I live and work in a highly competitive area. I get offers before they ever see the light of a job board. I also work for several MSCs with clients who have increased their shop fees without adding extra work to the shop or the report. Yes, some others have reduced their fees. I tend to work for the higher fee shops anyway, no FF shops here.@kennedykr wrote:
Beyond reputation some areas just have more competition which tends to affect the price offered, and further, to site the obvious, these changes are recent, therein lies the whole topic of this thread about an industry valuation that is going down rather than up.
Usually (but not always) the pizza shops go down when they have a larger number of shoppers to do them. Imagine you are the MSC and you can't get anybody to take them. So you offer more. You get takers. Once you get takers, the fees seem to lower themselves magically.@kennedykr wrote:
These are pizza shops I am referring to which I have done for 3 years. I was getting $15 to $35 and now they won't offer more than $14 and I suspect that will fee will drop. There are no "high price" shops here. Perhaps there might be an occassional $30 to $60 and a very rare $125.
There was a certain kind of furniture place that started at $10 and went to $30. It stayed at $30 (too far away for me) and then today it said, "changed fee!" and the price was $27.50.@BirdyC wrote:
I've already gotten an offer from MarketForce for a May shop at a bonus. Alas, the "bonus" is only $3, so no thanks. Call me when you're ready to make it $15 or $20. And if it's a late-dinner shop, make it more!
I appreciate the fact that I've gotten several what appear to be "special" or "exclusive for 12 hours" offers from them, and I actually like working for them. But they gotta make it worth my while! (But maybe they send out hundreds of those "special offers" for the same shop to all the shoppers in the same area; who knows?)
@SunnyDays2 wrote:
It stayed at $30 (too far away for me) and then today it said, "changed fee!" and the price was $27.50.
@RobinMarie wrote:
I think the easy sporting good retail shop went from 9.00 fee to 7. I don't really consider accepting them any longer, but I've bought a few dozen soccer socks, basketball socks, ref whistles and pre-wrap over the years. At this point that shop is no longer worth it for me because of low fee and less need.
@Spork wrote:
This is Marketforce, they don't need "professional" mystery shoppers. The guidelines are minimal and straight forward and the reports are incredibly easy. Most of the businesses shopped by MF have employees who do everything right, making my job so much easier.
Compare this to other MSC who often offer only reimbursement for restaurant/ quick serve. In fact there is one "favorite" scheduler of those on this board who schedules a shop that when bonused, only offers 2 or 3 bucks. Whatever.
I was once called by a "scheduler of the year" to do a bar shop they can NEVER get filled. The only bonus she offered was what was already offered on the website. I felt put on the spot so I accepted it (just got home from work, my mind was elsewhere.) The day I was to do it, the scheduler emailed me (or texted, can't remember) and cancelled it 90 minutes before I was to do it. Imagine if I had done that to her? I am sure many are familiar with these bar shops, the report is redundant and takes a long time to complete. All for the princely sum of 12.00 (15.00 bonused) and reimbursement for two drinks and an appetizer! NO THANKS!
Forgive my digression; my point is MF offers super easy shops that I can self assign. I usually just assign myself their shops at the last minute, on a whim. They will occasionally call with nicely bonused shops (U.S. based schedulers).
I do not know why MF feels the wrath of so many but other MSC, who make you jump through hoops with their requirements and long narratives, get a free pass? If I don't like a shop, I just don't take it...well, at least NOW I don't.;-)
@isaiah58 wrote:
@RobinMarie wrote:
I think the easy sporting good retail shop went from 9.00 fee to 7. I don't really consider accepting them any longer, but I've bought a few dozen soccer socks, basketball socks, ref whistles and pre-wrap over the years. At this point that shop is no longer worth it for me because of low fee and less need.
The real problem is the reimbursement went from $15 to $9 at the same time.
@isaiah58 wrote:
Correct me if I am wrong please. The tax advice above is incorrect. We claim the cost of the meal/purchase as our expense. We include all reimbursements and fees as income.
In theory, we actually lose income when the reimbursement is increased (and the fee reduced) if we do not meet the reimbursement. I'd rather have a $15 fee to work with than a $11 reimbursement and a $4 fee. I might find a way to spend $7 resulting in $8 income; versus just an $11 check under the reimbursement plus fee scenario.