I don't find mystery shopping fun. I don't accept mystery shops, et.al., as a charity gig. Why do marketing companies believe otherwise? I separate each shop into 1. review and research, 2. fieldwork, 3. report preparation and writing. Each step requires time and most travel. I find if I'm completing a $12 shop for one company then I am not looking for or completing another shop that pays much more. When one sacrifices one shop ($12) for another shop ($12+) the + is called opportunity cost.
The reason I mystery shop is simple, I'm old(er) and my availability to work outside the home is limited. Also, I want the extra money. What I don't want is to be taken advantage of, do you understand.

If I needed the money, I’d agree 100%, and I would accept shops in such a way as to maximize my profit. This may still entail losing money on rare occasions, such as when one wishes to earn some kind of favor with the client or agent. ISecretShop for instance lets you book more shops when your reputation rises, so you might book an easy shop that paid less in order to raise your rep and book other, more profitable shops.

That said, I am willing to do a shop for little to no profit when it’s at a restaurant I like to visit, or a winery whose products I enjoy. I’ve shopped a few places like this for a net of zero or less, but I get a nice bottle or meal for free.

Mary,
It is often the case that some $12 shops need to be done to gain access to self-assignment status leading to $20-$75 shops. As you read more and more on the forums you will discover which MSCs require some high scores on "starter" shops to decide who is good enough to move up to much better paid shops.

It IS VERY worthwhile to become a "go to" shopper. That will also put you at the front of the line for shops with big bonuses during the EOM and EOQ times, when schedulers want their most reliable shoppers and will pay extra to get them.

Keep in mind that it may cost a shopper nothing to complete a shop. In that situation, even a small fee is purely additive.

Mary, I think everyone here agrees that they want to make a profit and not spend more time at it than it is worth. And certainly no one wants to lose money.

For now what works for me is to only do jobs that are right on my way to work, etc. So no travel time or expense. If I feel like doing it, (gas stations, restaurant, grocery store, etc.) and it will put a few dollars in my pocket, or save $. Then it is worth it to me, even if $ per hour doesn't seem worth it.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/23/2019 05:11PM by prince.

Yes we understand your point of view but we all have different reasons for shopping and as illustrated above different reasons for sometimes taking a low paying shop. For many it is not only about $$ paid in cash but also about reimbursements, either for things we would need to buy or things we would want to buy/experince and feel the value of what we are getting for "free" outweighs the time spent to get it.

I never evaluate a low paying job solely on its own. For me it’s all about grouping your shops and creating mini routes. I will accept low fee/reimbursement shops if I feel confident that I can find other shops in the same area. MF, Presto Instashops, MsJobboard, etc give me the ability to do this.

Like GS, I will often take shops that I technically don't make any outright money on or even pay a little if it's something I want or would buy/enjoy anyways. One example is a massage shop I took, I tipped more than what was reimbursed and it essentially took my shop to zero money in my pocket, but I got a great massage that would normally be $60 so it was worth it to me.

LOL! I was dealing with a scheduler this week. I was asking $75 for a job 175 miles from home. She was saying she'd consider that, if I would agree to pick up another shop "an hour and a half away" for another $75. Well, the "hour and a half away" is an hour and a half further from my home.

So now it's a 10 hour round-trip drive for $150.

She just can't understand how I can turn it down, ROTFLOL!!!

Subtract the $70 in gas cost, add in reporting time, and I'd be working for less than the Federal minimum wage.

OTOH, if there were 6 or 8 of the $75 shops, I'd be on the road practically before I hang up the phone, LOL!!!

I wouldn't drive 100 miles for $75, much less 175.

I do $3 gas station shops that fill up my tank weekly.

I do $6 hardware shops that get me nuts, bolts, screws, hoses and batteries.

I do $3 grocery store shops that fill my fridge so I don't have to go grocery shopping.

I do $2 QSR shops that provide me lunch at work for the week.

I do $4 shops where I buy sundry goods.

I do $8 oil change shops.

For me, that's all worth it, and they are my choice.

When I am in between W-2 jobs (I'm a government contractor), I shop full time. I do the higher paying shops with bonuses to meet my monthly quota.

For me, the reasons to do the shop are more than money, it's do they fill my needs. For instance, my daughter needed several classics for her HS English classes (Tale of Two Cities, Jane Eyre, etc)., so I took the bookstore jobs in order to spend time with her and get her books paid for. Did I end up "losing money"? Yes, a little bit, but I ended up coming out ahead because we took a break and the majority of the cost of the books was covered. I do a group of mailing jobs once a year or so in order to send out the out-of-town GS Cookie orders (my contribution to the teenager's project. I group the whole batch together and consider it a win when I break even or "lose" just a little bit in total (BIL orders at least a case each year). Kiddo gets incentives to put toward camp fees (fees I don't have to pay) and the MSC gets their assignments completed. Since I do this every year at the same time and I am dependable, the scheduler and I work together to make sure that I get the number that I need. So yes, I might "lose" on a specific job but overall I break even. I also will take the small dollar dining jobs because those are very little work but it covers my food during a work day. I also take a ton of the gas station jobs because I can group small routes around where I am going anyway and instead of hanging out in the HS parking lot twiddling my thumbs while waiting for my teenager to be finished with whatever the extracurricular is at that time, I make money and cover my gas costs. There is no way that I could do that if I had to keep a regular schedule. I only have her at home for two more years so for now it works. And, because I was willing to do the harder to fill, smaller dollar assignments when I was building up my reputation, I tend to get calls offering nice bonuses and schedulers are more able to stretch the schedule knowing that I won't flake.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/2019 12:58AM by KarenMSW.

I won't, either.

LOL!!!

(Um...she didn't need to know what other shops I had scheduled!)

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I wouldn't drive 100 miles for $75, much less 175.

I get five $12 shops in a small area that are really easy. They can be done in about an hour. That's $60/hour. I'll take it. Sometimes 5 easy lower paying ones are easier to do than one $35 one that is more detailed. The key is to bundle them together so you are not making a trip for one $12 shop.

Lighten up OP. Your grammar and punctuation are terrible. Perhaps work on that, and you’ll get better fees?

When I shopped full time, I would do the $9-12 shops near the higher paying apartment or bank shops. The sheer volume of those lower paying shops would help me reach monetary goals.

@SoCalMama wrote:

Lighten up OP. Your grammar and punctuation are terrible. Perhaps work on that, and you’ll get better fees?

Quit picking on posters. First you accuse an old man of being a Racist and now you are here beating someone up because of their spelling and grammar. You need to Lighten up!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/2019 06:35PM by Sobrokeigot2dothis.

That's a very spicy post. So Broke, you probably need to lighten up. I don't have a dog in this hunt, but it sounds like you are targeting specific posters and trying to start fights.

@roflwofl wrote:

That's a very spicy post. So Broke, you probably need to lighten up. I don't have a dog in this hunt, but it sounds like you are targeting specific posters and trying to start fights.

I am complaining about a bully and you are complaining about me complaining about a bully. Now can you follow that ?

Sobroke,
Claiming to be bullied because you do not like the advice as to how to earn better fees is not going to help. I often disagree with SoCal, but she is just being blunt, not bullying. Forum members are trying to point out many alternative ways of making better fees and finding better ways forward.
What is all this stuff about calling an old man a racist? I read the @#$% stuff he said and I vote for racist. We just do not need that sort of guff here. If you do not understand someone, the best thing to do is to politely ask them to repeat what they said, more slowly.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/2019 08:35PM by walesmaven.

The post was not aimed at me, but after I read it, I felt like I had been whacked with a blunt-force object.

The point made in the post had merit, though.

This sounds so much like another poster who we are all familiar with.

@walesmaven wrote:

Sobroke,
Claiming to be bullied because you do not like the advice as to how to earn better fees is not going to help. I often disagree with SoCal, but she is just being blunt, not bullying. Forum members are trying to point out many alternative ways of making better fees and finding better ways forward.

Indeed, and I think someone said a magic word relating to that former poster.

Hi Mary, You mentioned you "are older" so I'd like to offer another perspective quite apart from the pay. Deciphering shop instructions is as good a mental workout as any not to mention developing your memory skills, i.e. Was the cashier wearing glasses? You will meet new people, go to places you might never have otherwise considered, and learn about new products. I would urge you to attend a mystery shopping conference for inspiration and attend a video training workshop for higher paying video shops.

I’m with everyone who says people plan and shop for different reasons/results. Honestly I love Love Love reimbursement shops. I don’t have to pay taxes on them and I get a bunch of stuff I need free. I wish all grocery shops were total reimbursement only. Would be worth it for me (but maybe not you). Any penny I don’t pay on groceries, oil changes, car maintenance (washes), gifts, hotel stays, movies, Entertainment, etc is a penny that stays in my pocket. I am older as well.

Liz

That's my thoughts exactly. I have saved a lot through mystery shopping.

@Traveliz wrote:

Any penny I don’t pay on groceries, oil changes, car maintenance (washes), gifts, hotel stays, movies, Entertainment, etc is a penny that stays in my pocket. I am older as well.

Liz

For me, shops provide different things at different times. Just now. I have a personal challenge to use shops as replacement revenue for another job that I am avoiding for awhile. Is this working? Let's see..... Money? Check. Fun? Check. Tired? Check. Cranky? Check. Satisfied? Check. Irritated and with steam pouting out of my ears because reporting on the phone is sometimes Heaven and sometimes Hell on earth? Check.

See?

You can define your shopping in any way that you want to or need to. @OP, I hope that you will find some way to enjoy mystery shopping on your terms and for your purposes.

@HonnyBrown wrote:

When I shopped full time, I would do the $9-12 shops near the higher paying apartment or bank shops. The sheer volume of those lower paying shops would help me reach monetary goals.

Sometimes you need the $9-$12 shops to kill the time you need to wait in between doing the next high paying job. I don't know about you, but I'd rather make money with my time than sit around not making money. If I'm going to be right there it can make a day much more lucrative.

I only once did a shop at charity prices. It was an error. I self-assigned a reimbursement only shop. I knew the scheduler only in passing. I let her know it was a mistake, that I don't do charity, but that I was a stand-up person and would honor my commitment. I started to get more assignments and more bonuses on other shops. The scheduler is gone, so too are the bonuses. But the charity has not - and will not - return.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I wouldn't drive 100 miles for $75, much less 175.

So just HOW MUCH more than 75 cents per mile do you charge? Do you actually get them to pay you more than 76+ cents per mile?