I'm not asking for a list of The Best MSCs. I recognize that they are all different and that there isn't a universal "best" list. I'm curious about what seasoned shoppers like in a company and why their favorites are their favorites. Do you like companies that specialize in a particular kind of shop? Is it about how much/when they pay? Is it the relationship you have with schedulers?

I know this is different for each person, and I'd love to know your thoughts on this. I've signed up for about 15 so far, including two mobile apps that combine a bunch of companies in one job board.

My favorites are the one who pay on time, regardless of their terms and offer pay commensurate to the work involved.

I like companies that offer good fees that are commensurate with the amount of work involved, aren't afraid to give nice bonuses for distant or hard to fill shops, have pleasant schedulers and editors, and who pay when they say they will. I am not so concerned about getting paid quickly as long as it's within the stated timeframe. I like lots of different kinds of shops.

Ha, Lisa! We both feel the same way and even used the same word...I swear I didn't read your post before I wrote mine!

Great minds

For me, my favorite MSCs are the ones that:
1) have shops that are interesting or beneficial to me. If I need a service of some sort or want to find out about a type of product, MSCs that offer shops where I am paid to learn what I would go and explore on my own time and dime are favorites as long as the need exists. Otherwise it is mostly MSCs that offer me reimbursements for things I would otherwise be paying my own post-tax money to purchase.
2) are easy to work with. Some companies treat shoppers professionally and are worthy of mutual respect.
3) fulfill their end of the contract reliably. That contract includes provision of reasonable and intelligent guidelines without crazy hoops to jump through, a report that allows giving observations without a great deal of redundancy, quick turnaround on report acceptance such that additional questions can be asked and answered while the information is fresh, and finally payment is made in an orderly and timely manner.
4) pay appropriately for the amount of time and complexity of the job.

Anyone want to mention their favorites? What do you consider pay commensurate with work? Do you add up your travel time, shop time, and report time and then think about what your hourly rate would be on a shop? That's what I'm looking at right now. It takes me longer to do shops and reports because I'm just getting started but I figure that as I get better/faster I will get a "raise" because I'll need less time to complete a shop. I haven't gotten paid yet, so it will be a few months before I start to get a feel for that.

"Anyone want to mention their favorites?" Not really, it changes from month to month and year to year.
"What do you consider pay commensurate with work?" I have a minimum hourly it takes to leave the house.
"Do you add up your travel time, shop time, and report time and then think about what your hourly rate would be on a shop?" I include everything it takes to get the job done.
"......I figure that as I get better/faster I will get a "raise" because I'll need less time to complete a shop." You are spot on.

My favourite are those that are fair in payment scales; those MSCs with schedulers and editors with whom I have an exceptional relationship or rapport and those who have proven to me that they value my service vs whims of the client who are not realistic enough about the shortcomings of their staff and are not acceptable of any negativism in any report.

Sometimes the pay is not really very competitive (but not in the gutter) but I like doing it. Then the MSC who handles it goes on my list because although I am signed up with a lot, I basically do regular number of shops for a very limited number of MSCs. I am not a charitable institution but I like to have some fun in mystery shopping without sacrificing my self-worth.

My favorite right now is A Closer Look. They have some restaurants we truly enjoy and would go to on our own dime. It doesn't matter to me that they rarely pay a fee. If I were not shopping we would go out for dinner at least once a week, so right there ACL and a couple of other companies I do restaurant shops for save me at least $200 of my post-tax money each month.

Tomorrow is a well bonused fee for a somewhat distant grocery shop where the main attraction is that the produce place nearby is not quite worth the distance on my dime. The shop will get done and then the produce place will get a visit to restock the larder with really fresh, really good produce. (Yes, I will probably blow most of the bonus from the grocery shop for produce purchased a half block away.) The company offering the grocery shop pays almost enough for nearby groceries without a bonus. They fit some of my criteria for a great company to work with, though are certainly deficient in some of my criteria.

Shopping becomes more of an art than a science. You really get to know what is near what in an area and who shops what in that area. I already checked to see if the hardware store near my grocery tomorrow was available. Again, it doesn't pay enough for the trip, but once there already, it is a few minutes to drop in, pick up a tool or a plant and make a little money. The banks will be closed tomorrow so no reason to check any of them. The clothing retailer out there is a shop that stinks so badly that even if I stopped in the store I wouldn't do the shop.

I have dwindled down to about 7 favorites (it changes), I like to call my "Boutique companies". They are smaller than say Marketforce and offer me a more personal way of shopping. Several will email me jobs before they hit the boards and I can self-assign. I love food and retail, not big on apartments, but like new housing. I build a rapport with the scheduler and can only work that way. One of my fav's was NSS, but they just lost my favorite scheduler who always called and let me pick his upscale retail...I'm sorry to say he no longer works for the company due to the fact they lost their biggest retail account....so you see, things change, i was with them from the start (10 years). My favorite now is TrendSource, many don't like the low pay, but I've made it work for me.
I'm starting with a new company, got some info. from the forum and giving it a try. You really have to find shops that work for you. Always love the oil change and groceries. This depends on how much you need to make and a sleu of other things, we are all different. Starting out as you are, I didn't have a forum, I held my nose and dove in feet first, and 10 years later, still plugging away. Remember to keep it fun if you can. .''Edited to add....I forgot my favorite lunch restaurants, Gya Kaya Japanese BBQ!, Lucille's BBQ, Red Robin,
Larsens' Steak House for dinner now and then......all in my town, no driving.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/2016 10:14PM by Irene_L.A..

I like ones that let me self assign - or at least let me know the outcome soon after applying so I can go about planning a route.

I'm also loving Trendsource at the moment. I get the vast majority that I apply for and often get notified for bonuses and suggested routes.

* Ipsos because they offer excellent bonuses for out of the way shops. They don't try to give a $2 bonus for 50 miles. Also, having Summit schedule for them means that I'll get an answer to any question I have.
* Shops that Shelley from Kern schedules because she's straightforward and will tell me what the maximum she can offer is rather than going back and forth in little increments. She also is one of the few who remembers when I've taken a horrible or hard-to-fill shop and will make it up to me on something else.
* Mintel because they have interesting shops, great schedulers, and they pay more than almost anyone.

Favorites change, but good schedulers keep companies at the top of my list.

It's also nice when one company has a number of shops in one area. It makes figuring out routes easier and it is certainly more comfortable trying new-to-me kinds of shops when I can tack them onto a day of other shops I am already familiar with.

I have several fav MSC's, they are the ones who pay a decent amount per shop. I don't do low paying shops they are not worth my time nor the money. I do a lot of bank shops, and I have one scheduler who knows I do a great job for her. She also knows that if she wants me to drive 40 plus miles that I require a mileage bonus. So I usually end up with a shop that pays $20-25 for the shop, and another $15-25 for mileage. There have been times where she has made an offer and I have rejected it, other times where I have have said I would do the shop for $XX mileage bonus and she has said she has exhausted her bonuses for the month. I had one recently where she and I were, $6.00 apart. She told me she was going to pay it out of her own pocket, now whether she did or not I don't know, but I got paid the amount we agreed to. I love MarketStat, I do a lot of apartment shops for them. Overall I love EPMSonline, they bonus generously, and if I am going to slog through their ridiculous reports, it will only be on highly bonused shops.

My favorites are broken up into 3 categories.
The first one is pay. I like the ones who pay promptly and not have to wait 3 months to get paid.
Second is bonuses. I like the ones who bonus their jobs frequently.
Third would be fun. I sometimes take jobs because they are fun to do.

I have since just done a handful of shops. I like the professionalism and personal touch, hand holding of Bare International. Though the pay is bit on the lower side, I like that company since it was my first mystery shopping company. Guys never forget their first loves, right?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/2017 08:00PM by shopscorp.

I don't think that is just guys, shopscorp. Gals feel the same way about their first loves. That being said, I signed up with multiple MSCs when I first started out and I'd say that out of all the MSCs I "dated" back then, Service Sleuths was my favorite. Still have fond memories and still do work for them (just not as much), but back then they didn't outsource schedulers and the editors were quite kind and I believe all in-house.

Sales Quality just paid me for a bank job with an added 15.00 travel time, along with a bonus (I didn't ask for either), emailing and thanking me for a job well done. Happily surprised, what I thought was an easy $25.00 job turned into a $65.00 job. Having a great company that treats shoppers like they matter is a win win. The Source gets an A as well, always pays on time, answers questions within a day, and easy to work with and to Customer Impact for being so understanding about a cancellation, dentist problems prevented me from working. Building a relationship always works in this industry, and if a newcomer makes a mistake, use it
as a learning tool to do better next time.....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/2017 10:39PM by Irene_L.A..

Sometimes all it takes is a lousy report interface to make you downgrade a company. I'm not a fan of the custom experiences generally--market force, international service check and second to none can all be glitchy. I shop more for Coyle now that they are on ShopMetrics.

Is Trendsource now "The Source"?

I was wondering about International Service Check. I did a shop for them and then was blindsided by a summary up front, that I didn't know I had to write, as it is not listed anywhere in their 70 odd questions. But how long have they been doing this Gender Neutral thing! I gave up on my summary half way through as I was talking to a she and not a "they". I find this Gender Neutral thing a bit mind numbing and a bit Psychotic! Are any other companies doing this?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/20/2017 02:01AM by robertmanship.

Some of the major dictionaries are doing this "thing".

@ravensr4real wrote:

Is Trendsource now "The Source"?

Yes, it has been The Source for months.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/20/2017 03:49AM by Irene_L.A..

Any particular company really stand out for anyone?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/07/2017 03:22AM by robertmanship.

It's hard to actually state a company as there are different types of shops within each company. Some companies, however, are better at documenting pay schedules and flow-thru of projects. Some of the smaller companies have more of a relationship with the coordinator. They can give you bonuses and preferential scheduling. Larger companies, like IPSOS, can have huge inventories but there is little interaction with the coordinators. You kind of find your own way between pay, type of assignment, relationship with the scheduler and the type of questions that are asked. Generally, you want good fair pay for the assignment. Since that changes, by assignment, it is hard to pinpoint a specific company. I work for one company in San Diego called Advanced Feedback, that tends to pay more for shops. Through Gigspot, I was able to develop a good relationship with one of the coordinators who tends to give me lots of assignments and extra bonus pay for distance or priority assignments.

In general, I like MSCs where I have good relationships with the schedulers and editors.

Interesting that we all have different criteria. I almost exclusively work for MSCs that I can get a large volume of work for with some flexibility of when it's done. For instance I might email a scheduler and say "Hey, I want all the March shops for Griffin's Widgets in Montana. I'll have them done sometime between March 1 and March 25." If I don't have the ability to do that, I don't do much work for them. The easier it is to get what I want the more likely I am to work for them. Hence the reason I don't do many shops for the biggies like MarketForce or Maritz. They had rather haggle over pennies on each individual shop than save the money on scheduling up front.

My favorites are Technology Store and Ipsos. Both offer quick shops with fair pay for the effort.They assign shops quickly and both pay quickly (2-3 weeks) and always on time. I also like QAMS but they don't offer many shops in my area.

I choose MSC's that have jobs available that I like. I find after you prove yourself you start getting the calls to do the ones with bonuses. Then they need to pay on schedule and I prefer the following month or sooner. 60 days is just not acceptable. I like the MSC's that I can email with my availability for an area or nearby city and will find me work for the date I'll be there. I prefer schedulers that deal with you as a person not as just a piece of meat. There are a few I've dealt with while I've been really sick lately and I get canned responses or no response just a new confirmation message if I've moved a shop. The ones that have worked with me thru being sick will get my first look. I am willing to do a job for low pay if these MSC's are desperate to fill their shops. Because they actually took a moment to return my email and gave a crap that I was in the hospital and could not work.