I've seen so many people on here talking about doing $10 & $15 shops and griping about spending hours on long reports for written shops and I'm wondering WHY??? Video shopping is much more lucrative and the companies pay very well (most around $50 and UP!) and offer generous travel bonuses, and the best part is- NO LONG REPORTS!

That is great if they have shops in your area. The economy is down and many of the shops that used to be video are now audio or sometimes not at all. I do video shops and can tell you that there are not that many available in Southeast Florida. Not all mystery shoppers have the $420.00 to buy a PV500 set up.

wjones777 Wrote:
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> Not all mystery shoppers have the $420.00 to buy a
> PV500 set up.


Exactly. I've seen very few video shops in my area so I'm not willing to drop all that on video equipment that I may or may not use.

Plus, about the time you buy the equipment it is likely that others in your area will as well and the fees will drop. Technology has a way of making things less and less expensive over time. When the equipment costs less the shops will pay less because there will be more shoppers competing to do them.

Not many video shops in my area. I stopped doing low paying shops a long time ago. If a shop requires me to be in a store for a certain amount of time (More then 10 Minutes), has a long report , and the pay is only $10 or $15 dollars I will not sign up for it. Time is short and I don't have time to be writing a long report with 10 narratives only to get several emails from an editor needing clarification for something that I mentioned in the report that was overlooked. I know some people do this as a hobby but im not one of those people, this is a job for me. Hobbies don't pay bills, they create bills.

I love doing video shops, but can't justify buying the equipment. The company I've worked with pays $35 per video shop, but you have to fill out a report with narrative on top of it. I do them, though, because in my market that is a big fee for a shop. I don't think they pay a lot more if the shopper owns equipment.

Sign up with us for video shops info@impact-mrkt.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2011 02:41PM by ImpactMrkt.

I've been video shopping for 5 years and the fees have not dropped, in fact the pay has gone up. Also, it is not required to own equipment. I bought mine only recently because I work for about 10 different video MSC's and it was totally worth it. Several companies I work for pay around $50 per shop if you don't have equipment (they send you theirs) and theres no long report. I have stopped doing written shops because it just wasn't worth it for me so I was simply wondering why people do the written $15 shops and then complain about it, when there are many higher paying video shops available nationwide! All the video MSC's I work with are all always in need of more shoppers!

Video shops will very seldom be found on job boards, hence the fact you can't see them anywhere in your area. I can assure you that if you contact some of the video shopping companies, Melinda Brody, Impact marketing, Clear Evaluations,and Instant Replays (there are several more- but this is a good starting point), you will be told that there is quite a bit of work in SE FL and they need video shoppers in the area. Video Scheduling is based on relationships and your reputation in the industry. The bottom line, you won't find the jobs on job boards and if schedulers don't know you, you won't get the jobs. A simple call to the MSCs and a monthly email will get you in the door and keep your name in the forefront of their minds when they are looking to schedule shops in your area.

Because this area of mystery shopping is based on the shopper reputation, it behooves you to submit sample videos of your work and take whatever is offered in the beginning. Most successful video shoppers do routes and travel extensively for VERY good money. These routes usually include the main shop fees as well as travel or bonus fees to cover your travel expenses.

With the average shop fee at about $70, making the $420 to buy the equipment is a rather easy venture. Once you have your own equipment, you are even more attractive to shopping companies and your flexability increases immensely! You can pick up a route of 40-60 video shops for a variety of companies and make incredible money!

Do you have anything in Houston, Tx?


ImpactMrkt Wrote:
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> Sign up with us for video shops
> info@impact-mrkt.com

I took the class in February and have done over 30 shops with 2 companies alone.

Yes we sure do! We might have you in our database already if you have done Carrie's class, email info@impact-mrkt.com and I will check

Right now, I can't drive due to an injury. I will definitely follow up with the suggestions here, because I like doing these shops and want to do a lot more of them.

I can't wait to be back on the road again! In the meantime, I gladly take low-paying phone and web shops since I can do them from home. I'm very thankful for any shops I can do!

Hey Tech I've picked up a few internet inquiry sops frm Bestmark in the past couple of weeks. Call them and ask if you can do them for them. Only $3 each but super easy and you don't have to leave home. They have phone shops sometimes too.

iblessyah Wrote:
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> Hey Tech I've picked up a few internet inquiry
> sops frm Bestmark in the past couple of weeks.
> Call them and ask if you can do them for them.
> Only $3 each but super easy and you don't have to
> leave home. They have phone shops sometimes too.

Thanks for the heads-up. I just did over thirty for another company. I was super thankful for all of those. I make calls through Google Voice when my minutes are running short; fortunately, we just upped our wireless minutes to 3K on the family plan and didn't have to pay any extra since they had a promotion going on. I love phone shops!

The secondary reason I purchased my gear was for shopping assignments through MSCs. To date, I've completed 7 new home, 1 office suite and 11 apt. jobs; my total fees paid for those 15 shops is $1305. In addition, I've passed on several assignments due to my travel expense requirements. Primarily though, it was to secure both bar integrity and restaurant business through my own efforts. The total to date for those jobs is 42 completions, yielding $3860, 40 meals and numerous drinks. As the little hillbilly boy once stated, "And it just keepsa gettin' gooderer." My advice is, should the opportunity present itself, to give video a try with the MSCs equipment. At the very least, you will have eliminated "what if" from your mind.

Gooderer is right! The new equipment is so much nicer than that available a few years ago when I did a video assignment. The old recorder unit was big and had to go in a fanny pack kind of deal, very clunky. I would like to buy my own equipment sometime. If I learn there is enough demand in my region, I just might.

totally agree shopperbob! I did written shops for years but once I discovered there were video shops available, I only do those. I was nervous about getting into it at first, and learning the equipment does take patience and concentration, but the money is so much better and I have no complaints. Plus, the video companies tend to be smaller than the regular shop companies, so the communication is more personal and the schedulers are easily reached via phone or email

I might have to look into this more. I would love the travel and staying in hotels and especially making more money with less writing. Saving up $500 for equipment will be tough but I guess I could do it and make it back quickly. Might get a company to teach me on their equipment and then see if it's for me.

Bless, that's what I did. The scheduler I worked with at Bare was terrific. I learned a lot, and learned I liked it! Since the loaner came a couple days prior to my shop, I wore the equipment to a couple stores and practiced.

Instant Replays gave me my start with 3 video shops. Kathy was great and sat on the phone with me while I learned to work the equipment. Afterwards, I did one for EPMS and found that Robert is the best to work with. I read things about video shopping but never considered it. I got an email about the class and decided I think I will go for it. I bought equipment With a credit card(which was not required) for $420 plus some button fown shirts from Walmart. I signed up for the class. I was able to do shops for Clear Evaluations and EPMS with my own equipment. In that first month alone, I was able to pay off that credit card. You get to work with great people.

BTW, I had to cancel a shop and I spoke with someone from that company, I asked her if I would penalized and she asked, "What do you mean?" The people I have dealt with have been awesome.

I still do written shops for groceries, gas and those heavily bonused fast food but I love the video.

When you use your own equipment, do you burn and express them DVDs of videos, upload files via an FTP site, or what?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/29/2011 05:47AM by TechSavvy.

TechSavvy...

It depends on the company you are working with. Most companies use an upload system, whether it be FTP or a service like Sharefile/You Send It. If I am doing several shops per day on a route, I usually ask for permission to burn to DVD and send it in because uploading can take many hours and sometimes hotel internet is not sufficient.

I wondered about that. Thanks! Upload speeds can be slow as molasses, depending on the ISP and local traffic.