Greetings shopper friends,

I received an email from Reality Based Group to conduct a pricing audit. Apparently, they email you a list of items, and you go to the store and fill in the prices, and send them to them. Has anyone ever done these? I searched the Forum, and saw they had a similar project, but you had to take a picture of the item and the price tag. How long do these assignments take? I'm wondering if they're worth the effort (ie, is the list 100 items...or 1000...). I've noticed these types of assignments in the past, but I don't know if they're popular and are snapped up, or if they're always looking for shoppers because of the volume. Thanks, and, as always, appreciate your feedback.

Wow...are they that rough that no one on the board has ever done them

Silence speaks volumes sometimes...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/02/2013 03:39AM by MilessMum.

I have done the grocery pricing audits (about 50 or so items) for another MSP without pictures and they are a bit of a PITA. However, I'm not familiar with any from Reality Based Group.

Sorry, I can not help you. I have not done any of those.

Hello Shoppers!

I am one of the schedulers for Reality Based Group's pricing audits, and I am here to provide a bit of clarity on what could be seen as a confusing process! We have been conducting these audits on a weekly basis since 2009 and have had great success working with our auditors. The clients keep coming back for more and we're growing quickly!

Once you are assigned the job via our job board, you will receive the list of items to audit from your scheduler, usually on Friday afternoons. You are to visit your assigned location, locate the products on the list, and fill in how much the store is selling them for. You send the completed list back to your scheduler by that Sunday and fill out a short report in your log. A few products may require pictures, but it will be a small fraction of your list, if any.

Payment is on a per product basis, depending on how many items are on your list and how many are returned. The minimum payment is $15, and I've seen the maximum go as high as $200 for one audit for some of the more experienced experts!

You are required to have Paypal and Microsoft Excel. Other than that, your scheduler will provide all of the required information, and you're good to go!

If you ever have any questions about a posting, it's best to contact the scheduler of that project for the full guidelines and to get a feel of what would be required.

Thank you, and happy shopping!

Jessie Lang
JLang@realitybasedgroup.com

I do those audits every week. I just started doing them about four months ago and I like them. If you do them the way I was taught, they are very easy (I do the small audit, never tried the larger one). I get a spread sheet on Sunday which has to be returned by Monday before 10 PM. I go to the stores website and check the current price of each item and if it is in stock. For each item that is in stock, I compare the price to the current market price (on the spread sheet). If the sale price is lower, I mark it , because you will have to take a picture of the price tag at the store. I make a little list of the items in stock and the ones I need pictures of, and I go to the store. I make sure the prices match, take the pictures (which I have never had to do), purchase some cheap thing, and leave. I enter the prices on the spread sheet and send it back. You do complete a report, but I don't think it even takes 5 minutes. You upload pictures and reciept. You get paid a base price, plus 20 cents for each entry over a certain number, and I think a dollar for each picture. This week I had to check on 6 items. The most items I've had is 15. There are bigger audit with hundreds of items, and I think there are different ways to do those. But the small ones are easy and quick and it adds an $64 a month to shopping income.

I've applied a dozen times for these, there's only one in my area, but I've never been selected. I'm guessing the same person get's it every week.

I would love to try one, but they are only available on Mondays in my area. Unfortunately that is the only day of the week that I work a full day at my part time job.

I've never heard of these, so there must not be any in my area.....

I think they're overly time consuming, AND, you aren't supposed to stay there over an hour. It can be very nit picky.. last year I did one and I got emails/c/b's for WEEKS about pricing.. I won't do any over 30 or 50 anymore.

I have seen these posted and have applied but have not been picked to do them. I think they go to more experienced shoppers and that's understandable. Its nice that we can come on here and ask though.

Are these price audits done undercover?

Yes, I have done these a couple of times and just to let you know that if they are at Walmarts please be aware of the Security team that may come up to you and ask you what you are doing since this company does not allow you to register at Walmarts as a Vendor. I got one that told me to end the job and I told the managers of Reality Base what happened and they did apologize for this but you can not do these without drawing attention to yourself. Be careful!