Anyone here signed up with this company? I had never heard of them before but found a posting on the MSPA site for jobs. I went to sign up but I really dislike their sign-up form and eventually exited without completing it. They not only ask you to repeat all the details you already answered on the first page (ex. You type in your name and address in the beginning and then they ask you in a separate question "What is your name?" "What city do you live in?" ... rather redundant.) But mostly I don't like the fact that they want a picture of your ID right off the bat and ask a lot of intrusive questions (yearly income, monthly income, etc.) It appears they do luxury shops and all but still I think the sign-up form is a bit overbearing. And I'm not even mentioning the lengthy questions about every brand of merchandise you have and how much you spend every month on it...

P.S. I think they are a company from the Far East because the options for nationality are several Oriental nationalities and then "Western."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/2012 03:35PM by LuanneW.

I don't recall the sign-up process, but I like the company.

I signed up and they are definitely Asian.
AND very very high end.
I haven't accepted any offers because I'm not laying out $500 or $1500 dollars and then waiting to be repaid .
Only doing non purchase shops.
Learned my lesson from the first shop I laid out money for that didnt keep their word on payment time.

Although I'm sure they have them from time to time, I have never even seen a purchase and return shop. As far as payment, they're very prompt. BTW, their shops are dispatched from various countries, including the U.S. office.

Well thanks for the feedback. I think I'm going to pass them by though based on what I think of the sign-up procedure being too intrusive.

I just did a shop with them in my area. I think they changed the requirements for a shop. I had to lay out at least $900 and then I was able to return the purchase at a later time. Well, return isn't the right word, more like cancel an order. I did a very high end furniture store.

Yes, they're international and the scheduler I spoke on the phone wasn't as pushy as say... GAPBuster.

I signed up last night and specified no P & R shops, they put me on as just a mystery shopper.

How do you specify no P & R on a form ?

I did a regular mystery shop for them at high end store this week.

Survey was alright.

wondering what their pay schedule is? anyone know?

I also did a watch shop for them. Don't know the pay cycle.

I did a no-purchase watch shop for them as well. Just completed it this week so I will see if they are a fast payer...hopefully!

Hi,

The registration process is too long but everything went smoothly after. Good follow up from the US team I spoke to. I bought something worth 980$ in a Burberry shop and was paid back within 1 week when I returned the item.
Hope this helps you relax a bit. They seem to work a lot with luxury brands.

Luna

Shopforme Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi,
>
> The registration process is too long but
> everything went smoothly after. Good follow up
> from the US team I spoke to. I bought something
> worth 980$ in a Burberry shop and was paid back
> within 1 week when I returned the item.
> Hope this helps you relax a bit. They seem to work
> a lot with luxury brands.

Hello Luna,

Do you have any idea what their pay schedule is. I kind of thought it was 30 days
but I dont remember whether its paypal , direct deposit, of what.

When you say, you've been paid? HOw did it come, check or some of the above ?

I dealt with their American branch. Nice people.
>
> Luna

They paid fairly quickly...I think less than 30 days for my first shop. Doing another bigger luxe shop for them and get to keep big ticket item...I was
told I would be paid back in 10 days this time. That is very reasonable to me. Easy to work with though the website can be kind of wiggy so don't get put off by that though.

Did 1st shop on May 12th, got paid June 7th.

Nice company to work with. Not sure where they were before?

You'll get to keep the item? I just did a shop for Albatross today and I'll have to return my item in a few days. Until then I'll just look at it and feel sorry for myself for having to return it. I've just done 3 shops for them so far but I have enjoyed them.

Iguana Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They paid fairly quickly...I think less than 30
> days for my first shop. Doing another bigger luxe
> shop for them and get to keep big ticket item...I
> was
> told I would be paid back in 10 days this time.
> That is very reasonable to me. Easy to work with
> though the website can be kind of wiggy so don't
> get put off by that though.

My good friend did some mystery shopping in Hongkong for Albatross. They have many missions(Most of them are luxurious watches and cosmetics) in Hongkong and Macau. Every month they need lots of Mystery shoppers for the watch projects, such as Zenith, Omega,Tag Heuer. They do not need many female MSs, but they need lots of male MSs (Either HK native or Mainland Chinese)every mouth. They payrate is usually about 200HKD a shop. One MS can do about 5 shops one day.Usually they pay you 45 days after you submit the surveys.One of my male friend is from Mainland China, he will come to HK to do some mystery shoppings twice/once a month. Sometimes, i will go with my friend to go some shopping in HK by the way. So I know this company and their HK MSC. If you want to do some mystery shopping in HK and Macau for this company, you can email me (1525162796@qq.com),I will tell you their contact information.
Hope this helps!

Thanks for the information Melissa. My husband travels to Asia several times a year for work and I was planning to go with him some time. I was wondering if non-native people could do the Asia shops for Albatross. I was going to look into it when I knew my travel dates.

I'm sure their U.S. office would be able to answer any questions about shopping overseas. The U.S. office is new, prior to them opening up here, I dealt with representatives from Asia and France.

Big ticket item you get to keep? I've done quite a few shops for this company, but never that one, and I want it! :-)

shoppinalong Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How do you specify no P & R on a form ?
>
> I did a regular mystery shop for them at high end
> store this week.
>
> Survey was alright.
>
> wondering what their pay schedule is? anyone
> know?

Well, just got paid through pay pal on Thursday the 7th. So they are paying in less than one month. Huzza and hooray.

Pay pal is the problem. I transfer to my bank account same day I'm notified Pay pal has money and it takes PP til the end of the third business day for the money to appear in my bank account. Essentially its a 4 day transfer. Could get a debit card but I do hear people have problems with PP debit cards not being accepted. I did get a PQ debit card and it worked fine.


one month.

I use a Pay Pal debit card as my regular credit card and I have had never any problems. I don't use it as a debit card but a credit card.

I think it depends on the quality of your reports. That has always been my personal experience. When they (schedulers, editors, owners etc) see high quality reports that have extensive detail and are really well written they throw you bones. I think this shop I just did was a bone. A really good one. They don't come along that often but I am hoping I do get more. It was a pleasure to do. How often can you say you get lovely service and then the report is NOT a royal PIA? This second shop actually was a much easier report than my first one which was a non-purchase shop for a completely different type of product/store.

StacyP Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You'll get to keep the item? I just did a shop for
> Albatross today and I'll have to return my item in
> a few days. Until then I'll just look at it and
> feel sorry for myself for having to return it.
> I've just done 3 shops for them so far but I have
> enjoyed them.
>
> Iguana Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > They paid fairly quickly...I think less than 30
> > days for my first shop. Doing another bigger
> luxe
> > shop for them and get to keep big ticket
> item...I
> > was
> > told I would be paid back in 10 days this time.
>
> > That is very reasonable to me. Easy to work
> with
> > though the website can be kind of wiggy so
> don't
> > get put off by that though.

shoppinalong Wrote:
> Well, just got paid through pay pal on Thursday
> the 7th. So they are paying in less than one
> month. Huzza and hooray.
>
> Pay pal is the problem. I transfer to my bank
> account same day I'm notified Pay pal has money
> and it takes PP til the end of the third business
> day for the money to appear in my bank account.
> Essentially its a 4 day transfer. Could get a
> debit card but I do hear people have problems with
> PP debit cards not being accepted. I did get a PQ
> debit card and it worked fine.

I use my PayPal debit card for everything from retail to restaurants and have had no problems at all with it. If I need to do a transfer from PP to my bank, it's usually completed within two business days.

SoCal Shopper Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>I use my PayPal debit card for everything from
> retail to restaurants and have had no problems at
> all with it. If I need to do a transfer from PP
> to my bank, it's usually completed within two
> business days.

I wish I was getting the transfer to my bank in two days ! I don't understand whty not. I checked the forums on PP and found complaints that the PP card being denied. I was thinking of asking for the PP debit card and have decided not to bother based on what I read. On the othe hand PQ transfer to debit card is same day. I wish I could get all my MSC's to switch to PayQuicker !

P.S. Called my bank to find out why the transfer is taking 4 days from Paypal.
They told me Paypal is specifying what day they can "show" money received, So I got the impression they have the money before 4 days. What's with that? The only
thing I can think of is that PayPal is holding onto the money to gain interest for another two days ...grrrr.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/16/2012 07:27PM by shoppinalong.

Hello

How much commission does PayPal take?
I mean, How much is the comission fee?
Who pays that fee, Albatross or the Shopper?

I've googled it anf found that

"you will not be charged a fee to receive a Mass Pay payment. The fee is paid by the mystery shopping company"
But I don't know if it's true.


Thanks

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2012 12:30AM by skan.

I'm glad to see this thread. I received a reach out from MSPA from them today and had never heard of them. The wording was such that red flags went up, but it could just be a language translation thing.

@ TechSavvy - I got the same e-mail today. And now I am doing my research on this forum, MSPA, and BBB. :-)

ADDED NOTE: My e-mail says, "you can email me directly at tdougherty@albatross.fr" which looks like a French e-mail address to me, not Asia.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/29/2012 07:53PM by Shop2LiveinFL.

I've worked with the person with that email address and it is legitimate. I loved that shop too! I wish they would offer me more.

They are an excellent company. Where were they before? I have done 2 shops for them. They pay well and on time.

>shoppinalong Wrote:
>
> P.S. Called my bank to find out why the transfer
> is taking 4 days from Paypal.
> They told me Paypal is specifying what day they
> can "show" money received, So I got the impression
> they have the money before 4 days. What's with
> that? The only
> thing I can think of is that PayPal is holding
> onto the money to gain interest for another two
> days ...grrrr.

There are so many factors to consider in an ACH transfer. What time did you request the withdrawal? Was this over the weekend? I suggest you make a transfer from PayPal to your bank on a Monday morning before 12pm EST and monitor to see how long it takes. There should be no reason it is not there by Wednesday. They are batched out during the day and depending on the request time it could have been sent out the following day.

sbrahma Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They are an excellent company. Where were they
> before? I have done 2 shops for them. They pay
> well and on time.


They only opened a U.S. office this year. I still get emails from France, but most of the shops I do are now scheduled by their New York office.