We're naïve? We're simply stupid?

Tell me, why should we care what you think?

You missed the gist of the problem many of us have with your original post. I am a huge advocate of shoppers placing value on their time and not relying on a MSC to do so. It was the slanderous way you approached the subject. Meanwhile, Steve has authored more than one post explaining why shoppers should reconsider taking these shops. Each was well-written and thoughtful. So here you are back referring to slavery and calling forum members stupid. Who do you think got the most converts to your position, you or Steve?

Guys, clearly OP was upset about being deactivated by mercantile and decided to take out his anger on the board thinking it would detract people from shopping with them. If anything I think it shows Mercantile prefers to work with better shoppers which makes me respect them more!

It's time to start posting favorite recipes or the lyrics to well loved songs on this thread, if you ask me.

And let's have a round of decaf coffee, please!

MDavisnowell Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> We're naïve? We're simply stupid?
>
> Tell me, why should we care what you think?


I'm not expected for everyone to share my views. However...if you like to work for free...it's your right (and choice). Good luck.

Phoebe70 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thank you for getting deactivated. I would
> happily do one of these shops. It's not
> slave-labor or working for free. It's getting
> $600 worth of expenses for a nice hotel.


You really like to "risk your own money", "work for free" and "help a company make a profit on your expense"? Wow...you folks don't know the difference between "free market" and "abuse". I feel sorry for you guys.

Mysterydave Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Guys, clearly OP was upset about being deactivated
> by mercantile and decided to take out his anger on
> the board thinking it would detract people from
> shopping with them. If anything I think it shows
> Mercantile prefers to work with better shoppers
> which makes me respect them more!


"Work" with better shoppers? LOL. That was really a joke. Its more like "abuse more shoppers that fall into their scheme of $0 pay"

Really? Then some people think they are not stupid. They don't really they are being taken advantage of.

Phoebe70 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> All this talk of slave-work, slaves and
> plantations is ludicrous. There are certain msc
> that I won't work for again, but never have I
> compared them to slave-owners. How offensive. If
> you look at the OP's previous posts, s/he has a
> habit of complaining. No wonder s/he was
> deactivated. No one is forcing us to accept these
> assignments.
>
> Definition of slave labor: persons, especially a
> large group, performing labor under duress or
> threats, as prisoners in a concentration camp; a
> labor force of slaves or slavelike prisoners.
>
> So the OP is comparing an assignment at a nice
> hotel to being in a concentration camp? Maybe the
> OP needs to step down from mystery shopping.


"Offensive" are the companies that profit from free labor from people that think that they are getting a good deal by risking their own monies and not getting a cent in return. I work for profit, not for sport. Sorry for you if you are the other way around.

MDavisnowell Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> We're naïve? We're simply stupid?
>
> Tell me, why should we care what you think?


Yes. They way I see it...is that I run a business for profit and getting paid for a job/task/shop. I'm not STUPID to work for free. You see...we live in America, where capitalism prevails...not in a country where people work for philanthropic reasons.

CAscotch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The OP is not completely off base. There are other
> MSCs that provide you with the same experience in
> addition to $$$. Companies that offer no pay
> lowball the entire industry and cause the other
> MSCs to do the same thing. It's unfortunate.


THANK YOU!!! At least there was a grownup in the room that got it!!!!

Rardon, you've made your point(s) and you're now beating a dead horse. Pull up your big boy pants and get ovah it. Enough.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/29/2013 03:51AM by bestofbothworlds.

walesmaven Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> And let's have a round of decaf coffee, please!

First round is on me.

Relax, rardon! If you have spent any time reading here, you gotta realize that picking a fight with the majority of the forum will bring about the same results as your letter to the MSC in question.

I understand that you think you have the right to protest, but you if you live in America, there's actually no document that gives you that right. The right to protest is often inferred as a human right, based on other rights we are granted, but it's not specifically granted....and the privilege to post nonsense here can also be revoked.

While I agree with the concept of it being outrageous to offer that particular shop for no fee, it's well within the right of the MSC to do so. So...good point, but bad execution.

If you really want to make a difference in how shoppers are treated and paid, then stick around make friends. Help out the shoppers that need advice and with a better educated and trained core group, the relationship between shoppers and MSCs may just improve someday.

Well said, Steve!

walesmaven Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It's time to start posting favorite recipes or the
> lyrics to well loved songs on this thread, if you
> ask me.

You should see, what a lovely, lovely world this would be
If everyone learned to live together.
It seems to me such an easy, easy thing this would be.
Why can't you and me learn to love one another?
All the world over, so easy to see -
People everywhere just wanna be free.
I can't understand it, so simple to me -
People everywhere just got to be free!

Well, we're just impossible. Nothing can be done with us. We will soon fall over the edge into economic ruin. So sad we're naïve and stupid. Wish we were smart and had the world by the tail. Too bad. Sigh . . . . . . . .

MDavisnowell Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well, we're just impossible. Nothing can be done
> with us. We will soon fall over the edge into
> economic ruin. So sad we're naïve and stupid.
> Wish we were smart and had the world by the tail.
> Too bad. Sigh . . . . . . . .


Don't forget poor. We're all poor.

lol OP is jokes.

Rardon, if you don't like this type of shop (or any for that matter), my advice: DON'T ACCEPT THE SHOP.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/30/2013 01:54AM by Eric in Tampa.

rardon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> MDavisnowell Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > We're naïve? We're simply stupid?
> >
> > Tell me, why should we care what you think?
>
>
> I'm not expected for everyone to share my views.
> However...if you like to work for free...it's your
> right (and choice). Good luck.


Doing $600 hotel mystery shop's as a barter exchange and not reporting it to the IRS could, in theory (could they not?), end up costing the shopper and the MSC a lot of money in back taxes and penalties.

I'm not a tax expert but can read here's some info about bartering income copied from: [www.irs.gov]



Topic 420 - Bartering Income

Bartering occurs when you exchange goods or services without exchanging money. An example of bartering is a plumber doing repair work for a dentist in exchange for dental services. You must include in gross income in the year of receipt the fair market value of goods and services received in exchange for goods or services you provide or may provide under the bartering arrangement.

Generally, you report this income on Form 1040, Schedule C (PDF), Profit or Loss from Business or Form 1040, Schedule C-EZ (PDF), Net Profit from Business. If you failed to report this income, correct your return by filing a Form 1040X (PDF). Refer to Topic 308 for amended return information.

A barter exchange or barter club is any organization with members or clients or persons who contract with each other (or with the barter exchange) to jointly trade or barter property or services. The term does not include arrangements that provide solely for the informal exchange of similar services on a noncommercial basis.

The Internet has provided a medium for new growth in the bartering exchange industry. This growth prompts the following reminder: Barter exchanges are required to file Form 1099-B (PDF), Proceeds From Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions for all transactions unless they meet certain exceptions. Refer to Bartering in Publication 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income, and the Form 1099-B Instructions for additional information on this subject. Persons who do not contract a barter exchange but who trade services are not required to file Form 1099-B. However, they may be required to file Form 1099-MISC (PDF). If you are in a business or trade, you may be able to deduct certain costs you incurred to perform the work that was bartered. If you exchanged property or services through a barter exchange, you should receive a Form 1099­B. The IRS also will receive the same information.

Please refer to our Bartering Tax Center page for more information on bartering income and bartering exchanges.

If you receive income from bartering, you may be required to make estimated tax payments. Refer to Publication 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income, for additional information.

Well, it's technically cash shop expenses that are paid, but that's under $10 since the hotel charges are reversed. A small fee of even $5 would probably go a log way in not defining it as a barter, however.

The MSC is not involved in the financial transaction for the stay and reversal, outside of passing your information to their client. That means the shopper would be the only person held liable for any tax burden, since the hotel pays a fee to the MSC.

If I had to add all of my reimbursed expenses to my income, it would put me in a much higher tax bracket. I'm glad I only accept shops that offer a fee...

At least they are high end shops. One company offers $5 bonus on hotel shops in our area ... Seriously, and it's not even a better hotel. No thanks.

I don't know, Shawn. I can see some logic to what you're saying but I don't think these things are exactly barter. There may be an IRS ruling on this somewhere but I'm fuzzy grey on this.

If I exchange a cord of wood for a home made cake, that's barter.

If I go to a hotel because the hotel hired somebody to hire me to do a report, I'm not sure that process is barter.

I go to the hotel and stay there.
I don't give the hotel anything. They don't get a cord of wood. No taxes due on no cord of wood.
When I leave, they don't give me a cake. No taxes due on no cake.

Do I owe taxes on the value of the hotel stay when I never intended to pay for the hotel stay, they knew I did not intend to pay for it, and they knew they were not going to get a cord of wood from me. Just asking. Just asking, sounds to me like a wash.

Of course, if my report is not accepted I don't get the free hotel stay. Then it becomes an expense and at least I can list it on my tax return as a business expense.

This is all hypothetical. I don't do hotels or time shares or anything where I have to be away from home overnight. I also don't barter wood and cakes. I'm home free, as we used to say in a game of tag.

It's not just cakes and wood that get taxed, Mary.

The shopper receives something of value (a free night) and the hotel receives something of value (a report on their service). Both of these items have a pretty well-defined price on the open market.

What complicated the situation here is the middleman (The MSC) that sets up the barter for a fee, so it's not a direct trade between the two parties. In your example the shopper gets 'hired' to do a report, but that's not the case when there is no fee. The MSC is arranging a barter for the shopper in that case. You pay the shopper $5 and it now becomes a job (although a poorly paid one).

It's also possible to order cake while on the shop, so you might just receive some cake; and if a toothpick drops out of your bag in the hotel room...wood!

Here's my 2 cents: My wife and I like the hotel shops. Yes, they only pay a reimbursement, but we plan on a mini-vacation in that town and do 15-20 other shops. We get time together, earn big money, and get a free night in a nice hotel.

ggoin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Here's my 2 cents: My wife and I like the hotel
> shops. Yes, they only pay a reimbursement, but we
> plan on a mini-vacation in that town and do 15-20
> other shops. We get time together, earn big money,
> and get a free night in a nice hotel.


Have you actually done 15 additional shops while out of town on a high-end one night hotel shop before?

If so, then I congratulate you. That takes a great amount of a scheduling and organizational skills to pull off.

I once grouped 5 shops together during a 2 night stay and it took every moment I was awake to get them done. It was no vacation....

Okay. Plenty of thoughts both ways and no need for personal insults. That's why I left Volition.

I appreciate ALL of the efforts of those who post on this board. The world is full of diversity, so celebrate it.

Sometimes, mystery shoppers have nowhere else to vent, seek reassurance, or get helpful advice. They do not need to be judged by others, or be expected to march along with "all of their ducks in a row" with the others who choose to march along that way.

To call a job slave labor is more or less urban slang meaning: labor that is coerced and inadequately rewarded, or the people who perform such labor.

I doubt that I would do a hotel shop with $600 reimbursement pending upon approval, although I have been promised these types of shops by this particular company if I were to complete some of their mall food shops. I have done the mall shops, but no hotel shops have ever been available in my territory. I was promised a 10 rating, no matter what, but got a less than 10 on a certain assignment; basically it isn't held against them.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/31/2013 04:57AM by Mary Smith xoxoxo.

Actually, most reimbursements arn't claimed on taxes. Some can be considered business expenses. You are conducting business, and as long as you can justify it as such, you shouldn't have to claim it, only your actual fee. In this case, $0.

I think that is time to just let this thread die a natural death by ignoring the impulse to post anything having to do with the substance of the issue.

Okay, folks, time to start posting your favorite recipes for fudge, beef stew or tips on new things to do with Nutella!

Just for you wales.

Fill purchased wonton wrappers with a about a tablespoon of Nutella and fold over into a triangle using water on the edges to help seal them. Fry them up and sprinkle with a little powdered sugar.