Back in December I started this thread:

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

I mentioned that I would attempt to track the value of Gold Certification to me over a 6 month period. Well with just a week left in June I'm calling it as I don't expect any new revelations before end of the month. I have been periodically updating the first post of that thread with my findings for those that are interested in digging into the details, but I'll summarize my results briefly below.

- I had stated two goals that, if I achieved either through certification I would feel the cost of certification to be well worthwhile. Unfortunately (1) I did not learn of any new local resorts that are shopped and (2) did not receive one of my two targeted high-value assignments due to gold certification. (One of the two I wound up getting before becoming certified, and the other hasn’t appeared on the job boards this year.)

- I received a total of 1 shop I might not have been assigned otherwise. This was a great restaurant though, so let's say I got at least some value from this shop. No extra money in my pocket though. I wouldn't have paid $75 for the priviledge of doing this assignment, though I certainly would have paid $75+ for the meal if I didn't have to report on it.

- I feel like I received essentially no value to me as an educational tool. I have been shopping for a while so after watching the first few minutes of the video I felt like it would be a waste of my time.

- With the exception of one company's job board, I did not notice any new assignment types showing up on job boards or emails that I previously had not seen. Throughout the 6 months I kept tabs on every shop to show up on each job board at least once per week. The one exception (a prophet company) began showing hotel assignments scattered around the mainland as being "in my area" after I input my Gold cert. But at least locally, getting certified didn't let me see anything I hadn't seen before.

In summary, I have gained at least a little value from certification though it has definitely not yet proven to be worth the full $75. Note that I have only been certified now for 4 months so I'm not saying I definitely won't recoup the value. And even though I'm not seeing anything new, I'm guessing that things could be different if I was located elsewhere. So while it may not yet have proven worthwhile to me, I'm hopeful it will eventually pay off and as with anything, YMMV.

*My apologies to the mods for starting a new thread on the same topic, but the old one has been closed and frankly had gone so far off topic as to be quite distracting.

saacman, I see you've been a member of the forum for four years in July so you've been shopping for at least four years. I can understand why getting certified at this late date in your shopping career resulted in very little difference in what you see. After all, you're already established as a shopper.

I got different results but then I certified fairly early before I was well established and I found certification very helpful. I picked up a large amount of rewarding work that I could definitely identify as the companies contacted me based on my certification. I'm sorry it didn't work out better for you. I've always believed the newer shoppers see the greatest benefit from certification. At the same time I believe it is helpful, I don't believe it is necessary. I'm glad I did it when I started out as I got an excellent return on the investment.

It's good to hear this , as I've often wondered if it was worth it. I am Silver Certified and the only possible advantage I could see to paying for Gold is if you live in a very competitive market it would be a way to stand out from the rest.

Thank you for taking the time to keep us informed.

Thanks for providing your insight into the gold certification. I have been shopping for about three years and got my silver certification last year. There was one email that noted I was offered the job first because I was silver certified. I did not notice any change in the number or types of jobs I was offered otherwise after being silver certified.

Thanks for the info. I really appreciate it. I am neither silver or gold certified and at this point, not too anxious to be certified. Maybe later. I am as busy as I want to be and still am very choosy. I am just depending on my records to get me the shops I want to do.

@MDavisnowell wrote:

saacman, I see you've been a member of the forum for four years in July so you've been shopping for at least four years. I can understand why getting certified at this late date in your shopping career resulted in very little difference in what you see. After all, you're already established as a shopper.

Yep, I believe it's been around 12 years since I did my first shop while I was finishing college. As I mentioned in the first thread I was quite skeptical that it would be valuable to me in my situation.

@MDavisnowell wrote:

I'm sorry it didn't work out better for you.

Don't feel bad for me. I had no great expectations, but rather thought of this as an interesting experiment and a bit of a gamble. It did have the benefit of motivating me to take on a few more shops than normal and to improve on my record keeping.

@saacman5033: Thank you for keeping your word! I found this experiment to be very interesting and informative! Thank You!

(heart)

Thanks for the information, saacman. I am not certified and I don't really see myself getting certified, but, who knows, I might change my mind sometime.

Thank you, I have been following this thread. I have the "gold" CD's sitting on my desk - I just cannot get up the motivation to watch them. After reading you post maybe it does not really matter. I like having the silver certification since when I am signing up for new MSC's at least they know that I am a decent shopper, but does the gold really matter??

I have been shopping since December and just became gold certified last week. It felt good to inform companies of my new status, and I have actually received calls for high-end car shops since. I get pretty good scores, so I am not sure if it's because of that, or because of my new designation. At any rate, I think a credential shows dedication and commitment, and I am now going to expand to video shopping certification. It keeps it fresh and interesting and I love learning...so what the heck. I found a couple of helpful tips in the DVDs. I would recommend the program to folks new to shopping. It's a nice jump-start.