I haven't been on this board for a long time. My advice to new shoppers would be to take what some seasoned shoppers say they earn with a grain of salt.

Oh geez another one.

"In Internet slang, a troll is a person who starts quarrels or upsets people on the Internet to distract and sow discord by posting inflammatory and digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the intent of provoking readers into displaying emotional responses and normalizing tangential discussion, whether for the troll's amusement or a specific gain."

We are on to this. Really.

@bgriffin wrote:

Oh geez another one.

Another one? I'm sure it's the same one, and has been the same one.

I actually was referring to another username not another actual user.

Stalkers/trolls/whoever, first starting and seeing a 3.00 fee, I understand it seems impossible to make 60.00 per hour. Established shoppers having an in with a company, having proved themselves over and over, being trusted and so on, can indeed make 60.00 (but not every hour). I don't do Video, not allowed in my state, but will make 60.00 for three jobs close together that will take perhaps an hour give or take next month. Look for jobs with no reimbursement, banks, dealerships, you young guys love cars, two a day will bring you hourly $$, many opportunities available, so instead of being so negative, try and see the whole picture. This is work, as they say, there is no free lunch (except for me)...

I thought video shops were performed in every state but needed special requirements or something.

They have to have both parties permission in CA...and some companies are lax.

Fantasy pay? Hmmmm.

If you count ONLY the hours I was on my feet yesterday, that's $445 for 5 hours.

I personally wish 100,000 more people every month would take the jobs at base pay.

In my wildest fantasy, I am paid comprehensively per assignment... $100,000 for each year of life; $1,000,000 for each minute in school and in lifelong learning; $1,000 because (because you never know when some sore and tender part will become sorer and tenderer and inspire me to take a vaca); the basic fee; a graduated bonus: for each minute more than the estimated time for the shop, there shall be a 30% escalating bonus; and whatever else I should have but am too sleepy to dream up just now....

Me thinks thou protest too much.

Ok. Let's try something different.
Just give up. Don't bother trying to make it in this business. There's no money in it. Go work for Walmart. Nothing to see here. Later, bruh.

@Hoju wrote:

Ok. Let's try something different.
Just give up. Don't bother trying to make it in this business. There's no money in it. Go work for Walmart. Nothing to see here. Later, bruh.

Or you guys could stop acting like a bunch of closed minded unsocial geeks and let people have their say and opinions even if it is not the constant dogma you are trying to sell.

Someone getting her feelings hurt, princess?

@Hoju wrote:

Someone getting her feelings hurt, princess?

Actually if you must know I am a man. I am a honest man not one like you who pretends to make a fake fantastic living mystery shopping as you wait for your government entitlements check to come.

Guys, they are not saying EVERYONE who does this can make big bucks. They can't. They may not want to. How many people started little computer businesses in the 80s and 90s? How many are Michael Dell? Not many. But, against all odds, Michael Dell made millions starting as a college student part time. How many mail order places are there? How many are Amazon? You get the picture. Some people are superstars, some are not. But, instead of calling the superstars liars or being so jealous one can't absorb some of their ideas and work habits to make more money, open your minds to the possibility that you could glean some worthwhile information.

I don't want to make big money mystery shopping. I have a day job that I love. I eat out a lot and take friends out and I want to offset my dining out costs. But I have taken little tidbits from the posts of the Big Bucks Earners to enhance my mystery shopping and make more money for less time.

Ok, today I'm driving 100 miles to the nearest town with a population over 10,000. I had two shops scheduled at $75 each. I got on my computer yesterday and checked PrestoInstaMaps, and found a couple end-of-month urgent bonused shops. Spent less than 5 minutes getting an e-mail off to the scheduler, and picked up two more $35 shops. The two $75 shops will take me about an hour each, including reporting; the two $35 shops will take less than half an hour each, including reporting.

My drive time will be 3 hours. Shopping and reports another 3 hours total. $220 total, for a short day of work. It's NOT $60 an hour. But it's over $30 an hour, and over half of that is tax sheltered by the mileage deduction.

And no, these amounts are NOT available every day. They ARE available about the last 10 days of the month.

And are applicable ONLY to me.

I can't say I "specialize" in any particular type of shop, but there are a lot of shops out there I don't have access to, being in a rural area. Or that I wouldn't do, even if I had access.

I can work shopping pretty steadily the last two weeks of each month, and earn about $200 a day. Now, in California or New York, that's chicken feed. But here, it's not bad at all.

Is it stressful? Yes. Have I screwed up shops and not gotten paid? Yes. Is it always MY fault? No. But usually, it is. If I can, I reschedule, re-do, apologize (profusely), and move on to the next one.

It's no fantasy. It's work -- hard, stressful work.

@Sobrokeigot2dothis wrote:

@Hoju wrote:

Someone getting her feelings hurt, princess?

Actually if you must know I am a man.

That doesn't change my choice of words.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2019 03:02PM by Hoju.

Name calling by SoBroke "closed minded unsocial geeks", and such is plain juvenile, read a book, elevate yourself, there must be a way to get your personal point across without having to relate to a 7 year old.
We all get it, you can't make money, move on or start a go fund me campaign, and stop blaming those that can
#making fool of oneself

CALLING ALL MODERATORS.......



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2019 03:09PM by Irene_L.A..

This is where she whines because I called her princess and you didn't call me out, Irene.

@Hoju wrote:

This is where she whines because I called her princess and you didn't call me out, Irene.

Boohoo no sympathy here...could be this facade is for attention only??



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2019 03:16PM by Irene_L.A..

@ceasesmith wrote:

Ok, today I'm driving 100 miles to the nearest town with a population over 10,000. I had two shops scheduled at $75 each. I got on my computer yesterday and checked PrestoInstaMaps, and found a couple end-of-month urgent bonused shops. Spent less than 5 minutes getting an e-mail off to the scheduler, and picked up two more $35 shops. The two $75 shops will take me about an hour each, including reporting; the two $35 shops will take less than half an hour each, including reporting.

My drive time will be 3 hours. Shopping and reports another 3 hours total. $220 total, for a short day of work. It's NOT $60 an hour. But it's over $30 an hour, and over half of that is tax sheltered by the mileage deduction.

And no, these amounts are NOT available every day. They ARE available about the last 10 days of the month.

And are applicable ONLY to me.

I can't say I "specialize" in any particular type of shop, but there are a lot of shops out there I don't have access to, being in a rural area. Or that I wouldn't do, even if I had access.

I can work shopping pretty steadily the last two weeks of each month, and earn about $200 a day. Now, in California or New York, that's chicken feed. But here, it's not bad at all.

Is it stressful? Yes. Have I screwed up shops and not gotten paid? Yes. Is it always MY fault? No. But usually, it is. If I can, I reschedule, re-do, apologize (profusely), and move on to the next one.

It's no fantasy. It's work -- hard, stressful work.

If you drive 200 miles in 3 hours in rural areas, you will be getting speeding tickets.

@Hoju wrote:

This is where she whines because I called her princess and you didn't call me out, Irene.

The mission is only to help protect innocent people from the misleading and constant cascade of misrepresentations about how much money they are going to make mystery shopping. The endless insults I have endured for bringing these lies to light are a small price to pay.

It's 100 miles each way, at 65 MPH. Takes me an hour and a half each way.

So may be it's a little less than 100 miles, LOL!!!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2019 04:51PM by ceasesmith.

If new shoppers only read the threads about how much money a high earner is able to make after hard work and honing their skills and they totally ignore all the other threads about failures, issues, low paying work etc. then it is on them for not doing due diligence about this field of work. I liken this to people who read job ads for specific types of degree jobs requiring a higher education where they are offering six figure salaries. The person then decides to go to non accredited college and majors in a much lower paying field that is saturated with degreed people and then complain they have been cheated when they finally graduate and find entry level jobs for much less money or sometimes no jobs at all. The whole picture is right here in this forum. Both sides of the earning scale are possible. And everything in between. Depends on you, your dedication, your wilingness to work hard and search out the good jobs, to jump on things you see, to work the system, to make positive connections, your location too and more.

@Sobrokeigot2dothis wrote:

@Hoju wrote:

This is where she whines because I called her princess and you didn't call me out, Irene.

The mission is only to help protect innocent people from the misleading and constant cascade of misrepresentations about how much money they are going to make mystery shopping. The endless insults I have endured for bringing these lies to light are a small price to pay.

Sobroke, you're calling me a liar?

I've been doing this 10 years. I did NOT make this kind of money just out the starting gate.

I would not make this much if I was unwilling to drive the 200 miles roundtrip.

Not everyone will make that kind of money. Many shoppers make significantly more.

Two years ago, I made significantly more. But major MSCs have cut bonuses in half in many cases. One route I used to do was 800 miles long, and paid $1200. I did that same route late last month, getting the highest bonuses I could wrangle, and only made $545.

@Sobrokeigot2dothis wrote:

The endless insults I have endured for bringing these lies to light are a small price to pay.

It's probably something you've grown accustomed to from your day-to-day life anyway.

Hi, Sobroke. Do the mods know how many screennames you have? Should I report you and let them look into it?

@jdoj wrote:

Me thinks thou protest too much.

@Hoju wrote:

@Sobrokeigot2dothis wrote:

The endless insults I have endured for bringing these lies to light are a small price to pay.

It's probably something you've grown accustomed to from your day-to-day life anyway.

I mystery shopped a Panda Express for lunch today and my fortune cookie said "COURAGE AND OPTIMISM ARE YOUR BEST TRAITS."

You can't beat me down with your lies and smears!

By the way for you honest readers out there I did not make $60 dollars an hour mystery shopping the Panda Express. I made $4 dollars and a free meal and they don't even give you enough for a soda! This shop is a real stinker unless you like the Panda.

Yeah, nobody makes $60 an hour shopping Panda Express. So what? And you gripe about that MSC constantly in other posts, late payments, blah blah blah...I still don't understand why you still shop for them when you constantly complain about them. It's the incessant whining that made Hoju call you a princess, LOL.