Shops are going as quickly as before in my area. Unbelievable. I guess Barnum was right... a sucker born every minute. I will sit on the sidelines and do the occassional bonused shops if/ when they call.

I don't know how this happened, but I got an e-mail from MF to do one of the FF shops for base plus a $3 bonus. Must be they have no shoppers in that town and are desperate! Normally it would be too far to go, but DH & I have been meaning to visit this town to do some antique shopping. With it being just the two of us, the total fee plus the reimbursement should cover our entire meal, plus a couple bucks profit. And since we always stop to eat when we're down that way, this works well! But I don't think I'll be doing too many of these at base fee, unless it's the one down the street.

I received 2 similar emails today with a $3 bonus. I grabbed one but, removed/declined the other until the rate changes, 20 miles one way for $7 and a hedgehog is not worth it.

@sstazz wrote:

....20 miles one way for $7 and a hedgehog is not worth it.

I saw a hedgehog shop, too, but on the regular job board, not in an e-mail with bonus offer, and it, too, is about 20 miles away. I've never done one of these shops, and I'd like to. but I'm not driving 40 miles r/t for it! LOL....

When my birthday rolled around in March I looked for a shop with my $2 extra bday bucks. None except the buy a cell phone and plan shops were available so I changed my search and added dates to the end of April. I took a job mid April and they emailed me telling me the bday bonus was not good for jobs a month out. I kept the shop anyway at the base price but now that they lowered the fees it looks like I did get a bday bonus by accepting that shop in March! Almost never bonuses around here.

@sandyf wrote:

When my birthday rolled around in March I looked for a shop with my $2 extra bday bucks. None except the buy a cell phone and plan shops were available so I changed my search and added dates to the end of April. I took a job mid April and they emailed me telling me the bday bonus was not good for jobs a month out. I kept the shop anyway at the base price but now that they lowered the fees it looks like I did get a bday bonus by accepting that shop in March! Almost never bonuses around here.

belated happy b'day & a good way to look at things (glass 1/2 full outlook)

@GrosMichel wrote:

What's up with all the price drops from several companies we respect? Does this mean if the minimum wage goes up MSCs are going to drop your paid expenses further?

I've noticed the same. I applied and was accepted for a shop before I realized it paid $7.50. Once I read the guidelines, it was not worth the time and effort. I told them so and cancelled the shop.

I like my 16 dollar grocery store with 5 dollar reimbursement on top of that.... Love Love these. Not MF - of course.

"If nobody took any of their shops, they will be forced to raise the fees. Let's go shoppers and be smart!!!!! This has been coming for a long time and we can force then to raise the fees or let them lose the clients to a better, more stable Mystery Shopping Company. Let's "ALL" get smart on this one."

People keep saying stuff like this. NOT every shopper reads these boards. There's no organization, no way to get EVERYone to cooperate. I shopped for years before finding these boards. It's a free market. Take the shop or don't according to your own business model. There's literally no use at all in posting stuff saying "we" should all boycott shops until they pay will. It's simply not going to happen, not realistic, not possible.

@Wild Bill wrote:

Shops are going as quickly as before in my area. Unbelievable. I guess Barnum was right... a sucker born every minute. I will sit on the sidelines and do the occassional bonused shops if/ when they call.

I am 500 miles from home and staying in a hotel tonight. I need dinner and there is a drive-in literally across the street from my hotel. The report is simple, I need food, why SHOULDN'T I do the shop for base rate?

Not everyone's perspective is the same as yours. People @#$%& about driving 10 miles to do a $5 shop. Well no @#$%&. You don't drive $10 miles to do a $5 shop. You do the $5 shop when you are literally driving past it anyway.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2016 12:26AM by bgriffin.

"I was at a meeting of managers when the CEO making $25,000,000 a year(Edgar disclosures used to show his combined salary and stock option compensation package) said "You need to realize we can train chimpanzees to do their jobs!' Carls Jr. Hedge Fund owner said "I want to automate all jobs inside the restaurant to avoid paying higher wages." He did not back down on further interviews, there is a war going on in America. The War to continue income inequality and transfer what's left of the people who make $300,000 a year and less, a war to move all those assets in to the 1%'s pocket.

A few of the big MSCs feel that your time has no value, so lets allow them to get those jobs filled by people who can't read and write because I see the talent coming out of high school and college. Your generations are the last who know how to write so well, let them get people who don't care about perfection."

Oh, I see Bernie Sanders visits and posts here. Lol

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2016 12:42AM by timgordon2448.

@crazyoldman wrote:

If nobody took any of their shops, they will be forced to raise the fees. Let's go shoppers and be smart!!!!! This has been coming for a long time and we can force then to raise the fees or let them lose the clients to a better, more stable Mystery Shopping Company. Let's "ALL" get smart on this one.

We did it with that last retail shop MF had (has still?) that began at 8.00 and went all the way to 125.00, and STILL nobody took it.

Why can't we, collectively, do that again... (and again, and again...)?

Uh. "We" didn't do that. The market overall dictated that very, very few shoppers considered $25 enough payment to switch cell phone companies. The market overall has dictated that $5 is enough to do a quick easy drive-in shop.

Oh.

The shops are being mixed up again anyway. The one that got up to $125 was not $8, it started at $40 with a $50 reimbursement. Since the only people who would find value were either those with the service who wanted to upgrade a phone or those willing to change service providers it was bound to go up. OTOH, anyone can do a no purchase retail shop.

OK, reimbursement went up a dollar on a meal that cost a dollar more than you were reimbursed for, but they cut the shopper pay a dollar, WOW, thanks.

Yeah, the ones I usually do with a bonus are still sitting there with a fee of $4.50 or $5.00. I figure in a couple of weeks I'll get a call from my usual scheduler offering me an extra dollar or two. I'll ask for $5 or more bonus and get it. Last month I got several for $20 each plus reimbursement!

@bgriffin wrote:

I am 500 miles from home and staying in a hotel tonight. I need dinner and there is a drive-in literally across the street from my hotel. The report is simple, I need food, why SHOULDN'T I do the shop for base rate?

Sometimes it makes perfect sense to do a shop at base rate, as your situation shows. I think what many folks here complain about are the people who will drive that 10 miles to do the $5, or $8, or $9 shop--thinking they're making money.

I admit--I'll drive a few miles to do a shop at that rate, if it's a restaurant shop and there's enough of a reimbursement to cover the meal, and I want to go to that place to eat, anyway. Or, if I know I'll be in the area on other business. But, otherwise--no. I wouldn't walk down the block to do an $8 or $9 cell-phone shop, and, in an ideal world, it would be great if no shoppers would. But, realistically speaking, as many have pointed out, there will always be someone who will. If someone's going to already be in the store where the phones are, and the entire shop can be done in a half-hour or less, then I suppose it might make sense to take at base rate. But, what probably happens is that enough shoppers do this so that the MSC has no reason to raise the rate. I know everybody has to do what makes sense for them, but there are some shops that I can't see being worth taking at a low base fee, no matter how convenient it may seem.

I think telling people that they shouldn't take MF shops at the base rate is like telling people that they shouldn't take part time cashier jobs at Wal Mart. I understand the arguments that Wal Mart intentionally keeps people at part time hours so that they don't have to pay them benefits, and that the corporation makes billions of dollars, while there are employees working there who are on food stamps. But those arguments don't matter for the individual circumstances of some people. I can think of two main groups of people who might take that cashier job:
1. People who need a job, and can't afford to pass up a part time job without benefits no matter how much they'd prefer a full time job with benefits.
2. People who don't need full time hours or benefits, but are looking for a part time job for other reasons (to get out of the house, to be social, to get some experience in the workforce, etc.) and to have some pocket money.
I think the same two reasons apply for people who take MF jobs at low base rates. Some people probably legitimately can't afford to not take a job that gets them a reimbursed meal and a few bucks. And some get other benefits from the job, plus some pocket money.
I hope the people who go on and on about low fees from MF are equally outraged about other examples of low pay. If you wouldn't think of lecturing the cashier who makes crappy wages at Wal Mart, then I'm not sure why you'd brow beat Mystery Shoppers who take low paying jobs for reasons you don't understand.
ETA: This follows @BirdyC's post, but wasn't directed at her.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2016 03:06AM by CaliGirl925.

I haven't done any mystery shops for a few months. Partially because MS companies are not offering decent pay and partially due to illness. Here is what I find: That after I pay for ink and paper. That $10 mystery shop just went down to $8. After my gas to go to a store 20 minutes away and fill out even a basic narrative shop; I have spent 1 hour and 15 minutes. So if I paid myself minimum wage, I just went to -balance. Then there is gas, cell phone or camera requirements, internet useage and wear and tear on my vehicle. I have not made a dime. I have actually lost money.

It's been said so many times before but I'll restate it again, perhaps a little differently. The key to profitable mystery shopping for me is the ability to bundle shops and/or create a route. If I can schedule 2 0r 3 or more shops in a city 20 miles from me, then it can make sense to schedule something additionally that pays less than I would normally accept. I look for shops that are enjoyable for me and that I have done before so there is no learning curve. If it's an easy fast food, grocery store or gas station with a decent reimbursement, I will generally pick it up as a filler shop. I also consider shops from MSC's that offer flexible schedules and the ability to easily reschedule. That makes creating a bundle of shops or a route that much easier. I will almost never schedule just one shop outside of my home town unless it's fine dining. If I were to consider each mystery shop only on its own merit of fee plus reimbursement I would probably no longer be a mystery shopper.

You have the right idea. It would be great if there were a bunch of shops in a mall or at a strip center, but after doing shops for about...a long time...such a thing has never happened. That is, I have never had such shops line up so nicely.

There are times when I am not doing anything when I think that I might as well spend the time carefully doing a shop and then carefully filling out the report and being very thorough with my narratives. I figure that the time spent commuting between here and there as well as the cost of the commute is worth it.

Many of those times I realize in the end that I am only trying to convince myself that I will at least break even.

Once again, I ask, does anybody know what it costs to hire a mystery shopping company?

Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2016 05:25AM by indy101.

If you're not making some money doing this, you're not doing it right or you're in a bad location and won't drive to the work. This is not for everybody and not all of us are located in the right place. If we're out in the boonies we have to drive more but the fees are much higher. If we're located in a metropolis of seven million people like I am there a ton of work but competition is fierce and fees hover around base in most cases. We have to adapt.

This is a part time venture for me. I grossed over $1500 in fees last month and over $300 in useful reimbursements (think gas, oil changes, etc.). Yes I worked hard but not all day every day and I consider myself blessed to have this part time flexible work. Are fees too low? You betcha they are. I can't do anything about that except pick and choose. When this gets impossible I'll pick and choose something else.

Do I get disgusted? Sure. Highly. I have to get over that if I want to work unless I get a regular job. OMG No! We are so much more fortunate than many that we have work we can schedule at our pleasure. I have retired four times and I'm no good at it so this works for me.

As to the direction this is all headed, I don't have any answers for any of us. It seems like fees are going steadily down and we'll have to wait and see where it bottoms. When to bail out is a personal decision for all of us. I'm nowhere near bail out but I've shut down on a lot of work I used to do and I don't think that's going to change. I'm much more selective, not so much holding out for bonuses here (so not happening) as I am controlling what I pick up, scheduling a lot of "off" days, and being unavailable "to please help us out with this orphan in Podunkia for $11.00".

We're down to $3 fees around the great lakes

I have been receiving more calls than ever from MF lately. I still say no if the bonus is only a dollar or two. The great thing about this business is, you can say no. I picked up a summer job at a local garden center instead that in the end pays more than I make now. Instead of 80+ shops per month, I'll do 40 or 50. I like doing those complicated audit shops that everyone hates and sit on the board. I may wind up making the same amount in the end with less shops. We'll see.

I feel like those cheap shoppers are funding my bonused shops. I get regular calls asking me to do shops at good prices. I ignore the cheap shops and wait for the calls.

They need more money for the investors and the people in management and to pay the payroll they have on staff. This is way you are a shopper and not an employee

You are correct. The shop will be taken at a lower fee. They could offer to pay only $.50 and some blind-fool will take it. Till mystery shoppers wake up, stop acting desperate, and realize they have self-worth these MSC's will continue to reduce fees. What we do has value and we have value. MSC's need mystery shoppers and they should pay a descent price for the value we contribute to the product they provide the companies. We live in world where cheap labor and cheap quality are acceptable but it is only this way because we continue to accept it. If you are one of the desperate individuals who accept cheap shops, STOP! Take a deep breath. Now sit down and break out a calculator on your phone. Take the price of the shop and subtract the cost of your time to do the shop and input the data and travel. Now subtract the cost of travel, gas. Does this job pay you or are you actually losing money? Are you making more than minimum wage if it is a profitable shop? If you answer no to these simple questions, STOP taking them. Look in the mirror and ask yourself are you worth more? The answer should be yes. Have some good pride and value yourself higher. If shoppers have patience the fees will increase because the MSC's need these shops to be completed in order for them to be paid and the companies want the information.

I got an email from them the other day, asking why I have not been on their site. I am finished with low paying shops.

@cpr16 wrote:

You are correct. The shop will be taken at a lower fee. They could offer to pay only $.50 and some blind-fool will take it. Till mystery shoppers wake up, stop acting desperate, and realize they have self-worth these MSC's will continue to reduce fees. What we do has value and we have value. MSC's need mystery shoppers and they should pay a descent price for the value we contribute to the product they provide the companies. We live in world where cheap labor and cheap quality are acceptable but it is only this way because we continue to accept it. If you are one of the desperate individuals who accept cheap shops, STOP! Take a deep breath. Now sit down and break out a calculator on your phone. Take the price of the shop and subtract the cost of your time to do the shop and input the data and travel. Now subtract the cost of travel, gas. Does this job pay you or are you actually losing money? Are you making more than minimum wage if it is a profitable shop? If you answer no to these simple questions, STOP taking them. Look in the mirror and ask yourself are you worth more? The answer should be yes. Have some good pride and value yourself higher. If shoppers have patience the fees will increase because the MSC's need these shops to be completed in order for them to be paid and the companies want the information.

exactly and said well-beyond anything i could muster. those who are posting their rationalization for taking the low-hanging fruit delude themselves into thinking that "well, it's on the way to the other shops i'm doing", etc., etc. do nothing but devalue their worth and send a message to msc's that they indeed will find people to do shops for $3.00, etc. truly pitiful.

additionally, props to the msc that just took the whole foods account. they are offering $35.00 + reimbursement of $17.00. they are doing their own scheduling and before being approved into their system they are requiring 2 full paragraphs of writing, spelling, grammar and context examples which is then graded and the conclusions are shared with the applicant. very professional and it looks like they will be only contracting with higher-end, fortune 500 listed companies. somehow f feel that fellow shoppers who take the low hanging fruit would not pass muster. after all, you get what you pay for. there are a lot of followers of this blog that would pass muster (based upon the quality and thought-process of their postings) but...there are a lot of followers that...would not, also based upon that same criteria.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2016 03:11PM by parkcitybrian.