Hello everyone, Ive been having an issue with Mysurvey.com and wonder if its just me or ? First of all I liked the app and the type of shops offered so I did a couple to see what was up. First issue, they list a range fir the pay rate. I learned quickly on that for the 20 or so minutes that they quote it will take, it takes closer to 35. The pay of $5-$12 is really $5 but knowing no one will do the shops for $5 they set the range of pay. Second issue, they list assignments available everyday with a claim this shop button. So after you claim it you may wait 2 or 3 weeks before getting the assignment. Not to mention you get no heads up youve got it until the day its due. The only way you even know you have it is if you check their apps messages all day everyday. I work with alot of companies and plan my day accordingly, so to have to suddenly add another shop I hadnt planned isnt cool. The third thing really gets me. They will send me a SPECIAL ROUTE OFFER, that isnt special at all. Its a list of 4or5 maybe more shops that have to all be done within 6 hours with zero bonuses and no incentives to accept them and they blast it out to everyone anyway just like they post available assignments.... Am I missing something here or has anyone else had these issues? Ive even reached out to them numerous times and gotten nowhere. Its really aggravating that companies like this offer almost nothing for your time and yet are getting good assignments from companies for the reports and under cutting other companies who pay more. Tell me if anyone else has these issues please.

I've noticed this, too. No wonder they have so many jobs sitting there forever! Very annoying.

If you are only doing apps shops, you are missing out on a lot of $$$.

With the more traditional mystery shops, for most MSCs, once you have proven your reliability with low paid shops, you will begin to be able to see better, and better paid shops. That is how many of us worked our way up, fairly quickly, to $50-$125 shops. Add a few of those per month to 1 -day routes that have easy $20 shops as fillers, and you will soon be making much more.

Or, take parking shops and walk to nearby shops while the car shop time clock is "running" This is a good way to get your foot in the door and very quickly build the "rep" that you need for much higher pay per shop.

Examples: One recent day I parked for a $20 fee and walked 3 blocks to do a $25 retail shop. Then on to park at a garage 4 blocks away and walk to a $40 bank shop. None of the reports took more than 15-18 minutes, including uploading and labeling pictures. Bingo, a $105 day, 3 miles from home. And, those are the lowest paying shops of my week. During that week I did a $100 bank phone shop from home. Two minutes and 22 seconds on the phone; 4 minutes on line with the bank, 20 minutes for the report. In order to be invited to do that shop, I had, years ago, worked my way up from $30 shops to $50 shops, to much higher paid shops, at each of 5 MSCs that specialize in banks and financial institutions.

Everything you need to know to make a LOT more $$$ is available here, by reading about 3 months worth of posts. ENJOY !



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/2019 01:52PM by walesmaven.

There are numerous threads on this very topic, mermaid, and we all agree - fees stay low as long as there are shoppers willing to take them!

Traditional MSCs pay more than those app shop MSCs. I generally work about 3-5 hours a day and make $100 or more. I report on my phone on an app for some shops, but they are apps designed for these traditional MSCs. I have an option to do reports on my desktop if I want. Even Marketforce, which is one of the lowest paying MSCs, pays better in general than those app shops do. Try signing up with some companies on the official list (link below).

The pay rates will keep dropping as will the quality of the reports.

The pay rates will keep dropping based on the quality of YOUR reports.

@johnb974 wrote:

The pay rates will keep dropping as will the quality of the reports.

It is a lot of work for not much money. I also get the route offers.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

The pay rates will keep dropping based on the quality of YOUR reports.

@johnb974 wrote:

The pay rates will keep dropping as will the quality of the reports.

*I'm guessing it depends...*

I was told I set the gold standard for reports for a large, well-known MSC. I feel like framing the email, lol.

Asked for a bonus and was denied (scheduler was sort of rude too). Did multiple shops at base over a couple years and they are offering crappy fees still. I no longer do them.

For another MSC, I got bonused right away (I think it was the second or third shop). I thought it was based on need/demand and stuff like location.

Great reports don't necessarily mean higher pay and possibly vica versa too.

I haven't seen any consistent patterns, but have only worked about 2.5 years (one of which I was absent most of the time).

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/25/2019 11:34AM by shoptastic.

I was talking about John's reports, not yours. He posts a lot about getting his shops rejected.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I was talking about John's reports, not yours. He posts a lot about getting his shops rejected.

I've had very few reports rejected. So much for what you know. It seems many MSC's are now looking for the lowest pay, no matter who does the report. The quality of the reports means nothing to them. If they can, they will deny your report and submit it to collect the payment for themselves.

Johns states--If they can, they will deny your report and submit it to collect the payment for themselves.

Bob opines--I am guessing there have been 50,000,000 reports, give or take a mill, since shopping began. Has that ever been a situation where a declined report was submitted? Most probably, but so rarely it is not even a blip. In my 16 1/2 years shopping, I have had six rejections, of which two were my error, two were schedulers covering their rumps and two of which I disagreed. That is a sum I consider to be minuscule, considering I currently stand at 3.445 completions.

I've noticed pay going down, along with opportunities going down. And no, it is not the quality of work. The boards themselves have run dry in my area. It looks like contracts for steady shops expired. I find myself having to travel further and further to get work.

@shopperbob wrote:

Johns states--If they can, they will deny your report and submit it to collect the payment for themselves.

Bob opines--I am guessing there have been 50,000,000 reports, give or take a mill, since shopping began. Has that ever been a situation where a declined report was submitted? Most probably, but so rarely it is not even a blip. In my 16 1/2 years shopping, I have had six rejections, of which two were my error, two were schedulers covering their rumps and two of which I disagreed. That is a sum I consider to be minuscule, considering I currently stand at 3.445 completions.

Times may be changing. If the MSC's profit margins are down, they will do what they can to keep them up. You see many are cutting fees. I have no doubt some deny shops just to cut one major expense, paying the mystery shopper.

Hmm. I was thinking of a different aspect of it. I have been following a bit of the business news for a few years to find out which locations are thriving, hanging in there, languishing, and closing.

- Does a reduced number of chain or franchised locations result in a smaller pool of funders for mystery shopping programs?
- Are any programs being revised?
- Is any on-site technology making it easier for decision makers to find out what is happening-- in some spots-- at their properties? For a gas station shop, shoppers should continue to evaluate restrooms, but tech could provide constant feedback about the sales floor or the pump areas. (I do not know about agreements between employers and employees and what is legal/possible.)

@johnb974 wrote:

@shopperbob wrote:

Johns states--If they can, they will deny your report and submit it to collect the payment for themselves.

Bob opines--I am guessing there have been 50,000,000 reports, give or take a mill, since shopping began. Has that ever been a situation where a declined report was submitted? Most probably, but so rarely it is not even a blip. In my 16 1/2 years shopping, I have had six rejections, of which two were my error, two were schedulers covering their rumps and two of which I disagreed. That is a sum I consider to be minuscule, considering I currently stand at 3.445 completions.

Times may be changing. If the MSC's profit margins are down, they will do what they can to keep them up. You see many are cutting fees. I have no doubt some deny shops just to cut one major expense, paying the mystery shopper.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/2019 02:29AM by Shop-et-al.

It is annoying, but I've seen this whining so many times, it makes me want to scream. People are going to do what they want. If you don't think it pays enough, don't do it!! Some people do it because they just get free food. Others do it to supplement other income. It is not your place, or mine, to judge others.

@reneel wrote:

It is annoying, but I've seen this whining so many times, it makes me want to scream. People are going to do what they want. If you don't think it pays enough, don't do it!! Some people do it because they just get free food. Others do it to supplement other income. It is not your place, or mine, to judge others.

I just find it disappointing the MSC's would make the pay so low. It just shows you they don't think much of the mystery shoppers. Some shop pay is just insulting.

I have been shopping with multiple companies...over 20 consistently, and have an average of over 8..I have never been offered higher paying jobs. What am I not doing?

@reneel wrote:

It is annoying, but I've seen this whining so many times, it makes me want to scream. People are going to do what they want. If you don't think it pays enough, don't do it!! Some people do it because they just get free food. Others do it to supplement other income. It is not your place, or mine, to judge others.

I think it's partly the degree of wage decline (and/or work increase, reneel).

Recent examples include the $8.00 mattress & self-storage shops. Such fees make zero sense, as a round-trip drive, alone, would likely cost one the entire $8.00 - if not more. Any respectable business ought to know this. Yet, in the MS world and gig economy, this "respect" factor often seems non-existent when it comes to job offers.

My guess is that even if a person just happened to be at that project location (i.e., they were passing by anyways), the $8.00 would still result is less than minimum wage for the work completed. There is a need to study the guidelines and prep for the shop. Then, there is the shop time itself and later the write-up (which, if done well, can often require a good amount of time reflecting on, analyzing, and effectively communicating to the client what happened). Having completed a good number of projects of varying types over the past few years, I personally would feel confident in saying that no one is "profiting" from such a $8.00 shop. The time it takes makes the fee entirely non-sensical. Anyone doing such a shop at such a low fee is almost certainly losing money (and time in his or her life). If one wants to use the low fee shops to build up a work history for a MSC that could lead to better pay later on, then that seems one of the few reasonable reasons for why a person would take such a job.

Otherwise, I see mostly desperate individuals completing these shops at such low fees (possibly losing money on them too). And I see MSCs pricing them at such low wages to be disrespectful of another's time.

*sigh* I sometimes take 30 minutes just to study a shop's guidelines and ensure that I have internalized it enough to carry out all the actions and make the proper observations later on in real-time during the shop. Sometimes, it's one hour of prep. So, when I see $8.00...$6.00.....$5.00, etc. for shops that I almost am certain will require this sort of work, then I, too, get upset. The MSC is practically asking me to lose time and money for their gain.

NO THANKS!

It'd be like asking a new baby-sitter to work for me by offering them $10.00 for three hours of work. Come by our house and care for my kids between 7-10 PM tonight. I'll pay you $10.00.

(mileage would likely eat up most or all of the $10 already)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/2019 05:58AM by shoptastic.

@Grampa wrote:

I have been shopping with multiple companies...over 20 consistently, and have an average of over 8..I have never been offered higher paying jobs. What am I not doing?

You may be sending in perfect reports, the MSC's don't care, if they can get someone else to do it for less.

Yes, fees have gone down since I started in 2002 or stayed the same. The two that stand out are the bank fee that went from 22 to 15 and the fast food that went down a dollar.

grampa,
Are you doing banks and financial institutions? Oil change shops? Both of those types, plus ACL shops deinately either have bonuses or let you see better paid jobs as you gain experience. Those are just a few examples. Mostly ff, fast casual, and small retail shops are consistently low. Do not expact to "move up" with Marketforce or Intellishop and similar MSCs.
you may need to expand your MSC registration list to 75-100 MSCs to find more and better paid jobs. Many of us are signed up with 150-200 MSCs.

Over the past four years I have read your posts about getting several apartment shops rejected from Cirrus, two audits were rejected from Marketforce, another shop where you went into the wrong cell phone store and got rejected, and I am sure there were more but I can't remember exactly how many...and that's just in four years. I remember all this because you repeatedly whined about it in your posts. Getting shops rejected is nothing to be ashamed of, but the fact that you never own up to making mistakes and take responsibility for it is lame. It's always the MSCs fault and never yours. I have had 3 shops rejected in 19 years of shopping. It was my fault. I reshopped when I was allowed to so that they didn't have to find someone else to do the shop.

I have also read your posts about fudging shop times so your shop would be accepted because you went into the location earlier than the guidelines stated. You have posted that you will take the paperwork into some of the shops because there is too much for your to remember when doing them. You have posted many times about shops that you received criticism from editors about your mistakes, and instead of trying to take it constructively, you came to the forum to vent about how the MSCs editors were awful blah blah blah. Of course it wasn't your fault, never is.

There were more things than I can remember that you posted about since joining the forum that were all reasons why MSCs might distrust shoppers.

@johnb974 wrote:

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I was talking about John's reports, not yours. He posts a lot about getting his shops rejected.

I've had very few reports rejected. So much for what you know. It seems many MSC's are now looking for the lowest pay, no matter who does the report. The quality of the reports means nothing to them. If they can, they will deny your report and submit it to collect the payment for themselves.

reneel opinies--People are going to do what they want. If you don't think it pays enough, don't do it!! Some people do it because they just get free food. Others do it to supplement other income. It is not your place, or mine, to judge others.

Bob's comment--As I am neither annoyed by nor remotely close to screaming, I did not copy the first sentence of reneel. I completely agree with the above. My last cash only sub-$20 shop was in 2013 at six Cricket stores paying $13 each. That route in a small city was executed by me to cover the expense of traveling to an auction. I currently, however, complete dining assignments that pay $0.00.

The OP specifically mentioned MySurvey. What is that?

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Over the past four years I have read your posts about getting several apartment shops rejected from Cirrus, two audits were rejected from Marketforce, another shop where you went into the wrong cell phone store and got rejected, and I am sure there were more but I can't remember exactly how many...and that's just in four years. I remember all this because you repeatedly whined about it in your posts. Getting shops rejected is nothing to be ashamed of, but the fact that you never own up to making mistakes and take responsibility for it is lame. It's always the MSCs fault and never yours. I have had 3 shops rejected in 19 years of shopping. It was my fault. I reshopped when I was allowed to so that they didn't have to find someone else to do the shop.

I have also read your posts about fudging shop times so your shop would be accepted because you went into the location earlier than the guidelines stated. You have posted that you will take the paperwork into some of the shops because there is too much for your to remember when doing them. You have posted many times about shops that you received criticism from editors about your mistakes, and instead of trying to take it constructively, you came to the forum to vent about how the MSCs editors were awful blah blah blah. Of course it wasn't your fault, never is.

There were more things than I can remember that you posted about since joining the forum that were all reasons why MSCs might distrust shoppers.

@johnb974 wrote:

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I was talking about John's reports, not yours. He posts a lot about getting his shops rejected.

I've had very few reports rejected. So much for what you know. It seems many MSC's are now looking for the lowest pay, no matter who does the report. The quality of the reports means nothing to them. If they can, they will deny your report and submit it to collect the payment for themselves.

The Cirrus shops were 5 years ago. This is beginning to sound like stalking. LOL

John: because I have a good memory (which means I don't take paper guidelines into shops with me like you do) and remember something you posted in the past, that makes me a stalker? That is a strange and irrational thought process. And you have been a forum member for 4 years, not 5. I don't remember when you posted it, I just remember reading it.

Ive been a shopper on and off for 12 plus years. I have cancer and because I never know how I will feel each day I cant commit to shops with future dates. I dont want to ruin my standing with any of the companies Ive shopped for so I only accept what I can do immediately. This app allowed for that. Thats why I went with them. I miss the kind of money I use to make. I was able to pay my rent and give my kids whatever they wanted (within reason) because of Mystery Shopping. I Love being a shopper and Im good at it. I hope that with all these companies doing surveys on the reciepts given, that MS's dont become a thing of the past. Thank you for your responses. We all need to help each other be the best we can be in the industry. We make a difference.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2019 12:27AM by mermaid3766.

Ive never had a single shop rejected. My rating average with all companies is 9.5 (mostly tens but a few nines) I only recently had one come back with a question. It was my fault and I recieved a nine on the report anyways. I only asked the question because if it was just me then I wouldnt keep trying to work with this company, I would just move on. If it was becoming the norm then I would shut my mouth and continue doing the work offered. Thank you everyone for your input.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2019 12:43AM by mermaid3766.