How much do you make per month mystery shopping?
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Without giving a dollar amount, I make more than I spend. MSing allows me to make enough of an income when I am laid off from my contracting 9-5 to sustain my lifestyle.
"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton
Like HonnyBrown said without disclosing the full dollar amount, I make more than I spend. But I don't make enough to pay the bills, it's enough that at the end of the year,; I show a profit.
I would not consider myself a typical mystery shopper. I normally choose my shops according to the regional grocery sales, fresh produce, etc. I live in an area that meat runs 50 cents to $1 higher a pound than it does at my Dads, all of 60 miles away the same sales period. That is at Wal Mart and the major TX grocery chain.
My meat bill for a year costs about $600 a year and that includes the parties where BBQ is expected. I do own a couple of huge freezers and a vacuum sealer, lol.
I would not consider myself a typical mystery shopper. I normally choose my shops according to the regional grocery sales, fresh produce, etc. I live in an area that meat runs 50 cents to $1 higher a pound than it does at my Dads, all of 60 miles away the same sales period. That is at Wal Mart and the major TX grocery chain.
My meat bill for a year costs about $600 a year and that includes the parties where BBQ is expected. I do own a couple of huge freezers and a vacuum sealer, lol.
Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning; the devil shudders...And yells OH #%*+! SHE'S AWAKE!
I do very minimal shopping, perhaps 15-18 shops per month. My income ranges between $150-200/month, with additional reimbursements ranging $50-75/month. I'm signed up with about 130 companies, but generally shop with 8-10 regularly.
My best month netted me a little over 5 grand. My crappiest month's net me zero... and everything in between.
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Seriously, nobody cares that you're offended.
Seriously, nobody cares that you're offended.
I make a few hundred a month and I use that money to buy pink flamingo lawn ornaments. I am slowly running out of space on my lawn so I may have to attach them onto my roof.
Fun Fact: There are more plastic flamingos than there are real flamingos.
Fun Fact: There are more plastic flamingos than there are real flamingos.
This month, I'm having a hard time breathing because I'm working so much, but usually it's enough to maintain a lifestyle that I otherwise couldn't have.
MA, you should see if Zaycon delivers in your area. It's farm to consumer, and their meat prices are far better than the grocery store (for instance, $1.49 for boneless, skinless chix breasts). For my kids, it's way cheaper; ymmv.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/17/2016 03:01AM by PasswordNotFound.
MA, you should see if Zaycon delivers in your area. It's farm to consumer, and their meat prices are far better than the grocery store (for instance, $1.49 for boneless, skinless chix breasts). For my kids, it's way cheaper; ymmv.
Now scheduling travel shops for the day after Christmas through mid-January.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/17/2016 03:01AM by PasswordNotFound.
Yeah, but you have to buy 40lbs and process them yourself( trim, cut, package, etc). I don't know about you, but raw chicken really grosses me out.
@PasswordNotFound wrote:
This month, I'm having a hard time breathing because I'm working so much, but usually it's enough to maintain a lifestyle that I otherwise couldn't have.
MA, you should see if Zaycon delivers in your area. It's farm to consumer, and their meat prices are far better than the grocery store (for instance, $1.49 for boneless, skinless chix breasts). For my kids, it's way cheaper; ymmv.
You thought you were being funny. But one of my favorite produce stands on one of my routes use the pink flamingos as a marketing tool.
I know this because I pulled in, only to buy the tacky things.
I know this because I pulled in, only to buy the tacky things.
Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning; the devil shudders...And yells OH #%*+! SHE'S AWAKE!
Thank you all for your responses!
I have only signed up with and shopped with BestMark so far. I looked into a few others, but they required SS# during sign up.
I would *love* to do a grocery MS. Grocery stores are my favorite kind of store
I have only signed up with and shopped with BestMark so far. I looked into a few others, but they required SS# during sign up.
I would *love* to do a grocery MS. Grocery stores are my favorite kind of store
@calicakes wrote:
Yeah, but you have to buy 40lbs and process them yourself( trim, cut, package, etc). I don't know about you, but raw chicken really grosses me out.
@PasswordNotFound wrote:
This month, I'm having a hard time breathing because I'm working so much, but usually it's enough to maintain a lifestyle that I otherwise couldn't have.
MA, you should see if Zaycon delivers in your area. It's farm to consumer, and their meat prices are far better than the grocery store (for instance, $1.49 for boneless, skinless chix breasts). For my kids, it's way cheaper; ymmv.
Unless I'm watching Bones and eating at the same time, very little grosses me out.
When I was a kid, I learned how to bait my hook. My Dad hated sunnies and perch. I learned how to clean those fish. Shucked oysters for years behind a bar, learned to deal with the massive blood when idiots wouldn't listen how to shuck the elephant snots right.
Yeah, I was the chick, you begged to be partners with in high school biology.
But I understand your aversion to raw chicken. I have 2 very close friends that cannot stand the parts; let alone have to cut a whole bird into parts.
If it makes you feel better, not one male besides my Dad, my uncle and brother has ever appreciated my mad skills
Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning; the devil shudders...And yells OH #%*+! SHE'S AWAKE!
@mlzg wrote:
Thank you all for your responses!
I have only signed up with and shopped with BestMark so far. I looked into a few others, but they required SS# during sign up.
I would *love* to do a grocery MS. Grocery stores are my favorite kind of store
Bestmark will need your SS# too, eventually. You shouldn't fear giving your SS to legit companies.
Still chuckling at @DavePi's response. I have a full-time job and MS part-time. I'm signed up with about 40 companies and regularly do shops for about 8. Income from MSing is equivalent to 15-18% of my full-time job, so it's less than an extra week's pay each month, but it makes a big difference for me.
To add to what @JASFLALMT said, we all provided our SSNs and no one has reported any problems. Stick with the companies on the list on this site and you should be fine. Happy MSing!
To add to what @JASFLALMT said, we all provided our SSNs and no one has reported any problems. Stick with the companies on the list on this site and you should be fine. Happy MSing!
About $18,000 gross total last year working part time. This year I'm averaging over $1,000 gross per month but I'm working sporadically due to health and inclination. Some months, not much at all, but one month I grossed over $4200 which is the best month I've had in the years I've been doing this.
So much depends on location. I'm at the edge of the DFW metroplex and my take is there aren't many shoppers to the west of me. I can work every day all day at base rate if I drive east, and I can also pick up some solid bonus work from time to time to the west and south. I mostly do major brand convenience stores and I have little interest in anything else.
Other than location, I believe being willing to drive to wherever there's work is a huge factor. I live in a rural area and I haven't found work across the road (yet).
So much depends on location. I'm at the edge of the DFW metroplex and my take is there aren't many shoppers to the west of me. I can work every day all day at base rate if I drive east, and I can also pick up some solid bonus work from time to time to the west and south. I mostly do major brand convenience stores and I have little interest in anything else.
Other than location, I believe being willing to drive to wherever there's work is a huge factor. I live in a rural area and I haven't found work across the road (yet).
Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.
@DavePi wrote:
I make a few hundred a month and I use that money to buy pink flamingo lawn ornaments. I am slowly running out of space on my lawn so I may have to attach them onto my roof.
Fun Fact: There are more plastic flamingos than there are real flamingos.
A couple of years ago I had a recurring project auditing a service facility. Included in the audit was an inspection of their storage areas, which were huge with high ceilings and banks and banks of shelving. These businesses were staffed by blue collar auto repair specialists who almost without exception were cheerful and friendly. I got several clues over the years I did those audits that the staff might be a little hard to handle.
One of my favorite memories is asking the manager for access to the men's restroom. The manager checked, and came out with an incredulous expression on his face and said "You won't believe this. I've got one in there shaving." To which I said, "we should let him finish up. I'll try again later." Imagine my surprise (and delight) when I entered their warehouse area and found a pink flamingo mounted on a bank of shelving.
Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/17/2016 01:04PM by MDavisnowell.
I make enough to travel abroad several times a year, gas my car for audits, eat out when shopping with my daughter, and shopping with my daughter all without impacting our regular household budget. I also provide a small supplement to our household budget and have a few thousand for an emergency fund.
I would love a recurring restaurant shop...ha! My fantasy is that the client will love my report so much, they ask to have me come back every Saturday. lol
Thank you for the advice regarding SS#. My cash pay is only at about $65 or something for the year. I am most interested in the restaurant reimbursement shops which as far as I understand aren't taxable. If I ever get close to the $150 threshold, I will consider loosening up. I may loosen up anyway just because I'm so curious about what other clients near me have mystery shops.
I'm wondering - does travel cash count toward the taxable total?
I am one of those silly newbies who takes the $4 phone call shops. I figure if I am at home screwing around on the internet anyway, might as well make a couple bucks. Right now I'm only working afternoons/evenings, but I drop my fiancee off at the train station before 8am, so I'm up.... Even if I only have a $12 check to deposit, it makes me happy. I must be strange.
Thank you for the advice regarding SS#. My cash pay is only at about $65 or something for the year. I am most interested in the restaurant reimbursement shops which as far as I understand aren't taxable. If I ever get close to the $150 threshold, I will consider loosening up. I may loosen up anyway just because I'm so curious about what other clients near me have mystery shops.
I'm wondering - does travel cash count toward the taxable total?
I am one of those silly newbies who takes the $4 phone call shops. I figure if I am at home screwing around on the internet anyway, might as well make a couple bucks. Right now I'm only working afternoons/evenings, but I drop my fiancee off at the train station before 8am, so I'm up.... Even if I only have a $12 check to deposit, it makes me happy. I must be strange.
Why do you think taking a $4 phone shop is silly? If it works for you, that's all that matters!
"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton
@HonnyBrown wrote:
Why do you think taking a $4 phone shop is silly? If it works for you, that's all that matters!
I saw a thread where folks were wondering who on earth takes such low paying shops and keeps the prices down. I was thinking..."oh sheesh, that would be me!" Thanks for your kind reply! It definitely does work for me. I'm lucky to love my career and make enough to live comfortably working part-time at the moment, so this really is a hobby for me. I am so impressed that folks do route shopping, making hundreds to thousands in a month...wow! Organizational skills must be top notch for those of you.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/17/2016 02:35PM by mlzg.
I have a full time job. All of the money that I make mystery shopping goes towards paying off my huge student loans. I pay about double the minimum most months with what I make. One month I paid over $1,000 on my loans! I am limited with shops that I can do since I also work full time.
About those phone shops... I was looking for MS jobs in an area that I dream of visiting asap. (I wanted to know if it were possible to do some quick shops while traveling and defer at least half of the travel costs.) I saw a little phone shop on a job board, took the shop, and now have a few unanticipated bucks to set aside for my hoped-for trip to a place I have never been before. Also, due to the miracle of modern telephoning, I have shopped in five states without leaving home. Huzzah!
@op: My MSing revenue varies from month to month. Depending upon bonuses, time available to travel for shops, need for sleep or willingness to go about looking like a zombie, and my work schedules at other jobs, I may earn little or substantial money from MSing.
@op: My MSing revenue varies from month to month. Depending upon bonuses, time available to travel for shops, need for sleep or willingness to go about looking like a zombie, and my work schedules at other jobs, I may earn little or substantial money from MSing.
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. - Lao-Tzu
Certainly one of the big benefits of mystery shopping is the flexibility of it. There have been times in the past when I needed to see $1000+ in fees per month from it and times when I did not really need any cash from it. It is great for 'special projects' such as when I decided to bust my tail and get my mortgage finally paid off. It is great for just replacing what I would spend my money on anyway with shops that will reimburse me. Often it helps to have a special goal to keep one motivated when it gets a little ragged. Student loan repayment is big for some, saving for a wedding, a special vacation, purchase of a first home or summer camp for the kids seem to be frequent goals for others. My current goal is accumulating for the December expenses coming up. There will be the 70th birthday of my significant other that needs a special celebration, property taxes to be paid and of course holiday spending.
I've never heard of phone shops. I'm going to look into this now. Thanks for the tip. Just a quick search showed a company that pays $5 for a 5-10 minute call and a short 1 page survey to fill out. That doesn't sound like a bad deal to me!
No you don't need to process the chicken. They come fresh (not frozen) in a 40# box, all ready to put into smaller Ziploc freezer bags. They are beautifully trimmed with far less fat than what you typically get at the store. If you can find it at a comparable price in a smaller quantity, great. Boneless skinless breasts were on sale at the grocery store I shopped earlier this week -- on sale for $4.99/lb. For the 20 minutes or so that it takes me to rebag the Zaycon, I saved $140. Plus I got fresher and better meat.
Flash writes: >> There will be the 70th birthday of my significant other that needs a special celebration, property taxes to be paid and of course holiday spending. << This is an interesting point. I prefer to wait for bonuses, but when something special is coming up and I need extra cash for it, I will work for a lower amount.
Flash writes: >> There will be the 70th birthday of my significant other that needs a special celebration, property taxes to be paid and of course holiday spending. << This is an interesting point. I prefer to wait for bonuses, but when something special is coming up and I need extra cash for it, I will work for a lower amount.
Now scheduling travel shops for the day after Christmas through mid-January.
@PasswordNotFound wrote:
This is an interesting point. I prefer to wait for bonuses, but when something special is coming up and I need extra cash for it, I will work for a lower amount.
None of these are surprise expenses, so pushing for higher bonuses to cover started several months ago. I rarely do many shops between Thanksgiving and New Years because I don't like crowds and traffic, so end of the year for me is always a plan ahead scenario.
@backtowork wrote:
I've never heard of phone shops. I'm going to look into this now. Thanks for the tip. Just a quick search showed a company that pays $5 for a 5-10 minute call and a short 1 page survey to fill out. That doesn't sound like a bad deal to me!
I need to shop for them! The ones I've been doing are usually about 2-3 minutes on the phone for a car service request and 5+ minutes on the phone for a sales inquiry. One staff person was definitely reading from her computer and just droned on and on telling me about packages for different cars...that phone call lasted so long and I could hardly follow along. The phone surveys I have been filling out are quick and simple, but more than one page!
Funny thing is, now I have all those salespeople from dealerships continuing to email me saying how they see they need be more aggressive and give me the best deals, etc. to win over my business. I guess when I really do need to buy a new car, I will send out some internet inquiries to dealerships and ignore them for a month. Playing hard to get seems to be working, only I don't need a new car now! ha!
I'm such a homebody, unless there's food involved. Those phone shops are my favorite.
@backtowork wrote:
I've never heard of phone shops. I'm going to look into this now. Thanks for the tip. Just a quick search showed a company that pays $5 for a 5-10 minute call and a short 1 page survey to fill out. That doesn't sound like a bad deal to me!
Thank you for your response! I believe I found the website...yippee!
I'm a homebody too! I recently started as an amazon customer service associate (working from home), but I'm not really liking it. I also started merchandising in the last month and a half. I really like the merchandising, and it doesn't bother me to have to leave the house to go and do it. I actually find it fun! But there's not as much work as I thought there would be. I put my name into a few more places, but haven't really had the response back from them that I had hoped for.
I'm kinda scared to get into mystery shopping. Most of what I read on here sounds like there is a whole lot involved with it. Sounds like something I'd have to ease into. The phone shops seem like they would be a good way to get my feet wet with it. If I did 3 of those an hour, it's more than I'm making merchandising and more than amazon as well.
I'm kinda scared to get into mystery shopping. Most of what I read on here sounds like there is a whole lot involved with it. Sounds like something I'd have to ease into. The phone shops seem like they would be a good way to get my feet wet with it. If I did 3 of those an hour, it's more than I'm making merchandising and more than amazon as well.
potential merchandisers: [jobon.theretailrecruiter.org]
backtowork: don't be scared. MS is IC work so go ahead and sign up with a few companies, it can't hurt and you aren't obligated to do anything until you decide to do so.
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