Hello,

I'm brand new to the idea of mystery shopping. Can anyone please tell me what is considered to be low pay and good pay for the shopping that someone might do? Thanks for your time.

Opinions of highs, lows and averages vary so much by shopper. My opinion - $1-$7 is low, $10-$15 is average, and $20 and up is high, all of which depend on time and complexity of shop. Having said that, I prefer doing four shops that pay $8+reimbursement, which are easier and take less time than one $35 shop.

I agree with Mert on the estimate. However I have to disagree on the approach: I rather do one shop than four. By the time you get in and out of the car and from one place to the next, and have to write four reports, the "larger" job takes less time overall. The big shops are not so readily available though, so, I will take the smaller ones and bunch them together.

"Pay" is one of those funky things. Many shops have a 2 part "payment". First there is the "fee" and second there is the "reimbursement". If the reimbursement is something of value to you, you need to include it in your overall evaluation of the "worth" of the shop. Your fees are taxable, your reimbursements are not.

So here goes a quick and dirty. Generally as a new shopper you will want to take pretty much what shops are available to you to get started. Don't pay that much attention to the fee at first because what you want to do is get started and see if the requirements of the jobs work for you. There are "cheap" jobs out there that pay $3-$4 for an on-site visit, with photographs to be taken and they reimburse perhaps $2. That is not a good value in anybody's book, but as a beginner you may choose to do a few for the experience and with the understanding that you don't have much invested in the shop in case it gets rejected.

Generally first year jobs pay $10-20 between fees and useful reimbursements. About 6 months in you are likely to decide that you are not leaving your driveway for less than a $15 overall value shop. But that doesn't mean you NEVER do a job worth less than $15! Tomorrow, for example, I have a bunch of $20 shops to do. I will make a stop along the way to do a $15 shop that is photos from the curb and a sketch of the building and area. Then I will run through the drive through of a bank to deposit a check to my account for $10. Then I will stop off for lunch for a $5 fee and an $8.50 maximum reimbursement. Then I will finish my run of $20 shops and head home. Would I stop for a $3 on site shop? No, not worth my time even though I will be driving by two of them.

Yesterday I did 5 shops with $7 fees and one with a $15 fee. But I brought home $40 worth of reimbursed groceries and had a nice shop lunch while I was out.

Fees so far this month range from $0 for a reimbursement only restaurant to $70 for an oddball deal I got. Reimbursements range from 32 cents to over $300 for a boat trip I am to evaluate. There is a natural progression in this business of what is available to you as you build your reputation with the companies you work with and you build the list of companies you are signed up with.

You are never going to get rich. You are never going to make a living unless you are still living in your mother's basement.

patnewman Wrote:
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> I agree with Mert on the estimate. However I have
> to disagree on the approach: I rather do one shop
> than four. By the time you get in and out of the
> car and from one place to the next, and have to
> write four reports, the "larger" job takes less
> time overall. The big shops are not so readily
> available though, so, I will take the smaller ones
> and bunch them together.

Patnewman, though those same 4 shops may take you longer than one for $35, they don't me. There's a $35 shop I take at least once a month, which requires two and a half to three hours of narrative and about 45 minutes on site. I can do four $8/$5 shops in less time.

Now I have to say, as I'm the boss of my business, driving time doesn't count. That's break time for me

You can start with those $4 shops with a $1 reimbursement for practice. But please don't continue to take them. Shoppers grabbing cheap jobs keep the fees low. Even close jobs involve a buck for gas, time to research and prepare, travel time and report time. Then you'll find you are working for about $3 an hour.

For me, it's not really a simple question to answer. I generally choose assignments not necessarily on how much they pay, but how convenient they are for me. I found a post office shop that only paid $10 (which is about average), and I didn't have anything really to mail, but I did it anyway because it was only 2 blocks away. Sometimes shops only reimburse you for a service (instead of paying you a fee), but if it's a service I either would enjoy, or needed to do already (like a bowling shop or an oil change and so on), then I'd consider it worth it.

When you make a decision, you have to consider if it's worth it to you. Make sure you consider how much gas money it's going to cost you and then look at the survey to see how in-depth it is. If you figure it will take you a few hours to do the report but the fee is only $10, then that would only wind up being $5 (or less) per hour.

You'll learn all these things in time, but for your first shop(s), try and stick with something you're familiar with. For example, if you go out to eat a lot, it might be good to start out with a fast food shop near you, and so on.

Hope that helped!

I started with a lot of El Cheapo shops. If I lost money, it went to a cheap education about Mystery Shopping. These helped to establish a rep and pave the way to better paying jobs...

I prefer shops at $15.00 +, however, today I did three of the same each at $12.00 in different locations....and all taking about 45 minutes total, not including driving time, but they were along the way. The report (after doing the 1st) gets easier, so $36.00 for under an hour, not bad. When you get jobs in your town, take them, you save on gas...do a few even for $7.00. I'd enjoy a couple higher paying ones, and just mix it up...changes every day...it depends on the job more than the pay.

The idea of low pay and good pay depends on how much your time is worth. I have seen $5 shops that appear to be very involved and others that seem to be real quick. When I started I wouldn't take anything less than $10. Now I will only take $10 shops if I can bunch a few of them together or if they are real close.

Something else to consider: How much will you spend on gas. If you take a $5.00 shop and spend $3.00 for gas have you really made any money. I have only done one $5 shop and that is because I was in the area and they also paid a $5 reimbursement. There are many $10 shops that are not that involved and reasonably easy to do. I agree with samwise: if we continue to take the low paying jobs then the fees will never be raised.

The fees will never be raised due to the fact that new comers will take the jobs we refuse as they need experience and those are the only jobs they get (as a newbe). This deal about low paying jobs being raised is getting old...companies depend on the newbe's and they depend on those companies. The only low paying job I'll do is the pretzel job, as I'm in the mall working and it's a nice treat.

I wouldn't discount reimbursement only shops either - I haven't paid for an oil change in over a year.

To me, that's a good return on my investment of 20-30 minutes to enter a report, for something that I would have done anyway(and would have had done at the same place!)

So even though there is no "pay" involved, I'll continue to grab these whenever I can.