There are a ton of quick shops near me where the payment is $10 and you have to buy one item for less than eight dollars using a Visa debit card, then buy the exact same item using cash. These seem quick and easy, but for sure, some of the stores are not really amenable to this type of shopping. For example, one of them is a fancy steakhouse so it would be very strange to go in there and even purchase something like a to-go coffee. Although, I suppose they might have a small merch counter, where there might be some small items available for purchase.

On the brighter side, some of these are food places where I’ve looked on their menus and there’s a nice sandwich or salad for six or seven dollars so this would be a great way to get two items for a nice lunch or dinner for totally free.

I’ve read on here where some people have said it’s sometimes awkward to get the pictures required, but I have studied the guidelines carefully and I can work really quickly, so I’m not really concerned about that. I just do what needs to be done!

My question is on the nail salon shops. In the fine print, I see that you only have to do the debit card portion for the nail shops. I am not a nail shop person, but are there things like bottles of nail polish that you could purchase for less than eight dollars in there? Or maybe something like hand moisturizer? Thanks if you have any input for me!

@ServiceAward You have been a refreshing addition to the forum! Your posts are informative; you offer constructive advice and you seem quite knowledgeable about many of the MSC's, even though you've only been doing this a relatively short time.

Thank you for your contributions!

Thank you for this feedback, this was good information. I just completed my first shop like this, and overall, I think I should be completely successful. This was a chain food place in a food court so it was pretty busy and since it’s a chain I’m going to go out on a limb and say that at least some of the employees are not really gonna give a rip what you are doing. I did notice that the questions were extremely redundant, which is one of my pet peeves overall with mystery shopping. For example, when it asked for a picture of the register area, which lacked any type of surcharge information, that picture is going to be the same for both of my transactions, but it seems like the program didn’t like that. I used the same picture twice. Rather than risk it, I just went over and took basically the same picture from a slightly different angle. I completed all of this while I was still sitting in the food court. Fingers crossed!

I could see these going down a little differently if you were in a mom and pop shop where maybe you were being waited on directly by an owner. In that case, they might be a lot more defensive about what the heck you are doing.

I've done a number of these and found nothing to fear. I am almost never given an itemized receipt for the card purchase and it hasn't been a problem. I just attach the receipt I was given. There's a one-sentence comment for each purchase. The main thing is to buy an item that has a price tag- they seem to care a whole lot about that. There are enough of these around me that I won't be buying lunches or consumer staples out of pocket for a while. I do pick and choose locations. Some are more difficult or awkward than others.

That one sentence narrative needs to be pretty long. Exact name of item, size, weight, price before and after taxes plus anything else that transpired.

I was curious about the shops that are nail salons, as well. Could you purchase a gift card? I can't think of anything else tangible you could purchase. Or can you get a service, knowing you will only be reimbursed $16 of it? Anyone have experience with this?

No, you can’t get gift cards. In the general instructions it says you can’t buy gas or gift cards or lottery tickets. In the case of the nail salon, they want you to make only the debit card transaction so you need to find something to buy for less than eight dollars. I was thinking it might be a good way to just get a bottle of nail polish or something. If they literally don’t have anything for less than eight dollars it says you can spend up to 20, but it doesn’t say if the reimbursement stays at eight dollars. It’s very unclear exactly what happens if there’s nothing for under 8 dollars. On a regular mystery shop, I would reach out to someone in scheduling, but I can never even find any contact information for these shops.

I have tons of these available for me. Mostly Pizza places. I am hesitant because the only items $8 and below are garlic knots or fries. I dont know how worth it it would be to run around town eating 500 garlic knots all day.

Also the awkward photo as previously mentioned. Most counter people are staring at you the whole time. Would feel weird to try to snap a photo during the whole interaction.

And putting in an order of garlic knots and leaving, then coming back in, oh yea I forgot, I want more garlic knots. lol IDK seems alittle too weird to me.

It would be great if you could get a service, but not sure how that would work. You'd need to get a service for $20 or less (eyebrows maybe?), pay for that with Debit, then enter in to the report that they didn't have anything to buy for less than $8. With the random pickiness of editors on this project, I wouldn't be the list bit surprised to see someone push back and say you could have bought nail polish or a file or something. Especially if the counter pic shows any items for sale.

@lx3 wrote:

I was curious about the shops that are nail salons, as well. Could you purchase a gift card? I can't think of anything else tangible you could purchase. Or can you get a service, knowing you will only be reimbursed $16 of it? Anyone have experience with this?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/20/2023 11:47PM by Cassiespark.

About the garlic knots... put the order in and pay for the first one. If the cooking/assembly of the order takes 3 minutes, just place the cash order without leaving first. "Ya know, I think I'm gonna need another one of these."

But I agree about not wasting time buying stuff you don't want or need. I don't do stores that have nothing I can use because the items to keep, to me, are part of the pay. The actual pay alone is not worth the time and risk.

Extremely HIGH RISK shops. I did 10 or so, of these around a week ago. They are rejecting them for not finding something with a pricetag. So all the smokeshops / convenience stores/ specialty shops that generally don’t use pricetags.. are getting rejected. Multiple editors are doing this, as if trained to. They are ignoring the section in guidelines that allows for untagged items. One editor found a price on cigarettes in the background, and rejected my shop because I didn’t buy the cigarettes (the one item in the entire store that had a price lower than $8, or pricetag at all. It’s Crazytown. Multiple shops sent back for better pics of front counter, as well. Another sent back because the receipt didn’t state debit card or visa . They required pictures of my card and wanted it to match the bogus numbers on the receipt. This was a thrift store, with the receipt stating ‘Other card’ and some 888’s. Like I control what the receipt says??!!? Unbelievable what’s happening. Extreme high risk shops.. I hope this saves someone else from getting ripped! They are obviously not afraid of losing shoppers now.

PS: I’m no newbie.. not only done these same shops since their inception, but well over 500 shops for Ipsos, and never seen anything quite like this. I will try to make a New thread to warn folks.

I tried the only one in my area a couple of months ago. The store was temporarily closed due to a car crashing through their front window so it was being remodeled. I took lots of photos and spent more time stepping into the nearby shops trying to figure out if and when they would be open than the job would have taken had the store been open. I thought they should at least give me a couple of dollars but they rejected me completely and paid me zip. This location is showing up now and started showing up a week or so after I did (not) do it.
So my advice is to be careful.
And yes, nail salons do sell nail polish but usually those types of stores do not have shelf tags at all. Perhaps you can go in and ask for only one eyebrow to be done saying you want to see how it looks. Then leave and come back and say you looked at your mirror and really liked how it looked and decided to have the other one done. Ha Ha but maybe they will fall for that. You certainly would not have both your eyebrows done or any other service there and come back a few minutes later and ask for the same thing again.

Yeah, it’s crazy. They still haven’t accepted the one that was a thrift shop. I sent them pics of my visa debit card, and bank statement showing the name of place and everything. With this amount of BS going on, it’s just way too risky. Corporate communist trained editors, and project managers, apparently. No field experience, no humanity experience. What a shame.

@injus5injus5 wrote:

And putting in an order of garlic knots and leaving, then coming back in, oh yea I forgot, I want more garlic knots. lol IDK seems alittle too weird to me.

I use the "my husband" excuse a lot. "I told my husband I got myself (whatever) and he said to grab one for him too"... "My husband just told me our nephew is coming over, better grab some more" ...etc. On these shops I've gotten bottles of soda or snapple (bodegas, pizza places), rice pudding (from a diner), fruit bowl or yogurt partfait or sushi (take-outlunch places).

I have had two come back from the same editor requesting a pic of the debit card I used stating,"it was not clear you used a debit card." The first did say "credit card transaction," with no identifying numbers, so what it the card pic going to prove? It has been days since I sent the pic and no follow up.

The second one I got today. The receipt very clearly says, "DEBIT card purchase, " so WTH.

My son got one rejected outright because he purchased a deli item with no price and they responded that there was a menu. The menu was through a QR code only, which he told them, but it didn't matter!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/23/2023 12:44AM by bradkcrew.

You guys I was so optimistic the other day that I nailed my first shop of this nature, lol wouldn’t you know it? I had a bona fide mistake where I miss-stated the menu price and it was clearly indicated in the photo. I don’t know what happened, brain fart, I really never make mistakes like this. When I initially got the email indicating there was an issue, I was immediately super annoyed until I went and saw that it was totally on me. They did give me like a day and a half deadline for correcting it, and I readily did so . So hopefully that’s it on that one.

In the meantime, I did another one today for a really awesome deli in town. Their 6 inch subs are seven dollars so that was a great value coming in right under the eight dollar mark. And this is not a chain deli, this is attached to a upscale, Italian restaurant. Fingers crossed big-time on this one!

The one I did today was much faster than the first one because of being much more familiar with the requirements.

So it isn’t just me, then. Looks like everyone is getting the shaft. I quit doing anymore of their fraudulent shops. They don’t deserve my (or your) time and efforts.

I agree these are a bit of a pain and can definitely be risky. But, with that said, I've had my first six approved with no rejections. I still have five more awaiting approval. I've been very careful in choosing locations that have pricing displayed...typically menus. And, fortunately, most have provided itemized receipts. However, a couple only provided the credit receipt for the card purchase and were still accepted. I will not do any nail salon shops. The vast majority of the ones I've done have been small pizza shops/restaurants. With the small $10 shop fee, I'm only interested in doing locations where i can get two meals that I or my family enjoy. It's helped to keep my grocery budget lower over the past two weeks.

Totally agree. What they are asking for (photo of debit card) actually violates PCI compliance. Its ridiculous for them to ask, and unless there is some very small print somewhere that says they handle such sensitive data in a PCI-compliant manner, they are opening themselves up to a lawsuit. This project is clearly funded by one of the major credit card issuers who could very easily explain to this MSC the do's and don't of PCI data. Usually the card issuer would a very stringent DPA in place with any vendor, such as this MSC, that sets all this out. Clearly the Editors are either oblivious or the program manager is. None of this is a good idea. and for $10 shops....just so dumb.

@ServiceAward wrote:

I think they have gotten rather ridiculous with this shop. When they try to simplify, they make it more complicated instead, and it appears now more difficult to get approved. They want too much that is out of the shopper's control. Frankly, even though I assume you can mark out most of your debit card numbers except the last 4, I am not a fan of sending images like that to ANY MSC.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/23/2023 02:44AM by Cassiespark.

They are only asking for the VISA and debit card logos and the last 4 of the card number. They are instructing you to cover the rest of the info.

They shouldn’t be asking at all, after the shop. If they require proof from our end, it should be in the Guidelines, or a pre-shop test. Even then, with the new insane scrutiny, the shop could still get rejected. I responded with 3 pictures.. of proof, including the bank statement showing the transaction. That was 4 days ago. They responded thru email, but did not approve. It’s 100% Bullsh$t, what they are doing. And the appeals are a total joke. We’re dealing with corporate robots now. They could care less that you’ve blown your money, gas, and time. During xmas holiday, even.
Adding new requirements, after the shop, is a breach of contract. They are ripping off shoppers!!

I have had 11 reviewed so far, and despite every possible issue (no receipt, no itemized receipt, no price, and combinations of all mentioned) eventually they were all approved, so I hope everyone else is making out okay too.

I got banned from the Visa shops. I did 8 in one day. 4 small-time shops gave me handwritten receipts for my cash purchase. Ipsos didn't like that. I think they thought I was lying and writing the receipts myself. Nope. The shops I did were from mom n pop shops in extremely poor areas of Los Angeles and that's the best receipt they could offer me. I had a feeling that turning in 4 handwritten receipts would land me in the doghouse, but all 4 shops truly wrote my cash receipts by hand so I turned in the handwritten receipts, told myself I wouldn't be punished since I was handling it truthfully, and vowed to stay away from mom n pop shops afterward. Well, Ipsos approved the shops but banned me from all future Visa shops. Another shop from that batch was rejected because I chose a candy bar without a price tag. The reviewer said she could see other items in my photo with shelf prices and I should have picked one of them. The other items were cigarettes and liquor which were 5 times the prices of the candy. I thought they didn't want us buying those kinds of items so I'd chosen a candy for 2 bucks. Whatever.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/27/2023 03:18AM by whataboutpromblaine.

I searched for THIS discussion, and you all delivered! THANK YOU for sharing experiences with this wave of the small-business Visa project.

I had very good experiences with the first two waves, in which they gathered data on signage and required only one purchase. Never a problem. But this? Super risky. I'd consider it if they at least double the fee and clarify issues w/receipts.

This project currently doesn't pay enough for me to gather data to enforce the federal Dodd-Frank Act. They're trying to enforce Visa agreements; it's illegal to put surcharges on debit transactions. They'd be better off doing these as video shops. Better evidence, less time, less mess.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/27/2023 03:39AM by PurpleCrayon.

@whataboutpromblaine wrote:

I got banned from the Visa shops. I did 8 in one day. 4 small-time shops gave me handwritten receipts for my cash purchase. Ipsos didn't like that. I think they thought I was lying and writing the receipts myself. Nope. The shops I did were from mom n pop shops in extremely poor areas of Los Angeles and that's the best receipt they could offer me. I had a feeling that turning in 4 handwritten receipts would land me in the doghouse, but all 4 shops truly wrote my cash receipts by hand so I turned in the handwritten receipts, told myself I wouldn't be punished since I was handling it truthfully, and vowed to stay away from mom n pop shops afterward. Well, Ipsos approved the shops but banned me from all future Visa shops. Another shop from that batch was rejected because I chose a candy bar without a price tag. The reviewer said she could see other items in my photo with shelf prices and I should have picked one of them. The other items were cigarettes and liquor which were 5 times the prices of the candy. I thought they didn't want us buying those kinds of items so I'd chosen a candy for 2 bucks. Whatever.

———

Sorry to hear you also got shafted, although you are better off staying far away from these scam shops. Why do I say? Have they apologized to anyone?? Have they bothered to change the guidelines?? Ofcourse not. The trouble of getting cashiers to write out a receipt, in itself ( I’m surprised you got all 4 to do it), let alone having to argue with the editors, isn’t worth it.
My story is similar.. 10+ shops and atleast half sent back, and 3 rejections. Arguing over 2 days with robot editors. On one convenient store shop, that had no pricetags, the editor noticed 2 prices in the background of the counter picture.. on the cigarettes. That argument went to the Project Manager..(allegedly).. and still rejected.. saying I should have bought the cigarettes. Really?? unbelievable BS. If this was stated in the guidelines (AS IT SHOULD BE).. nobody would sign up, that had a clue.
I expect there are many more ripped off shoppers that don’t know or haven’t found the forums yet. I banned myself from these foul actors.. haven’t touched another Ipsos shop since.

I didn't even have to ask any of the workers from the stores to handwrite me a receipt, they all offered! Now that's customer service!
I'm sorry for your troubles too.