I did a shop through Sentry on 09-02-2016 and it is showing as Pending Validation still. I have not received any email regarding this shop since I completed it. Is this typical? I have never had a shop pending for so many days, however I would rather not bother Sentry with this question if it is not really an issue. Thank you!

I think you have waited too long without contacting Sentry. You surely would not be bothering them, you need to know.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/2016 08:26PM by shopper8.

Something must be up with them - they've changed a lot in the past two months if you ask me. There is another thread about their editors being more finicky, which I've noticed. I have several of mine still pending and they won't assign me more they say, until the current ones have been reviewed. I asked if I had done something wrong, they assured me it was nothing like that. I also just happened to log in to check some pay statements and I feel that is behind too.

Thanks for the answer. I am quite new to the MS game and have waited a week or more for other companies to review or accept shops so I wasn't sure if that was normal. I'll contact them!

Dkk - I read through that thread before posting and it made me rethink signing up for other shops before this one gets finalized. I enjoyed the shop so I hope they are just reading through reports slowly, I would like to continue to shop with them!

If you submit an inquiry to help@sentrymarketing.com, you should get an answer fairly quickly.

@brothbart8 wrote:

Dkk - I read through that thread before posting and it made me rethink signing up for other shops before this one gets finalized. I enjoyed the shop so I hope they are just reading through reports slowly, I would like to continue to shop with them!

Thank you, Sentry Marketing! I received this response within a few hours.

"This client has a different validation process that takes a bit longer. If you have not received a revision request and the shop is not on hold, you're all set for now.
Thank you"


I appreciate the help!

You'll probably be waiting some time for your pay. I did a shop in early February that was pending validation for some time. The thing is, the 15th of the month passed, and I was still "pending validation" so I was out of the current pay cycle. So the shop was eventually validated and went on the March 15 pay cycle, which means I got paid at the end of the next month (April). That equals out to near 90 days pay period. Live and learn.

I did another shop (same client) in early August. After a week passed and the shop sitting on "pending validation" and the 15th approaching, I sent in a trouble ticket. I got the same timely response about the client "taking a bit longer", but lo and behold, the shop was finalized the next day. So now I can look forward to getting paid the end of this month, which at least is close to the 60 days pay cycle they state in the documentation.

Thanks for your heads about Sentry and waiting so long for validation. I would not wait that long. I am trying to find on their website their protocol for payments. I do not see it? I just started and did one shop with them on Sunday 9/18/2016 and heard from them that I needed to add some narrative which I did. I still see the shop pending as of this evening. I will not accept any more shops from them until I see the results of this shop and see their pay dates posted on their website.

I just did one shop for Sentry this Sunday 9/18/16 and got a reply Monday morning that I had to add more to the narrative in one area which I did. I just looked and still see the shop pending. I appreciate your feedback as I would not wait that long for a validation. I also looked for their protocol on pay dates on their website and do not see it?

@ Itsybitsy1, If you look on the right side of their shopmetrics assignments page, there is a link to the payment policy. Third link under "messages". But it is really pretty simple. They generate an invoice on the 16th of the month (it says now, I'm pretty sure it used to be the 15th, but maybe not) for all shops that have been finalized and not invoiced. The shop is then paid via bill.com on the last day of the next month. So shops that were finalized by Sept. 16th, will be paid on October 31. If your shop was finalized on Sept. 17th, it will go on the Oct, 16 invoice, and be paid on November 30th. No matter when you did the shop, the day it is finalized is the only date that matters regarding payment.

I've had my suspicions about shops deliberately being held "pending" so they would roll over to the next pay cycle, but I have been assured by the help desk that that is not the case. Just that this particular client takes longer to review the shops. Funny though, that this client used to be shopped by a different MSC. The shop, the requirements, and the report is basically identical to the previous MSC and there were never any "pending" assignments, and the shops were paid in 30 days. Sentry does offer a shop payment for this client, and the previous MSC was reimbursement only (but bonus were pretty common).

I don't have any beef with Sentry. They do pay according to their guidelines. But I will say their payment policy does affect my decisions to accept shops for them.