I've been doing Mystery Shopping for a little while now, but this is the first instance I've come across where I might have the opportunity to ask for additional reimbursement - I've been asked to do a series of shops that's not exactly in my "neck of the woods." I've seen people mention asking for an increased payment for distance a few times on the boards, but I am wondering if anyone has any advice on what a good price is? Should it be based on distance or the length of the drive? I don't want to shortchange myself, but I also don't want to be totally out of a reasonable ballpark! Any advice would be great - thanks so much!

It really depends on the msc on how willing they are to pay extra. Regardless of that though, I would never do shops for below my minimum rate to make it worth it. And that rate is the same for most msc's but there are also several that the amount is higher simply because their editors and schedulers are harder to deal with so I have to factor in my time in communicating after the fact.

You need to figure out how many miles the total trip is, how much gas cost by you and the total cost of gas plus whatever you want for your time, add it all up and divide it per a shop subtract the base fee and see how much you need extra per a shop. Then ask for a few dollars more then that, so they can offer a lower price and you compromise at the price you wanted...

I try to get double my estimated gas cost for the trip, plus the normal fees for the shops in question. That approximates the actual operating costs of the car for gas, oil, tires, etc. I don't try to ratchet it up to cover my travel TIME, but it's not out of the question to throw in $10 and hour if you're driving for only a few shops. If you can get a full day of shopping (keeping in mind the time to do the reports when you get home and the deadlines for the reports) you may not feel a need to get compensated for travel time.

If I was going to go 200 miles round trip to do ONE $40 shop, I would ask for $40 or 50 for gas and maybe $40 for my travel time -- so maybe $80 or so for total bonus money. If I could plan a route that would make me $150 total in fees for the day, I wouldn't ask for money for my travel TIME, just the $50 for vehicle costs.

But that's just me. You need to determine what it will take to get YOU to make the trip. I was once paid a $125 bonus to go a 700 mile round trip to do a bank at the Grand Canyon. If they want it done badly enough, they will pay. The gas for the trip was about $50. I did eight other shops along the way and got another $40 bonus for some of them being in remote areas too.

If you know your car gas mileage then you can use something like mapquest to figure out how many miles round trip the shop will be. Then based upon the gas price in your area you can figure out the gas cost. What I do after that is figure out how much the gas will cost for a local shop that I would be willing to do without asking for a gas bonus. The difference is now your extra gas cost for the long trip. As itsasecret said: you can add to that any amount you think is reasonable for the extra ear and tear on your car along with the extra driving time. Try to make it reasonable and don't be greedy. If it works out you may pick up more of these shops. Also, if your amount is too high the scheduler might make a counter offer at which point you have to decide if it is worth it. Also, if you do get this then it might open up other shops for that day that you might typically not want to do because it is too far but you might be passing by it during this route. Depending how far you have to drive, and how tired you would be when you get home, make sure you will have enough time to still get the report(s) in on time.

Keep in mind that most schedulers will attempt to wring work from you for as little as possible; that's business. It's your responsibility to mind your store! Absolutely turn a deaf ear to a "few dollars for gas," as that's what I refer to as scheduler speak.

Tell them "A few dollars buys one gallon. I thought you wanted me to go all the way to the site." LOL.

I don't like to make less than $15 an hour when I'm mystery shopping. So when it comes to doing a trip I work out how many hours it will take me and I charge $15 an hour.

itsasecret you should never have a ceiling for how much money is enough. My motto when negotiating with the msc's is the only thing more important then money, is more money.

They are a for profit business and I am not a charity, so I will go as high as their willing to pay.

Especially if I know it's an msc that has a bigger budget and is more willing to pay costs even I don't necessarily need them paid as you said above, I will still ask for it. Worse they will say is no.

Oh, I'll ASK most of the time. It depends on if they are soliciting me or if I am soliciting them. If they are soliciting me, I try to get their top dollar. But if I am trying to set up a route (which I only do if the fees have gone up) and asking for bonus money for gas without them having solicited me, I'll try to get what justifies the trip and not try to make them bleed. At this point I just want to be sure I have a lucrative day and I don't want to ask for something, get counteroffered, and end up accepting a counteroffer -- because I want them to know if I am asking for money, it is because I require it, not because I would like to have it. If I ask high but accept low, they'll never believe me if I ask high when THEY are soliciting ME.

So I try to keep that in mind, and only ask for amounts that I would refuse the job if I don't get it.

Unless they come to me.....

Keep in mind, I'm still relatively new at this, and trying to feel out who will give bonuses and who won't.

To make my life easy, I have a set hourly fee which includes both driving and the time on shops. I arrived at the figure by taking the minimum I want to work for after expenses and padding it by $10 or so depending on the length of the trip. The extra portion of the fee is designed to cover all expenses and report time.

A big thank you for all the insights about asking for more money/when/how much. It's a tricky thing to negotiate, and I think it will feel a little uncomfortable at first. But if I don't ask I certainly won't get it, so all this info helps. Thanks!

Remember, the worst that they can say is no.

I take the current government mileage allowance and multiply that by Mapquest's round trip number, rounding up (sometimes a bit over) for my getting lost. Then I look to see if I will have any tolls and throw them in. I realize that drive time is technically not paid for in most cases, but, hey, if we're talking about a 2 hour round trip that's worth money to me. I, too, have come up with a minimum hourly rate.

For some of the audits I do, I have a map with circles drawn that increase in range and my home is the center. I'll do one job in circle 1, for circle 2 I need a minimum of two to make it profitable, for circle 3 I need three jobs, etc. If there isn't enough work, then I ask for mileage, time and tolls.

I love that!!!

itsasecret Wrote:
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> Tell them "A few dollars buys one gallon. I
> thought you wanted me to go all the way to the
> site." LOL.

I think JamesBond had mentioned some time back about using a map with circles to delineate his travel costs so he could more quickly and easily put together routes. I use a similar method to make it handy when negotiating with schedulers.

What I want to know if that if you go through all that math and come up with the figure and ask for it . . . do they actually pay it? Cuz if they do, I'm going to start asking for a LOT more for my travels!


SandiAigo Wrote:
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> I take the current government mileage allowance
> and multiply that by Mapquest's round trip number,
> rounding up (sometimes a bit over) for my getting
> lost. Then I look to see if I will have any tolls
> and throw them in. I realize that drive time is
> technically not paid for in most cases, but, hey,
> if we're talking about a 2 hour round trip that's
> worth money to me. I, too, have come up with a
> minimum hourly rate.
>
> For some of the audits I do, I have a map with
> circles drawn that increase in range and my home
> is the center. I'll do one job in circle 1, for
> circle 2 I need a minimum of two to make it
> profitable, for circle 3 I need three jobs, etc.
> If there isn't enough work, then I ask for
> mileage, time and tolls.

Just because you ask doesn't mean they are obligated to say yes. Business is business and if there are other people in the area that will do it for peanuts they will get them to do the shop and it will be your loss. There is a fine line when it comes to negotiating mileage.

itsasecret Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What I want to know if that if you go through all
> that math and come up with the figure and ask for
> it . . . do they actually pay it? Cuz if they do,
> I'm going to start asking for a LOT more for my
> travels!
>
>
> SandiAigo Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I take the current government mileage allowance
> > and multiply that by Mapquest's round trip
> number,
> > rounding up (sometimes a bit over) for my
> getting
> > lost. Then I look to see if I will have any
> tolls
> > and throw them in. I realize that drive time
> is
> > technically not paid for in most cases, but,
> hey,
> > if we're talking about a 2 hour round trip
> that's
> > worth money to me. I, too, have come up with a
> > minimum hourly rate.
> >
> > For some of the audits I do, I have a map with
> > circles drawn that increase in range and my
> home
> > is the center. I'll do one job in circle 1,
> for
> > circle 2 I need a minimum of two to make it
> > profitable, for circle 3 I need three jobs, etc.
>
> > If there isn't enough work, then I ask for
> > mileage, time and tolls.

I know that. I'm trying to find out if some of them DO pay it. I know they don't HAVE to agree.

You don't have to specifically ask for mileage costs. I just say that it is farther than I usually travel and to compensate me for the extra time I need xx dollars for the shop. I have done that a couple of times. Once they agreed and the other time they gave me a counter offer which I did not take. The only MSC's that will do this is the ones that typically bonus the shops. If an MSC doesn't bonus shops they most probably will not give you extra. Of course it also depends on the pressure the scheduler has for completing the shop. Are they close to the deadline.

I tend to be flexible on this.

Back in December I had a scheduler call me to do three bank shops in a town 90 miles away. She told me right up front that there was no bonus money available but if I did these, she would work with me on shops this year. Since my car gets fairly descent mileage, I took the shops even though they were basically break even. Once I completed them, I told her I wanted the two shops at each of the six branches in that area in March of this year. That became a $200+ day and made up for the break even day.

I had 17 bank shops this past Tuesday and Wednesday. The route was originally 25 banks and an additional 250 miles. I gave them my bonus per shop I would need and they said that wasn't possible. I reworked the route, removing the 8 outlier shops, and told them what I would need. They countered. It was less than I wanted but I took it as a freind in the city where I spent the night was interested in maybe getting into this gig. The bonus I got paid about half the hotel room, I got a free dinner shop, and still made money so the trip to talk with my friend about MSing wasn't a total waste. Now, if I didn't ahve the meeting with my friend...I probably would not have taken the route.

Travel expenses and/or bonuses are not limited to MSCs who regularly bonus jobs. Virtually any will bonus depending on their need and your reliability.

LisaSTL Wrote:
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> Travel expenses and/or bonuses are not limited to
> MSCs who regularly bonus jobs. Virtually any will
> bonus depending on their need and your
> reliability.

and some of the ones that will bonus will be surprising to many, but as Lisa said, their willingness to bonus will be based on your reliability.

My main route msc's have maps of the states I shop and what it will cost for me to go to certain areas in those states, so they have a general idea of if I will even entertain their offer.

Of all the msc's I work with, only 1 is allowed to assign shops without asking me since we are on the same page with costs, deadlines etc


I can tell you one thing, never ask for a bonus and then flake on the shop, ever. I don't care if you are in a hospital bed, have someone wheel the hospital bed to the shop.

It is also the case that the shoppers that schedulers seek out and offer bonuses to are shoppers who have already shown themselves to be very reliable. So, you really need to do several shops for a scheduler before you can expect to start getting those calls. I think is was after about 6 months of doing lots of shops that I started getting calls. Before that, nada.

Remember to think of driving distance as TIME. I live in the most congested traffic area in the US; add in that there are only two places to cross the river between MD/DC and VA, and my time needed, say to go the Dulles airport changes from the 35 minutes shown on the mapping programs to 60+ minutes, depending on construction delays that are often much worse than the terrible rush hour traffic. I have really had to work to educate schedulers to this reality.

Finally, remember that some schedulers are looking at "as the crow flies" distance estimates. I once had a scheduler say that it was only 60 miles from Milwaukee, WI to Luddington, MI, so why would I need funds for an overnight stay, just to do a 2 hour video. Well, the road mileage is 240 miles; and the car ferry that crosses Lake Michigan's 60 mile width only runs a few months per year and takes 6 hours each way.