What is a fair price? It's not a set number. You have to determine for yourself what is a fair price and what is not, based on time, milage, and how you feel about the shop. And each shopper decides that every time they request/ self-assign a shop. Granted, we've all had times that we've done a particular shop for the first time and realized after completing the shop or report "oh man, that was a mistake." But otherwise, each shopper is deciding their fair price upon each acceptance. And we all learn along the way, also. I've been msing hard core for about 5 months. I've made about $1000 each month, (will surpass that substantially this month) but the number of shops, and time spent on completing shops and reports, has declined steadily each month. Would I leave the house for a single $10 shop? No, probably not. But will I add a couple quick $10 shops, and maybe even a few $4 app jobs to a route built upon an initial $60-$150 shop? You bet I would! And will I take the $5 pay, $9-12 reimbursement grocery shops? Every chance I get... Because my family still has to eat, so I'll be at the store anyways. And today, when I didn't feel like cooking, I jumped on a reimbursement only pizza shop as soon as the email came in, because my 2 year old still needed dinner even if I didn't want to cook.
Also, taking lower paying assignments and doing them well makes you look good to the MSC, meaning they'll be more likely to call with those hefty bonuses when they're desperate. I did 2 simple Arby's shops for $5.75 plus reimbursement, then got called about a more remote location 35 minutes away and got $75 for that one (on site for 3 minutes, reported in 10 min)... And because I was willing to travel some distance to do that one, the same MSC called me to do an hour long audit for a different client for $150 (Took about 15-20 minutes to report). So we're those $5.75 shops worth it? You bet.