Mystery Shopper or Pedofile?

@kenasch wrote:

Just found a similar mirror lens device on eBay for less than $3. Will give it a try and let you know. Might take a while as it will be shipped from China.

I received this device and it definitely has possibilities. It allows you take a picture with you smart phone without holding the phone up. It just looks like you are texting someone.

However to use it I need to attach an adhesive ring over the lens on my iPhone. The ring than attaches magnetically to the mirror lens. I’m reluctant to do that as I’m concerned that the adhesve could damage the phone lens itself. It doesn’t appear that the ring can be easily removed if I don’t like it. The ring cannot be adhered to my case as it won’t fit that way. I did just hold it in place to test it and the pictures were fine. They are inverted but I found an app that can flip them.

I found another inexpensive mirror lens on Amazon that clips onto the phone. I have ordered it but the product is shipped from China so I have to wait another month to try it.

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I did a luxury apartment shop. I was shown the children's playroom in the building and i did not take any photos when we walked past it because I am sensitive about taking photos where children who are strangers to me are playing. My editor spoke to me about omitting this photo but evidently she accepted my explanation.

I think that I bought the last one. This thread probably created a run on the device on eBay!

@kenasch wrote:

@Hoju wrote:

That one on amazon is enormous. Do you have a link for the eBay one?

Here you go and free shipping:

[www.ebay.com]

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008

@Irene_L.A. wrote:

I feel it fine to take a pic of your food, but when you jump up and take the menu, and outside, yes, that's a bit obvious. My mall the outside part with the cute shops and restaurants doesn't allow pictures, I was reprimanded taking a picture of BJ's , security said we don't allow pictures, it disturb's the customers coming in. Don't the owners writing the instructions know this....it also puts us at risk and easy to tell we're the shopper.

And it is especially important for those in California (and some other states) to be careful. One must ensure that the photo does not capture any person in it as taking recordings, including still photographs, of people without their permission is a criminal act under states law.

@kenasch wrote:

@kenasch wrote:

Just found a similar mirror lens device on eBay for less than $3. Will give it a try and let you know. Might take a while as it will be shipped from China.

I received this device and it definitely has possibilities. It allows you take a picture with you smart phone without holding the phone up. It just looks like you are texting someone.

However to use it I need to attach an adhesive ring over the lens on my iPhone. The ring than attaches magnetically to the mirror lens. I’m reluctant to do that as I’m concerned that the adhesve could damage the phone lens itself. It doesn’t appear that the ring can be easily removed if I don’t like it. The ring cannot be adhered to my case as it won’t fit that way. I did just hold it in place to test it and the pictures were fine. They are inverted but I found an app that can flip them.

I found another inexpensive mirror lens on Amazon that clips onto the phone. I have ordered it but the product is shipped from China so I have to wait another month to try it.

I received the one with the clip. Right now, I'm not impressed. It is not a mirror, it is a triangular shaped prism. It throws a strong yellow color cast on the photo and degrades the picture quality (at least on my phone). The clip is hard to position to stay in place, as it wants to slide around. I could probably fix that issue with some type of grippy surface glued to it. The size of the hole for the shutter is such that it either cuts off the top or bottom of the photo unless it is exactly right. It comes apart easily, as I found out when trying to slide it on my camera once. I have found if I take the prism out of the black casing, the color cast disappears. So maybe painting it white might be an option. Still seeing if I can figure something out. But, I'm not sure I can ever improve on the degraded picture quality. The good thing about it is that it doesn't flip the photo, as the others do.

@kenasch wrote:

I’m waiting for mine to arrive from China. Probably won’t be until the end of the month.

Non related to mystery shopping question...I have a burning desire to know...
I ordered an item from china not long ago. With shipping included it was $1.54. It was a battery tester and too large to fit in a flat envelope. How can they ship all the way from China for that price? If I wanted to mail that tester to my neighbor it would cost more than i paid including shipping???

@sandyf wrote:

@kenasch wrote:

I’m waiting for mine to arrive from China. Probably won’t be until the end of the month.

Non related to mystery shopping question...I have a burning desire to know...
I ordered an item from china not long ago. With shipping included it was $1.54. It was a battery tester and too large to fit in a flat envelope. How can they ship all the way from China for that price? If I wanted to mail that tester to my neighbor it would cost more than i paid including shipping???

I have often wondered the same thing. Here a few things I found via Google:

"The Chinese government subsidizes the shipping costs of companies/corporations to encourage export. They also ship these things in bulk. So the government has deals so that they load up a hundred thousand $0.99 packages on a ship container and deliver them close to their destination. They also get super cheap rates, magnitudes lower than what us regular people have to pay.

"In an effort to ride the e-commerce boom, the U.S. Postal Service signed a deal in 2010 with China’s state carrier to sell a special service for small packages entering the U.S. For a small premium, the USPS offered tracking and delivery confirmation, an essential feature for online retailers, as well as expedited shipping."

Here's one article:
[www.washingtonpost.com]

Me again - many sources state that our USPS is clearly losing money dong this as what they charge China does not cover their costs. Go figure.

I received my mirror lens device that clips on my phone. This is the one I found on Amazon but ships from China so takes a while. It works great on my IPhone X. I can now take photos while holding my phone down at waiste level as if I’m texting. I do have to be careful as it can slide around a bit but definitely seems workable. i did not have the color problems that alake58 reported above. Now all I need is a shop that requires pictures without being too obvious to staff. I would put the link to the Amazon page here but don’t want it to appear like I’m promoting this. If you do a search for a phone spy, periscope mirror lens on Amazon you should find it. $6 shipped but prices do change often on Amazon.

Is this the one that doesn't turn your photos upside down and is not so much a mirror as a triangular shaped prism inside the clip? Mine also degraded the photo quality to where the photos were blurry. Maybe I need to try ordering again because I received a bad one. Mine fell apart the 2nd time I tried using it. :-(

@kenasch wrote:

I received my mirror lens device that clips on my phone. This is the one I found on Amazon but ships from China so takes a while. It works great on my IPhone X. I can now take photos while holding my phone down at waiste level as if I’m texting. I do have to be careful as it can slide around a bit but definitely seems workable. i did not have the color problems that alake58 reported above. Now all I need is a shop that requires pictures without being too obvious to staff. I would put the link to the Amazon page here but don’t want it to appear like I’m promoting this. If you do a search for a phone spy, periscope mirror lens on Amazon you should find it. $6 shipped but prices do change often on Amazon.

@alake58 wrote:

Is this the one that doesn't turn your photos upside down and is not so much a mirror as a triangular shaped prism inside the clip? Mine also degraded the photo quality to where the photos were blurry. Maybe I need to try ordering again because I received a bad one. Mine fell apart the 2nd time I tried using it. :-(

Mine appears to have two mirrors in it and the image is not upside down. It came in a yellow box that said “90 Degree Lens” on it.

Appears to be same one. But, if yours falls apart like mine did, you may find out it isn't mirrors, it is a wedge shaped plastic prism. Good luck! I wish mine worked well.

@kenasch wrote:

Mine appears to have two mirrors in it and the image is not upside down. It came in a yellow box that said “90 Degree Lens” on it.

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