The following are the shops I signed up for:

Market Force
Certified Field Associate
Beyond Hello
Second to None
Mintel
Best Mark
Informa
Ritter and Associates
Corporate Research International
Cirrus Marketing

Would like to hear your experiences on each? I was also going to sign up for Insula? Any experiences on that?

Two questions:

1. On Informa, it gives me shops in my city and state and when I check them it tells me I can't view them? Any ideas?

2. Ritter and Associates...said I would get a confirmation email with my username and password to sign on but an email was never sent.

Only waiting to hear if BestMark accepted me.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Liz

Liz, your best bet is to do use the search function. There are threads about these companies in the forum.

In terms of not being able to see shops, it could be that there are none available, or, it might just be that you don't yet have access to them.

Market Force-----I do a lot of fast food shops for them. They pay on time.

Certified Field Associate----I will let you form your own opinion.

Beyond Hello----Lots of eyewear shops. Pays in like 60 days could be less.

Second to None-----Fairly good. Pays on time the following month.

Mintel---Did 1 mailing shop 4 them.

Best Mark----wants a lot for $2.00. Most restaurants are reimbursement only shops.

Informa---Financial Institutes. Pays before they say they will. At least that is my experience.

Ritter and Associates---Some low paying gas stations and storages. Pays the month after the month you shopped. ie; shop in February get paid in April

Corporate Research International----Good when they up the anti on shops. Lots of gas shops for little money. Schedulers are nice....suffering from economic hard fall..so they say.

Cirrus Marketing----I did 2 apartments about 4 years ago. Don't shop with them anymore. Furniture shop makes me feel like an idiot. LOL

Hi, Liz, welcome to the forum. There's lots of discussion on all these MSPs in the forum. To access it, use "Search" and search "all forums" and "all dates" for each search you do for each MSP. You will find that we all like different things and different companies so we have differing opinions, but by reading here on the forum you should hear a lot about all the companies in your post. Read, read, read.

Have you tried Scheduling companies as well, it is the best way to get in with new companies as most Scheduling Companies have there own clients as well as schedule for companies that are not able to schedule all of their clients as well.
For Instance KSS(Kerns) or Coast to Coast, I believe they are like number 1 and 2 largest world wide.

Thanks for the advice. Just signed up for both Kerns and Coast to Coast. Saw the job board on Kerns. Coast to Coast didn't bring up anything in ANY state on their search for jobs. Am I doing something wrong? I put in my area codes, city, state, and tons of zip codes, additional area codes and additional cities.

Lisa

I used to do Winn Dixie shops, but they don't offer them anymore and I haven't found any grocery shops lately. I am in a small town North of Tampa. FL. Does anyone know where to find Publix shops? I called Publix Corp. office and they wouldn't give me the name of the company which does their shops, only that it is listed on MSPA.

Thanks for your help.

If you don't see them on Coast to Coast's board possibly these have gone out to their schedulers for now. Coast to Coast only posts these or so long before offering them to their schedulers. This puts you in there data base and I know for a fact they have a lot of jobs out there. You should begin getting email offers soon directly from their schedulers.

is there a job board on Coast to Coast or do they email you directly. The board that I'm on has absolutely nothing available and I've tried other cities and states. I'm confused.

Lisa

Am I doing something wrong

My preference is to not work with scheduling companies. Coast to Coast does have a job board plus they email shoppers directly, who are signed with them. The radius search works better for me than searching by State.

There are no Publix stores where I live. Regarding Publix's corporate office advising that they are shopped by an MSPA company, then that's where you go, and register with the member companies. Corporate's answer was a carrot. If a shopper is serious, they will chase it.

Lisa:
If the client for a project is a Ctcss client directly it will be on the board, but they have many clients they schedule for that are just using their scheduling services, those you only see through scheduler emails. I am aware of approximately 5 clients they have jobs for in my state now. They get new shops all the time. That is why as a Triple Gold MSPA Shopper if you want to fill your calendar do not neglect signing up with Scheduling Companies.
dibru.

kimcox17 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I used to do Winn Dixie shops, but they don't
> offer them anymore and I haven't found any grocery
> shops lately. I am in a small town North of
> Tampa. FL. Does anyone know where to find Publix
> shops? I called Publix Corp. office and they
> wouldn't give me the name of the company which
> does their shops, only that it is listed on MSPA.
>
> Thanks for your help.


I am South of Tampa and have never seen a publix shop yet, I am signed with just under 70 companies. The only time I ever shopped them was for a soda company for the super bowl set up. As far as winn dixi shops, I recently did one that required gathering prices for well over 200 products. I must say I would not touch that shop again with a ten foot pole!

I apologize for no prior response, but I just joined the forum today. :-)

You can sign up for the CTCSS job board at:
[www.mystshopsol.com]

Please let me know if you have any other questions.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2011 07:26AM by CTCSS Jen.

I work for Coast to Coast and really like them. My scheduler is great, they email me jobs, very conveient and also within my radius.

From what I have seen Ritter typically starts the pay at less then $10 but will up them if no one takes the shops. I did a storage shop for $16 that starts at $8. I would set a minimum that you are willing to take. If the pay is too low you will not make any money with the price of gas. Also, some shops require alot less work for the same pay as other shops so factor in how much your time is worth.

>>>>>>>>>>I apologize for no prior response, but I just joined the forum today. :-)

You can sign up for the CTCSS job board at:
[www.mystshopsol.com]

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Jen Slyter
Jennifer@ctcss.com
775-847-0387 (Pacific Time)
Coast to Coast Scheduling Services, Inc.
www.ctcss.co m<<<<<<<<<xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I am confused.

A year ago I signed up for CTCSS using the CTCSS website. I could view available jobs but could not apply for some unknown reason.

About three months later , I applied to www.mystshopsol.com, which was a scheduling company called RaMack Scheduling. I never heard back from them.

Then 3 months later, I received emails from CTCSS letting me be aware of jobs available in my area. You could only apply by emailing the cyberer with Name address, EMA, date and city of the job you were replying to. Again, I never heard back.

I decided to place this MSC on the back burner b/c they weren't providing me with info or jobs. Now that was a year ago.

Today as I was Mystery Shop hunting, I came across a company called Mystery Shopping Solutions. I applied to it. But when it came back with the web address, it looked familiar. I retrieved my files from year back and saw that it was the same company I applied to a year ago. ( www.mystshopsol.com) I decided, "what's up with that."

Then I come here tonight (Ok, 8:00pm) and see this post by the CTCSS rep who seems to be of BOTH MSC. NOW, "What's up with that?"

Excuse me JEN, but U R posting 2 3 in the morning, I am not up. I am assuming that's CA time. I do have questions. I am in your datbase but no one is responding to my email or replies.

Hi,

CTCSS is not an MSC. We are a scheduling service (Coast to Coast Scheduling Services). You can view available assignments on the job board at the link I posted: [www.mystshopsol.com], but you can't apply for them there directly. You need to reply to the appropriate scheduler, who will schedule you on the MSC's website.

However, Mystery Shopping Solutions, from what I understand, hosts databases for many companies, which each have their own separate link. At first, the links may look the same, but if you put your cursor over it, you'll see that they're different (ours has "ctcss" in it).

I always post my available shops at Mystery Shopping Solutions, so if something's in your area, you'll be notified by email, but you have make sure that you're in the appropriate database.

Actually, I'm in NV but it's the Pacific time zone just like CA. :-) Please let me know if I can answer anything else for you.

Edited to say: I'm sorry if someone isn't responding to your emails. I personally try my best to reply to each and every person who contacts me, but I can't speak for other schedulers even within the same company.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2011 01:08AM by CTCSS Jen.

THe reference to CA meant that I am in NY, The time frame has to be very early.

Im still confused. The login on the CTCSS website---WELCOME TO THE Coast to Coast Scheduling Service SHOPPER LOGIN.

And on the [www.mystshopsol.com this is the login-----WELCOME TO THE SIGN UP FORM FOR CTCSS SHOPPERS


Apparently MY EMA does not open both site.

I just wait for more emails from CTCSS

To be honest, I'm not sure about the difference in the two websites. The link that I've posted on this thread is the one where shoppers can register to be notified of shops that I've posted in their area. That's where I post, so that's what I know. I'll ask about the difference in the two and let you know.

Thank you,

Sojo, CA is 3 hours earlier than NY, if you look up www.CTCSS.com, it will bring you to their web site and hit either new shopper or shops..right now none are availabe, once you do one, you'll get emails for your area (whatever your radius is). Really simple, but your confusion is due to all the other scheduling co.'s your coming up with.

I am not confused about the time zones factor. Posting 3 in the morning, on a forum is mighty mighty early, whether Ur in Ca/NV or anywhere.

CTCSS (website #1) has emailed me about shops in my area. I am in there database. I went there last night and today. I came up. There I was. They have sent me emails in the past. I responded, they never did, but yet the emails kept coming. Plus CTCSS lets your "search Jobs". I do email the subscriber whom is emailing me from CTCSS, but they do not respond.


PAY ATTENTION:

In 8/2010, I signed up with ---->www.mystshopsol.com(Website #2). This site made no mention that it was "related" to CTCSS.

MS CTCSS JEN at 0328 indicates to sign up for job at website #1 go to website #2.

Confusion is my EMA info does not let me into website #2.,.

I really do not want to be in 1 shopping company database that is clearly abiding by two different ICAs.

Plus I don’t want to have a duplicate application on file and accepting jobs from both, and I am treating them as a separate company. (a violation of ICA).

For example: ..MF/Certified are 0ne. I accept jobs for both. 1099 for one and one application on file.. They call and email referring to brotherly jobs, I get that. I can go into both sites and they know whom I am.

Above ^^^^^ website #1 and website#2 is treating me like a step sister from another mother.


By the way Shannon R and Tina the owner are to two persons whom is contacting me from CTCSS.

3 AM your time is midnight mine. I am able to get A LOT of work done after my kids go to sleep, so I do work late and early most days...well, really just all day long!

I could be wrong about this, but I don't believe you have any ICA on file with CTCSS, as we are a scheduling service, not an MSC. Yes, each MSC requires their own.

Maybe your info for "website #2" doesn't work because you are not registered there.

I will notify Tina. She's probably the BUSIEST person I know and works from home, like many of us. I'm sure she'll respond.

Thank you,

CTCSS JEN: > I was attempting to PM u with information, but I couldn't get it to work. So----------->I am in the CTCSS database using my CTCSS EMA info. And I am also in a database for RaMack Scheduling services which uses website #2 as there EMA.

I had to google, RaMack, after finding the original July/August 2010 email, to find out what was up.

YOU ARE RIGHT, I am not registered with website #2. I received 4 emails asking me to register. 2 from my CTCSS account and 2 from RaMack account, just now.

That is strange and creepy. Keeping in context to Tuesday, the 17th when I applied to Mystery Shopping Solutions also. That application must be "Lost in cyberspace."

I can search jobs through the CTCSS site but not website 2. Oh well.

Mo work, no shops tomorrow, and it's almost 3 here.

I have nothing to do with RaMack. Many MSCs use Mystery Shopping Solutions and each one has a different link to apply. Please click on this link, even though it appears to be the same on this forum, it's actually not: [www.mystshopsol.com]. If you put your cursor over it, you will see at the bottom of your screen that it's the site to register with CTCSS, not this RaMack that you mentioned. I can assure you, it's not "creepy" at all.

RAMack is no longer in business, so, that might be your problem...what does it matter what time you get the emails, just get them when you get up. You need to sign with the MSC before you can get jobs with the scheduling Co. handling those jobs, that should clear things up. I have this month done 3 jobs for an MSC that doesn't schedule themselves, uses only Coast to Coast, which is ONLY a scheduling company (not an MSC), don't complicate the issue.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/2011 08:44PM by Irene_L.A..

I promised to return when I found out the answer to a shopper's question.

There is currently only ONE link/database to register with CTCSS, but there are TWO ways to get there. You can either click here (trust me, it'll get you to the right place): [www.mystshopsol.com] and register there, or go to www.ctcss.com and then click on "Contact CTCSS" at the top of the page. Then, you'll click on "Shoppers click here to register or update your current information". This will open a new window, where it says "Welcome to the sign up form for CTCSS shoppers". You'll see at the top of the page that it's hosted by Mystery Shopping Solutions, who hosts databases for other companies as well, but each has their own link to register.

Nothing "strange" or "creepy" about it. Hope this helps! :-)

Just filled out an application with market force! New to all of this! Whats next?

Keep checking your email...