There's a company that's sent me dozens of requests to perform shops in lieu for 50% off store merchandise. Having worked in Retail most of you know items usually get marked up several hundred percent if not 1000%-10,000% in Women's clothing. How many of you will perform a two hour shop for a coupon because I seem to be missing this concept. I thought our goal was to make money, not spend money and give away our professional time.


Here's my complaint, I was told it was one of the better companies to shop for because of their higher than average payouts. Its been several months and all I've seen on their National Jobs are "50% Off Coupons" for the areas of assignment. Examples are "Luxury stores", a "Fancy Dine outs" and my favorite insult was "Go on a Cruise" for "half off" if you work for them!. Grupon had some local deals (for $12 I bought two $30 dinner certificates at favorite dinner I love!) and all they expect is you enjoy your dinner. There's no looking at your watch, hitting that stopwatch button once your server arrives and offer's to take your drink order. There's no getting photos of their bathrooms, old fixtures that don't match, burned out light bulbs, parking-lot or proof you ate their.


If we can secure better deals through a good travel agent, Groupon or directly through a company like Princesses why would we spend our vacation reviewing a cruise or night out? I don't understand these kind of twisted concepts, do people accept jobs for MSCs like this?

Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/2016 04:03AM by Pennies4Shops.

There was one MS that paid in gift cards when you perform a shop at a restaurant. It had a "dessert name" for the first name and "factory" in the second name. The gift card you receive would be from that restaurant's chain. You think that the restaurant's chain can afford to pay for the fees for the shops? That MS went out of business. I would be leery of accepting any shops that paid in coupons/gift cards.

I'm not a fan of no fee, reimbursement only dining shops that pay the whole check. Guess how I feel about coupons I have to work for. There are so many options for discounts, working on a long difficult report doesn't have to be one of them.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/2016 01:50AM by LisaSTL.

Each of these shops needs to be looked at with their own merits. Of course what you describe sounds disgusting and a waste of our time. On the other hand I received a gift card for a place that is shopped and we would like to go and the gift card will not cover, nor will the shop reimbursement. That one sounds like a win/win for me to take the shop to use the gift card.

For years the deal at the clothing store I prefer to shop has been a P/R so I have not bothered. The fee for the shop is not equivalent to what I expect for two visits. Now if the shop became a small reimbursement and a fee and no return, I would be on it in a heartbeat as long as I could use my loyalty card discounts. And I'm sure there would be shoppers howling that now they were required to buy something they couldn't return and the fee went down.

Flash after reading the details and comparing prices you would be shocked how ugly this MSC really is. Their not even offering a gift-card, their not offering money for your time. If I offered you a 50% off Best Buy coupon to audit their store for three to five hours of time for a coupon that "apply's to non-discounted items only up to a $250 limit", you might think their bat-crazy! I read through dozens of their offers, doing a Fast Food Chain for 50% off (up to $15 worth of their menu) in exchange for answering 100 questions with several photos inside and outside(You must do the Drive-Through and pull back in and order from inside to check their bathrooms and employees up front!) you probably would think I was insane to take such a horrible offer! Why am I getting all the Goober Companies sending me insulting emails like these?



I just want people to understand their time is valuable, expert reviewers and shoppers deserve something better than a 50% off coupon you can only use on "regular priced" merchandise. I saw a 40 inch TV at Costco if I used one of these MSCs I would still be paying more for the BIg Screen TV than a monthly discounted Costco TV. Why do they feel such a need to treat people like dirt, I mentioned I reviewed their questions for the big coupons and the Shop was not "Walk in the Park!". Sorry for venting but I get angry when companies are trying to rip off shoppers who need money to survive, not coupons worth nothing!

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/2016 04:26AM by Pennies4Shops.

I am certainly not shy about looking through a few 'deals' from an MSC and deciding these are not people I care to work with. Is it any surprise that they are also the companies that spam me miserably because others have obviously come to the same conclusion?

My refrigerator door has lots of magnets. The freezer part (top freezer, not one of those bottom drawer models) has business cards, appointment cards, prescriptions to be filled, etc. The big part of the door has restaurant.com slips, coupons for local eateries and retailers we frequent. So for the most part I'm not interested in a coupon with restraints on what I buy in exchange for a report.

50% coupons won't pay my electric bill.

I won't touch them either. I can find coupons on my own to use and I don't have to do reports.

Their worried about drumming up sales for their customers by having you buy things, not pay your electric bills. If you can find someone so stupid to do a shop for a coupon and have them think this is payment, you killed two stupid birds with one stone!

Coupons use to say "Value not to exceed 1 penny" when I was a kid. Would you do a 1 hour Chipotle Shop for "$6 off $20 purchase" coupon, that's what their offering!

Pennies, based on your last statement using Chipotle for the example this does not even sound legit. Chipotle has it's own msc it deals with and from all I have heard that is their only source of mystery shopping. Is the company you are talking about on the list of approved companies? And if so, make sure it is the correct url and not someone scamming the real company.

I also did a mystery shop for another MSC that required a visit to Chipotle last year. The other MSC reimbursed for the meal and a small fee. I'm also signed up with the MSC that does the Chipotle shops. In California, the MSC that does the Chipotle shops have another client that specializes in high end/gourmet fast foods in northern CA.

If the 50% cruise one was JUST for answering questions about the port or JUST a narrative about the reservation process or JUST for filling out a 100-question questionnaire without narrative, then I would take 50% off the best deal I could make. Since I rarely in my life have paid retail, 50% off retail is laughable.

Seeing shops that pay in coupons or gift cards make me not only decline to do the shop, but also decline to give my business to that restaurant/store when I'm not shopping.
It seems like trying to use mystery shopping to draw in more customers rather than measure the customer experience.

Sandy, I was shocked when I saw what they were offering as payment for someone to remain planted for almost a hour to review restaurant conditions, foot traffic and employee service. The job required you answer almost one hundred questions for a coupon of "$6 off a $20 food bill at a chain Mexican eatery"!

I asked if anyone would do that for Chiptoles because they are a premium fast food Mexican take-out or sit-in because I don't understand the logic of this MSC offering coupons to their I.C.s that are worthless! Not saying this a Chipotles I.C., its a scumbag IC!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/2016 03:03AM by Pennies4Shops.

Password you can get 50% to 70% off cruises by buying them at the last minute. I've been on over a dozen cruises because I had the luxury to pick which months I would have my travel agent work the system and she did a great job. She caught me flights far lower than anyone can "coupon them" because I was not picky when I traveled or wanted to take a cruise.


Your time and everyone else here deserves something for performing a professional service. I feel like its is far too valuable to waste giving people free labor for something their still profiting off. Their making money off their clients and off you because these cruises provide the coupon-corner-pushers extra money too!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/2016 05:04AM by Pennies4Shops.

Agreed, Pennies. We just got back from one that we paid $279 each for a balcony cabin - and that was Princess, not Carnival or Costa. If I could get 50% off that, I'd be willing to fill out a simple form -- not 75 pages of narrative, though.

I see a shop sitting on boards in my area. It's for a higher end restaurant that has a corporate vibe, like corporate people would want to have business lunches there. They only pay in gift cards, so you are out your own money to eat, and then you have to go there again to eat on your own time. That might sound exciting to some people, but this restaurant isn't that hot or interesting. Restaurants I like to shop get assigned within minutes of hitting the boards, but this one sits for weeks.

So I see it languishing on the boards and I do like to eat, so I see an opportunity to negotiate. I email the scheduler and ask if they can send me the gift card pre-emptively, and I can just do the shop on that gift card. I still won't get paid, but I will get a "fancy" meal out of the deal. She tells me no, they can't do that, because the shopper might just take the gift card and run.

LOL! Why would I burn my bridges with the MSC by taking a gift card and running? She could have just said it's not an option, or something. haha

OK. I am not ever going to do that shop, I guess.

keep in mind "there is a sucker born every minute".......and if that's ok with them.....they can have them......those emails would hit the trash so fast....

Oh yeah, having to stay for an hour and write a report or even check off answers to 100 questions and all for $6 off sounds like something most people would not do (Chipotle or elsewhere). But if I got 50% off the new car I just bought I would be happy to hang around for an hour and answer a bunch of questions. I guess for me it all depends on how much the 50% off will actually save me and if it is a place that does not usually offer coupons. I might even go for 50% off the retail price of the car I just bought even though I got a discount. That would have saved me some big bucks and be well worth it.
Surprised to hear of other mystery shops people have had at Chipotle. Were these for the soda company?. I have seen those in some restaurants.

I do not suggest that you do this. It is called mystery shopping; not accepting gift cards for payment. Since when do you pay your bills with gift cards/

I would not do a normal shop for coupons or half-off, though I'd do one for 50% off a car I wanted, if that were ever offered. I try not to take shops below a minimum payout of $12- $15 and to calculate the travel cost when I decide which shops to do. Good luck everyone.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/2016 05:33AM by walkesu.

My view is that it would be nice if there were a conspicuous list of companies who pay only in discount coupons or even worse, do not pay a fee at all. Coupons and meals that I could never afford and have to risk front money for a month or more, simply do not pay my electric bill or my house payment. This is the only job I know of in which workers willingly work for free.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/2016 06:55PM by AZwolfman.

The latest offer is a 30% off ticket on the Greyhound bus if you pay full price and write about your experience. Using a travel agency I found a 60% off ticket without having to fill out pages and record the pubic interactions. They have a hundred clients this MSC and all they offer is coupons and the coupons hold no value.


They will not provide you with a Car Discount of 50% off unless they first marked up your car from $75,000 to $150,000 and than you could use their 50% OFF Coupon only if you wrote about your car and quality for the next year. How am I missing everyone on this topic, the coupons this MSC is offering are coupons you can get for free Online or from "RetailMeNot", "Grupon" "CouponOnline" ect.


My original intention was to infuriate you, make you feel outraged, try to get your blood boiling that a MSC is offering >$0 for your time, their making you pay to work for them!

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/2016 07:38PM by Pennies4Shops.

The problem is getting worked up over this just raises your blood pressure and accomplishes nothing. There are actually people who shop for altruistic reasons and get satisfaction thinking they are helping a business so the not-really-free meal is fine by them. There are also people who enjoy writing so a narrative is not a heavy price to pay.

AZWolfman, I'm not sure a list like that would work because many of the same companies have a variety of shops and clients with actual pay rather than discounts.

Many of us did the shops for Cheesecake Factory that offered a gift card as pay back when they were available that way. I did them often. I was able to often spend below the gift card and then get some extra gift card money to use another time. I also could use the gift card to pay for my next mystery shop meal. To me this was not an issue at all. I never see discounts for that chain of restaurants, there were two or three nearby and it is a place friends often want to eat at. I actually have over $100 left over in gift cards for that chain that I should use some day! Thanks for reminding me.
To just throw out a type of payment without seeing if it would benefit you will possibly cut you off from a very good deal. The job you describe where they give you 50% off at a place that always offers coupons like that, yes I agree with you but there are many places that I never see coupons for and that I might shop at anyway. Every one has the minimum they are willing to shop for and if with the coupon your savings will be above and beyond what you might be able to get elsewhere such as with an online coupon may be well worth it if it is the product you are planning to buy anyway.