So, the conversation about returning items that you've received a reimbursement for got me thinking. (FYI: Verdict in that thread is DON'T do it unless MSP specifically says it is okay.) While that form of double dipping is not cool, what are some other ways available? Here are some ideas I've come across, from simple to more complex.

1. Does the MSP allow coupons to be used on the shop? If so use a coupon and you get more for your reimbursement allotment.

2. Does the hotel, store, or restaurant have a loyalty program? Does the MSP allow you to use it on your shop? If so, get those free points! (Pro-tip: for hotels, even if the folio charge is reversed instead of reimbursed, the points usually stay.)

3. Do you have a credit card that earns rewards points? Use it to pay for shop expenses.

4. Does the MSP allow you to use gift cards on the shop? Buy gift cards at a discount online (there are dozens of websites that do this) and use them on the shop. You'll be reimbursed the full amount of your purchase but you got the currency you used to make your purchase at below face-value.

5. This one is more complex but can be worthwhile for larger reimbursable purchases. See if there is a credit card you can take out and earn a bonus for a minimum spend. The example I just had was that I had to buy $1400 airline tickets for a shop (that were a covered travel expense). The airline offered bonus points and a statement credit for making a $1000 in purchases in the first three months of having the card. So, in a few minutes, I got enough frequent flyer miles to buy at least one domestic ticket and an extra $100 of statement credit against a purchase. (You obviously have to be comfortable taking out new credit and be credit-worthy for this to work.)

None of these options are available on all shops. But quite a few of them are. Not every company allows the use of credit cards, gift cards, or coupons for shop purchases but plenty do. You always need to either see a clear ruling on those questions in the guidelines or ask the scheduler in advance! What are some ways that you legitimately "double dip"?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/2015 01:01PM by elynbeth.

And, you can, depending on the item and its value, sell it on eBay, Craigslist, or other selling sites. Or trade it on a swap site for something you really do need. Or purchase something you can give as a gift. Etc., etc., etc.

Emma from Mystery Shopping Services explained exceedingly well why double dipping is not the right thing to do. If, after reading her post, anyone can justify it, I'd be amazed. We do need to remember that we have a duty to our clients, the MSCs, to not purposely engage in any activity that can potentially harm their businesses.

I would be weary of #4 to take those ebay gift cards on my shop, unless I checked their balance prior to the shop.

Otherwise, great ideas!

@SunnyDays2 wrote:

I would be weary of #4 to take those ebay gift cards on my shop, unless I checked their balance prior to the shop.

Otherwise, great ideas!

In the past when I've bought gift cards, I've used Raise.com, which has a guarantee on the balance. There are other similar sites. I stay away from eBay in general. But, I agree, definitely check the balance first!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/2015 02:41PM by elynbeth.

I have a cash back credit card I use for all my reimbursements (where cash is not a requirement). That gives me an extra 2% on all my reimbursement money. I just bought my first Five Guys gift card on Raise for an $11 discount, which I'm really excited about, too.

One area not mentioned, shopping the same location at the same time for different MSCs or clients. I'd avoid that all together. If the client has different scenarios with different MSCs, they will see the overlap and most likely consider it a conflict. Even if it's different clients, there is always the potential for someone in the scheduling or review chain to notice. Several MSCs are clearly indicating this practice is not acceptable.

Yes, there are several well rated gift card sites with decent discounts.

The problem I see is potentially violating a guideline restriction. We may personally patronize a location and get in the habit of using the/a card, then be on a shop requiring a cash only purchase and by instinct use the card. I had to reschedule a FF shop recently after using my CC out of habit.

As for returning purchases, I appreciate guidelines that clearly indicate what is/isn't allowed. I agree it's better to not return something if the guidelines are not clear in that area.

Unless it's a purchase/return shop, I never return a required purchase.

I DO make sure my purchases are suitable for gift-giving -- and that's another form of "double-dipping".

I mentioned in the other post that I like to take high spending shops to maximize points on my credit cards. I seem to always have a rotating credit card portfolio where I need to meet a certain bonus.
If you do a lot of dining shops / travel shops / gas shops the Citi Thank You Premier card offers 3x the points on travel and gas and 2x the points on dining and entertainment. The AmEx Everyday card if you use it 20 times per billing cycle you get 20% more points on those purchases.

I usually don't carry any cash even for a $2 item I would pay in credit card. So I read guidelines very carefully and make sure I have cash in my wallet when the shop requires payment in cash.

@elynbeth that sounds like the same card I just got, $1000 in one month, that's fast one for a mileage card, it's usually $3000 in 3 months, mine was for Aeroplan.

I have never used giftcards or groupon for shops, I am just afraid it would mess up the reimbursement. I guess I will ask the scheduler next time I see a shop that has a gift card. I know the Auntie Anne's does Groupon a lot and the one I perform is a flat fee so perhaps that might work? The guidelines on that one does not say must pay for in cash but one of the questions asks about cash handling. I have used a credit card on that shop a couple times.

@aayaey wrote:

I mentioned in the other post that I like to take high spending shops to maximize points on my credit cards. I seem to always have a rotating credit card portfolio where I need to meet a certain bonus.
If you do a lot of dining shops / travel shops / gas shops the Citi Thank You Premier card offers 3x the points on travel and gas and 2x the points on dining and entertainment. The AmEx Everyday card if you use it 20 times per billing cycle you get 20% more points on those purchases.

I usually don't carry any cash even for a $2 item I would pay in credit card. So I read guidelines very carefully and make sure I have cash in my wallet when the shop requires payment in cash.

@elynbeth that sounds like the same card I just got, $1000 in one month, that's fast one for a mileage card, it's usually $3000 in 3 months, mine was for Aeroplan.

I have never used giftcards or groupon for shops, I am just afraid it would mess up the reimbursement. I guess I will ask the scheduler next time I see a shop that has a gift card. I know the Auntie Anne's does Groupon a lot and the one I perform is a flat fee so perhaps that might work? The guidelines on that one does not say must pay for in cash but one of the questions asks about cash handling. I have used a credit card on that shop a couple times.

It was an AA card in this situation. But, most airlines have something.

I haven't done many shops with giftcards either. I only have done it when the guidelines explicitly list them as an acceptable form of payment.

That actually reminds me of another option, if you're a points chaser. If you have a credit card that gives bonus points for certain merchants (say office supply stores) you can use that card to buy a GC at the store and then use the GC on your shop. This, of course, works in live in general Usually when I want to buy something big ticket on Amazon, I run down the street to Staples and get an Amazon GC with my credit card that gives me 5% back at office supply stores.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/2015 06:45PM by elynbeth.

@elynbeth Speaking of Amazon right now Chase Freedom has doubled the rewards for this quarter so it's 10x for Amazon and a few other merchants.

I'm not that good at keeping track, in fact it definitely does not come second nature to me like many others on the points blogs. I have a sibling who really reminds me of the George Clooney character in Up In the Air so I get constant emails reminding me to use this credit card or that one and which ones to apply.

I do have to say I love the rewards that enable me to travel Business class for very little (mainly taxes and fees) to Asia, Europe and even Africa.

I find that gift cards are allowed on many of the shops I do (I specifically check each and every time). A grocery chain here frequently allows the purchase of a $50 gas card for $40 when you buy $50 worth of groceries. (That is $50 worth down the belt before couponing off a fair amount of the $50.) And that deal is perfect in a month when my credit card is paying 5% off on grocery purchases.

Groupon and restaurants.com are treated like "coupons" so I have not seen a shop where they are allowed.

Papa John's lets you use a coupon and I almost always get either a free pizza or a side item with my order.

Last year, I donated a new-in-box toy to my car dealer for their Toys for Tots drive. They were giving a coupon for a free oil change as a thank you to everyone who brought in a toy.

That deal worked for me. It was not connected to MSing, but it's the kind of useful deal I look for.

If you want the extra rewards for using a gift card but do not want to mess with the websites, you can also purchase at a retailer that will offer you loyalty points. I know Kroger has their fuel points which I can get a discount for simply purchasing giftcards to use for shops.

I don't know if this has been mentioned on other posts, but if you get a PayPal Business Mastercard debit card, you get 1% cash back on everything. They give you the money once a month. You don't have to have money in your PayPal to use it as long as you have a backup funding source in good standing. One word of caution though: I always have a backup card when I use it because I have found their security protocols are a bit harsh and it gets denied for no reason more than I would like. Usually it goes through the second time but occasionally it doesn't. I use mine for everything, any bills I can pay online too, and it goes through to my bank account once I use up the money in my PayPal.

@CeciliaM wrote:

I don't know if this has been mentioned on other posts, but if you get a PayPal Business Mastercard debit card, you get 1% cash back on everything.

FYI, for anyone interested.. US only for anything paypal other then usual online transactions.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/2015 12:14AM by Mafia_Princess.

I got a double dip deal recently that accidently rained itself down on me. I did an oil change shop at a business and while I was waiting on the oil change I photographed their parking lot for a striping bid. Ding ding ding!

I did a shop yesterday with a required purchase, but no reimbursement for said item. There was NOTHING in the store for less than $60! I ended up purchasing a $98 watch cap (which I said would be a present for my DIL), then returning it 45 minutes later, saying my son told me she wouldn't like it.

@ceasesmith wrote:

Unless it's a purchase/return shop, I never return a required purchase.

I DO make sure my purchases are suitable for gift-giving -- and that's another form of "double-dipping".

Goodwin allows groupons for many of their shops in my area. I have bought a $30 groupon for $15, spent $30 at the restaurant and got paid the flat fee of $30...so really spent $15, got $30 worth of product and an extra $15 to boot. I always ask though. They almost never have restrictions.

Service impressions also allows groupons for the restaurant I do.

When I go to California Pizza Kitchen, I pay $80 at Costco for $100 in gift cards and you can earn dough rewards during shops. I earn a free entrée after each visit practically. I use that on nights I don't want to cook.

My Bank of America card has cash back deals for various merchants such as the office supply stores, Five Guys, and Finish Line, that I've been able to benefit from after paying for shops.

@TanyaBai wrote:

When I go to California Pizza Kitchen, I pay $80 at Costco for $100 in gift cards and you can earn dough rewards during shops. I earn a free entrée after each visit practically. I use that on nights I don't want to cook.

You must be doing CPK from a different msc than I do. My shops reimburse $75 for dinner and much less for lunch. The rewards card gives me $5 after spending $100 on only the food. So a $75 dinner ends up with a half reward of $2.50 after taking out the tip, tax and alcohol. How do you do this shop and get a free entree?

I can now purchase reimbursed 14x14x14 boxes for the post office shops at Office Depot and spend the $10 necessary to get $2 each for recycling ink cartridges.

@KathyG wrote:

I did a shop yesterday with a required purchase, but no reimbursement for said item. There was NOTHING in the store for less than $60! I ended up purchasing a $98 watch cap (which I said would be a present for my DIL), then returning it 45 minutes later, saying my son told me she wouldn't like it.

If there was no reimbursement, it's not double dipping. I don't think this presents a problem unless the shop instructions say not to return the item. A flat-fee shop with required purchase is (at least in my mind) a different situation from a fee + reimbursement shop. I, personally, wouldn't have returned the item so quickly, though. If anyone had suspected you were the shopper, that may have confirmed it.... It would seem suspicious to me if I were the salesperson.

My non-returnable required purchases are often things I can give as gifts when sending "cheer-up" gifts to friends when I do my post office shops. Nothing in the guidelines say anything about having to keep the purchased item forever.

Triple dip! parking garage evaluation. shopped a restaurant that covered my parking and visited an account of mine and submitted as an expense. Sux that parking was only $2.99.

I do grocery shops a lot that have a decent reimbursement. A while ago I bought a gift card for the store. I buy one small item (usually a required item for the shop), and then have the cashier add value to my gift card up to the reimbursement level. I pay for this with my cash back card. So I get reimbursed for the amount I put on the gift card, then still have it to spend later, and a little extra cash back on the credit card.

I also did this with a shop at a baby supply store where I had to make a purchase. I purchased gift cards, so I got paid to buy the cards, then got to use them.

A lot of the shops I see say that it's OK to pay with gift cards but you can't buy gift cards.

In my real life I've been known to return items shortly after I've bought them. In these days of texting, it's easy to send a photo to someone to see if they give an item a thumbs up or thumbs down. Hmmm...I wonder if store associates have wondered if I I was the mystery shopper long before I actually started doing it?

@BirdyC wrote:

If there was no reimbursement, it's not double dipping. I don't think this presents a problem unless the shop instructions say not to return the item. A flat-fee shop with required purchase is (at least in my mind) a different situation from a fee + reimbursement shop. I, personally, wouldn't have returned the item so quickly, though. If anyone had suspected you were the shopper, that may have confirmed it.... It would seem suspicious to me if I were the salesperson.

@optikdave wrote:

Triple dip! parking garage evaluation. shopped a restaurant that covered my parking and visited an account of mine and submitted as an expense. Sux that parking was only $2.99.

If both the garage and restaurant paid for the parking, that would not be an acceptable double dip without permission from both companies. And since you were reimbursed, you can't count it as an expense for visiting a client.

I have found that using coupons benefits the company not me. If they reimburse up to $10 and I use a $3 coupon, they only reimburse me $7. I don't think I have ever done a shop that reimbursed more than I actually spent on a shop.