and decided I wanted to average about $10/hour and didn't require a lot of out of pocket expenses. MSing offers me both of those things. So with those guidelines I will take a $10 job if I can complete it in an hour or less

MSing is obviously a very personal thing. We all have our individual reasons and rules surrounding it. I don't get mad at someone for taking a $2 phone shop anymore than I get mad at the experienced route shopper who snags the jobs in my area I'd be interested in doing. It is our differences that make this industry work.

It's really not my business what work anyone takes but I wish you'd all leave everything for me. The only downside to that is you'd quit posting and I'd miss all the fun. Never mind.

I love the fairy godmother statement!

I do take the $9 cell phone shops. I work full time in a large metro city. There are ample shops all within walking distance from my office and I can do them on my lunch hour. $9 vs. $0 -- I'll take it please. Also, 5 minute reports ... easy peasy!

@nittnjammies wrote:

I do take the $9 cell phone shops. I work full time in a large metro city. There are ample shops all within walking distance from my office and I can do them on my lunch hour. $9 vs. $0 -- I'll take it please. Also, 5 minute reports ... easy peasy!

If you can do the report in 5 minutes, and the shop in 10, then, yes, $9 is worth it. In that case, there's probably not much else you can do on your lunch hour in that amount of time and make that much money.

The problems I run into are that there are no shops within walking distance of me and I've never seen a report I could do in 5 minutes! Even a simple bank-teller shop report takes at least 10 minutes, by the time I scan and upload the business card....

Tonight I saw a $10 cell-phone shop that required photos of ALL the different brand displays. Nope; not doing that one.

I am still trying to figure all the math stuff out to determine what is worth it. I am a personal trainer and charge $50-55/hour. However, I was looking to supplement my income since business is growing slow and when looking for jobs I would WANT to do, I am looking at $10-15/hour in my Midwest small city. So I have been taking shops that are $15 or higher. It doesn't turn out to be $15 per hour when all is said and done but it balances out with the higher paying shops I get. And the most attractive part is I work when I want and don't have to deal with a boss or coworkers. I have only been shopping since October and I am guessing as time goes by, I probably will raise my minimum. Plus, like someone else said, it is $15 I would not have had if I had not done the shop. I schedule them to coincide with what side of town I am on with a client so it is not a separate trip. I also am a crossing guard for $10 per hour one hour per day.

To my amazement, the $5 "Micro" USPS shop took me 3 minutes to report using the smart phone app. I do the $9 cell phones shops when I am driving past the store, and it is a 5 minute report. Of course, you can get stuck in the store, making it a time-sink.

Birdy, you might want to look at some other options instead of scanning and uploading POV. I take pics with my phone and upload them to OneDrive. It takes seconds and by the time I reach my computer the pics are there waiting for me.

I don't know how to take decent photos with a phone. What kind of phone do you use and do you have special apps?

I use my phone daily for photos of birds, my cats, etc with the camera that came with the phone. However, it doesn't zoom in as well as i would like so i use an app called "open camera". I keep it on " auto" mode but do change the exposure so photos are not too dark.

@LisaSTL wrote:

Birdy, you might want to look at some other options instead of scanning and uploading POV. I take pics with my phone and upload them to OneDrive. It takes seconds and by the time I reach my computer the pics are there waiting for me.

Lisa, that's a great idea, and I may start doing that; makes sense if I'm taking photos of other stuff during the shop. But it usually takes me about the same amount of time to do that as it does to scan a POV and save to my computer. It's not so much the time involved in scanning and saving an image versus taking the photos and sending them to OneDrive. I also sometimes take a photo of a POV with my phone and e-mail it to myself. For me, all three methods take about the same amount of time (or close enough that it doesn't make a huge difference). Where most of my time goes as far as photos is concerned is in the re-sizing, cropping, and enhancing (as/if needed for legibility) every image I upload to a report. I'm pretty fast at all that, since it's a great part of what I do in my "regular" business. If I do a shop with one photo and one POV requirement, I'll do a lower-paying shop. But when the MSC is asking for multiple photos plus a POV for a $10 shop, that's a whole 'nother story!