Hi, I am vert new to Mystyery Shopping. My question is, do I Pay upfront for whatever and then wait to be reimbursted

That's correct....we pay first, say you have a lunch, you pay, do your report, upload the receipt and company pays when they say....they differ, normally the month following when you did it, but check their payout as this changes from company to company. We want to follow instructions to the word, as losing reimbursement is not pleasant.

Patty, exactly right. Once you perform the shop and your report is accepted, you will be paid according to each company's payment terms. Typically, this is 30 days, although some are slower and some are faster. The only companies that reach out to you with advance payment are trying to scam you. You'll find much more useful information if you keep reading on this forum. Good luck!

Not all companies require a purchase. There are shops like bank shops and other inquiry shops where you don't have to buy anything to do a shop. Ath power does bank shops and so does Maritz. You just go in and make an inquiry (like about a checking account, perhaps), get a business card and brochure, then go write up the report. Maritz shops are easier than Ath's shops.

Cell phones, storage units, phone shops, online info gathering, carpet installation, nursing home visits, mattress or furniture shops, insurance shops, bank shops, cable shops, credit checks...just to name a few kinds which do not require any purchase or reimbursements. Try Trend Source for both revealed and unrevealed office superstore shops. Intellishop offers quite a few phone shops at fair pay for your time. 10-15 minutes for $8-$15. Then as you make some money start with small reimbursements to keep your own financial investment low. You can then move on to the 3-4 MSC's that do gas stations as their investment is low. Like under $5 per location in reimbursable and NON-reimbursable expenditures. And you NEED gas anyways. From there move to small investments of $10 or less for grocery stores and retail stores spending the reimbursed money that you earned from the month before. (Again you buy groceries anyways, so not much risk.) Next, you can step up to meal shops. Anywhere from eight bucks to $300+ for fine dining.

At first, I built my business without investing much of my own money...Just reinvesting a portion of the money that you earned the month before to keep from spending your own money. I usually did not allow my reimbursements to total over $500 at any one time and a max of 30-day pay cycle. Then came the hotels & theme park shops, that I really wanted to do and would have spent my own money anyway. But even on that front I was burned by Amusement Advantage after I spend $250 only to find out there was not a reimbursement being offered nor a fee. Just free tickets period. So warning, read the instructions carefully when it comes to spending your own money. You choose what works for your situation. I know that I have been burned by Market Force a handful of times so I had to stop taking their shops. Because if everything isn't what they want to a tee you lose out on both the shop fee and your money that you spent in a snap. And I have found MF non-negotiable on their decisions and unwilling to let you fix any errors you may have made... Again personal experience. I am sure that they do not miss me either as a lot of people shop with them on a regular basis so check them out for lower to mid-range reimbursement shops.

One way to achieve this was to open a dedicated bank account that you deposit and withdraw from solely for mystery shopping. FNBO has a free account with interest that you can sign up for online. Then transfer from Paypal to your bank.

Just some thoughts on the subject. Take what you like and ignore what doesn't apply.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2017 03:59AM by LeslieKay111.

Since you are starting out, don't start with the high reimbursement fees. Those are usually the high end restaurant meals shops with the reimbursement of $200 or more. When I started out, I got my feet wet with the lower reimbursement fees like $5 to $40. Why? There was always the possibility that my report would not get approved. So if my report was not accepted, then the reimbursement fees would not hurt too much in the pocket book- meaning, I could afford to absorb the cost of the reimbursement fee since I won't get paid for the shop. Some MSC provide feedback on your report if it needs to be corrected. Don't be offended if your report was rejected. Learn from your mistakes to become a successful shopper.