After just skimming over the Intellishop job board, I was very surprised that they took the already-low $17 fee for their on-site-visit shops down to a cheap, terrible $10.

These shops are time consuming and force you to deal with some of the most dishonest, vulture-like, advantage-taking salespeople I've ever experienced. In the past, I've spent an hour just in the part where they all but hold a gun to my head in attempt to get me to purchase the thing I was sent there to shop.

There is another mystery shop company out there that has you visit similar locations, pays $30 per shop, sometimes with bonus. They have pleasant schedulers, prompt payments, and they don't send you crazy, inconsistent follow-up questions that they then add insult to injury to give you a crap rating.

I really hope that some of the Intellishop schedulers, owners, or editors read this forum. If so, you are truly insulting the work that mystery shoppers do and paying them less than, if not half, the minimum wage, when you combine the travel to the shop, time on-site, and report writing. You can do better business. Shame on you.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/2015 06:13AM by xvicesandvirtues.

I've never done one of those shops for them under $30 . The price on the job board is for the taking but I have had them message me personally to take a job and give me great bonus for it.

As an IC, we have the right to refuse taking a job offer. There are newbies who do not know any better and/or people who are desperate to earn any kind of money. Then there are those annoying "bored" people who just take shops "for the fun of it."

Also in my area they are already up to $20 and yesterday they were $10

Okay then, so don't take the $10 fee if it doesn't work for you. It certainly doesn't work for me but I don't understand your hostility toward the MSC. Until the fee reaches an acceptable level, all we have to do is wait for the situation to correct itself to a level accepted by the market (us). Base rate fees do not reflect the amount actually paid on average for any project. That average will vary according to the location, the number of shoppers in the area, and the complexity of the job. Spending time railing about whatever we don't approve is a time suck and takes away from profits.

The logic of offering a $10 fee is that it will pull in new shoppers to the project as experienced shoppers refuse to accept it. Those new shoppers will require more attention from the MSC than an experienced shopper, who would demand more from the get go. The extra cost of coaching for the newcomer is built into the base fee. As the newcomer develops, he/she will realize they are worth more and will no longer accept the base rate fee, which leaves a place for another newcomer. Everything works out.

I understand the hostility. The shop being advertised is portrayed as easier than it actually is to a first time shopper. The price is also below minimum wage thus morally wrong. ergo, hostility towards such a price being offered is well-deserved. Just because someone agrees to be taken advantage of doesn't mean I have some obligation to approve of the behavior of the morally bankrupt boss.

I believe that they'll get what they pay for. The upside to us is that the less they pay for shops early on means that there will be more flaked shops and more rejected shops returning to the board at a much higher price in a week. Plus the more that they save on the cheap shops that get accepted, means more bonus money they have to offer us during pre-deadline desperation.

This year they raised the rate on senior living shops in my area from $25 to $30.

They will take advantage of the "labor' market (us) as they see fit in order to squeeze a few bucks down to the bottom line in any month or quarter. They do not believe in shopper loyalty, and will never have it across the board, especially with their bent in lowering shopper fees again and again. Unfortunately, I-shop only pays lip service to the idea that their 'lifeblood' (yes, a manager actually used that term with me) is their shoppers.....I-shop will bend you over a splintered stool in a dirty bar for an extra $5.00 per shop. They change the payments on their shops every few months and then 'bonus' the reliable shoppers to get the work done. In short, they play hardball, and the only option we have is to play hardball right back at them

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2015 12:26AM by winemaker.

It's not wrong in America to make money.

" They change the payments on their shops every few months and then 'bonus' the reliable shoppers to get the work done. In short, they play hardball, and the only option we have is to play hardball right back at them"

I"m lost as to what part of that is supposed to piss me off? I am a reliable shopper so that works out fine for me. I can play hardball as well. I've fought for my big bonuses and won more than a handful of times. That is how the game is played. If you can't stand the heat.... blah blah blah.

I need someone to define shopper loyalty so I can decide whether I believe in it, or whether I think Intellishop believes in it. Are we talking about Intellishop being loyal to the shoppers, or the shoppers being loyal to Intellishop? I honestly don't know.

That reminds me of a bumper sticker popular with welders (who work as independent contractors). It reads:

If you want loyalty, get a dog.

I did 2 jobs at a big Home Improvement store chain for Intellishop in July in which I had to shop for paint. I was paid $12 for each. The same jobs are posted now for $9.00! I know the Canadian dollar is tanking, but geesh!!!

I've also noticed those same shops are still on the board (in my area) and nobody seems to be taking them. I also get e-mails from other shops they do and they keep raising the pay in the title line. I'm unsure if I've ever done a job for them which didn't go into bonus territory. They remind me of a bar wanting musicians to play for free for experience or just for drinks....

Really, MDavis? Is that the response? Making money is fine, but making money by withholding payment, squeezing your shoppers for dimes, and continually changing both payments and the requirements of the shop (especially after posting the shop and accepting the entry) is wrong, dead wrong. I-Shop has been preaching shopper loyalty for years...everyone knows this! But, they do NOT return the 'love'. I accept their bonused shops, but rarely, and that is my option. This board, however, is to discuss reality, and what happens to us, and to try to give the breadth of our experience to each other.

...drink the coffee...

Winemaker, you accept only their bonused shops, but rarely. They cut expenses all possible. That's business. I don't see an upside to complaints.

It does cost them more money in the long run to do it this way. I imagine that many newbies try one of the low paying shops out and instead of realizing that they can hold out and negotiate for more down the road, they quit doing mystery shopping. Of course if they write bad reports and need to be contacted for more information, or flake on a shop, it costs I-S more money...but yeah, I won't take any of their car sales shops for less than $40 and haven't done any lately because even for that amount, they are a real PITA. I occasionally do other shops for them, but only if nicely bonused.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/2015 04:29PM by JASFLALMT.

I did an awesome casino shop for them last week, that was a lot of fun and the reimbursement/pay was decent.

For us shoppers, there are upsides to low base rates. We call them bonuses.

Sometimes people just need to vent. It can't be kittens and rainbows all the time. I don't blame the OP for posting exactly how some of us may be feeling.
Personally, I stay away from Inteli-Shop, as does my wife.
But, to each their own! Hope everyone has a fun and prosperous weekend. TGIF!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/2015 07:53PM by FLguy65.

I am doing my first casino shop soon...any tips?

Is it for Intelli-shop? I haven't done them for any other MSC so I can't say about the others. As with any shop, read your guidelines thoroughly and well in advance, that way if you have any questions you can email your scheduler and cover your bases early. If you have to visit any venues within the casino, double check on their websites to be sure that the hours listed are the same as what is in your guidelines. My guidelines stated that the comedy show started at 8, but when I checked online, I found out it started at 7:00! Since the guidelines stated that I had to go to the comedy club 20 minutes before the show to order food and such, it would have messed up the whole shop if I hadn't checked it myself. Go early. Arrive within a few minutes of the start time to be sure that you can get all of your observations done in time. My guidelines stated I had to play at each machine for a minimum of 30 minutes and I had to evaluate a service attendant to make change and also evaluate the cocktail waitress during this time--but the problem is I pushed the service light and it was over 20 minutes before the service attendant came, and then if you don't see a waitress within 30 minutes after you start playing the machine you are supposed to push the button again for a cocktail server--but it took nearly an hour for me to get a drink on one of those occasions! The time can pass by much faster than you know so go as early as possible.

What's the over/under on when we'll have to start paying intellishop to do shops instead of the other way around. I'm setting it at August 2016.

My very first mystery shop ever was for this MSC. It was an auto shop and it paid $39.00. Now, they are paying $17.00 and I received two emails for auto shops today in which they upped their payment to $28.00. I began mystery shopping in November of last year and it's frustrating to see how much payments have tanked in approximately a year.

LOL at bgriffin.

Yes, Lorrie, it stinks. Hold out for $40 or more for the auto sales shops. Sooner or later they are going to run out of people who haven't been to the dealerships recently and then you can get more money for them.

b, when we start paying them in 2016, will we have to pay extra to get the fun and yummy ones?

I'm thinking that a company that puts up shamefully low-ball shops is not redeemed by offering a few more savvy shoppers compensatory bonus'. I stopped shopping for Intellishop a few years ago after repeated clashes over their shopper-unfriendly practices.

I have been seeing this happen over and over again of late. I am not taking any of their shops and have not for some time. I am thinking of just removing them as a shop to get information from. I don't do their shops and I do not want to get anymore emails since it is a waste.

@bgriffin wrote:

What's the over/under on when we'll have to start paying intellishop to do shops instead of the other way around. I'm setting it at August 2016.

Hey, there are already plenty of companies where you have to pay to shop. Look at it this way: if YOU pay THEM, you miss out on all the fun of chasing Intelli-Shop to get your money.