Mystery Shopping in Michigan

I have been mystery shopping in Metro Detroit area in Michigan now for a little over 5-1/2 years. I get the Mystery Shopper Magazine sent to me via email and I saw an interesting article where this lady made $1,439+ in one month and that she was disabled. I do work a part-time job that has hours all over the map--early morning, late night, plus one week I will work 32 hours and the next less than 20, etc. The money is OK from the part-time job, but I could really use more money because my car is getting old and needs a lot of repairs and I don't have a way to pay for those repairs. Right now, my mechanic states that I need about $1,000 worth of repairs to be done to make the car really safe and then I need $3,000 to get the compressor fixed so the air conditioner can work in my car.

I know you are wondering why I gave you all this information, but basically I make somewhere between $25-$150 per month mystery shopping. I would REALLY like to make what that lady stated she made in the Mystery Shopper Magazine so I could get most of my car repairs done and be well on my way to getting the compressor replaced on my car.

So, I would like opinions from other veteran mystery shoppers of whether this is ACTUALLY possible in Metro Detroit, Michigan.

Thank you.

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fcolando, Welcome to the forum. So much of income potential in mystery shopping depends on how many shops are in your area, and how many shoppers are competing for them. As you've been shopping for years, I'm sure you know the first thing to do is sign with more MSCs. Another useful tool, is Jobslinger (the free edition) to see who has shops in your area. Take fee-only shops, no purchase required ~ banks, wireless, apartments, etc. Take shops with useful reimbursements where you would spend the money anyway ~ oil changes, dry cleaning, gas, groceries, maybe even a restaurant. If the fee justifies, expand the amount of miles you're willing to drive.

Keep this in mind. Unless you have access to public transportation and can work your mystery shopping assignments around it, the miles you put on your car will be significant. Meanwhile, you will be waiting 30 to 90 days for the money. Definitely sign up with a lot more companies while reading up on creating routes. A route doesn't have to be hundreds of miles, it can be within a 10 mile radius of your home for now. The point is to cluster shops together as efficiently as possible.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

Oh I so envy you because you are just outside of the 49221 zip code (ok, not really, but closer to it than I am in Chicago) and every month I see hundreds of dollars within 100 miles of this zipcode to be made and never assigned on mventix's job board. I am considering making my rounds one weekend. I would rent a vehicle, use hotwire, and get paid! I started making more when I began focusing on companies like mventix, helion, and bestmark after googling which companies pay more and joining this forum.

I don't live in Michigan, but I visit my family in that area one to two times a year. I shop when I am there. Compared to where I have lived and shopped regularly, I find that area more saturated with shoppers. The bonuses are more difficult to come by. However, I always find plenty of shops overall.

Archie's Mom, great job on increasing your income but I'm curious why you think mVentix and Bestmark are high paying companies. mVentix is good because while the pay is not high, the assignments tend to be easy peasy and quick. Not so much with Bestmark unless you are scoring bonuses.

Hi fcolando, welcome! I am in southeastern Michigan and it is definitely possible to make that kind of income, but you need to sign up with a lot of companies and you need a reliable vehicle because as I'm sure you know, public transportation here is virtually nonexistent. My shop radius is generally Lansing-Dexter-Detroit but I've been up north and to the UP a couple times. I have been shopping for 11 months and over the last few months I've averaged $800/month. I usually shop for an hour or so after work 2-3 days per week, and maybe 3 days per month I'll set up a shop route of 8ish hours. There are way more shops on the job boards than I'm able to do! You can make this work

Hi Fcolando. I'm here in SE MI as well. $3000 to fix a compressor? That's nuts. Get another quote. I would recommend Damian's in Troy on Maple.
As for increasing you MS income, like the other forum users have said, sign up for more companies. I counted $216 in posted commissions this morning at Market Force alone for their wireless retail client. (Not the shop where you have to change providers, but if you're into that, there a lot of those available as well.). I wait until those shops are bonused, but if you need cash, grab 'em. There's a lot more as well for the fast casual and fast food client, but I was counting the shops where you don't have to lay out any capital. Market Force pays around the 10th with direct deposit, so that's only 3 weeks till payday. Ace and Sinclair also have a lot of shops in the area. I see a bunch on Isecretshop as well. And if you are able to travel up into the thumb or the UP, I see bunches of shops very highly bonused.
You can make that $1500 monthly income here, you just have to go get it. Best wishes and good luck with the ride.

proudly shopping in the D.

I'm also a MI shopper and make my living off of MS. It is possible to earn a good income off MS if you work for it. It will take some trial and error to find out what shops or companies you like but stick with it and it gets easier.

I have been on leave from my day job for the last 12 weeks and, for a majority of that time, I was recovering from major surgery and unable to leave the house at all. I was able to maintain an average of $700-$800 each month, with a large portion of that being from phone and web shops. Those have no overhead at all (except for the phone and internet access required). That may be a good place to start if you are wary about putting a ton of miles on your car.

Edited for clarity.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/2016 05:01PM by meghan9262.

PaulinMI,

Thank you for your information. However, the $3000 is to REPLACE the compressor. I cannot get it fixed. It doesn't work at all. But thanks to the tips I will try PHONE only and WEB shops to see how much money I can get to fix my car.

Thanks everyone for all the helpful tips I have received since posting my original message. I really, really DO appreciate it.

Fcolando

Good luck and keep us posted.

Wow Meghan, that is impressive. Hope you are recuperating quickly.

Thanks, chigirl777! I started at the beginning of the year, working on my relationships with the schedulers and companies I knew did shops I could complete from home and made it very clear to all of them that my availability for those would be wide open starting in March. A little bit of it was luck, too, as Baird Group had a large project come up right after my leave started that kept me busy for all of April and I got approved for a mailer study from Mintel as well that put a happy fee in my pocket at the end of March, April, and (soon) May.

I'm back to my regular day job tomorrow, though (boo-hoo, pout, pout, pout).

Just to let everyone of you know - I am sorry that I assumed that the person who earned $1,439 was a woman. My apologies. I am truly sorry.

I am going to take the tips that all of you have given and hopefully I will be making a few more than $125 a month.

Thank you ALL so much again.

fcolando

Don't apologize. That happens all the time with some of the crazy (in a good way) user names here

@fcolando wrote:

Just to let everyone of you know - I am sorry that I assumed that the person who earned $1,439 was a woman. My apologies. I am truly sorry.

fcolando

Just wait until you get one of the store clerks named Chris or Dana or Pat that you need to determine male or female for your report.

Shopping across Indiana but mostly around Indianapolis.

@fcolando wrote:

PaulinMI,

Thank you for your information. However, the $3000 is to REPLACE the compressor. I cannot get it fixed. It doesn't work at all. But thanks to the tips I will try PHONE only and WEB shops to see how much money I can get to fix my car.

Thanks everyone for all the helpful tips I have received since posting my original message. I really, really DO appreciate it.

Fcolando

Hi Fcolando. I still think you should get another quote. The average part cost to replace an AC compressor is less than $500. Most are less than $300. The labor should not be more than 5 fours, and at an average rate of $50-$75 hour, that still puts you total cost below $1000. I know some shops try to take advantage of people if the they think they can. Try looking up the price to buy a new or re-manufactured compressor for your vehicle online. At least you'll have an idea when talking to your mechanic about the actual cost of the parts.

Unless there is more to the repair than what you're telling us, this smells fishy to me. For $3000, I'd consider another car, you know?

proudly shopping in the D.

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