Has anyone joined this site? I'm wondering what help they give you and if it's worth it to join since it costs $.

JoanG has apparently joined. I originally signed up. When they sent me the information that I could pay my 'membership' with a special discount that would get it to 'only' $28 and change for the year (a 20% discount or some such) and earn $5 for every friend I referred who signed up and joined and used me as a referral, I figured pyramid scheme to sell memberships and oh, by the way, we will send you job leads. Gary Cohn, who is a somewhat hidden associate of this outfit was a former executive of Datatron which went defunct this year leaving shoppers in the hole about $22,000. Sure, Gary was gone by the time the unpaid jobs were hired out for, but I far from doubt that his hands were clean.

I am steering well clear of this outfit.

Lynne- Yes, I am registered with Premier. Here's the link to a thread where I have responded to another shopper's inquiry about them. [www.mysteryshopforum.com]

Flash- Your statement that Gary Cohn is a "somewhat hidden associate" of Premier couldn't be farther from the truth. He is upfront and open about his position as president of Premier Shoppers. All of his emails are signed:
Gary Cohn
President
888-777-1667

In addition, he has openly posted responses to shopper's questions on another forum [www.msfreedom.org], and he invites and welcomes phone calls or emails from shoppers who have questions or concerns about Premier.

One final thought...Many highly regarded MSPs are affiliated with Premier Shoppers. I greatly doubt that they would risk their reputations by endorsing a company without thoroughly checking them out first.

It is still my preference not to pay someone to let me work for them. They are supposed to pay Me, not the other way around.

I consider a membership in Premier Shoppers to be an investment-not a payment to someone to let me work for them. Sure, some of the shops can be accessed for free on the individual MSP's job boards, but others are posted exclusively on Premier.

Besides the job posts, the area of their site I have accessed most often is the huge section with retail/service sector coupon codes and discounts. I'm going to be saving a lot this Christmas with that alone-not only in $$$ but in my valuable time.

Just signed up...........no fee anymore.

FYI: NO MEMBERSHIP FEE EFFECTIVE 4/2/09

PremierShoppers.com is determined to be the go to site for mystery shoppers and recruiters. We are committed to being a dedicated advocate for this industry. Without diminishing any of the power, features, functionality, or customer service of our site and company, we did make some noise yesterday (April 2, 2009). On that day, we removed the barriers and roadblocks to this industry by eliminating our Membership Fee. Now shoppers can enjoy and utilize our site to its fullest:
* MatchQuest Technology - automatic notifications of shop assignments
* FREE Education and Training Webinars (including guest speakers from some of the most respected mystery shop companies in the country)
* 24/7 Customer Care (through a toll-free number, live chat, and email)
* Shopper and Job Search Functionality
* Shopping discounts and other money saving ideas
* And much much more now (and even more to come in the summer)

[www.premiershoppers.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/03/2009 11:43PM by bugspost.

Let me know if you start getting strange offers in your Inbox. I heard they had gone free and signed up today. No jobs I wasn't already getting in my email. But within a couple of hours I received

"Hello,
Greetings, Robert Trung Yen,I introduce to you a business proposal of about 35.5 M USD if interested please take it serious & act promptly by kindly via me with your FULL NAMES & PHONE NO.
Respectfully,
Mr. Robert Trung Yen"

The only SPAM I get in my business email is for fake watches, fake drugs and fake college degrees. This was obviously not sent as a gang mail or it would have gone to SPAM. The coincidence of my first such email in this account and my signup with Premier Shoppers where their big push is coupons etc. was a little concerning.

I signed up today, but I saw less than I see on Jobslinger for my area, and nothing I did not already know about for a long time. It was really as I expected it to be. I would have been really mad at myself had a paid for a membership, but maybe others signed with less MSC's or parts of the country with more shops done might have a different experience than I. I have to say I got a lot more info and several jobs, some exceedingly well-paying, from my one month $4 trial of Shadow Shopper last Dec.

Well, I did find two jobs in my area that I was not aware of but still checking out the site. I haven't received any SPAM since signing up.
FYI..........I posted that info from another forum.......it was posted by:
Gary Cohn
President
PremierShoppers.com
888.777-1667

I signed up, no spam yet. But it's only been 24 hours. I'm not sure what Premier is - a scheduler, jobposter . . .? I saw many shops I was already aware of and saw shops with due dates through May which is unusual. Their site was sluggish, and occasionally unresponsive. Sticking to it; however, I also saw, applied and have been assigned, two plum assignments that were not on the MSP's site, nor had they been emailed to me as available. These were shops I've done before for this MSP and this both puzzles and burns me a bit.

We've been told here of the connection between Premier and Gary Cohn formerly of Datatron. I'm approaching this new relationship with caution.

I think the point is that Premier is more a hookup between shoppers and schedulers for companies rather than anyone you are depending on to behave in a manner that affects your livelihood. I.e., you are not expecting his company to pay you for your work. My concern is that revenue has to come from somewhere. He is barred by his contract with Datatron from having an MSP for a period of time (2 years?) so he should not be contracting with shoppers on his own behalf. There is only limited revenue to be made from 'hits' on website banners and such. So where is the revenue coming from? My stomach dropped when I saw a quick spam like I had never received before because I was concerned our data was being abused. There has not been another one yet and I am relieved to hear that others are not immediately hearing from Robert Trung Yen or other similar suspect folk after signing up with Premier.

I have not gotten any spam I would say is different than what I have received previous to yesterday am.

Well, I just got a shop through the site which I did a few years ago.......the company used to schedule themselves........then, just couldn't find the shops anymore. Now, perhaps they ceased the shop for a while.........if so, glad they are back but I would not have known if I hadn't checked on Premier.

I am willing to give the site a chance especially since it is now fee-free.The jury is still out for me as I just joined and haven't had the opportunity to thoroughly evaluate it.

One feature I do like is you can put details of what kind of shops you want.....minimum pay.....etc. so you only will get notifed of possible shops in your area based on the info you enter.

I like that feature so I don't get emails for $1.75 phone shops or other low paying shops.
They also have a link for coupons/discounts which I am a freebie/coupon freak so liking that.

Haven't checked out everything on their site but I do NOT believe they are giving out email addresses for spamming.

They don't even give out your info to the ms companies and I quote:
MatchQuest™ finds shops that most closely align with the shopper's interests. When there is a match, PremierShoppers.com instantly notifies the shopper via email. Beginning in 2009, these notifications will also be sent via Text Message.
Only when a shopper responds directly to the recruiter, will the recruiter have the shopper's contact information. All of the shopper information is held in confidence until released by the shopper themselves.

Flash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
My concern is that revenue has to come
> from somewhere. He is barred by his contract with
> Datatron from having an MSP for a period of time
> (2 years?) so he should not be contracting with
> shoppers on his own behalf. There is only limited
> revenue to be made from 'hits' on website banners
> and such. So where is the revenue coming from?


A shopper friend forwarded an email from Gary Cohn, that I also received, and have posted excerpts of below. Old timers will need no reminding, but newer shoppers may not know that the president of PremierShoppers, Cohn, was with Datatron before they flew the coop, owing shoppers thousands and thousands of dollars :


“While we have not introduced a membership fee for our shoppers, we also know that it costs money for us to maintain the quality and service everyone has come to expect.”
“To that end, we are asking our shoppers to make a Maintenance Contribution of $2.50 to help keep PremierShoppers.com at the head of the class. The math is simple. For as little as a nickel a week, your assistance will be monumental to our continued growth and enhancements.”
“As we have also tried to watch our costs, we no longer can accept credit cards. We would ask that when sending your maintenance contribution, you mail us a check made out to PremierShoppers.com, Inc”
“On behalf of all of us at PremierShoppers.com and our corporate and shopping members, THANK YOU for your help.”
“With my deepest appreciation, Gary Cohn President PremierShoppers.com, Inc.”


It would seem that this is a penny ante attempt to stay afloat, by asking for contributions from shoppers. And, if PS can no longer accept credit cards payments (presumably due to nominal transaction fees), there's little to no profit margin.

I will certainly not be contributing to Cohn's maintenance, and find his request to be ridiculously offensive.