I live near Parsippany, NJ. Are there in-store mystery shops available in my area that pay at least $30 per shop? (hopefully more). Is it possible to get these shops without excessive amounts of aggravation i.e. long drives, excessive paperwork, trouble getting paid etc?,

There are good paying shops everywhere, although $30 is probably way on the high end for in-store shops without long drives and excessive paperwork (what do you consider excessive paperwork?). Most in-store mystery shops pay between $10 and $20. Some shoppers manage to increase their income by being willing to drive long distances and creating routes by planning multiple shops on single trips. And, many of the better-paying shops are in great demand and are awarded to longtime shoppers with track records. Some shops are never even posted to a job board because they are immediately scheduled by a scheduler to a trusted shopper. The best-paying shops frequently have longer reports.

I can't tell you anything specifically about Parsippany, NJ, because I don't live there. If I did live there, I would not pass on much specific information because I would be currently doing those shops and you would be my competition. I would advise you to sign up with a lot of companies and become aware of what is available in your area. Develop relationships with schedulers and build a good track record and you will probably work into higher end shops eventually.

Here's a list of mystery shopping companies: [www.mysteryshopforum.com]

C99,
Retail shops rarely have fees of $30+. However, you live in an area where banks are thick on the ground. if you do some lower paid bank teller shops and score well, you will begin to see much better paid bank shops that start above $30 and, for the fun ones, with interesting role playing for the shopper, start at $50 and often have a nice sized bonus.

Banks are not the only type of shop where you need to work your way up to qualify to even see better paid shops. So, a good starter strategy is to find several low paying jobs that are quite near one another and make a mini-route of 4 or more of them, to start the process of rising through the ranks to get better paid shops in those industries. This will require that you sign up with at least 50-75 MSCs in order to see enough variety and locations to construct good, productive mini-routes. Many of the shoppers who are most active and are seeing many well compensated shops are signed up with 100-150 MSCs, so as not to miss new opportunities.

This is all part of owning and growing you small business to reach your goals. We have all had to do it this way, since MSCs and clients will want concrete proof of a shopper's reliability and professionalism before entrusting higher paid shops to them. Unfortunately, a few industries just never have higher paid shops unless you will travel for a very hard-to-fill location. These seem to include: fast food, fast casual, convenience stores and gas stations. For the latter two, the big money appears to be in landing very large, multi day routes where you might be on the road for 2-30 nights.

Edited because I seem to need a new keyboard!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2017 03:36PM by walesmaven.

I have found that more opportunities started opening for me after a year of successful shopping.. A couple of MSC's call me periodically with the offer of good bonuses...

@C99kimbrell wrote:

I live near Parsippany, NJ. Are there in-store mystery shops available in my area that pay at least $30 per shop? (hopefully more). Is it possible to get these shops without excessive amounts of aggravation i.e. long drives, excessive paperwork, trouble getting paid etc?,

Usually retail shops don't pay $30. Anyone with no skill can get them done. Supply and demand. If they were difficult, they'd pay more. The ones that require skill, pay $25 and up every time. Those include meeting a specific demographic, doing a hard to fill location, being an experienced, trusted shopper or reading excessive paperwork and understanding the scenario.

Excessive aggravation? Are you kidding? As far as I know, EVERY shop comes with excessive aggravation, LOL!!! For example, if you live in a place with a plethora of shops, there's probably also a plethora of shoppers. Last year, there was a company with a long list of shops in my state, at $15 per location...but to cover them all, a person would drive a total of 800 miles. They sat and sat and sat....I called the scheduler and offered a route...I ended up doing 16 of them at $40 each, plus an extremely nice $12 reimbursement. I admit,
I had to "sell" myself to the MSC. The MSC took over 3 weeks to decide to take my offer -- I think they finally realized I was right, there just wasn't another shopper in the area.

The way I look at it, if I had a job in a business, I'd have to put up with the BS there. The BS we put up with as mystery shoppers is a little different, but still, it's just the BS we have to put up with anywhere we work.

Congratulations on a nice negotiation Cease. But I suspect the MSC would have dropped you like a hot potato if another shopper came in with an offer of $30. Just saying.

@LIJake wrote:

Congratulations on a nice negotiation Cease. But I suspect the MSC would have dropped you like a hot potato if another shopper came in with an offer of $30. Just saying.

Well, of course they would. Negotiation. Supply and demand. They are in business to get their work done at the lowest possible cost, maximizing their profits. As shoppers, we want to maximize what we earn.

If you needed your house painted and 3 painters submitted identical bids, all were identically qualified, and one want $100, another wanted $125, and one wanted $200, which would you choose?

@C99kimbrell wrote:

I live near Parsippany, NJ. Are there in-store mystery shops available in my area that pay at least $30 per shop? (hopefully more). Is it possible to get these shops without excessive amounts of aggravation i.e. long drives, excessive paperwork, trouble getting paid etc?,

If so I"m moving to Parsippany.

@roflwofl wrote:

@LIJake wrote:

If you needed your house painted and 3 painters submitted identical bids, all were identically qualified, and one want $100, another wanted $125, and one wanted $200, which would you choose?

Good point roflwofl, but it is not exactly the same. If I had experience with the $200 painter, knew he finished on time, used quality paint, did not overlap, covered the furniture, did not drip on the floor and finished my house exactly as I wanted it, I would hire him. Particularly if the $150 painter had a reputation for using cheap paint and the $100 painter had a drinking problem and was totally unreliable.

It would be nice if the schedulers/supervisors had the same outlook on shoppers and chose us on merit rather than price. Most do not, in my experience, as they are under pressure to get the shops assigned at the lowest price, particularly if they are more basic shops. I can't say that I blame them as they deal with hundreds of transient shoppers and it takes a long time to establish a relationship with a scheduler.

I have to disagree. I know a couple of schedulers who pay me more than they will pay others because they know the quality of my work. Are all like that? Not at all. But there are some out here.

I've learned in this business there are some crappy companies (although really not that many), and a whole bunch of ok companies, and then a few that are just fantastic. I do what I can to only work for the fantastic ones, never work for the crappy companies, and do minimal work for the ok ones.

I sense you are right bg. By design I do basic shops for what appears to be OK companies. I have no desire to travel or work 8 hours a day. Perhaps one of these days I will upgrade to more complicated shops and see out those fantastic MSC's. I do get a lot of calls and emails from the companies I represent but I get the feeling I'm being dealt a card just like everyone else at the poker table. Although my offer to do 5 gas stations with bonuses of $30 to $55 this month was accepted with no lower counter offers. I know that they know that when I commit I do the shops on time and correctly. But I still feel under appreciated.

try Chipotle, as I know that place is never filled in Parsippany, NJ