Yes. There are shops out there that are never publicly available. And yes, you (and anyone) can work your way into these shops with time, positive attitude, hard work, accurate and detailed reporting, patience and dedication.
The amount of time it takes to get there varies tremendously and the path isn’t the same for everyone either.
It took me five years of MSing the basic stuff that we all see on the boards before I got my first big “invite” into a special project.
I still occasionally do a regular MS - I am doing a fine dining shop from ACL that is available to many shoppers on their boards next week as I want to take my mom out as a thank you for helping with child care this summer.
The vast majority of the shops I do are not listed on the boards (but are for large MSing companies that most probably shop for and nearly all are aware of) or for small boutique companies that are invite only.
That said making $1-$2k a month in profit isn’t making much of a difference in my overall income. I have a full time job and I’m the only wage earner in my Household. I live in an extremely expensive area of the country (Seattle) where I need to make about $200k a year to keep up my families’ lifestyle. MS contributes at most 10% of that...
To others, $1-$2k a month may be more than half of what they need to live comfortably.
You can make this amount with shops that are readily available. And in fact that may be the far superior way to do it. In order to make the shops I do work I’m regularly floating $10-$20k on credit cards. I have to be able to absorb those kinds of losses if something goes sideways (obviously I hope that won’t happen but having to float these amounts for months is a regular occurrence due to slow reimbursement cycles).
Also if airfare points or hotel stays don’t appeal then my style of shopping isn’t for you.
That’s what makes this industry so amazing, that it can be whatever you want it to be. My path isn’t everyone’s. Read posts from wales, or MFJ or bgriffen and you will see success that is different but meeting their individual goals just like mine meets what I seek.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2019 07:40PM by MickeyB.