MSI Trend Source Business Evaluation shops

Has anyone completed the Business site evaluations for MSI/Trend Source? I have not taken the certification test and other requirements yet and wanted to see what the forum says first. Comments?

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More Discussions About TrendSource / MSI Mystery Shopping (All Companies)

There are several threads which address these. I personally enjoy doing them. I did one today. They are usually easy, but you have to schedule the visits and some companies play hide and seek after requesting the visits. That I don't understand, because they are the ones who are paying to get approved. Don't count on being able to go when you want in order to connect with other shops. It might take time to contact the contact, and then the visit might be 1 day or 2 days or several weeks off into the future. Make sure that they fee justifies going just there, and maybe you will get lucky and be able to join it with a route. You have to pay for a background check. The cost is a few dollars, and is done on line. They do not reimburse for the background check.

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008

I really enjoyed doing the Business verification shops for MSI until the time when they required a background check. I was willing to get it but I was told Canadians did not have to have it. But each time I applied, I was told to get a background check. And it went round and round and the reply was it did not apply to Canadians so I could take the shop without the background check. There was no resolution and they did not seem to be bothered that they had a conflictiing message. I gave up!

But if I recall, the shops were not difficult. If you are used to meeting the higher-ups, it's no big deal. I did not have any difficulty in getting an appointment. Picture-taking was a must. Reports were not hard. Each establishment was cooperative and friendly.

Edited for typo.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/2015 05:21PM by risinghorizon.

I've done some of these and would enjoy doing more. They contact me about jobs fairly regularly, but they are often too far for me to travel unless I already need to head that direction, and when these come open, they need you to contact the customer and schedule an appointment within a few hours time. It's a bit of a departure from the normal mystery shop, since your purpose is no secret. I do find that sometimes I've had to field questions about how I got involved doing these. They told me to skip the section about the background check, and they paid for mine, but that may have been because I'm in a rural area where they didn't have anyone else. One of these wasn't an indoor shop, and all I had to do was answer a few questions about streets and accessibility, as well as snap a couple of exterior pictures.

I signed up for one after doing all of the requirements. Glad the background check was under $10. My appointment is not until next Thursday which was the soonest the customer had available. Gives me time to find more shops in that area!

I have been trying to sign up with Trend Source, but only got as far as signing into their data base. Can someone give me a link to give my EIN, w9 info, etc. Thanks,
Elaine

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MSI Trend Source Business Evaluation shops

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Official List of Mystery Shopping Companies

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