Hello,

I was recently invited to participate with a select group of shoppers in my area for a project involving Mastercard. From what I gather, I have three cards in my pocket, one that I am to purchase a small item with and the other two are for larger items. The cards for the larger item purchase are expected to be declined per the guidelines. My question is, has anyone done these shops yet? It is for a very well know MSC. The fee is not that great per shop, but I figure as long as I can do 6 per hour, that will be a decent take. The form is short and sweet, record whether or not the card is declined, take a pic of the storefront and move on. I can pick and choose where I shop, so places like Starbucks, Walgreen's, ect are all fair game.

Anyone that has completed these or has also been invited to participate, please chime in!

Thanks!

Are you sure this is legit? What do you do with the item you buy?

@luckygirl0100 wrote:

Are you sure this is legit? What do you do with the item you buy?

I'm wondering this too...

I keep the small items. Walk away from the other purchases if and when they decline.

Yes, it's legit. Like I said, well known MSC.

Was that an invitation by a mass email? Did you confirm the origin of the email and not somebody posing as a representative of that MSC? Many scammers use legit MSC names. Ask yourself, somebody is giving you 3 credit cards to test out. Does that sound off to you? What are the chances that the 3 credit cards were skimmed/stolen credit card numbers and were alerted by the credit card companies. Sounds like a scam to me. Scammers think of new ways to rip off people. I received many emails from people posing as the first lady when Michelle Obama was the first lady to having someone bringing millions of dollars from overseas because my name was listed as a surviving beneficiany. Something about having millions of dollars held for me but due to some circumstances the funds must be deposited somewhere, blah, blah, blah.

It sounds similar to projects I have done before. The credit card companies have some interesting ones. I would have definitely taken it.

Liz

Why would a credit card company want these random numbers tested? I'm sorry but this screams scam to me....

Think about it for a second. The OP is keeping several small items which must not cost much if he can go to Starbuck's for one of his stores. The MSC told him to expect the cards to be turned down for the large purchases. Nothing was mentioned about sending them anything.

The cards are all legit, the 'fail' ones have no balance available. The good one has a limit per transaction programmed against it. Several experienced members have verified it is legit.

I just completed this project in my area in June. It was fun and I picked up some useful items to keep, in addition to the pay. I completed around 140 of the jobs and would jump at the chance to do it again if I were so fortunate as to be offered the chance in a different area. I doubt you could consistently do 6 per hour, because there is travel time between them, but I usually had the shop submitted by the time I did the shop and walked back to my car. You submit the shops on your phone. There are no reports, only a few quick questions and a couple photos.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/2017 04:24PM by AZwolfman.

If you can pick and choose the locations, why not bunch them together?

Oh, you can, but you still have driving time from one to the next except on the occasions when they are in the same plaza. You can choose the locations from the list they give you; you don't just leave home and shop any location you want. Remember that there are probably other shoppers involved in the project in your area. Locations are plentiful and easy at first, but each location disappears from the list of available shops after a shopper has claimed it.

It's best to do as many shops as possible when you are first given the green light. Shops will be tougher to group and harder to find near the end of the project. However, if mystery shopping is your full-time income, I suggest you continue to do other shops each day since it will take a couple months to get paid for these MC shops. Although you will be submitting your shops (including photos and receipts) with your smartphone, I suggest you save all your photos to your computer too and save or scan all your receipts.

Done on app?

I'm not doing the project and based on the OP's comment about needing six an hour just to reach "decent," it is not my cup of tea.

Yes, it's done on a smartphone app.
Apparently the OP needs $25-$50 per hour to reach "decent." I think she/he will struggle to find many decent mystery shopping opportunities.

There are quite a few people who would beg to differ with you. And how does six shops equate to such a large variance in hourly pay? Do they pay $4 or $8 a piece?

@LisaSTL wrote:

There are quite a few people who would beg to differ with you. And how does six shops equate to such a large variance in hourly pay? Do they pay $4 or $8 a piece?

If I shopped only shops that paid $25-$50 per hour, I would have many more days off per month.

Yes, I presume the pay depends on the area.

That was quite a non-answer. As to having time off, don't forget it is always better to work smarter than harder

Translation: Yes the shops pay $4 or $8 each. Do you understand the answer now?

There are not that many mystery shopping jobs that pay $25/hr. Don't you think that if I were offered that much for mystery shopping jobs I would jump at the chance? Of course I would, all day long. I have learned to be quite efficient and organized, and I seriously doubt that you are working any smarter than I am.

Thank you all for the replies. It is not a scam, the card that is the small purchase card is loaded with money when they send it to me and can be reloaded every day depending on the amount of shops completed and the reimbursement costs per shop. Since all the shops are in my metro area, I hope to route as many close together to maximize my hourly rate. They do pay $8 a piece, but again, the early bird gets the worm and you can bet I will be getting as many as I can close by. I was told that it will be possible to complete over 60 shops per day if you really hustle. There are 5 of us completing this project and over 500 shops that need to be completed. I do realize that I might have been a little over the top when I used the word "decent". Probably should have said " good money". Since I have been doing this for a number of years, I have learned that it is indeed quite possible to make $50 per hour and I very rarely schedule myself for shops that I make less than $20 per hour. I realize everyone's situation is different and remember the days of working hard for a $5 shop. That is indeed how you make it in this business. I have read on this forum so many times to make friends with your schedulers and bend over backwards when they need you. I never really thought about it until this year when I have had more shops scheduled by schedulers who have reached out to me because of my track record with them then ever before. I really enjoy reading everything on this forum, there is so much to learn from each other!

Thanks again!

Edited to add that this is not my full time job and am able to pick and choose what I want to do.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/12/2017 03:27AM by turfman.

Wandering how I missed this shop.

I suspect it is not your fault you missed it and that it was, as the OP suggested, offered to a select group of shoppers in certain areas by invitation.

Hello, I've been contacted via email from a representative of a well known MSC. I had an account on their site but never worked with them in the past as there were no available assignments in my area.

This representative informed me about an upcoming project in my area that involves credit cards. They ship the prepaid credit cards, you make a purchase and then fill a report through a mobile app.

For me it seems to good to be true but I looked it up and seems legit. I am really really careful and do a lot of research before I work with a new company.

The thing is that the representative asked me to send her a copy of my ID, as she said they need to be sure of the shoppers’ identity, after all they will send credit cards pre-loaded with money. I understand that but I hesitate to send a copy of my ID. It is a document with sensitive information and I never sent it to strangers just like that.
I though to print a watermark or a text over the ID before sent it.

Any advise would be more than helpful

@turfman
1) In what name are the credit cards issued?
2) What's exactly the purpose of this project, just testing the cards doesn't seem enough reason. Are we evaluating the service?

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/12/2017 11:24AM by triants.

Triants,

I'm not sure about the ID thing, I was not asked for my ID for this project. Did you personally talk to the scheduler on the phone? They are calling everyone they recruit and speaking with them personally about the project. I am also surprised that you received an invitation having not worked with the company before. It seems they are asking people who have some experience with this particular company. I am not sure the names on the cards, but it will not be yours.

From what I have been told, the purpose of the project is to test the cards with a new number on them to make sure they work properly.

Mod note: Post removed as it breached the Forum guideline which states, "Do not reveal the clients of mystery shopping companies". Additionally, it is usually an ICA violation to name both the MSC and client

I'm sure there is a major ICA violation or two in posting the email in it's entirety.

instead of posting & breaking rules y not contact person directly & ask if real or scam & then let forum members nknow.

I was hoping the post might be edited. Instead I had to report for ICA violations. I thought we had already determined it was legitimate. Posting a real email address of an employee of the MSC doesn't support an argument for it being a scam.

Definitely not a scam. All you are investing is your time. Nobody's name is on the credit cards. The company pays for all the purchases up front. What more could you want?