I'm new to Mystery Shopping

Hi All, I 'm very new to mystery shopping but very interested in pursuing it in an organized way. In my area in PA we have a very big mall and an outlet mall too. Pretty much most of the stores have their branches. Could you guys please guide me through the list of companies where I can register. Once registered, do the companies reach out to shoppers themselves? Thanks to you all in advance for guiding me!

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Welcome, Adinova!
Check out the section of this Forum titled "New Mystery Shoppers."
Then start registering with the hundreds of companies listed through the link at the bottom of this page.
You'll be mystery shopping the mall, outlet center, and all points in between.

Thanks Elcarev68 for the prompt reply. I looked at the link and would like to register at the sites. However I am only worried if there are any fake sites in that whose only purpose is to collect SSN and related info. Any guidance on that please?

The sites listed under the MSPA should be safe sites. Search this forum for the companies you are interested in and you'll get a good feel about the company. Search google too. Just because it's a mystery shopping company doesn't mean it's a great one. Some are better than others.

The list at the bottom of the page here, on the IMSC website, and MSPA websites are all legitimate companies. You should have no worries registering with any of them.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

And don't worry if a MSC is listed here and not on the MSPA website. Not all legitimate companies are members. MSPA is a trade organization for mystery shopping companies, not some sort of clearinghouse for use by shoppers.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

You can easily get an EIN from the IRS and never give out your SSN to any company again. It's free.

I was going to mention the same thing Spciy just said. A lot of shoppers have their own EIN and use that instead of their SS.
Aslo if you come across a company you aren't sure about, feel free to ask the forum. If it' a legit company I guarantee some one here has shopped it.

Thanks everone for your valuable inputs. @ Spicy1 & @Texthinker, do you guys mean TIN(tax identification Number), because I think EIN is for employers. Thanks in advance.

For taxes, everyone and every entity needs a TIN. A SSN is a TIN. There is also an ITIN that you can get if you're a non-resident of the U.S or resident alien. There's an APIN (which I'll never use) and a PTIN that CPAs now need to use. I have an LLC for the 'business' of Merchandising, Mystery Shopping, Uber, Lyft, Websites, Ebay, etc. for which I use an EIN.

The IRS explains it all here: [www.irs.gov]

Appreciate your prompt & explanatory reply Spicy1!

I file separate taxes for my 'business' (sounds very official even though most of the time I'm just slamming a burger and filling out a form talking about the burger and who served it). I pay myself as an employee of the 'Company' and file my personal taxes separately. The easiest, and safest way, imho is to get an EIN and use that as a sole proprietorship with your own name as the 'business'. The EIN is linked to your SSN only seen by the IRS. Then you can give your EIN to the mystery shopping companies and they never see your SSN.

To warn against immediately getting an EIN. I have one. Many people do. Some people have reported that they have had increased local taxes. Something you might want to check into before getting one. Secondly, there are a few people who do their taxes the way spicy does. I just want to point out that there is a cost to creating an LLC, additional tax paperwork, you are required to use a CPA in some states, and then winding the LLC down should you not need it. On top of that an LLC has no tax advantages, it simply is a liability shell. A small umbrella insurance policy could give the same liability advantages for less money and less complexity.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

Let's say you're performing a Mystery Shop, and let's say that you did the smart thing and filed business use of your vehicle with your insurance company, and you're performing a gas station shop. The worse case scenario happens and you have static cling and it lights the pump on fire. Or you accidentally shut the door on someones hand, etc. As an LLC your Company and it's assets only can be sued. As a sole proprietor, you personally can be sued. I worked for a Health Food Company on Maui who's owner went bankrupt and they were personally sued and lost their home, their cars and future income in the form of garnished wages, savings, tax returns; they can really put the hurt on you and it happens every day. eta: When it comes to setting up their business structure, in essence, a sole proprietorship is typically set up when someone is unaware of the options they have.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2017 07:15AM by spicy1.

The risk of that is very minute. On top of that the risk can easily be mitigated by an umbrella insurance policy that would cost you less than the required cpa fees for an LLC and significantly less paperwork.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

How many shoppers carry insurance?

Shopping up and down the Colorado Rocky Mountain front range.

I carry personal liability umbrella insurance policy.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

I simply would say that I was shopping, buying gas, etc. I wouldn't even mention I was on a business trip, performing a mystery shop.
Is that disingenuous? Maybe. I know some of you will want to jump on me for saying as such. But, for myself, until I start claiming employees, assets, etc, making huge amounts of money that justify the expense, mystery shopping is just a part time business and not worth the LLC designation.

Spicy is only the second shopper I have ever heard of using an LLC. I am sure there are others. It seems overkill to me.

If you did do something to cause you to get sued, an LLC is probably not going to help much in our case as we would almost always be personally liable as well.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

Thank you all for your valuable responses. At this time I guess I'm very new in this trade to try to get EIN. Considering that, can you please tell me if it is safe to give SSN to the companies mentioned on mysteryshopforum site?

Any precautions I need to take?

Just don't sign up through unsecured wifi.

I only have the LLC because I do other work, many types, besides mystery shopping. I would consider the threshold of having an LLC would be maybe $50k in independent contractor work where you use your car, interact with others physically (as in the gas station example) and have to swear to things (even the "I've no affiliation with 5 Guys" statement). My car, that I use for I.C. work, belongs to my company; not to me. I have my own car also or I wouldn't be able to write off the work car.

Schedulers/Companies share your information, it's in many of your contracts unless you opt out and many Schedulers are independent contractor's themselves who have access to our info and they, themselves, earn just a little more than us.

There's a zillion youtube videos of different ways to handle I.C. work and they talk about how the amount of money you're making relates to the types of reporting that are the most advantageous.

It's my understanding that the financial benefits of operating a separate LLC don't really kick in until you're pretty far int he 6-digit mark. I would also seek the advice of a professional before trusting a youtube video about how to run your business...

I am perfectly able to write my second car off for business use using a basic schedule C, so the benefits wouldn't really apply for me until splitting my income across two separate entities resulted in tax break that was greater than the cost of operating the LLC.

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