How much can one person make?

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Holy flippin aces, both of yas. Criminy.

Nothing holy. It's quite solid. Just too much garbage in here to enjoy the place. Take the trash out, and it piles right back up, just like the office trash can. It's a who has a bigger bra size contest up in here 24/7. Just take it off and burn it. I'm gonna go be crunchy and eat some granola.

MegglesKat

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@MountainCacher88 wrote:

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Holy flippin aces, both of yas. Criminy.

Nothing holy. It's quite solid. Just too much garbage in here to enjoy the place. Take the trash out, and it piles right back up, just like the office trash can. It's a who has a bigger bra size contest up in here 24/7. Just take it off and burn it. I'm gonna go be crunchy and eat some granola.

I put her on ignore long ago dear. I suggest you do the same. You can click and read the posts, but it's a reminder not to engage her.

I have another one on ignore becuase I could not remember which one was the nice Amber or the pyscho one. Keeps everything in order. smiling smiley
Not exactly an attack, but a clarification....

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/05/2018 05:57AM by SoCalMama.
Y'all are just a gang of high school meanies. Before you know it, there will just be the 8 of you left here.
Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/06/2018 02:30PM by spicy1.
Damn it! What drama did I miss?!

Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!
@spicy1 wrote:

I now, hereby crown thee, Queen of the Forum.
Who, then, is King? We already know who the jester is *cough*Dave*cough*.

"Let me offer you my definition of social justice: I keep what I earn and you keep what you earn. Do you disagree? Well then tell me how much of what I earn belongs to you - and why?” ~Walter Williams
@iShop123 wrote:

Who, then, is King? We already know who the jester is *cough*Dave*cough*.

I don't know who's King, but Princess Sybil2's disappeared into the abyss and we're patiently awaiting for her glorious return.

Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!
Who knows how much one person can really make... However, I am excited about next week. It's spring break and, aside from adding a few filler shops to my routes, I am booked. I've never been this booked this far out.... I'll be doing my first overnight trip mid-week... Seven new home video shops... six apartment videos... Two casinos... about 1000 miles on the road...... and what should be my best week yet. smiling smiley

Hard work builds character and homework is good for your soul.
I have been doing pretty well doing mystery shops. I am a stay at home Mom with kids in school all day. So I have plenty of time. I have even earned enough extra money to pay for a housekeeper. For the month ending March made a little over $2800. That was a good month for me as I worked more than I normally do because I was trying to plan my daughter’s birthday. But I usually don’t make anything less than $2000.00 a month. I think a lot of it depends on where you live and what is available.
@Tarantado wrote:

I don't know who's King, but Princess Sybil2's disappeared into the abyss and we're patiently awaiting for her glorious return.

F that!

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind
@iShop123 wrote:

@spicy1 wrote:

I now, hereby crown thee, Queen of the Forum.
Who, then, is King? We already know who the jester is *cough*Dave*cough*.

I like Dave Sentry. He rescues dogs. Bless him.
@JASFLALMT wrote:

Shop123 was talking about DavePI I am reasonably sure.
Lol oh could be.
Do you get a lot of your shops by actually speaking to the schedulers instead of getting shops from emails or boards? And do you tell them you won't do the shops for less than $60/hour? I've gotten some higher paying shops occasionally. I think the highest was a tax shop for $350 pay plus reimbursement or a video dentist shop, both which were 20 minutes from home. I find that when I ask for bonuses, sometimes companies pull away.... like a company doing retail sizing audits that used to give me up to $60 for shops had a new scheduler come in, and they cut me from the program when they saw the bonuses I had gotten on the last two shops. Sad because I actually helped them last minute when they had flakes and had no one else.
You are running a business, so do the shops that you like and you get the most bang for the buck. But it's the right offs. You can write off your round trip miles, (I just keep up with mileage because the government gives you a good deduction per mile.) you write off a portion of your phone bill, wireless bill, if you buy a new printer, the ink, the paper, if you have to buy something for the shop (that isn't reinbursed), and whatever you do for a shop. Never use the home office deduction. It's not worth it and a red flag for the IRS. For me I show very little profit but parts of my telephone and wireless bills are paid for which I would have had to pay anyway, so doing this is a big coupon.
I have thought about my internet as a write off.. what percentage do you think is appropriate?
I use to work many apartment shops and drove 60 miles one way and the traffic would be so terrible and then on a few occasions taking 4 hours to get home put an end to that....Then to think you still have to sit some more and do your reports got to be to much for a person of my age.. 67 now. But the future may look bright as instead of driving I'm planning routes with the use of a motel in some instances.
I think it also depends on where you're located. Those of us in rural communities, without many big name stores, just don't have as much opportunity as someone who lives in an urban/suburban area, surrounded by stores and restaurants
@interested wrote:

Do you get a lot of your shops by actually speaking to the schedulers instead of getting shops from emails or boards? And do you tell them you won't do the shops for less than $60/hour?

I get only filler shops from boards.
And no, I don't think telling someone "I have to make $60 an hour" is a good way of doing business. How much I make per hour is not their concern in the least bit.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind
@MikiNV wrote:

I would say by starting with maybe few or more shops per week, you can make about $150- 200 per month. When I worked full time, most of my shops were reimbursement only or small fee, and I would average about $500-700 in reimbursement (restaurants, dry clean, oil change, retail) It all depends, I think you should give it a try for a month or two and see how you do. I have made anywhere from $200 to $1,500 per month, plus about $500 in reimbursement money.
Edited: I just re-read your post-you could sign up with more companies. An average shopper is signed up with at least 10-15 companies. I am signed up with maybe 30 but 90% of work I do is for 5 companies.

Hi MikiNV, what 5 companies do you primarily work with?
Thanks!
If you use the tax deductions that you get for being a independent contractor wisely you will get more bang for your buck. For some strange reason people do not log their miles that they drive while shopping. For instance if you drive 200 miles a month while shopping you can get 54.5 cents for each mile. That equals $1308.00 you can write off a year. If you are really smart schedule a shop close to your place of employment and that will count as business miles not commuter miles. Do it everyday you work. Also factor in the home office deduction, rent/mortgage, cell phone bill, internet, utilities, HOA, just to name a few. I have a regular job , but because I shop also I can get the tax deductions. Just by doing this mystery shopping and making a profit you are eligible for $1000's in tax deductions! $5000 extra in my pocket!!
@Lexi_lex_Lex
Folks are not likely to share some of their best resources that willingly. Some contacts take time to develop. Some we find by slowing working through the large number of MSC's on the list below.. Sometimes we are contacted and recruited. However, we are also all competitors. If a particular MSC has more active shoppers in an area, payment goes down as we find ourselves effectively underbidding one-another. If MSC's don't have enough active shoppers, payment goes up as MSC's compete with one-another to entice the limited number of shoppers to do their work - instead of working for another company.

Hard work builds character and homework is good for your soul.
foxhill,
If you mean that your commuting miles will count as business miles if you take a shop near work, you are dead wrong. This has been discussed many, many times here and the final answer is always the same: not deductible. There is a nice little diagram on the IRS publication that deals with business mileage that you can easily find.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
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