I asked last night for this research you claim is out there somewhere. Instead you come up with some cockamamie story about MF having a policy restricting what every single shopper can earn. There is proof on this forum that claim is either your misunderstanding of policy or an outright fabrication by you.

The policy is that of MF, not me. If you are among their shoppers, go find it or search for it elsewhere on this board. It's real. And, it applies to all of their hundreds of thousands of shoppers. Nothing is misunderstood; the policy is clear and clearly articulated.

You are the one claiming there is a policy. Provide a link. Why should we waste our time looking for something that can't possibly exist? Independent contractors negotiate fees all the time. Why do you insist it is not happening?

There is a policy. Go read it. You will succeed. I never, ever said fees are not negotiated.

Where is a copy of said policy? That is, what in part, is being asked.

Yes Rob, it has been asked and asked and asked again. If such a policy exists, how hard is it to state it is in the FAQs or the ICA?

People ask us questions like payment terms all the time. I will not only tell shoppers the actual terms, I will tell them specifically where it can be found for the specific MSC. It is common courtesy.

Market force had published some general guidelines regarding the "make an offer" amounts. I have not seen a concrete cap on payment amounts, however. I still negotiate fees on shops every month. I have received as much as 150 for a shop in the past few months, although anything over 80 is very rare aside from the 100 monthly shop I referred to earlier in the thread. Their goal is to get the shop filled as cheaply posssible. In very rare cases, remote locations require very high payments to get a contractor to drive significant distances. Occasionally they let a shop go unshopped, but this is very rare too.

It is less rare than it used to be -- letting locations go unshopped. I know one that has been on the board 6 months, unfilled! I offered to do it as part of a route for $90; they refused.

It's 265 miles from my home, and I was perfectly willing to work it into a 600$ route, but they refused. They are currently offering $60, with no takers.

Maybe it's where I live but 50% of the Marketforce shops are just for reimbursement- I'm talking 40 miles round trip and they'll pay for $15 in groceries and nothing else- No wonder I've never seen that job leave the list- Most supermarket shops pay max. $5-5.50 and they'll reimburse you up to $15. Since 2 of them are near to where I live and I shop there anyway, I've done them, but I have to be the only one because I've done those 2 stores for YEARS.. The other shops they send me are whole day affairs of sitting in a movie theater for next to nothing- Never see those get taken either. Is it the company that wants the shop done that is being cheap, or Marketforce? hmmm

After reading a lot of these comments I'm very happy that the call center I work for (a resort chain) doesn't have any constraints- yes, we have to mention certain aspects but basically we can say whatever we want, however we want. I get to joke with the guests, say silly things, actually form friendships with repeat guests (some even were at my wedding) and now that I'm semi retired, to chose the days and hours I want to work- Yay me! lol

Well I have my side notes as to MF Scheduling as well......and when I see a certain area code I prepare myself for what is to follow. 2 weeks ago I received a call offering $4 for a shop 200 miles away, that I usually get $50 for and do on a route. The scheduler said.. Four dollars,,,,I said I’m sorry did you say FOUR dollars? She said yes, I said, it is 200 miles etc...she said can you go for $7 ....no ma’am, can’t go for seven either!

I really get a kick out of it when the caller offers $7 and the website is offering $18 with Make An Offer option. And then they say, "How about $9? Would you consider it for $9?" Now I tell them, why oh why would I take it for $7 or $9 when the website is offering double? They don't get it or they don't know what the website fees are. Who knows, they're just trying to do their job I guess.

It really shows how inefficient they are. They could really streamline the process and in doing so, would probably get the shops fulfilled a bit quicker and maybe at a price point that satisfies everyone. Meanwhile the website hasn't changed, still spins and spins at times.

@7star wrote:

...Meanwhile the website hasn't changed, still spins and spins at times.

I was hoping that someone else would have noticed the spin and spinning of their website. I haven't been able to search for jobs for two days... I thought I may have been denied access to it or it was a network issue with my wifi. LOL

I do get into the website and am able to search for jobs. You may want to send them an email and ask why you aren't able to search. Maybe they'll respond to you in about a week !

Regarding the spinning of the web site, I have experienced this as well and eval. upload sometimes loses my picture uploads. I then have to reload them before submitting. I then screwed up and submitted the wrong pic and they then invalidated my shop without allowing me make the correction. Also what gives on their requirement for uploading 3 receipts when only 2 are required (gas and merch.)? Lots of time wasted and no money for invalidated eval.!!!!

I have a suggestion for the owners of the company. Why don't they take a couple of weeks off from managing the company and go out and perform the shops like the rest of us. Do a few burger FF shops, a couple of gas stations, how about a book store shop with $5 reimbursement only, etc. Be anonymous and file the reports. Let's see if they have ANY problems at all. They should also send a couple of emails to their support, and see how longs it takes to get a response and if the response answers their question fully. I can't wait for them to receive phone calls from the international people offering a $2 additional bonus when the website lists a higher bonus. It would be helpful for them to experience EXACTLY what we experience, and then, only then, may some helpful changes happen.

@7star wrote:

I have a suggestion for the owners of the company. Why don't they take a couple of weeks off from managing the company and go out and perform the shops like the rest of us. Do a few burger FF shops, a couple of gas stations, how about a book store shop with $5 reimbursement only, etc. Be anonymous and file the reports. Let's see if they have ANY problems at all. They should also send a couple of emails to their support, and see how longs it takes to get a response and if the response answers their question fully. I can't wait for them to receive phone calls from the international people offering a $2 additional bonus when the website lists a higher bonus. It would be helpful for them to experience EXACTLY what we experience, and then, only then, may some helpful changes happen.

MF should hire a mystery shopping company to do this for them

With a realistic fee, of course, for all the work required.

@daveg43 wrote:

Regarding the spinning of the web site, I have experienced this as well and eval. upload sometimes loses my picture uploads. I then have to reload them before submitting. I then screwed up and submitted the wrong pic and they then invalidated my shop without allowing me make the correction. Also what gives on their requirement for uploading 3 receipts when only 2 are required (gas and merch.)? Lots of time wasted and no money for invalidated eval.!!!!

Don't complain and don't mention you posted that on the forums.

I had the same experience with invalidating the shop for the wrong picture. I told them I had problems uploading the pictures. I even said I could e-mail them videos of the problems I was experiencing and they thought that was ludicrous.

They told me "don't you think we would know about problems with our website?" and when I showed them links to this forum talking of the problem, they suspended me. That led to the spinning talked about on the webpage.

When I asked for a list of my payments from them which I also couldn't get to, they deactivated my account so I can't even log in anymore, not that I could have done anything once logged in anyway.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/02/2017 05:25PM by wrosie.

I hate to disappoint gukka but I get called often from MF with bonuses. Real bonuses not the $2 ones. I was offered $100 for a gas station reveal that was 75 miles round trip. Not too shabby. Turned it down but the offer was nice.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/02/2017 07:48PM by margovt.

Thanks for the tip regarding complaining. There are plenty of other companies out there that are a pleasure to work with so I will just focus on others.

The reason the good old days are gone are because of forums like this one. Whoever started this forum must not have thought of the consequences to established mystery shoppers. Friends used to ask me how they could become mystery shoppers and I would not tell them. There were very few mystery shoppers in my area and the bonuses were high. Now, all anyone has to do is google mystery shopping and up pop all these forums telling you how to become a mystery shopper and listing all the mystery shopping companies. Last December, I earned $2,500 in 7 days. This year, I will be lucky to earn $500. Please don't volunteer any information on companies you work for. You are only hurting yourselves.

What a terrible attitude to have

Too funny! I used to get calls daily. Now maybe one a week. They are offering lower fees than before. I love one of their clients, but I too have my pride and will not lower my fee acceptance just to have the product.

As a mystery shopper, I am self employed and it is up to me to make a living at it. If you owned a bakery and someone dropped in and told you that they were opening a bakery on the next block, would you welcome them? Would you explain to them everything they needed to know to run their new business? Would you give them a list of the companies that purchase pies and cakes from you and tell them how much these companies are paying you for your bakery items? Would Wal Mart buy a lawn mower from a distributor for $85 and sell it for $200 and tell Target so they could get in on the good deal as well? This forum had 8,000 new members this year. I wouldn't be surprised if this website was started by an executive of one of the mystery shopping companies. This is an easy way for them to recruit new shoppers. A lot of the companies offer bonuses if you recommend new shoppers to them. You are cutting your own throat if you do this. The more shoppers they can recruit the less bonuses they have to pay.

@Texans wrote:

As a mystery shopper, I am self employed and it is up to me to make a living at it. If you owned a bakery and someone dropped in and told you that they were opening a bakery on the next block, would you welcome them? Would you explain to them everything they needed to know to run their new business? Would you give them a list of the companies that purchase pies and cakes from you and tell them how much these companies are paying you for your bakery items?

I'm about halfway here. I view this forum as a professional organization. I interact with other shoppers and exchange information. Even competitors can help each other. I welcome newbies and I'm willing to answer their "how to" questions. I was "trained" by reading the posts of some of the wonderful, very experienced mystery shoppers who contribute on this forum. Sadly, many of them have ceased posting. I think a newbie who comes here and reads and studies the informational posts and uses the "search" feature to research companies, questions, and ideas, can be highly successful. Any newbie who plays 20 Questions rather than read and use the "search" will probably not be successful anyway. Most newbies who come here won't stick around long, just as most people who try mystery shopping will not last longer than a couple of months, or even a couple of mystery shops.

When I joined the forum, I did not post for my first few years because I did not feel I was knowledgeable enough to add anything of value. I read and learned A LOT. I spent a lot of time signing up with a lot of companies, researching them before I accepted assignments with them, and building my client list. I invested my time in my business. My client list is very valuable to me and not something I would share. I draw the line at answering "short cut" questions: who shops a particular client, who shops a particular client describing the client without saying its name, who are the best companies for Dogpatch USA,. who are your favorite companies (which is completely irrelevant and gives no real assistance to the asker), or other questions asked to limit the amount of time the poster will need to spend on their business start-up and jumpstart the money coming in. I think it's good to welcome newbies and answer their how-to questions, but I also think we do them a favor by telling them to invest their time in building their business rather than pandering to the short-cut questions. By pointing them to the new shopper area, explaining the use of the "search" function, and explaining that a new shopper will benefit from investing time into his business, I think we provide a lot more value and encourage success.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/2017 01:48PM by roflwofl.