[www.cnbc.com]

fact...fiction...misleading...is that your hourly?

$60 an hour on average.

I've never really truly tracked the amount of time spent on mystery shops altogether, but for me, I can confidently say my overall pay is much higher than $20/hour. When factoring backend discounts due to gift card churning, AMEX offers, etc., the pay rate increases. If you count reimbursed amounts while not spending your own money, rewards, etc., this equivalent rate increases even more.

I believe this as an “average” as most folks just do whatever is posted on a job board and don’t really work the system (routes, bonuses, etc.) - often settling for less than minimum wage. However, there are also a handful of us who earn much more.

I think that's fair, but as already stated, it can be much higher and I suppose it can be much lower. It's one of the things I'm working on tracking this year. It's been difficult to track for me because I couldn't figure out a good system when I had a full time plus 2 part time jobs that I would shop on the way to/from or one that I actually could MS on the clock. This year I"m much more organized and have one less "regular" job. I've done shops where I made $160 in an hour and I've done a few where it just about added up to $10 cash because I needed to eat between regular jobs. It's hard to keep track of this accurately. I imagine it might be easier if MSing full time.

Personally, I shoot for $60 an hour. Most of the time that is my pay or higher. But then again I won't usually take a job at the starting rate and I'm willing to do jobs that many others are not.

It depends. If I average out all my shops, I'm around the $30-40/hr range. When I do alcohol/tobacco compliance, it can be as high as $100/hour+. I don't mind taking some of the lower-paying or reimbursement only dining/retail shops if I like the food/products, the report is easy, and it's on the way to work/home/mystery shop route.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/2020 11:55PM by azncollege.

I might make $75 for a shop that takes less than an hour, but then not complete another shop the rest of the day. The per hour amount to me is about making a certain amount per hour based on a set work day. Yearly earning or even weekly or monthly earnings would seem to make more sense for mystery shopping. I can complete a Walmart $4 shop in 2 minutes. I don't think that would mean I was making $120/hr though.

At $20/hr, that would be equal to a 40k per year job. How many people are making that much per year doing this?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/2020 11:56PM by Niner.

When I lived in California, I was making about $40k a year, plus reimbursements. Of course, I was in a location where I was often offered generous bonuses to get remote locations shopped. The fees were higher then, too. I could do a route of 15 gas stations in one day for $17.50 each, putting about 100 miles on my cheapo car. Those were the days.

The problem with this subject is that there is room for all kinds of mental gymnastics and creative accounting. You can count the time you spend looking for shops, or not. You can count drive time, or not. The time you spend screwing around cropping and renaming photos. Report time. Time spent reading guidelines. I count all of that and don't know why anyone wouldn't. That said, I don't doubt what anybody says they make shopping and it is understood that people aren't saying they make that 40 hours a week. I've made as much as $150/hr, but for only 1 hour, and those hours are few and far between. Overall, I don't average anywhere near some of these numbers, but If you can average $20/hr, or $40, or $60, congrats. One way or another we are all in it for the money, even lifestyle shoppers. God bless us, every one.

@89lulalula89 wrote:

Personally, I shoot for $60 an hour. Most of the time that is my pay or higher. But then again I won't usually take a job at the starting rate and I'm willing to do jobs that many others are not.

Which type of jobs get you your highest fees if you don't mind sharing?

@panama18 wrote:

The problem with this subject is that there is room for all kinds of mental gymnastics and creative accounting. You can count the time you spend looking for shops, or not. You can count drive time, or not. The time you spend screwing around cropping and renaming photos. Report time. Time spent reading guidelines. I count all of that and don't know why anyone wouldn't.

I count that as well.

My hourly rate is depressing!

I think I made $5.50/hour first few years.

This year (my 3rd), I might have made min. wage ($7-8/hour). I don't count reimbursements for that figure, though, as they can be hard to price correctly. Not sure what a burger is worth sometimes, as I'd never buy it myself at that price.

Time for me to permanently quit this gig probably. Depressing to see the hourly differentials!!

New year, new work plan. This year, I was not in a hurry to work this biz. I am happy at home and still catching up on neglected projects I am earning how to relax! I have planned a teeny bit of work for the next few weeks. This works for me-- and probably only for me. On payday, I will receive more money than I spent to complete those gigs. It is a teeny profit for a teeny effort. It is enough. The hourly equivalent is... too time-consuming to calculate.

My highest fees usually come from audits in general (but mostly gas stations). There have been many times that I've made $300-400 for a handful of shops for just 2-3 hours of work. I'm also willing to travel and I don't get scared off from completing an audit that I've never done before.

One thing I did not say before is that I work very part-time. No I do not make $40,000 per year. Currently I make about $1500-$2500 per month and that does include reimbursements. However, besides gas stations and grocery stores I rarely take shops that reimburse. I absolutely could make more money if I wanted to put more time into this gig but I'm pretty happy working 10-20 hours per week for the amount of money that I do make.

@panama18 wrote:

The problem with this subject is that there is room for all kinds of mental gymnastics and creative accounting. You can count the time you spend looking for shops, or not. You can count drive time, or not. The time you spend screwing around cropping and renaming photos. Report time. Time spent reading guidelines. I count all of that and don't know why anyone wouldn't. That said, I don't doubt what anybody says they make shopping and it is understood that people aren't saying they make that 40 hours a week. I've made as much as $150/hr, but for only 1 hour, and those hours are few and far between. Overall, I don't average anywhere near some of these numbers, but If you can average $20/hr, or $40, or $60, congrats. One way or another we are all in it for the money, even lifestyle shoppers. God bless us, every one.

Which jobs require cropping and renaming photos? In the 21 years that I've been in this business I've never needed to do that. Just curious really.

And I wanted to add that I spend very little time looking for work. I am often contacted via text, email or phone for jobs from schedulers. Other than that I spend about 15 minutes each day looking at about 5 job boards. Once per week I do a more thorough search to make sure there is not something big I'm missing. And about once every three months I check every job board I am signed up with (and there are a lot!) to double check that there is not a change in a company that I never/rarely work with (could be out of business or they have a new contract with a company nearby).

@89lulalula89 wrote:

My highest fees usually come from audits in general (but mostly gas stations). There have been many times that I've made $300-400 for a handful of shops for just 2-3 hours of work. I'm also willing to travel and I don't get scared off from completing an audit that I've never done before.

One thing I did not say before is that I work very part-time. No I do not make $40,000 per year. Currently I make about $1500-$2500 per month and that does include reimbursements. However, besides gas stations and grocery stores I rarely take shops that reimburse. I absolutely could make more money if I wanted to put more time into this gig but I'm pretty happy working 10-20 hours per week for the amount of money that I do make.

Thanks for the perspective.

The closest gas station shops to me are usually 40 minutes away. I think that's one reason I don't even try for them.

I did recently research a possible route of them, though. I might try to ask to complete one some day. I only stay local thus far (20-minute drive distances).

I must be doing something wrong. I probably average around $1200 per month including reimbursements. I would have to work everyday 13 hours a day to make the kind of money you guys are talking about (30, 40, 60hr). Sheesh, I'm spending more time doing this than I want now anyway, with plans on cutting back to only 15 days a month starting in Feb. I like the extra money and freebies, but for me personally this is not ever supposed to feel like a job. I like Mystery Shopping because it's kinda fun, I get paid, I get freebies, and I am independent. I don't think too much about my hourly rate. I like to focus on how much I'm earning each month.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2020 05:01AM by 1forum1.

Oops. Misposted.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2020 03:08PM by ceasesmith.

I’m definitely not making $20.00 an hour but in my case I do it for the flexibility of it. I have a small kid and I am studying so I don’t have a full time job for now and MS is something where I can earn some income while choosing my own hours. I can go do shops during the afternoon when my husband is home or there are some shops where I can even take my kid, so it works for me. The other day we did a trampoline park and we had so much fun, the pay was not much but it had a good reimbursement and it was better than staying at home and doing nothing.

It really is about location, traffic in your city, and/or how far you are willing to travel. My small city and surrounding region has lots and lots of shops within 25 miles. Traffic here isn't too bad as long as I time it right. People in rural areas or with bad traffic have limited shopping. I do some online financial shops that pay $60-$150, which is also nice, that and some credit card opening shops I can do online.

@shoptastic wrote:

I think I made $5.50/hour first few years.

This year (my 3rd), I might have made min. wage ($7-8/hour). I don't count reimbursements for that figure, though, as they can be hard to price correctly. Not sure what a burger is worth sometimes, as I'd never buy it myself at that price.

Time for me to permanently quit this gig probably. Depressing to see the hourly differentials!!

This is a good side gig. You could get something full time and do this outside of a 9-5 job.

@Niner wrote:

This is a good side gig. You could get something full time and do this outside of a 9-5 job.

This is my third/fourth job, NIner. It's already a side gig.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

It really is about location, traffic in your city, and/or how far you are willing to travel. My small city and surrounding region has lots and lots of shops within 25 miles. Traffic here isn't too bad as long as I time it right. People in rural areas or with bad traffic have limited shopping. I do some online financial shops that pay $60-$150, which is also nice, that and some credit card opening shops I can do online.

That and competition dynamics, I think.

I have joked about "Super Shoppers," but I think there's some truth to this. If you live in an area that has highly dedicated shoppers with lots of time/experience/seniority, then it can be hard for the newbie to get the better shops/routes I'm guessing. On top of that, you have desperate shoppers taking the low-end.

In that scenario, good shops go to Super Shoppers and potentially good shops get debased in value, due to Desperation Shoppers.

Just my personal hypothesis and hard to know for sure.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2020 05:34PM by shoptastic.

Impossible to measure this but I spend enough time msing that I never shop for fun. That's probably saved me a lot of money over the years!

It's also about:

* What you are able to do well: Are you able to write high-quality long narratives? Many shoppers are not. If you are, you set yourself apart. Do you do video? If so, you are in the minority. Can you act our a scenario for two hours at a time and stay in character? Etc. If you have a shopping skill that most do not have and are willing to employ it, you can demand higher compensation.
* Are you super-reliable? When you say you will get it done, do you? Are you that shopper a scheduler can call today and be confident that you will have the shop done tomorrow, if you say so? If you do a shop, is the MSC confident that you will get it done right with minimal need for editing?

@MFJohnston wrote:

It's also about:

* What you are able to do well: Are you able to write high-quality long narratives? Many shoppers are not. If you are, you set yourself apart. Do you do video? If so, you are in the minority. Can you act our a scenario for two hours at a time and stay in character? Etc. If you have a shopping skill that most do not have and are willing to employ it, you can demand higher compensation.
* Are you super-reliable? When you say you will get it done, do you? Are you that shopper a scheduler can call today and be confident that you will have the shop done tomorrow, if you say so? If you do a shop, is the MSC confident that you will get it done right with minimal need for editing?

I think this is right on point. I've carved out a niche for myself and I work my niche well. On the other hand, I do not use video equipment, I loathe lengthy reports and especially long narratives and I refuse to enact a scenario for two hours. So although there is a lot of work in my area, I don't even pick up any of those types of jobs.

As far as being super-reliable, shouldn't we all be? If anyone here cancels jobs often then they cannot be unhappy when they don't receive those better paying gigs from schedulers.

@89lulalula89 wrote:

I think this is right on point. I've carved out a niche for myself and I work my niche well. On the other hand, I do not use video equipment, I loathe lengthy reports and especially long narratives and I refuse to enact a scenario for two hours. So although there is a lot of work in my area, I don't even pick up any of those types of jobs.

As far as being super-reliable, shouldn't we all be? If anyone here cancels jobs often then they cannot be unhappy when they don't receive those better paying gigs from schedulers.

Hmmm:

a.) I wasn't the most "reliable" early on when I started ms-ing. I did have lots of reschedules, cancels, and/or reporting issues with projects. Do wonder if that gave me a black mark for MSCs.

b.) HOWEVER, counteracting that was high quality narrative and detail oriented work. I've been told by an MSC that the client's project coordinator was highly impressed with my work and that I was able to provide unusually high level of detail and also get the most out of a banking worker taht others had not.

Was told I set the gold standard for narrative reports for a well-known, major MSC.

Had another well-known narrative shopping MSC's owner compliment me for being a talented writer.

When I asked for bonuses from these same MSCs, I was denied. So, I stopped working for them (except for one, which has decent projects at a price I'm willing to accept).

In my experience so far, I haven't found that doing better work as led to higher paying gigs. I've found the slight "opposite," in which having no experience with an MSC, but being willing to take far away shops as led to higher bonuses. My most frequent and best bonuses have been in places people didn't want to do. For those MSCs, I had little experience and/or wasn't previously complimented for my work with them.

EDIT: a.) and b.) were not related, as the MSCs that I had some reporting issues with were not the ones in b.)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2020 06:39PM by shoptastic.

I started out doing this because of the medical act that said any work more than 28 hours meant the company would pay for insurance. I went from making 6 to 7 hundred a week to barley 2 hundred. So I had to pick up some cash. This was back in the day when you were offered $30 to $50 for a Hamburglar shop dine-in and drive through. But alas those days are long gone and we have to do other shops for other companies. Since I am on disability I can only work and make $800.00 a month or I lose my SSI so I have to keep it short. I have finished this month already. I could probably do more but I do not keep a running track of the deductions that I am allowed.

I am glad some others have chimed in saying they do not earn that much. I was starting to feel really bad about my track record with earnings. I do not shop to make a living fortunately. I cannot imagine I would enjoy that. I have no issue doing a two hour job in character but that can become an issue. I once did a so called lucrative investment shop. After my 5 mile 25 minute drive over there, the banker was a bit late. He had wanted me to bring my whole portfolio which I was not willing to share for an exploratory meeting. But he did want me to meet his colleague after a long talk already so that entailed another long discussion. In the end I was there for about two hours and then even tho I had had my parking validated it turned out the stamp was not there. I got caught the first in a long line of cars at the exit so could not back out. Finally someone came and i ran back over at least a block away to the bank and got re validated. So probably an hour and a half travel and parking time. Then came the long narratives and having to listen to notes. 3.5 hours already plus another two-three hours on the report and probably a half hour at least reading the rules. Would I figure out my hourly rate? No because at $125 for that job i never wanted to do it again. Yes, I probably earned $20 an hour. At my state and fed tax rate and only 10 miles to deduct my net "income" was much smaller. After all the deductions on taxes at my tax rate it was a poor pay for a job I really did not enjoy. Too much salesman pressure. He was nice but persistent. I hate that although have no problem putting them off. And that was a "highly bonused" job in the land of 50c bonuses.