[www.forbes.com]

I came across this Forbes article written anonymously by a woman who claims she made $14,000 a year mystery shopping.

That sounded like a lot of money at first glance, given that she only did it part-time (she was a lawyer in her day job). Yet, it got me wondering...

How exactly does one go about making so much?

I know routing shops is helpful and signing up with 75+ mystery shopping companies seems like a good idea to give you as many options as possible. And assuming you're in a decent sized city (for example, Atlanta), where there are lots of businesses, what would a shopper's schedule and shop types look like to pull in over $1,000/month?

I know bank account openings give $100+ fees. But, unless you have thousands of dollars lying around, not everyone can open a ton of new accounts (banks around here usually require a $1,000 minimum deposit). I am only able to do one of those every few months. Then, you have apartment shops and car negotiation shops, which can pay $50+ per assignment.

But aside from banking, apartment, and car negotiation shops (of which you'd seemingly have to do a bunch), how do people who make $1,000+ a month mystery shopping do so? I'm just curious what types of shops (or companies they're signed up with) or arrangements they make to do so.

I live in a small town in the south with very few shops and I could easily do $1000 a month here with no overnight trips (or very few). Of course I would be doing shops I don't enjoy for companies I don't care about, but it would be easily doable. Here's an example.

There are two companies that do gas station mystery shops for the store owners (not gas co) in my area. The both pay $10 a pop. I could easily pick up 15-20 a month. At 15 that would be $150.

In that same physical area there are 30 or so drive in fast food restaurants. I could easily do 15 of those, even without a bonus (and some of these locations are HEAVILY bonused at times) that's another $75.

Another company does gas station mystery shops in my area that pay $6 and reimburse $5 of gas. I consider that $11 profit. They are quarterly shops but I could easily do 5 of them a month (and some of these are HEAVILY bonused at times). THat's another $55.

There is a major gas station chain that is audited each month that has at least 40 locations in the same drivable area. They pay $12.50 each and another $5 in gas means $17.50 each. I could easily do 15 of those every month for another $265.50.

There's another major gas station chain that is audited each quarter that has twice as many locations as the last one. It pays $10.50 and maybe $5 in gas, or $15.50 each. I could do 15 of those every month as well. That's another $225 or something.

Just that easily I got to $775 doing 65 shops over 30 days and not even considering bonus money at all. That's just over 2 shops a day. Yeah you don't want to work 30 days but even if you only worked 20 that's barely 3 shops a day.

Edited to add:

That's not how I make my money. Just giving you an easy example of how it could be done. And even then only having to sign up with 4 companies. No I'm not telling you which 4 companies.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2017 02:54AM by bgriffin.

BG actually makes a lot more than that by traveling away from home for a couple of weeks per month.

BUT no one just starts out on that level.. This has to be earned and researched and then earned again, with performance and reliability.

I have a number of medical/physical restraints on my activity level, in addition to being a bit lazy, and I come within shouting distance of $1000 a month regularly. I work part time but, a few hours each day, on only 10-12 days a month. Could work more and earn more, but, as I said, I am lazy.

Don't give away all of my secrets!!!

My goal when I began was $200 a month. I didn't believe that to be achievable. Each month I earned a bit more. I learned about new clients, ones that I liked working for better or worked better for me. About six months in I was making about $500 a month. I finished out the year at about $700 a month. I have no idea what happened this year. At first my calendar filled slowly, next thing I know I've booked myself to oblivion. I'm averaging $1,000 for both Jan and Feb. But, I'm reaching burnout and February has only begun. I need a week with my feet in the warm sun somewhere. Enough with winter already.

Anyway, to answer your question it can certainly be done. I work full time, 40 hours a week. Mystery is a part time addiction for me. I would say this, organizational skills are mandatory for success in this business. When you're juggling shops and filling niches in your calendar, you better know what you're doing or you risk messing up on a shop (or two). I'm really anal and I have built a database for my records, but there are time like today when I have paperwork scatter everywhere because I'm just trying make deadlines. You really need to be flexible as well. But, it most certainly can be done.

I live in a smaller metro area, 500k. I generally make one route shop a month to the larger metro area an hour away. The rest is done within 40 miles of my home. I bunch as many shops together in an area as I can, within the time frame I have to work.

Edited to add: And after the full-time job and all the mystery shops, I am here reading and/or writing MS posts. I'm truly insane.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2017 03:32AM by COMystery.

I've been hush-hush about this... but January 5th I received a layoff notice saying my last day would be January 4th. What the heck? Of course, I was hired with this as an understanding of a possibility...I was getting ready to log in and the system notified me. I knew it could happen but it hadn't YET. This kinda through my plans for a loop considering savings, grad school apps, and so forth but the show goes on (: I've been working a part time gig since then and still volunteering with the crisis line. Sooooo

Here's how my January shopping went.. I took a a week off to clear my head... organize my files, get my taxes started, do my books...scrub the walls... replace some paneling & insulation.. blah blah and plan a mega route... I will not be repeating this in February because I am FRAZZLED. I have planned much better here in February and am getting more work outside my comfort zone (of driving). I was used to my little 45-60 minute bubble and decided to head out about two hours any direction that offered work.

I did two food shops with a $25 bonus each. ($50)
I did 12 phone inquiry shops for $12 each. ($144)
I did 32 photo upload shops at $10 each. ($320)
I did two account shops for $60 each ($120)
I did two more food shops at $10 each ($20)
I did 8 compliance shops at $10 each and one for $20 ($90)
I did 11 covert photo shops between $17-$27 each for a total of $265
I did 6 bank checking only at $10 each and one at $20 for a total of $80
I did an inquiry for moneymarket on bonus for $40
I did two more inquiries for credit products $25 each for a total of $50
I picked up 18 phone calls for a research company at $3 each for $54
I picked up recorded calls at $10 each for 6 calls and a total of $60
I did car type shops at $25 each for four of them. $100
I grabbed up 18 customer service shops at $10 each for $180 plus a reimbursed $10 purchase!
I did 3 postal shops at $12 each
I did miscellaneous style shops totally $124.80
I did "heavy item" shops; 3 of them for $30
Two more food shops at $50 each on bonus and same day completion for $100
I did two drive in shops at $25 each for $50 -- also bonus for early/same day
I did two app test shops at $10 each for $20.
I did six print shops at $12 each for $72
I picked up 26 mini shops from an app I use for basically walking into store for pics. Some were not the easiest but fast $118 considering the pay is within hours.
And I did 2 appointment and then cancel phone calls for $5 each for a total of $10.

I also sold quite a few things on eBay that came from my shops. EBay earnings were $198.45 but keep in mind this could cause tax questions and iffy situations for reimbursed/non-reimbursed business expenses. Always ask the tax guys to be sure.

February, I have nearly 80 shops planned through the month at about $10-$15 average each. Many of these are phone calls so I can plant my tailbone in a chair and chill. Many more are photos and purchases or inquiries to evaluate service. I don't have more than 5 shops planned each day so far and I have made sure to leave Sat&Sun off. I have very few that will take long narratives. Some of these shops I got by simply emailing a scheduler that I would take "all" of a certain type and crack out 4-5 in a day. I didn't want to let the income flow stop on my part. I'm very driven by green paper with numbers and photos of past presidents on it... I tried to work February out to where I would see about 6-8 hours of work M-F like regular desk job. I was working 9am to 6pm M-F so it's no change up and I was working a desk job. I gained almost 30 lbs at my desk, even varying it up with about 80% standing. The last 3 weeks... I've lost about 10 lbs. I'd say I still eat 2200-2500 calories a day. I digress.

I hope this can give you an image of how it "can" be done but not necessarily how it should be. I will not be repeating January's antics and chaos. There were days of getting up at 7am to go out the door and getting home to be up until 1-2AM writing reports... then rinse and repeat. February is looking like I will be home and all finished up around 6 or 7pm each day. I'm sure ish will go amiss, but I'm so much more prepared for February and this forum is excellent for help if the right folks are responsive.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2017 03:57AM by clinen11.

This is going to sound maybe very dumb or naive, but I had never thought of going outside of my city!!

Actually, I have gone to one neighboring city, because it's a good place and I am familiar with it, but the other city bordering mine is not the safest.

I also am not registered with enough companies (less than 50). And I fear doing too many shops in one day, because I don't want to make mistakes that will cost me the shop.

Also, I figure a lot of these $10 shops are not worth my time, because of the gas costs and wear and tear on my car. I would need a good number of shops and/or a high paying one to drive farther than 15-20 miles.

I appreciate everyone's stories so far, though! It makes me wonder how I can bunch things better and route my shops. I'll have to sign up with more companies AND do some research into how to schedule things on the same day.

Guys/gals - have you all calculated the gas you're spending and the wear and tear on your car into your shopping decisions?

@clinen11 wrote:

I've been hush-hush about this... but January 5th I received a layoff notice saying my last day would be January 4th. What the heck? Of course, I was hired with this as an understanding of a possibility...I was getting ready to log in and the system notified me. I knew it could happen but it hadn't YET. This kinda through my plans for a loop considering savings, grad school apps, and so forth but the show goes on (: I've been working a part time gig since then and still volunteering with the crisis line. Sooooo

Here's how my January shopping went.. I took a a week off to clear my head... organize my files, get my taxes started, do my books...scrub the walls... replace some paneling & insulation.. blah blah and plan a mega route... I will not be repeating this in February because I am FRAZZLED. I have planned much better here in February and am getting more work outside my comfort zone (of driving). I was used to my little 45-60 minute bubble and decided to head out about two hours any direction that offered work.

I did two food shops with a $25 bonus each. ($50)
I did 12 phone inquiry shops for $12 each. ($144)
I did 32 photo upload shops at $10 each. ($320)
I did two account shops for $60 each ($120)
I did two more food shops at $10 each ($20)
I did 8 compliance shops at $10 each and one for $20 ($90)
I did 11 covert photo shops between $17-$27 each for a total of $265
I did 6 bank checking only at $10 each and one at $20 for a total of $80
I did an inquiry for moneymarket on bonus for $40
I did two more inquiries for credit products $25 each for a total of $50
I picked up 18 phone calls for a research company at $3 each for $54
I picked up recorded calls at $10 each for 6 calls and a total of $60
I did car type shops at $25 each for four of them. $100
I grabbed up 18 customer service shops at $10 each for $180 plus a reimbursed $10 purchase!
I did 3 postal shops at $12 each
I did miscellaneous style shops totally $124.80
I did "heavy item" shops; 3 of them for $30
Two more food shops at $50 each on bonus and same day completion for $100
I did two drive in shops at $25 each for $50 -- also bonus for early/same day
I did two app test shops at $10 each for $20.
I did six print shops at $12 each for $72
I picked up 26 mini shops from an app I use for basically walking into store for pics. Some were not the easiest but fast $118 considering the pay is within hours.
And I did 2 appointment and then cancel phone calls for $5 each for a total of $10.

I also sold quite a few things on eBay that came from my shops. EBay earnings were $198.45 but keep in mind this could cause tax questions and iffy situations for reimbursed/non-reimbursed business expenses. Always ask the tax guys to be sure.

February, I have nearly 80 shops planned through the month at about $10-$15 average each. Many of these are phone calls so I can plant my tailbone in a chair and chill. Many more are photos and purchases or inquiries to evaluate service. I don't have more than 5 shops planned each day so far and I have made sure to leave Sat&Sun off. I have very few that will take long narratives. Some of these shops I got by simply emailing a scheduler that I would take "all" of a certain type and crack out 4-5 in a day. I didn't want to let the income flow stop on my part. I'm very driven by green paper with numbers and photos of past presidents on it... I tried to work February out to where I would see about 6-8 hours of work M-F like regular desk job. I was working 9am to 6pm M-F so it's no change up and I was working a desk job. I gained almost 30 lbs at my desk, even varying it up with about 80% standing. The last 3 weeks... I've lost about 10 lbs. I'd say I still eat 2200-2500 calories a day. I digress.

I hope this can give you an image of how it "can" be done but not necessarily how it should be. I will not be repeating January's antics and chaos. There were days of getting up at 7am to go out the door and getting home to be up until 1-2AM writing reports... then rinse and repeat. February is looking like I will be home and all finished up around 6 or 7pm each day. I'm sure ish will go amiss, but I'm so much more prepared for February and this forum is excellent for help if the right folks are responsive.

WOAH! That's a lot of shops.

Out of curiosity, how many companies are you signed up with if you don't mind telling? And is your city a big one?

My city is NOT BIG. My ENTIRE COUNTY is 60,000 people. My home town where I live now is arguably around 900-1300 (census data is up and down) people but there is a community college in the middle of it that has 2k students coming and going. The town I live in has a dollar store, a gas station, and two banks for the students. Oh, and we sorta have two post offices because the college has it's own and so does the town.

When I drive into "the city" about 7 miles away, they have around 6,000 people. The next closest town at 15 miles has around 2500 people. The money is in traveling at the 1 hour mark or two hour mark where a few large university and graduate schools are located. These cities have around 20k-50k people plus the schools population of commuters and on campus living. There are at least 3 large universities within an hour or hour and a half of me and several small ones. Up until the last few weeks to two months, I did not want to go into the city and had only done it a few times for some bonus cash. And our cities are rinkydink compared to so many of these folks!

I'm signed up with about 100 companies. I work with 6 regularly and about 18 total. There are odd ball shops now and again, but the majority of my work comes from the same 6 every week. I still check the boards though because I may miss a nice $20-$50 shop in an area I'm already going to. I live in farm country near the east coast where the mountains are still existent, but the flat land is surely coming and the terrain is just starting to change a smidge. I'm boarding a few states within an hour or two drive, too so that helps finding odd ball shops on the outskirts.

My car sips gas at about 28-35 mpg or more depending on the uphill, downhill, cruise control, eco mode settings. I say about 10 cent a mile in gas, really but the wear and tear I couldn't fathom. Someone totaled my car out and my settlement was enough to almost buy my new one. I still owe some but the accident allowed me to get a brand new car that is just hard for me to really judge the wear and tear I'm putting in. I figure, at my old-old job, I was driving an hour or more each day (30-40 minutes each way), six days a week so any driving I do that's around six hours is comparable to a regular 9-5.

And I'm a serious NEWBIE. I've been involved in shopping for about six months after only working with one company for two and a half years.

My contract job ended in February and I started MSing full time until I got another contract last month.

My goal was to make $400 a week MSing. I did that with no problem.

I avoided shops that had purchases of any kind, with few exceptions. I also shopped the suburbs, not the city near me.I rarely shopped on weekends.

On Sundays, I scoured the MS boards and self assigned/applied for shops for the week.

I did apartments, banks, car negotiations, mattresses and anything with a high dollar bonus.

I did 3-4 high dollar shops per day, and squeezed in the nearby low paying shops. The volume of the low paying shops put me over my threshold.

FYI - you don't need to open a bank account with $1000. You can open it with minimal funding ($25-50) and close it in 60 days with no fees.

@HonnyBrown wrote:

FYI - you don't need to open a bank account with $1000. You can open it with minimal funding ($25-50) and close it in 60 days with no fees.

I'll have to look into that HonnyBrown. I know the larger banks where I live require at least $1,000 and sometimes $1,500. We have smaller banks and credit unions that probably allow very small opening deposits.

...But those big banks like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, etc. seem to require big chunks up front. $1,000 is actually a lot to me right now, so I wouldn't be able to just easily open an account.

By the way, do you ever find it weird when you ask to close the account a few days later? Obviously, you can't reveal your mystery shopping identity, but what good excuses are there? lol

Don't get me wrong on the city part either I've spent ample time in Boston, Corpus Christie, Raleigh, Charlotte, Columbus, Ann Arbor, Charleston, Wilmington, Huntsville, Atlanta, and so forth but not as a permanent resident. 0_o With dads medical history and horrific last year and being retired military police, I've done some travels.

This week, my honeys mom had to have a very large 20cm fibroid tumor removed. We spent the week at Duke. And we were between Raleigh, Charlotte, Ashville, and Greensboro for all the visits getting prepared. The city is not for me. I think the population of the actual city here at Duke is 430k excluding the area around it and while we were in Charlotte for consults, I read it was around 800k.

I don't do city so well. Mostly because... where are the mountains, the rivers, and the pastures?!?!? :-)
I did not mystery shop much while we were here. I was not prepared for the psychotic nature of the first of the month in a big city...

@shoptastic wrote:

@HonnyBrown wrote:

FYI - you don't need to open a bank account with $1000. You can open it with minimal funding ($25-50) and close it in 60 days with no fees.

I'll have to look into that HonnyBrown. I know the larger banks where I live require at least $1,000 and sometimes $1,500. We have smaller banks and credit unions that probably allow very small opening deposits.

...But those big banks like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, etc. seem to require big chunks up front. $1,000 is actually a lot to me right now, so I wouldn't be able to just easily open an account.

By the way, do you ever find it weird when you ask to close the account a few days later? Obviously, you can't reveal your mystery shopping identity, but what good excuses are there? lol

I was able to open a Wells account for $25 and they gave me 30 days to deposit the $25. I just wrote a check that day. I believe I had to have $50 to open the savings account. I do have to use the debit card 10 times within the first 60 days and then 10 times each month after the grace period to avoid fees. I was going to keep it open for a few weeks and see if I could make it work for me anymore before I closed. I try to keep them a couple of weeks or even months and I usually tell them whatever is handy. Joint account, account elsewhere, moving, divorce, don't need it, not using enough to avoid fee, and so forth. It's extra handy if you go online and find out which states they are definitely NOT in. I used that once.

What a month, clinen! I haven't quite mastered stacking shops and creating a lucrative route. I was fortunate enough to stumble upon a nice little auditing project a couple of years ago. These shops were consistently scheduled every week, and I made about $1000 per month. I stuck with it until the client dropped the program. That was a sad, sad day. I don't think it's realistic for me to earn that much on a regular basis unless I have some type of consistent project that I'm working on.

Clinen, don't confuse your e-bay income with your mystery shopping. They are entirely discrete. You even need to file a separate Schedule C for "on-line sales".

That being said, your reimbursement "income" from MS'ing is not taxable; so your COST OF INVENTORY (i.e., what you paid to acquire what you sold) is ZERO. So your on-line sales Schedule C will show your e-bay sales as 100% profit. That is, of course, assuming that you sell ONLY items purchased MS'ing. If you sell other items -- well, let me just say "record keeping is KEY".

I make it a habit to haunt thrift stores in whatever town I'm MS'ing, for stuff I can resell on e-Bay. I think my best find was an old magazine I spent $2 on, and sold for $99 within 5 hours on e-bay; another was a gravy boat with a Schlesinger #, that I bought for 50 cents and got $105.50 on e-bay in about 15 minutes. Many of the thrifts I shop have "freebie" sections of old patterns, old magazines, knitting and crocheting publications, and I'll pick up an armful of freebies and get $2.99-$3.99 each for them on e-Bay. There's a HUGE demand out there! LOL!!!

I didn't make $1,000 last month, but snow and ice (and a RA flare up that made my hands USELESS from the week before Christmas until last week) prevented me from working.

I MS'ed 4 days in January, and made a little over $600:

I hardware shop @ $75
2 ff shops @ $80
1 ff shop @ $40, one credit card application shop at $150
2 gas stations (1 @ $100, 1 @ $15), one hardware shop ($35), and one ff ($55)

That's $630. Reimbursements will add a little to that.

And those weren't 4 long days, either; generally, because of snow & ice, I'd leave home by noon or so, be back by dark (4:30).

The $100 gas station is 100 miles away; but I picked up the ff, hardware, and 2nd gas station right on the way there -- literally, on the same street, drive 60 miles, pull into gas station, pull out into street, go 6 blocks, park, walk into hardware store, leave store, drive on the SAME street another 40 miles, make one left turn, do $100 gas station...and on the way back, take a left turn into the ff, and do it.

Out here in the boonies, 100 miles is just a pleasant drive. Not like in the city, where it MIGHT take an hour to get to a shop 15 miles away!

While the 4 days includes report-writing times, it doesn't include the time on the phone/e-mails with schedulers or time on here (which I consider "business related", but the fun part of it!). It doesn't include stupid test taking, printing copious amounts of info (60+ pages for one horrid shop!), etc., etc., etc. But since I am at the computer ANYWAY, I find it hard to count this time as work!

Now, December was different -- I worked 9 days, including 2 overnight routes. One route was only about 400 miles, and I chose to spend the night (icy roads); the 2nd was 800+ miles, and I HAD to stay overnight. That route, I picked up 9 gas stations at $100-$125 each and a ff @$100. THOSE were long, exhausting, frazzling days, and doing the reports after I got home was even worse. But the two routes and a couple "half days" paid $1782.

I have 3 routes booked for this month. They'll include ff, gas stations, hardware stores, pizza, parking, USPS and some "filler" shops. I do hope to hit $1,000 in February.

Another question:

Has anyone every done multiple restaurant/fast food shops within the same meal period (for different companies)? I did that once, where I did two dinner shops, and found it hard to do, because I was somewhat full from eating during the first shop.

But, I realize that those types of "stacking" or "bundling" (whatever you want to call it) can be done in my area. I'm just not sure it's so great for your health!!!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2017 06:25AM by shoptastic.

Wow! I'm impressed by the amount of money people are making from mystery shopping. I need to step my game up. I made almost $650 in January. I did bank shops which included inquiring about investment options and account opening. I did some p/r for one high end retailer that paid $60, the others were between $10-$15.

I did several of phone shops that paid between $3-$10. I did restaurant and movie theatre shops that paid $15 plus reimbursement. I also did electronic and retail inquires that paid between $12-$15.

The bulk of my earnings came from apartment shops. I did 8 of those totaling $360.

The phone shops pay were low but those calls were made while at my full time job during downtime. I also filed out the reports for the apartment shops while at work.

My weekends were free.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2017 07:06AM by eyelove2shop.

@eyelove2shop wrote:

Wow! I'm impressed by the amount of money people are making from mystery shopping. I need to step my game up. I made almost $650 in January. I did bank shops which included inquiring about investment options and account opening. I did some p/r for one high end retailer that paid $60, the others were between $10-$15.

I did several of phone shops that paid between $3-$10. I did restaurant and movie theatre shops that paid $15 plus reimbursement. I also did electronic and retail inquires that paid between $12-$15.

The bulk of my earnings came from apartment shops. I did 8 of those totaling $360.

The phone shops pay were low but those calls were made while at my full time job during downtime. I also filed out the reports for the apartment shops while at work.

My weekends were free.

You did a $3 phone shop? That's some low pay!! I hope it wasn't too hard for you!

Also, what does p/r stand for?

Not at all. It took less than 3mins to complete the evaluation. P/r is purchase and return, you make a purchase at a store then return the item.

@shoptastic wrote:

@eyelove2shop wrote:

Wow! I'm impressed by the amount of money people are making from mystery shopping. I need to step my game up. I made almost $650 in January. I did bank shops which included inquiring about investment options and account opening. I did some p/r for one high end retailer that paid $60, the others were between $10-$15.

I did several of phone shops that paid between $3-$10. I did restaurant and movie theatre shops that paid $15 plus reimbursement. I also did electronic and retail inquires that paid between $12-$15.

The bulk of my earnings came from apartment shops. I did 8 of those totaling $360.

The phone shops pay were low but those calls were made while at my full time job during downtime. I also filed out the reports for the apartment shops while at work.

My weekends were free.

You did a $3 phone shop? That's some low pay!! I hope it wasn't too hard for you!

Also, what does p/r stand for?

I didn't do it for food shops, but I did for banks. I would have three shops for three MSCs at one bank location. I call that a trifecta.

@shoptastic wrote:

Another question:

Has anyone every done multiple restaurant/fast food shops within the same meal period (for different companies)? I did that once, where I did two dinner shops, and found it hard to do, because I was somewhat full from eating during the first shop.

But, I realize that those types of "stacking" or "bundling" (whatever you want to call it) can be done in my area. I'm just not sure it's so great for your health!!!

All banks and credit unions offer multiple accounts to fit the needs of their customers. There are always ways to waive the maintenance fees outside of large deposits. You open the account with $25 - $50, not $1,000 - $1500.

@shoptastic wrote:

I'll have to look into that HonnyBrown. I know the larger banks where I live require at least $1,000 and sometimes $1,500. We have smaller banks and credit unions that probably allow very small opening deposits.

...But those big banks like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, etc. seem to require big chunks up front. $1,000 is actually a lot to me right now, so I wouldn't be able to just easily open an account.

By the way, do you ever find it weird when you ask to close the account a few days later? Obviously, you can't reveal your mystery shopping identity, but what good excuses are there? lol

@ceasesmith wrote:

Clinen, don't confuse your e-bay income with your mystery shopping. They are entirely discrete. You even need to file a separate Schedule C for "on-line sales".

That being said, your reimbursement "income" from MS'ing is not taxable; so your COST OF INVENTORY (i.e., what you paid to acquire what you sold) is ZERO. So your on-line sales Schedule C will show your e-bay sales as 100% profit. That is, of course, assuming that you sell ONLY items purchased MS'ing. If you sell other items -- well, let me just say "record keeping is KEY".

Oh, I definitely sell both :-) I have Etsy sales, eBay sales, private sales to friends and so forth. I make clay bead sets and swirls and such on the side when I can and sell them on eBay and Etsy. I also macrame a fair bit and crochet. I'm like a 28 year old grandma (:

I would not recommend anyone take on the month I did last month in the way I did it. I was just determined that I was not going to lose out on income while being laid off. With our overtime hours and bonus package, I was making between $450-$750 a week after tax which was great for saving for grad school and bills and such when I decide to go. I had only had the new job for five months, so we knew it could happen.

February is planned much better. Looks like 3 to 5 shops each day. I think I may have one day where I did schedule 6 after I picked up a couple this morning.

I did some $3 phone shops last month too. Reports were probably 2-5 minutes long and basic. The $10 phone shops I did were about 2-5 minutes to report as well, but I was on the phone RECORDED for 5-25 minutes. It's alright, they probably had fun listening. The calls were in Kentucky and both myself and the associates I spoke with had some accents (-: I listened to a few of them.

When I started in September 2005, I wanted to see if I could gross $400 a month in fees and how much work that would take. I signed up with 5-10 MSCs on any weekday when I did not have a shop to perform. That was my work for that day. I tried many, many kinds of shops. By December I was regularly booking a gross of $400, working very part time. That month I learned video shopping and started doubling my average fees per day worked. And, I kept signing up with more MSCs. The recession hit and I was able to drop my real estate license (and the high fees that went with it) and rely on MS plus early Social Security plus modest rent paid by a housemate to make a comfortable living, pay off all debt, buy a very efficient and reliable used car, and get a new lease on life after several traumatic family events of the last 6 years. Then, about 7-8 years ago, I attended the very first IMSC conference, attended a panel discussion on different approaches to setting up profitable routes, and used that to add 30 percent to my earnings in the following year. One of my physical limitations is that I am night blind, so I cannot see to drive between dusk and post-dawn hours.

If I can earn nearly $1000 per month, doing shops 3-4 days a week, with no night driving, what can YOU do?

@walesmaven wrote:

One of my physical limitations is that I am night blind, so I cannot see to drive between dusk and post-dawn hours.

If I can earn nearly $1000 per month, doing shops 3-4 days a week, with no night driving, what can YOU do?

Impressive story, walesmaven.

I slowed things down a little recently, because I found myself making simple shop mistakes (usually with timings) and chose to focus on quality of quantity of my shops.

When I told myself that I wanted to make ________________ dollars, then I found my mind "distracted" somewhat. I was focusing more on scheduling and racking up shop dates and the money that would come in over the directions to the shops. That was the wrong mental focus.

Of course, I should be focusing on the practical financial side of things like the scheduling and how much money I would want to make, but it shouldn't come at the expense of studying job directions and doing good shops. So, I took a step back and just focused on quality of shops.

I'll be doing that for another few weeks, while also learning new shops to do, before I start stacking and routing shops again. I'm only doing one per day for now.

I also have a physical disability (would prefer not to go into it) that limits the time I can spend doing shops. Unless my physical issue is healed, I might not ever be able to do more than three shops per day, because of the physical limitation, but even three a day is better than one a day. But I've told myself to focus on quality over quantity for now.

So many people here have inspiring stories and are good role models! And I appreciate that. It's encouraging and I'm learning a lot.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2017 07:43PM by shoptastic.

I seldom do more than 3 shops in a day.

@walesmaven wrote:

I seldom do more than 3 shops in a day.

I remember you do video shopping too, though.

I haven't graduated to that stage yet, so mine are just very simple shops like a restaurant bar integrity shop or a local zoo visit. They only make me $10-20 dollars. The most complex one I've done is an apartment shop for $45 dollars. I did a number of those.

Once I get data and internet access on my phone, then I'll be able to do a lot of shops I see on Gfk and HS Brands. I'm a dinosaur with smart phone technology.

Routes and lots of driving.
I mystery shop as my main income and it is a lot of work. I do my own route jobs and drive all over three states (my limit is an 1 1/2 one way). There is A LOT of planning involved but I absolutely love it. I try to only travel far two times a week to keep some normalcy in my life as I raise my daughter. The other days I do shops in the area and online work. My highest amount was $500 in one day of route shopping, but that was with a lot of bonuses added. Usually I try for a minimum of $200 a trip. It's funny because I remember when I first started, $60 was my minimum and I was happy for that. Ha, not anymore.

By the way, for those of you traveling out of state, are you able to do bank opening shops in those states without a state ID?

I haven't opened a bank account in a while, so I can't remember if they ask for your ID that would list a local address or not. But let's say you need at minimum a driver's license or some other other for a standard bank opening, then wouldn't that bank wonder why you're opening an account in Michigan if you live in Illinois, for example?

@shoptastic wrote:

By the way, for those of you traveling out of state, are you able to do bank opening shops in those states without a state ID?

I haven't opened a bank account in a while, so I can't remember if they ask for your ID that would list a local address or not. But let's say you need at minimum a driver's license or some other other for a standard bank opening, then wouldn't that bank wonder why you're opening an account in Michigan if you
live in Illinois, for example?

My mom lives here and I want to have an account here in case I need it while I am here.
My daughter is going to college here and I want an account in case I need it here.
We are looking at buying here and I want to have an account opened here in advance.
We bought a condo across the street for the winters and I need an account here (might be a true story}

All of these were using an out of state license.

Liz