i just received this urgent message to "please help out". please help out for $7.50 to travel to a location (unless the location is within a block of where you live), try to locate a specific item and take a pic of the SKU and the product and of the store front and then write a report???. that probably equates to maybe $7.50 an hour and probably less by the time the report is written. "auditing experience preferred" = huh? and laughable, too. all for $7.50. Their enticing (not) posting follows, several paragraphs down.

just another example (one of many) of how the msc's and some of the scheduling companies that pimp for them keep dumbing down this industry by devaluing those (us) who they should be trying to elevate and value the service that we provide, otherwise they would bagging our groceries at some of the markets that they have been trying to entice the troops on the ground (us, again) to evaluate for the princely sum of $5.00 plus $7.00
reimbursement (which equates to about $5.00 per hour after writing the labor-intensive report.

i have redacted the name of the client as well as the scheduling company and their representative not out of fear of being blacklisted/blackballed (those things i have never shied away from) but because it serves no purpose to throw someone under the bus unless i would want "out" the many others that are wont to do the same thing. yep, and i'm looking at you MF, IS and the rest (you know who you are).


"RESTRICTIONS

No restrictions to APPLY for a shop, however...

If you meet the following qualifications, you can immediately SELF ASSIGN shops to yourself:
* Your Shopper Rating must be at least 8
* Your age must be 21 years or More
* You must accept PayPal payments
* Your MSPA certification is Silver or higher
Due Date 04-16-16 (m-d-y)
Do NOT shop before 04-01-16
Hours Regular *** Store Hours
Days of week Sun - Mon - Tue - Wed - Thu - Fri - Sat
Shopper's Pay $ 7.50
Shop Expenses $ 0.00
Special Expenses $ 0.00
Shop Comments
This is a display audit of a single SKU that is displayed in the *** section within *** stores across the US. Auditing experience is preferred. VERY EASY. * Non-Revealed/covert. Must remain anonymous. * Mandatory GeoVerify; requires a SmartPhone. * Single SKU check. Quick! * Verify product placement, quantity and price. * 3 photo captures. * Optional narrative. Apply now!
Additional Comments "

What's sad is that someone will probably snatch it up for $7.50.

I saw these, too, and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the fee! And then couldn't believe them when I saw that every single one of the $7.50 ones are taken! There are two $12 ones left in my region (I don't know if they started at $7.50 and are now bonused, or if they're slightly different from the $7.50 ones), but too far for me to go for $24.

And this is a company I like shopping for.... Pitiful.

@parkcitybrian wrote:

try to locate a specific item and take a pic of the SKU and the product and of the store front and then write a report???. that probably equates to maybe $7.50 an hour and probably less by the time the report is written.

Shop Comments
This is a display audit of a single SKU that is displayed in the *** section within *** stores across the US. Auditing experience is preferred. VERY EASY. * Non-Revealed/covert. Must remain anonymous. * Mandatory GeoVerify; requires a SmartPhone. * Single SKU check. Quick! * Verify product placement, quantity and price. * 3 photo captures. * Optional narrative. Apply now!

Y would U take 1 hour to take 3 pics w/optional narrative? I say 15 tops.

@BirdyC wrote:

I saw these, too, and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the fee! And then couldn't believe them when I saw that every single one of the $7.50 ones are taken!

they R all gone in my area too & I took 2 of them. I was able to schedule 2 shops on same date at same store & 3 shops on another day at diferent store. Total of 5 shops but only 2 trips in areas where I will be already. Report is real short & looks EZ.

@MSNinja wrote:

Total of 5 shops but only 2 trips in areas where I will be already. Report is real short & looks EZ.

Will you let us know how these go? If you can "bundle" them as you have, it might make sense, but I still have to wonder just how fast they end up going in-store and just how easy the report can be....

I've found that taking photos without being noticed can sometimes be tricky. Took me 10 minutes on a cell-phone shop once to get a photo of the front, since the store wasn't busy and all the associates were standing around looking out the front windows at the shoppers in the food court!

it seems like an extremely easy shop.... like you could be in the location for 2 minutes or even less. then 5 minutes on report, you're at 7 minutes there. say the location's 11 minutes away. 22 minutes driving. i feel like that's a $15 per hour shop, but wouldn't be able to say for sure unless I did it. what's more annoying to me is alta 360's gas audits dropping to 7.00... that's what I call a disastrous fee.

@jay225 wrote:

what's more annoying to me is alta 360's gas audits dropping to 7.00... that's what I call a disastrous fee.

And in my area they will fly off the board immediately like they did at $9. Let them have them, less people doing the ones at $12.50. Or another brand later in the month around $15-$20-$25.

I took two of them for locations that i would be driving past anyway. I think the item will be easy to find, and I will take photographs with my cell phone just like everyone else does these days. I often have sales people encourage me to take photos. If there is an issue, I will blame my tech-savvy son "who keeps telling me that I don't make proper use of the technology I own".

All I can say is, "Don't take the shop." If someone does these shops for the $7.50 they probably won't do them again. When I first started as a Mystery Shopper about 10 years ago, I took the shops at lower pay than I would today. Experience is the best teacher!

@shopper8 wrote:

All I can say is, "Don't take the shop." If someone does these shops for the $7.50 they probably won't do them again. When I first started as a Mystery Shopper about 10 years ago, I took the shops at lower pay than I would today. Experience is the best teacher!

have u done this shop for this item? If no then u have no idea what its worth or not worth.

It is worth taking the 7.50 single SKU shop if you are going to be in that store auditing it anyway, it's two pictures and a few questions which you just take a few minutes to do when you get to that department in your regular course of work. If you don't do the whole day and a half audits for the big box electronics store you can still grab a shop that pays about 14 or so to look at some 2 in 1 tablet/laptop computers in a separate section of that store on the same trip.

2, 3 birds with one stone.

@shopper8 wrote:

All I can say is, "Don't take the shop." If someone does these shops for the $7.50 they probably won't do them again. When I first started as a Mystery Shopper about 10 years ago, I took the shops at lower pay than I would today. Experience is the best teacher!

Well, if it really is as simple as taking though pictures and reporting them, it may make sense to grab the shop. Understanding that the fee shown for an assignment isn't the only factor when deciding if a shop is worth it for YOU. If the shop itself and report takes 15-20 minutes, that $7.50 base rate fee may end up being $22-30 depending on how you make this assignment work for you.

@JerryBrian wrote:

It is worth taking the 7.50 single SKU shop if you are going to be in that store auditing it anyway, it's two pictures and a few questions which you just take a few minutes to do when you get to that department in your regular course of work. If you don't do the whole day and a half audits for the big box electronics store you can still grab a shop that pays about 14 or so to look at some 2 in 1 tablet/laptop computers in a separate section of that store on the same trip.

2, 3 birds with one stone.

That is exactly what I did. The single SKU took about 5-7 minutes inside the store. The computer shop took about 15-20 minutes. Walked over to an adjacent shopping plaza for another quickie shop. I performed all three shops in less than an hour and that included walking, NOT driving to the third location then walking back to my car in the other parking lot. All three reports were done at home in about 30-40 minutes total while I had a load of laundry in the washer and dinner cooking in the oven. Multi-tasking is a wonderful thing!

I'm doing the same thing tomorrow only combining them with two personal errands in the same strip mall. Buy some plants, buy some spices, make a little money, walk about a mile or so, win/win/win/win, LOL.

I grabbed one as well, but only because I could bundle it with another shop. I am already going to be in the shopping center so why not add it. I wouldn't consider doing it on its own merit.

Sounds like LisaSTL and I are about to have a walk-a-thon challenge. A walking is better exercise than a rumble in the parking lot!

Hahaha. Certainly more peaceful And I forgot to add the other bonus, a coupon for a free jar of cinnamon from Penzey's.