Who determines the shopper's fee?

Do the clients contract the MSC out and say "We'll pay you x amount of dollars to perform this shop" and the MSC then determines the fee they offer shoppers or do the clients control how much the fee is that's paid to the shopper?

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It's more like....

Client: We are interested in X information. Can you provide a proposal to cover this services for all of our locations?

MSC: For a total lump sum fee of $xxx,xxx, we will provide the following information for you.

(Within this total lump sum contract, it is up to the MSC to make sure they are able to operate the project, pay their employees and do what it takes to obtain the data needed for their client.

Client: OK!

Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/2017 04:09AM by Tarantado.

Thanks. That's a much more detailed explanation of what I meant with option 1 and that answers my question (long story short I signed up for a shop that based on the fee I thought was going to be a easy peasy shop, 10 minute shop. Nope, looks like I'll have to be on location for close to an hour!) I'm actually rather appalled.

So it's possible to conversation went more like this....

Client: We are interested in X information. Should take about 15 minutes for a shopper. Can you provide a proposal to cover this services for all of our locations?

MSC: For a total lump sum fee of $xxx,xxx, we will provide the requested information for you.

Client: OK!...but we also need Y & Z, which will take about an hour total, and your competitor's proposal came in lower than your initial bid.

MSC: We'll match whatever our competitor bid because it's close the holidays and we don't want to lay any editors off.

It differs by MSC. Many times the Shopper fee is agreed upon, including reimbursement scenario, as a separate charge to the client. There is then the MSCs structured payment. The MSC pays an bonus monies or additional costs out of their pocket. Some clients do care about what the shoppers make, so do many MSCs. Supply and demand drives how things eventually play out.

My posts are solely based on my opinions and for my entertainment, contact a professional if you need real advice.

When you get in debt you become a slave. - Andrew Jackson

I've never bought into the idea the client knows or cares what the shopper is paid other than the reimbursement. Think about it, why would they? I pay my lawn service a fee and don't know how much they pay the individual grass cutters.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

So turns out the shop WAS a lot more easy peasy than the guidelines indicated. Like it said that I needed to spend at least 3 minutes here, 3 minutes there, and no where in the survey did it require that information. But still kinda frustrated because I had to do all of that because of the guidelines, LOL.

@isaiah58 wrote:

It differs by MSC. Many times the Shopper fee is agreed upon, including reimbursement scenario, as a separate charge to the client. There is then the MSCs structured payment. The MSC pays an bonus monies or additional costs out of their pocket. Some clients do care about what the shoppers make, so do many MSCs. Supply and demand drives how things eventually play out.

I'm going to have to disagree with "Many times" if you are saying the client is involved in setting the shopper fees.. I think it does happen occasionally. Probably rarely.

For the MSC I used to work for, the clients had no clue of care what shoppers were paid, as expected...and never asked.

There was one shop I used to do in the past where the client was required to interact with shoppers during training. It was for an MSC that's known for offering reimbursement-only shops, and the client insisted that the shoppers be paid a fee. The client had come from another MSC that had paid shoppers a fee and liked that structure, so they insisted on keeping that when they looked into the MSC...though the fee was still less. I can't think of a single other example where a client was involved in negotiating a fee for shoppers.

I have no clue but can speculate on what I think is happening. Whether or not it is is another story. But I can concoct a plausible scenario.

I did find this tidbit though:

[www.inc.com]

A mystery shopping program can be set up within two months with cost ranging from $50 to $500 per shopper visit. One source for finding a certified company is the Mystery Shopping Providers Association MSPA, which has 275 members worldwide. MSPA estimates about 1.5 million mystery shoppers operate in the US. It is not uncommon for a mystery shopper to work for five or more providers at a time in any given month.

Do not read so much, look about you and think of what you see there.
Richard Feynman-- letter to Ashok Arora, 4 January 1967, published in Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track (2005) p. 230

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/17/2017 05:10AM by whosear.

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Who determines the shopper's fee?

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