@heywave wrote:

The Visa debit shops disappeared for me today. Did anyone else see the same? Yesterday it had an end date of October 30th, but wasn't sure how credible it was because last week it had October 23rd.

It was me. I did them ALL! Boy, am I tired.

@sestrahelena wrote:

@heywave wrote:

The Visa debit shops disappeared for me today. Did anyone else see the same? Yesterday it had an end date of October 30th, but wasn't sure how credible it was because last week it had October 23rd.

It was me. I did them ALL! Boy, am I tired.

FOR ENTIRE USA?

*In lie-speak* YEP!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/29/2022 02:23AM by sestrahelena.

Some are back on the job board, but not all that were there this morning, not even close.

@heywave wrote:

The Visa debit shops disappeared for me today. Did anyone else see the same? Yesterday it had an end date of October 30th, but wasn't sure how credible it was because last week it had October 23rd.

They came out yesterday late, too late because most small business closes by 6pm. One was a coffee place open only 8a-2p. They all disappeared this morning. Sometimes I think these MSCs make things more difficult for no reason.

@luckygirl0100 wrote:

Some are back on the job board, but not all that were there this morning, not even close.

I saw newer ones disappear and old ones that had been posted a while show back up with the lower fee. Curious.

You are right some of them come back..

Yesterday, I saw a bunch in a city I was planning on being in today. But today when I was in that town they were all gone. I have to go back in a couple days, maybe they'll come back?

It seems that all of the restaurants disappeared after the quota was reached. Other mom & pop stores are still up.

Cheers

I completed 9 of these shops. I found them to be a little more difficult than expected. The problem for me was taking the front register picture. The clerks seem to be very suspicious and I had one even ask me if I took a picture. Some of the store are super small and it was almost impossible not to get noticed, but I was able to complete the shops. I have seen a lot of restaurants listed in my area for this program I stayed away from those because I could not think of a way to make it look natural unless I buy a drink or something. I really wish the MSC would give us a small amount of $ to spend to make the shop easier maybe $2.00-$3.00 would work and I think it would also help with triggering the card fee because all the shops that had fees had a $5.00 minimum.

Yeah, I had a cashier catch me and ask accusingly, "Are you VIDEOING?" I said no, looked at my phone with the camera on and exlaimed, "OMG! This thing just keeps turning itself on! It's driving me nuts!" I'm old, so it's believable.

in small places there is no way just to take pictures without buying anything. I just concider such places like getting free food. I prefer eateries rather than others.

These shops did seem awkward with asking is there a fee / minimum to use a debit card. Unless they were really busy, it seemed that those questions set off alarm bells in the workers' minds.

@sil2222 & @sestrahelena I remember trying to take a picture of the register and then I overheard a guy working the door which could see what was on my phone say something in a foreign language to the owner in an alarming way, Then I noticed the owner look at me, so I asked him about the lottery and that's when he waived the door guy off.

There was another time where I was trying to take a picture of the store front after I had gone inside and got the register pic etc. and I was doing it from the street. I suppose I wasn't as covert or inconspicuous as I thought because a lady in my direction shouted sir! I calmly walked to my car and drove a few blocks away to complete the survey. It was disturbing.

I came across shops that had no signage about a minimum, but then it was revealed by the employee that there was a minimum to use a card. One place told me there was no surcharge, but then charged a fee. Maybe it was a language thing?

Visa Debit is back. One new feature that they have added that I like is they have a cooling off period where if you pick a location and you don't complete it within the time period, then the store will go back up for anyone to pick up EXCEPT for you. You will need to wait 24 hours after it is re-listed before you can pick it up, if it is still available.

I remember having less than 25 minutes to complete my last job and I ran into traffic. I started the job with less than 5 minutes left to go and was a few questions from completing the job when the app closed and threw it back on the map. I picked it up and finished it with no issues.

They have updated guidelines, but it is still confusing.

If there is a shop that has a minimum, they want you to make a purchase that is under the minimum. I guess they want to see that minimum fee on the receipt.

But then they go on to say if the location refuses to let you spend under the minimum, make the purchase up to
$12.00, but tell us what happened in your report.

Looking over the shops, these are all new locations and not a re-release of jobs that did not get done before they ended the last wave.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/11/2022 03:01PM by heywave.

I am not sure what jobs you are looking at but these were in my area and the ones I looked at were a $10 shop payment and a $12 reimbursement - IF - there was signage stating there was either a min. purchase OR a fee.
If there was no signage you did not make a purchase and it was just the shop payment.
This required a photo when approaching the counter though - I suppose to confirm that there was in fact no fee.

Great to hear they are back. I spent most of October getting a new Visa debit card as mine had expired during the pandemic and had not been renewed. By the time I got it there were only a few really weird jobs out there. I did one of them but saw why that one was not taken. The rest seemed to be service industry sort of companies out of someones home. I suspect none of them even had a sign out as their business is all online. I did not understand which types of listings that are not really retail stores you would get a fee for and which not. The rules were not clear to me. So if someone could explain which non business places they tell you to just go on to the next pin and not do that job. I have no desire to drive around to all those weird places that do not sound like a retail business and then just drive past to the next pin with no reimbursement at all. So which duds pay a fee?

@Sandy.... I will basically only sign up for a business I am familiar with. I will also do a shop if I happen to be in the same parking lot/shopping center for something else and I see one of the unfamiliar businesses. I don't mess around with a business that has a different name or address. I don't go looking for establishments I never heard of. Typically, I do these shops if it is in the same parking lot of some other shop I am already doing.

I did one in my town because I knew the street was residential. Took a few photos of the house and was paid 1/2 fee. Considering it was a mile from home, I was okay with that. However, I couldn't get the report to upload the photos and had to submit it from home on computer. There was some sort of glitch with the shop. No more for me.

I am disappointed in this wave of companies. Last time there was a plethora of locations in my area. There were dozens still left before they stopped the shops This time there are just a few. There are half a dozen locations available at the moment in the greater area, where last time there were at least 6 in just one zip code.

Maybe it is just my area. I expected more locations this time around and at the very least the unfilled shops from a couple of weeks ago, but no.

I did a salon this time and only got half the fee. I submitted pics that they had a surcharge if you pay with a credit card, price list showing credit vs cash, and a price chart of services to document that everything they sell is above the reimbursement. Not sure why I am only getting half the fee.

I did a couple of these today. They were both mini mart kind of places, you know the type with no prices on anything? There was no signage anywhere in the store or on the door about a fee, but as the guidelines say, take your item of $12 or less to the counter and ask if there is a surcharge or minimum. If they say yes a surcharge and/or a minimum, then make the purchase. At both of these locations, I was told that there was a fee of .75 to use a debit or credit card but no minimums, so I made my purchase and got the receipts showing the fees on them. I also had a nail salon the other day that did have a sign for a fee so I purchased a $12 gift certificate (Can go back another day to use it for a pedicure). I will take any of the ones that are at obvious home businesses to take the easy pic and half the fee as long as I'm in the area anyhow.

@nimbusrogue That is a great idea about buying a gift certificate at the salon. That doesn't work for me since I don't use nail salons and the ones I have visited for this assignment are not conveniently located for my SO to use.

I just don't get the half rate policy. If I provide the picture documentation that the salon has a cash vs credit policy and show the price list showing the same why I only get half the fee. Other than purchasing a gift certificate, there haven't been any services that I could buy for less than $12 at these salons.

I went to a hair salon and got hit with the half rate. They told me that there was a % fee and even shared it would be going up in a few weeks. They had a couple of hair products on the shelf, but nothing under the $12 reimbursement. Seems like they get away with paying too many half rate jobs.

Even with home based businesses, why dock us to half pay. Even though we are not making a purchase, we are doing the work to confirm the business location and to let them know it is a home based biz that does not have retail traffic and no sign on their house, presumably information that they did not have before or we are confirming prior data. The MSC is providing the shop location. It seems that the information on home based businesses is worth the full fare.

I think the same should apply to closed businesses. Seems like the processor would notice that a business has gone from $X a month to $0 or has closed the account.

It is slowly dawning on me why the veterans here are saying it is not worth it. The MSC is not in a rush to bump the pay on these and are currently holding at the base rate.

In my area these started out at $10 and then went up to $12. The reimbursement also went up from a very small amt to $12 at the same time. For my city getting any "bonus" at all is rare. I have not done any of the locations that seem to be someones house due to the fact that the guidelines say something about a category where you just abandon the shop and pick another pin...Those pay nothing and I am confused about how the 1/2 price ones differ from the 0 fee ones. I have no interest at all in driving around town for 0 fees. But that said I have not seen these for weeks in my market. The last one i saw was for a storefront where you made an appt in advance to go inside and get a virtual snowboard or ski lesson for $$$. Would I have gotten paid $0 for driving over there to a store with a locked door unless someone had an appt that day? Did not want to take a chance on $0.

@heywave wrote:

It is slowly dawning on me why the veterans here are saying it is not worth it. The MSC is not in a rush to bump the pay on these and are currently holding at the base rate.

For anyone that has done this, can you clarify something for me? The guidelines aren't too clear...

So if I ask if there is a fee for credit or debit card, and they say yes to fee for credit but no to fee for debit, do I still have to make a purchase with a debit card? some part of the guidelines leads me to say yes, but other part leads me to say no. it's so confusing...

heywave states--The MSC is not in a rush to bump the pay on these and are currently holding at the base rate.

Bob comments--The MSC will only increase fees IF shoppers refuse to complete the work at the money paid and certainly will not with some folks accepting 1/2 pay. This is business and companies have a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders to diligently increase profits by, when possible, under paying contractors. It is, of course, the prerogative of each person to accept or decline offers of work.

I read the guidelines like you and thought a purchase was required. An editor thought differently. My shop was accepted by no reimbursement. I happened to purchase a small game that I would have picked up for my kids for Christmas anyway so no big deal.



quote=OEShopper]
For anyone that has done this, can you clarify something for me? The guidelines aren't too clear...

So if I ask if there is a fee for credit or debit card, and they say yes to fee for credit but no to fee for debit, do I still have to make a purchase with a debit card? some part of the guidelines leads me to say yes, but other part leads me to say no. it's so confusing...[/quote]

@shopperbob I agree with your last two sentences which you eloquently share.

You are aware that some shops go up on the fee regardless if people are doing them or not. The rate that they go up is set by the number of days that they have been sitting. One shop I am thinking about starts at a super low rate and then goes up by 60% on the 7th day since release, doubles the original fee on the 11th day, and keeps increasing the fee as the number of days pass until the last day of the run. To be clear, I am saying that if 5% or half of the shops are done by the 6th day, they will raise the fee by 60% the following day.

On the last wave of these Debit/Credit shops that started in October, the MSC went up on the fee by 50% after X number of days, regardless of the town. Then less than a week later, the MSC released more shops and dropped the fee by 20%. This is the wave @sandyf is referring to.

@shopperbob I am not sure what you mean by "some folks accepting 1/2 pay." I was commenting that the MSC is paying 1/2 of the fee if a shopper goes to a location that is closed permanently/home based business/professional services establishment. Yes, workers are accepting 1/2 pay on some jobs since the reviewer is restating the pay to half since the establishment is a home based business that does not have retail foot traffic for example. Are you saying there is a way around this and get the full fare when this situation occurs?

Quote from what heywave wrote...."On the last wave of these Debit/Credit shops that started in October, the MSC went up on the fee by 50% after X number of days, regardless of the town"

I guess since i live in a city and not a town, that is why the fee never went up by 50%. It went from $10 to $12 and unless I missed all those jobs at a higher fee $12 is where it stayed. The two jobs I saw today in my area are back at $10 and are ones that were advertised back in October. No one bothered with them then and it seems no one is bothering with them now. These jobs are a definite $5 due to the fact it is obvious they are not a retail business. .

@sandyf This increase would've been for everyone. I thought they went from $10 to $15 (50%). On this thread there was a mention by two others. Looking back at what @gene wrote, maybe I am mistaken about the 50% and it might've been a 25% increase, but I am pretty sure I made a mental note of the ten to fifteen increase. Looking back at my old jobs, it went up like this for a short period of time. I see some jobs where I got half pay of $7.50, so the rate was $15, since the business was closed. It was an empty lot in a couple of cases. I had other jobs where I got the full fare of $15 plus reimbursement. I have very few jobs like this. Remember the first wave of these had the reimbursement at a low $6.00. Then they dropped the fee back to $12 from $15 when they released more shops.

@gene wrote on the 28th of October:
"the majority of places I visited so far are small business eateries. Just ask question about surcharge and leave (if they said no surcharge) will place me on akward position (as a fool). So I am buying even no purchase are required.
The fee is changing. It was started as $10, and later was $12 and a couple days ago was $15. Now trere are more shops in my area and come back to $12.

I got $12, $15 and once $6(half of $12) becase the store was closed that day."

@OEShopper I have not come across a scenario where the merchant says yes to a fee/surcharge for using credit and no for using a debit. I am not sure if I would make a purchase or not. However of the shops that have been rejected, I believe all of them were where I did not make a purchase for one reason or another.

I had a shop rejected because I did not make a purchase when the cashier told me there was no fee to use a Visa. The reviewer said in the pic I sent there was a sign, not in English, that indicated that there was a minimum. So I messed up by taking the word of someone that works there. That took place when the reimbursement was $6. Had I been able to read the foreign language, I guess I could've ordered a Coke to go, but that's about it.

I think the luck of the draw in the reviewer you get has some influence on whether you have an issue with a job. A buddy who does not post here, mentioned that their shop was rejected because the store location was out of business. The editor said the guidelines state you are supposed to abandon the shop and pick another one. It seems they are confusing the guidelines for Visa contactless shops. I recall getting paid on the last wave for places that were no longer in business.

I see a few pop up late at night only to disappear by morning and then re-appear at night again. Most of the ones left in my area are printing shops, nail salons, RV/Truck dealerships and some restaurants/clubs that don't open until 6 pm.

I don't believe the ones that popped up late in the last wave have all been re-listed on this go around. I am still waiting for the increase. These have not moved for some time.

The first wave i was paid full fee for closed/ out of business. This wave i have been paid half for closed when posted hours show open and shop declined for out of business. (They then put the shop back on the job board....lol, is the next shopper going to find an open business?!)
I made a purchase when i was verbally told there was a fee for both credit & debit. The sign only mentioned credit. I was told to delete my receipt & i would be paid for the shop but not reimbursed.

@heywave wrote:

@OEShopper I have not come across a scenario where the merchant says yes to a fee/surcharge for using credit and no for using a debit. I am not sure if I would make a purchase or not. However of the shops that have been rejected, I believe all of them were where I did not make a purchase for one reason or another.

I had a shop rejected because I did not make a purchase when the cashier told me there was no fee to use a Visa. The reviewer said in the pic I sent there was a sign, not in English, that indicated that there was a minimum. So I messed up by taking the word of someone that works there. That took place when the reimbursement was $6. Had I been able to read the foreign language, I guess I could've ordered a Coke to go, but that's about it.

I think the luck of the draw in the reviewer you get has some influence on whether you have an issue with a job. A buddy who does not post here, mentioned that their shop was rejected because the store location was out of business. The editor said the guidelines state you are supposed to abandon the shop and pick another one. It seems they are confusing the guidelines for Visa contactless shops. I recall getting paid on the last wave for places that were no longer in business.

I see a few pop up late at night only to disappear by morning and then re-appear at night again. Most of the ones left in my area are printing shops, nail salons, RV/Truck dealerships and some restaurants/clubs that don't open until 6 pm.

I don't believe the ones that popped up late in the last wave have all been re-listed on this go around. I am still waiting for the increase. These have not moved for some time.