Howdy folks, another eager newbie here.

I have signed up with about five or six companies so far, but haven't done any shops yet. Which is understandable since I started registering yesterday.

Question 1)
I have a question about my email strategy. I was originally going to use a different email address for each company I registered with. The theory being that it would be easy to identify the culprit when I start getting random spam.

This would be fine if I was going to sign on with a dozen or so companies. But now I realize that I will probably be signing on with dozens or even over a hundred companies. Even though it's easy for me to create and manage mail email accounts and emails, this would be pushing it.

A little more research is showing that it would be best to use one single address for all of my shopping activities. How would having multiple email address affect my activities in regards to sites/networks like Jobslinger and SASSIE?

Question 2)
About half of the sites that I have registered with have asked for personal/professional references. Is this going to be a common theme with registering with a hundred companies? If it is, I may need to find some new references or friends as they will not appreciate all the calls.

Do these companies actually check references; is this something I should be concerned about?

Thanks for your time... -Brian

You will really want to have one email address, which will be the one you use for your PayPal account, so that you can get paid by those companies. Many companies only pay through paypal.

Hey Brian...er, Slime....

Yeah you want one email addy for all your shopping. Google's gmail is a good choice. It has good spam filters but generally accepts mail from registered sites. I use it and it has served me well. Also, as Taylor9ball pointed out, a single email addy will facilitate your payment. You want payment, right?

Me, I've registered with over 150 companies. To be fair, though, I have only actually worked for about 50. Thing is, I didn't know when I registered whether I would or not. The more the merrier, right?

As for the references: out of all those I can't recall any that requested references. I may have forgotten one or two. My guess is, no they do not check. I've registered with any number that required writing samples, and received email approvals in less than 20 seconds, indicating that no one could possibly have read and appraised my writing sample in that time.

(Some do however. Coyle does. My gf submitted a sample to them, and received an email stating they did not need shoppers in her area, while I was looking at the shops available in her area.)

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I will use just a single email address. It will make things easier when an MSC requires the same email for your account and for PayPal.

I have signed up for nine companies so far and have been accepted to all of them. Although just a few are showing available shops in my area. I have been assigned three basic shops on three different days next week. All three of them are within 5 miles of my house - which might actually be a problem.

One shop a day until I get the hang of things will work well for me.

-Brian

Starting slow and close to home is a good thing so you won't be overwhelmed. After you are comfortable enough to schedule multiple shops a day, it is still a good idea to limit the new to you shops or MSCs to one or two and fill the rest of the day with assignments you know well.

Most MSCs that pay through PayPal (and there are a lot) will require your e-mail to match.

Yes, taking "baby steps" with only one shop per day is a good way to begin. In addition, consider trying just one shop of a kind/client at first. If you like that experience, go back for more. If you hate it, at least you are not committed to doing 3 more like it. Don't even think about canceling a shop as a new shopper, short of a death in the family or having a contageous disease. So, if you mistakently accepted 4 shops of a kind and find, after the first one, that you hate that kind, grit your teeth and do the other 3 to the very best of your ability, and chalk it up to "education is expensive."

IMHO, you may want to have just one account to use for shopping only. You can do it!

Don


SlimeLite Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Howdy folks, another eager newbie here.
>
> I have signed up with about five or six companies
> so far, but haven't done any shops yet. Which is
> understandable since I started registering
> yesterday.
>
> Question 1)
> I have a question about my email strategy. I was
> originally going to use a different email address
> for each company I registered with. The theory
> being that it would be easy to identify the
> culprit when I start getting random spam.
>
> This would be fine if I was going to sign on with
> a dozen or so companies. But now I realize that I
> will probably be signing on with dozens or even
> over a hundred companies. Even though it's easy
> for me to create and manage mail email accounts
> and emails, this would be pushing it.
>
> A little more research is showing that it would be
> best to use one single address for all of my
> shopping activities. How would having multiple
> email address affect my activities in regards to
> sites/networks like Jobslinger and SASSIE?
>
> Question 2)
> About half of the sites that I have registered
> with have asked for personal/professional
> references. Is this going to be a common theme
> with registering with a hundred companies? If it
> is, I may need to find some new references or
> friends as they will not appreciate all the
> calls.
>
> Do these companies actually check references; is
> this something I should be concerned about?
>
> Thanks for your time... -Brian

The e-mail I use for mystery shopping had been one of four already established. It is just my full name at the e-mail provider. Previously it had been used for job hunting and I felt anything cutesy would not be appropriate or professional. It has also come in handy to keep anything mystery shopping related out of the address so that it can be used on shops requiring follow up if my real name is also used.

To me something straight forward with my name serves another purpose. Unlike shopper1234 or MilessMum, it reinforces my name to schedulers.