@Lissymaree wrote:
I used to be an avid user of EasyShift back in 2015... they started really going downhill in 2016 and 2017 is even worse! I used to do shifts every few days back in 2015 but now I'm lucky if I do one a month! They used to pay fairly for the work involved and now it's ridiculous.. so sad because I loved them when they were good!
I got involved with MS'ing with the "apps" a couple years ago -- I did a number gigantic routes with ES when they did chip displays, water bottle checks etc. and the big drug store chain that had $15 audits and made $2000+ with ES my first year as well as a few hundred with GigWalk and FA... I'd been looking for a flexible part time job to supplement my day job which I really love, and thought I'd hit the jackpot since I could do these after work, on weekends etc.
The issue is that the apps -- moreso than the regular MSPs -- is that they have absolutely no regard for their shoppers and regularly drop the pay while upping the photo requirements -- EasyShift is by far the worst. There are no narratives, there are tons of people who will do anything for a buck, and are lured in with "get paid to take pictures". I noticed this starting to happen after my first year and thought there had to be other companies who pay better... and that's when I discovered JobSlinger, and dove head first into actual mystery shopping.
I've been shopping for around 2 years, and the apps for a year and change before that... I still keep the apps on my phone. I very very rarely will take a gig or a shift unless it pays well (which hardly ever happens... I've done like 3 in the last 2 months) and only check my phone if I'm out shopping and have some time to kill and think "I wonder if the apps have something I can grab a few bucks at..."
Overall I feel like the apps are just a great stepping stone into actual mystery shopping... I enjoyed the apps, but outgrew them and did more research and found this world. I cleared 8 grand last year working less time than I would if I had a part time job for those hours. I particularly enjoy heavily bonused bank shops, casinos and heavily bonused Maritz things. I usually work twice as hard near the end of the month, but the pay makes up for it.
As for the photo apps, Field Agent hit a new low... $2 for a photo audit. EasyShift seems to have dropped their average payout from $8 to $3-4 over the last 8 months... GigWalk rarely has work although every once in a while I get a huge surprise... last year I got $52 to count refrigerators at every branch of a certain big box store within 50 miles... needless to say I spent my weekend counting refrigerators and made over a grand.
I just can't really compare MS with the photo apps... the photo apps are more of an audit tool... except they don't pay as much a regular MSP... I just did a job for one in fact.. VERY much like an EasyShift job -- except it was submitted on Sassie, pics e-mailed to the scheduler... and paid $10 for the shop and $.25 per item found (not per pic -- per item -- and multiple items were allowed in each pic... there were over 100). This would have been $5 on EasyShift... but I ended up with $35 with a real MSP...
What is really sad is reading the EasyShift forums in the app... it appears people actually rely on them for a major source of their income. At ~$8 each it was a nice part time gig before I knew better... at $2-4 that just makes me feel like they take advantage of their shoppers.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/2017 08:57AM by ngbmediashop.