Here is one from today
Great Pay* XXX XXX: Automotive Dealership
That pay is for Hawaii and a whopping $30~
Sorry $30 for a car shop is WAY underpriced and even though no purchase it is for Hawaii.
That is not "Great" pay by any means. Not to mention it was sent to my in my area.
They need a new map..

My shopper buddy asked me if she should do a shop for $55. I asked her what are the details. Turns out the job sounds fairly simple but it takes 7 hours. I asked her how much gas would it take. She said around $5. So I told her it is her choice but its basically a $50 net for 7 hours which is around $7 an hour. She asked if I would take it then. I told her heck no!

Shopgal - unfortunately CL is still out there and is starting to learn the ropes. If the smartphone thing isn't working for you, try the ipad. My eyes are getting bad. It's lightweight, compared to a laptop, and the screen is big, which is great for reading emails and accepting newly posted job offers that I am interested in as they appear, while I am out shopping. That is how I chase off the chickens...

Thanks, IGoogle. TechMan had suggested I try out the Dolphin browser app for my smartphone, and it's working great. I'd highly recommend it to others wanting to limit the amount of gear they invest in.

What you have to remember is that some of us have other jobs, and doing five piddling little jobs before going to work, gives us around $200 a week. Thank goodness for these gas jobs and fast food jobs that can be done. I could not have survived these past few years without them. Even with the gas jobs, I try not to do them for less than $10. But five gas jobs = $50 for a few hours work. But I would rather do the fast gas jobs, that the audit that takes far longer, many pictures, and alot of time to input.

What you have to remember is that some of us don't have other jobs

Whether you have other income or not, the purpose of the thread was to get people thinking about what their time is worth and consider a variety of factors. Many $10 to $15 jobs are worth just that. Regardless of how fast the shop or report might be, $4 to $6 is not enough unless it is a phone shop. The fact that you are picking up an extra $200 a week on a very limited, part-time basis is proof you are someone who places value on your time.

LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What you have to remember is that some of us don't
> have other jobs
>
> Whether you have other income or not, the purpose
> of the thread was to get people thinking about
> what their time is worth and consider a variety of
> factors. Many $10 to $15 jobs are worth just that.
> Regardless of how fast the shop or report might
> be, $4 to $6 is not enough unless it is a phone
> shop. The fact that you are picking up an extra
> $200 a week on a very limited, part-time basis is
> proof you are someone who places value on your
> time.


I did a "easy phone call" shop this week for $8. The call lasted 38 minutes. The report lasted 31 minutes. I was not able to see the report before accepting the shop. In the past this company had some easy phone shops that were easy but in this case $8 for 69 minutes was not a great deal for me. Not the end of the world but while doing it I was laughing at myself for the "easy" shop.

I will work $10 shops IF I am going to be in the neighborhood anyway. I do not go out of my way for shops which do not pay well.

I took a $11 shop with 70 plus questions plus a test that took around 15 minutes or so plus driving. I do not know why I did that.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/06/2013 03:10AM by Goofy.

LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ...the purpose
> of the thread was to get people thinking about
> what their time is worth and consider a variety of
> factors. Many $10 to $15 jobs are worth just that.
> Regardless of how fast the shop or report might
> be, $4 to $6 is not enough unless it is a phone
> shop.

Well said. And I truly believe that discussions such as this are one of the reasons that Jacob created this forum and the online magazine. I think he sees a need for mystery shoppers to be valued by MSCs, but even more importantly, for mystery shoppers to value themselves. That can only happen if each of us takes a critical look at what we are trying to accomplish with our mystery shopping efforts and align that with our real-life situations/limitations/skills/needs.

Those shops will continue to be $11 as long as people take them. If no one took them the MSC will be forced to raise the pay in order to keep the client. Unfortunately, there are always new shoppers that don't know any better and will take them. I know I did when I started out but no more. The problem is that you sometimes don't really know what is involved in a shop until you are given it by the MSC; although experienced shoppers at least know which MSC tends to have time consuming reports. The shoppers on this forum should report as best as they can about this so other shoppers know what to avoid.

Goofy: Since you didn't mention the client can you tell us the MSC.

This was well said

shopgal Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well said. And I truly believe that discussions
> such as this are one of the reasons that Jacob
> created this forum and the online magazine. I
> think he sees a need for mystery shoppers to be
> valued by MSCs, but even more importantly, for
> mystery shoppers to value themselves. That can
> only happen if each of us takes a critical look at
> what we are trying to accomplish with our mystery
> shopping efforts and align that with our real-life
> situations/limitations/skills/needs.

Independent contracting is soley available because companies. d ont want to pay full time workers to do it. therefore companies pony off such piece labor at low rates. Its very existance is a cost saving measure. As such the low cost is baked in. I quickly learned that jobs were not worth it and have no qualms about quitting as soon as i figure such a fact out. I dont work for companies that do such things. To those that feel obligated out of a sense of duty i commend. To those who finish out of the hope of possibly finding better jobs in the future i also salute. With me I do not expect good paying jobs from a company that currently offers poor paying jobs. History travels ib circles. I personally as well believe that minimum wage is bare minimum. Any job paying less deserves to have a fellow walk off leaving the work for someone willing to take the low pay.

I tend to see assignments in two categories. The first are jobs that are worth traveling for because they are higher paying (£10-£15), don't include a hefty purchase, and ensure all expenses are covered. A day with three or four of these visits mean certain profit, but an evening of long report writing. I particularly like high paid lunch or hotel visits (£25+), but know the reports have to be highly detailed.

The second type of jobs I consider to be fillers because they are low paid, easy to do, and may offer a benefit such as lunch. I don't mind filling a day with these if they are all within walking distance, such as a block of pharmacy visits that take 3 or 4 minutes to conduct and earned £4 each. One company offers jobs as low as £3.50 plus £5 spend, but however much I consider this underpaid I can't resist accepting them if I know I'm in the area and have the time.

And then I usually get greedy and try to do as many of each as possible.

I'm new to the boards and I have been doing shops for about four months.

I've been tracking specfic shops trying to find the pattern as to when CRI raises the commission. I won't request a gas station until it passes $10. Sure I'd like more and have taken several for more but what day of the week do they raise the commission? Has anyone noticed?

Historically, this has been automated so it goes p on its own sometime shortly after midnight. I have watched shops climb daily as I was waiting to get to the magic three day window that they can be done during.

When they start raising fees, they can send out emails every day announcing them. If you're signed up for emails, you should be getting them. I've had one of those emails every day for the last three days.

Sometimes, we as a whole must look at reality. I do many high priced shops and will not go neat the newbie msc's. They all abuse new shoppers. However, as an aside, I do shops at Post offices for a major msc. They are great to me and I have done over 600 shops for them. They pay 10 bucks a shop. Pretty cheap but then again look at the good side. The scheduler is great and he gives me 5 to 6 a day in a run. Now the shop takes 10 minutes, The next shop is close by and so is the next. I end up earning 60 bucks for 3 hours work. That is acceptable.
If a shopper has trouble doing cheap shops he or she should discuss what can be done to make it work with a good scheduler and maybe, just maybe it could work out in a positive manner.

If this is the same MSC who does the post office where I'm from, then I'm impressed they make an exception for you to break shop rules. I wish they'd do the same for me! Those normal restrictions from the shop guidelines about no more than four per day and to leave 35 minutes between shops can get annoying sometimes.

I do the cosmetic shops for 10.00 each. I will do four if having to drive the freeway. I did the one in my mall, even though
the report is a bit long (35 minutes), I got a $100.00 sample of skin crème, sold for 380.00, and I was in the mall anyway.
Bottom line, make it work...famous words by "Tim Gunn", Project Runway...

yeah, what Storm Cloud said. I'm restricted to four per day. I like them, tho.

Hello all you great shoppers out there!!

About compensation. I understand every side of the subject. I do have my issues. I have decided not to work with two companies based on how I was treated. Some shops pay much more than others. Some reports are much shorter than others. I work with over 150 companies, well, minus two! Here is what I finally have done. I have given myself permission to not roll off my property for less than $10. And I better have three or more shops because one will cover the gas. That being said, I rarely ever get payment for what I feel my years of experience in the job world are worth. My goal is $100 per week in fees plus reimbursements. I just make it work. I won't make any phone call shops for less than $8.00. Most are more than that. I have fun and enjoy the "mystery" of it all.

I am tempted to enter the auditing side of things. Any of you do retail audits (revealed or not)? I am also thinking of trying a theatre shop.

Thanks!
Sisterseven

You really do want those newbies taking the $4 jobs. The company is paying $X for the shops to be done. The company will make its money, they scheduler needs to make their money (most of them are IC's too) and then we need to make our money. Oh, yeah, the editors are usually paid by the job also...

The job maybe worth $20 to you but if we all got $20 then the company that hired the MSC would consider it too expensive. They are probably only paying $25 for each shop as it is. The shops that are taken at $4 do free up money for the bonuses and the rest of us take those at the higher pay.

Develop good relationships with the MSC's and the schedulers and you will make the money. I get bonuses on almost every job I take. I do not even ask for most of them. The schedulers know that I will get the jobs done on time and done right. They would rather help me out and get their boards clear. I get eh bonus because John Q Newbie did his sites for the original asking price. Thank you John Q Newbie! Once he catches on, he can get his own bonus money too.

And I do tell everyone the same things. Communicate with the schedulers and live up to your reputation (not down to it!) and you can be successful at this.

$1000 a month is very reachable. if I don't do at least $3400 a month, it is a bad month.

I may not make $20 an hour every hour, but I make a good living.

From what I've seen, no MSC is making as little as $25 per shop. Quadruple that at least for standard shops.

Professional Mystery Shopping is a business with commonalities like other businesses. There must be some formula or set of rules to determine profitability. It's different for everyone. Profit is profit, even if it's only $1.00. Each business person will determine the profit level they must attain to continue.

None-the-less don't leave out basic considerations required to calculate costs of business. I.e. Gasoline charges, maintenance, food on the road, clothing overheads and special tools are high-priced and successful business will cover these outlays AND add a percentage for actual proceeds. Anything smaller is simply covering costs or creating a loss.

Since most of my work involves plenty of long-distance travel, I have established a formula that includes a mileage retainer, and It was carefully calculated and is applicable to every assignment that I accept.

There is almost no justification to accept an assignment that does not provide a profit. Even so, there are times this choice is deliberately made. I.e. Goodwill is one reason and as part of a contract for profitable business is another.

$3400 every month? Wow.

There are still "companies" (aka slave plantations) that post Hotel shops at $0 pay to the shopper!!! Say no to the abuse!!! NO to these assignments.

I have to admit; I delete e-mail messages boasting " bonuses" and then encourage us to hurry to the website and snatch them up before they are all gone! And when I read the facts, it's an eight dollar assignment offering a two or three dollars for a bonus on an assignment requiring me to drive 45 miles. I have yet to see significant dollars on any of the messages referring to "big bonuses." They never amount to minimum pay, when you consider the time invested.

I wonder if the schedulers would vomit at the thought of themselves earning those "big dollars" for their families? They genuinely have a lot of nerve to hurl these emails to us. And the fact that they expect me to rush online and accept those assignments for those fees is insulting. I tend to resent those notices more and more, every day.
If I've said it once, I've said it 50 times: each of us has to set our own minimum wage and minimum profit. I cannot afford to accept jobs that pay $3-$6 an hour minus my travel expenses. Let others, who are desperately trying to to survive except those assignments. They are unwilling to risk losing an assignment to another shopper. Therefore, they snatch up all those "juicy assignments." I feel sorry for them. They have sent a path for their future that will result in total failure and poverty.

rardon posts--There are still "companies" (aka slave plantations) that post Hotel shops at $0 pay to the shopper!!! Say no to the abuse!!! NO to these assignments.

BOB COMMENTS--While I've encountered several MSCs that offer fees of which I've no interest, I've yet to either hear of, or be contacted by, any that require me to establish a relationship. This industry is, and I wouldn't have it any other way, completely "free-market." In my 10 1/2 yrs. as a shopper, I've responded with an absolute NO on many occasions, but have never felt abused. It's my opinion, rardon is forgetting a prime commandment of business: It IS business. NO MSC has an obligation to treat contractors in a manner they find acceptable; their allegiance is, as it must be, to their shareholders.

I got started "mystery shopping" many years ago but it was not we are doing today. It was usually for consulting firms or political and land use campaigns where I would attend community meetings and the like, blend in, and prepare a report back to the consultant or candidate as to what was said at the event. I usually made between $50 and $250 an hour.

I came across an ad for Market Force at the beginning of this year. I was always curious but suspected most if not all were scams. But the Market Force site looked legitimate and I decided to give it a try. I just did a few shops the first month and waited until the last minute to give them my bank account information. Once I got the check, I decided they might be legitimate so I tried a few more.

In the eight months since, I have signed up with dozens more companies. I now make $2000 a month or more, depending on how much time I have to dedicate to this aspect of my business. But I have learned a lot in the process.

There are several shops I will take the moment they appear because I love doing them even if it is just for a free meal. For the rest, I wait and wait and wait, until close to the end of the month. I've been paid as much as $80 to eat at Arches, $50 to do a gas station audit, etc. I have enough other types of work, i.e., political work, writing, etc., that I am not going to bust my butt for a $6 hamburger unless I want it for the hamburger, not the money.

I also mystery shop because so much of the other work I do I can do in my nightgown at home. Mystery shopping forces me to get out of the house, meet people and be connected to the outside world.

We all have our reasons for mystery shopping. But as someone who went through a really tough time financially for a short period of time a few years ago (due to a medical condition where I could not work), I really have come to resent those that take advantage of others because they know so many are desperate to make money any way they can. There is a very userous aspect to this business and it will continue that way as long as we have a sucky economy and lots of people just trying to survive.