Hi. As I mention in my intro, I've been doing a little bit of shopping since starting a few months ago. I have been reimbursed maybe $1k, a large portion of that in food reimbursement, and I am curious about pay for serious shoppers.

First, I know that there are reasons to do this beyond a black and white dollars per hour. For instance, it might fit your personality and/or your schedule and the extra cash is nice. Or you like the food or whatever that you are getting in exchange and it might be something you would purchase otherwise.

But I am curious about just how much a serious shopper can make. Let's put it in dollars per hour since the amount of time different shoppers invest can vary widely.

So, if you count only the time spent doing the shop and subsequent reporting along with time spend driving and just fuel expenses, what is the norm. In other words, do not include time spent prepping, qualifying, or planning. I know video shops pay more so please identify what portion of your shops are video shops. I am mainly interested in PAY, not food or other reimbursements but if that is your main income from the shops and you care to quantify it, please identify what portion of your income is non-"cash in your pocket".

I am looking for the average over say a weekly period. A fairly repeatable figure for you. As opposed to "there was this one week..."

I appreciate this information and perhaps others will find it interesting as well...

Thank you all
alfadog
ps: alfadog = Alfa (Romeo) + dog. No Alpha dog here ;-)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/20/2017 10:23PM by alfadog.

@alfadog
The amount that can be made doing this varies on a number of factors. Most folks who do this full time are not particularly fond of the idea of announcing their income. Many who do this part time don't like to do so either. I do this part time and look at this as "bonus" money and am not as secretive. You'll find several threads on this forum about income...

Here are a few guidelines:
1. Income is not consistent week to week. The last week of the month, quarter, half (year) and year tend to be far more lucrative than other weeks as that's when bonuses are offered and the shopper has better leverage to request bonuses. It is common for shops to pay double or more their typical pay during these periods. Occasionally, compensation gets a but nutty and we get stories about $500 bank visits or $250 gas station shops.

2. The longer you are involved and the better the job you do, the more likely you are to be contacted by an MSC and offered sweeter deals.

3. If you want to do this for a living, don't plan on remaining in a ten mile radius of your home. Be ready for some road trips. Often, long drives into rural areas are what bring the cash.

4. Your prep and planning time is an important factor. You will need to spend lots of time signing up with companies, for instance. If you want to maximize earnings, you'll need to maximize your opportunities. $20 shops that you've done many times and can do in your sleep are valuable: You can add them at the last minute on a route and whip out the reports quickly. if you are driving by anyhow, they can easily turn a $30/hr route into $50/hr.

5. The better you plan the more you can make per hour. Driving an hour each way to a little town for a 20-minute $40 shop might seem rather disappointing. However, if you can make four $20 stops along the way, adding an hour to your trip you have $120 for a 3 hr. 20 route instead of $40 for a two hr 20 minute shop. Of course, if those $20 shops are $30 and you have ten add-ons instead of four... You won't pull this off without some planning.

6. Most folks are only really active with a handful of MSC's at a given time. Those MSC's might change over time, based off what shopper needs and what they are offering, but nobody (?) searches the job boards for 300 MSC's every day. If there are ten with good offerings near you, get to know what they have available, at what price they get scooped up by others and start planning routes a few days ahead of time.

7. That's plenty for now.... How much can you make? I don't leave the house unless either a) I can pull in $40/hr before including time to write reports or b) I'm bored. ($10/hr and getting out is better than $0/hr for picking my nose at home.) I'm in the middle of my most lucrative week yet shopping. I'm looking at between $1500 and $2000 for a six day stretch ending Saturday. I'm off my regular job this week and doing a lot of shopping. (I'm in a cafe right now having completed my list for today and stalling before writing the reports due after 12 hrs. and debating picking up a self-assign $45 shop nearby.)

Good luck!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/21/2017 01:49AM by MFJohnston.

Not all shoppers base their income on hourly and many shoppers don't want to share their income with strangers on the Internet. I agree with much of what MFJ said except that $10/hour is better than $0/hour at home. Just like with any job or business, there is value in time taken for yourself whether it is to read a book, engage in a hobby or hang out with friends.

I'll stand by $10/hr is better than $0/hr at home *if I am bored.*
Though, I absolutely agree that there are things in life that are far more important and valuable than a little money.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/21/2017 01:52AM by MFJohnston.

It also varies on where you live (metro, suburb, rural?), how many other shoppers there are in your area, etc. Too many factors involved altogether to give any sort of averages.

In addition to the insights above, consider the cost of good and worthy resources.

Do you have good gps, good search skills, good maps, good sense of direction, or good familiarity with the places you work?

If not, you may waste hours. This time factor will influence your hourly pay.

Please do not ask why I know this. It is enough to know that a reliable GPS is important and an unreliable one can make you late. Being late may cost you in reputation and opportunities for future earnings.

In addition to the insights above, consider the cost of good and worthy resources.

Do you have good gps, good search skills, good maps, good sense of direction, or good familiarity with the places you work?

If not, you may waste hours. This time factor will influence your hourly pay.

Please do not ask why I know this. It is enough to know that a reliable GPS or other system is important and an unreliable one can make you late. Being late may cost you in reputation and opportunities for future earnings.

I am asking for your average.

I am asking for your average.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

It also varies on where you live (metro, suburb, rural?), how many other shoppers there are in your area, etc. Too many factors involved altogether to give any sort of averages.

alfadog,
YOUR average will depend on how ell you work your way up with each MSC, from "newbie" shops to becoming a preferred shopper who gets email offers of shops before the ever (if ever) go out on job boards. It will depend on how much you invest, in time and $$$ in learning your new business and the skills that it will reward the most. Learning how to schedule and execute an efficient one day route means the difference between one trip of 100 miles with 15-20 $10-$20 shops with short reports and ten trips for a total of 150 miles for 5 $10-$15 shops with reports of random length. Finding well paid parking shops with full reimbursement in a city center and building into them walkable well paid bank and retail shops plus a lunch shop and places to use the Internet to enter the day's report can double your hourly net. So, you see, if you live within 50 to 75 miles of a good sized city, it all depends on YOU. Or if you live in a small town far from such a center, it will depend on how well YOU do at marketing yourself to MSCs that will pay large bonuses for you to do routes to shop out-of-the-way places.

@alfadog
You are missing the point.

Mystery shopping is a pure capitalistic system. You make your own fortune based on how you adapt to the supply and demand dynamics in your area. The variation on how much people make doing this varies wildly based on countless factors.
* How much time are you willing to put into it?
* How far are you willing to travel?
* What types of shops are you willing to do?
* How organized are you?
* What type of stamina do you have?
* Can you write well?
* Can you write quickly and well?
* Do you have the gall to ask for more money?
* Etc.

There are folks on this board who primarily shop for nice meals out. There are folks who do this for a little side income. There are folks who do this to keep busy. There are folks who make careers out of it. There are folks who dabble and quit.Thee are folks who are just trying to hold things together between jobs.

You are not going to become wealthy shopping alone. However, you could support yourself with a modest lifestyle if you are willing to work hard (especially at first).I would not advise quitting a steady job (even a crappy one) until you have dabbled enough to determine what you are personally willing/able to do .

I would venture a guess that the most successful shoppers might be people who saw the possibilities and just went for it. It also helps to be a self starter who enjoys a challenge.

I never think I'm making enough after reading this forum where some get mega bucks, however location plays a factor on how much you will make. Living (as I do) in a huge city with lots of shoppers, bonused jobs are scare if at all. I'll do a job for 30.00, then I read others do a route in rural places and will get three times more. You have to do what works for you time wise and not worry about others it's all different. I now (today) had 5 direct deposit come in and I smiled thinking well, I'm not doing so bad, very nice, had some great lunch/dinners, reimburesment's and fees coming in, tells me, I'm doing just fine.....do your OWN thing, it doesn't matter what anyone "says" they make, you'll take jobs for your own reasons. Yesterday I did an 8$ job next door to a place I was going anyway, took me 6 minutes, some here say they wouldn't go out for less than 15.00. I don't care.
We used to say in Real Estate...LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION.

Alfa, mystery shoppers in general are atypical and nothing average about any of us. Some of us are doing this for vacation and spending money (me) or to supplement income, some are career shoppers and/or route shoppers. I only go 1-25 miles from home for shops, making mini routes of 2-5 hours when I do. I don't have an average amount a week I make because every day is different. I take lengthy vacations 4-5 times a year and do merchandising, demos, and mystery shops when I'm home. I work 0 to 20 hours a week shopping, filling in the blanks with other work if I want. I sometimes make no money in a week because I don't feel like working, and sometimes i make $1,000 a week. I just got back from vacation Tuesday; it's Christmas and it's also cold outside. I don't feel like doing much except hanging out with family and friends. I am working on a bank project and doing some convenience stores this week and will net about $300 in 3 days without going more than 10 miles from home, and that's working about 3 hours a day. Next couple of weeks/months I'll not do much of anything except a couple of grocery and restaurants (mostly take out) close to home because it's cold and will be snowing, and I'll probably take off for Mexico in February.

Where I live, most times of day I can get 10 miles in 15 minutes. Many others it would take 20 minutes to 2 hours to go that far from home depending on rush hour. I frequently do shops that get bonused. Others live in areas where they never see high bonuses, or if they do, it still isn't worth going 10 miles of they get jammed up in traffic.

Edited because I'm typing on my phone.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/21/2017 05:07PM by JASFLALMT.

I don't base my pay on an hourly rate. I couldn't make a living shopping. I shop part time for extra money. I am retired.

I focus on hourly rate and also factor in the reimbursement depending on what it is. I technically should just not shop altogether, as my full time career is more than enough to make a living, but I guess I always put myself against the wall with extra work with mystery shop and other side ventures I do on the side. I probably developed more white hairs that lots of you older folks by now, but I guess the added stress gives me an adrenaline rush I love to seek.

I have only been doing this for a year and I do it as extra "play" money. Most of my shops are within a 20-mile radius and on the home from work. This year, I averaged $200-600 a month, depending on bonuses and how much I hustled. I don't get the huge bonuses that many do on this site, I don't do routes frequently and I prefer to dine out on my earnings and not worry about the seconds it took a server to return with my drink. There is so much variety in this gig that you can really make it into what you want it to be.

There's so many qualifications and stipulations and limitations in your question that it seems, to me, that it would limit the answers from people who probably don't have the time or inclination to post here. I mean, if I'm a serious shopper making say $60 an hour as was noted in a post I just read about hotel stays, why would I use my time to work on this forum when I can be making that kind of money? I worked for the owner of a pest control company who paid himself around $50 an hour. He wouldn't go on a forum and spout about how he does it so his competition can use that information. I mean, even the MSC doesn't give you the guidelines/requirements until you've gone through the hoops.

@alfadog you asked a great question. It inspired some great feedback. I don't pick up nearly enough shops to provide a serious income because I got hurt badly (stroke) which put me in a wheelchair with double vision and the use of one hand.
I average $5 per hour while I take buses and trains to go to my shops. There's a silver lining to this for me because my mystery shops covers minor expenses and gets me out to talk to people for my other business (healthy lifestyle and food).
As to the mystery shopper who claims she wouldn't get out of bed for $40 per hour more power to her, she's got something figured out.

$40 an hour.

Ok spicy, I found it now. I get it. Sorry.

technowhiz, I don't know who said that they wouldn't get out of bed for $40, but more money than that could be made by staying in bed, LOL.

^^^^^^ JAS, you're bad!!!

What, LOL? I was talking about investing in the stock market (hee hee).

I'm retired, shopping parttime, living in a rural area with small cities w/in 1.5 hours. My goal is $300 a month and I've been averaging $400. I could make more, but as I said, I'm retired so there are other things I like to do, and I do just enough MS to pay for them.

I'm averaging 800 a month, part-time. I try not to schedule too many narratives in a short time frame. I tend to be a perfectionist and have a hard time writing "just enough" to get the shop accepted, etc. I include all the information written and extra photographic evidence I think necessary to give a decent picture of what's going on. I can't help it. It's like not saying something that you want to say, it's difficult for me. I'm still learning how to wait and be patient so I can get the jobs I want to be bonused properly.
My goal is to get it up a 1000 dollars a month. I'm disabled as well. I can not do big merchandising jobs that require standing on my feet for hours. I love Go Spot Check jobs. No report afterward and I'm done in 5-15 minutes for most jobs.
Another thing I love is if my brain gets tired I slow down. If I catch an opportunity further out with nice pay I try to schedule at least one gas station shop with it so the gas cost is reimbursed. Then I schedule so many shops with it, even if they are easy low paying shops.
I recently was offered two shops 2-2 1/2 hours away for 145. Not much money to some. I turned it into a $300+ route, by adding simple easy shops with it. But I do not make this every single day. I try to schedule one heavy-routed day a week. I'm trying not to burn my self out. (These are less than 50 miles away, a day route). and maybe one day a month going further out, with a long drive.
I'm learning slowly and have only been shopping about 4 months. I shopped less this month and made the same income for January that I earned for December. January I won't make as much money for February because I can NOT invest in my shops but a minute amount so I can catch some bills up. Hopefully, by the end of January, my other half will be back working and able to share his load of the bills.
Also, you can not quantify this job as weekly or hourly I feel. I feel it should be quantified as monthly since most companies pay us monthly. Also, we tend to work harder the last week of the month since this is the time frame that we get the best bonuses. Don't forget to "enjoy" the first couple of weeks of the month of "light" shopping. This will help you to survive and "recover" from the last week of the month. Your brain needs time to rest.

I have a new respect for anyone who does this being disabled. A week before Christmas I injured my knee and had to have subsequent surgery. Before the surgery I was on crutches for over a week and had several shops already scheduled. I was determined to do most of them and only cancelled 4 that I just could not have completed in a professional capacity (revealed type) on crutches. Doing gas station audits on crutches was a hoot. The cashiers and attendants (most of whom know me by now) were so helpful. It added loads of extra time to my day and needless to say, exhaustion. I completed my month early with some phone shops and still made over $700 for December. Tomorrow will be my first day back at real shopping in about 3 weeks. I scheduled lots of drive-thru banks, gas stations where I don't have to get out of the car and a few where I need to walk. Most scheduled walkies are for later in the month when I think I'll be much more mobile. Hats off to anyone who does this regularly with a disability.

I don't leave the house if my average per hour(calculated by $$$/time I left the house to time I get back home) is at or more than what my regular FT job pays.

Also just remember schedulers are your friends but not really. Don't accept dirt cheap offers.

Some people prefer shops with just good shop pay, some people dislike reimbursements. I like food reimbursements but that skews the avg/hr a little bit.

There is no straight answer to your question.

@indianyooper wrote:

I don't leave the house if my average per hour(calculated by $$$/time I left the house to time I get back home) is at or more than what my regular FT job pays.
.

Don't you mean "I don't leave the house UNLESS my average per hour is at or more..."?

@JASFLALMT wrote:

@indianyooper wrote:

I don't leave the house if my average per hour(calculated by $$$/time I left the house to time I get back home) is at or more than what my regular FT job pays.
.

Don't you mean "I don't leave the house UNLESS my average per hour is at or more..."?

Yes that's right. Thanks for catching that.

I rarely work more than two weeks of the month and I can do between 3 to 5 hundred. And I am basically lazy.