I was hoping to learn about MS companies that are known for a specific avenue in mystery shopping. For instance, amusement advantage is known for amusement parts, market force is known for the movie theaters.

Through reading the forums, I've learned that there are shops that involved hotel, airline, and even casino shops, however, not sure of the companies. The shops I've mostly worked were banks, gyms, retail stores, and phone shops. I'm signed up to maybe over 50 companies and the same ones types of shops keep popping up. I'd like to try a casino shop, cosmetic, shops related to housing repairs etc.

I'm hoping the mystery shopper community could help and others that will benefit from the information provided.

You need to sign up with, and try shops with, more MSCs. Some shops you will never see until you have done several other types for that same MSC, btw.

Thank you for replying. But are you aware of any companies that are known for having frequent types of shops like casino shops? or any other amusement park companies besides Amusement since they mostly just reimburse.

@luisa224466 While we all want to help the one thing usually not shared is where you can find a specific shop or what specific companies to sign up to for X shop. I encourage you to follow the link at the bottom of the page and sign up to all the companies you can, I promise you will find what you are looking for if you keep at it. Have a great day.

Luisa, one of the biggest problems with new shoppers asking for companies that have the wonderful shops is that knowing the company won't necessarily help them. If they get a company name and run to register, they may not see any of the wonderful shops. By building a reputation, a shopper sees more in many cases. For example, A Closer Look has some high end dining, hotel shops, and other types. Many shoppers never see all the ACL clients listed because a shopper's performance for that company is "graded," and, depending on how good a job the company feels the shopper does, the shopper sees more shops and more different clients. Many companies operate in a similar manner. The best shops in many cases go to proven, great shoppers with a good track record. The really, really lucrative, juicy jobs almost never hit the Job Board. The better a shop is, the more selective the scheduler will be.

I'll echo walesmaven's advice. Sign up with as many companies as you can. Do a few shops for them and see how you like them. See how they like you. See what shops they have available. Do a perfect job, following all guidelines to a T. Write great reports. Build relationships with schedulers. Impress the editors. The more companies you sign up with, the more different kinds of shops you will see. The better track record you build, the more shops you will be offered.

Here's a great list of about 200 companies to sign up with: [www.mysteryshopforum.com]

I am signed up with about 3/4 of them. It really doesn't take a terribly long time to sign up with a company. Try to sign up with 3-5 each day and in a month you could be signed up with 100-150 companies.

Also, Marketforce theater "side" is just merchandising at theaters. I don't do that. They have a mystery shop "side" as well, different portal and entirely different scope of assignments. I do those.

@luisa224466
I completely concur with what was said above. Keep signing up for companies. Doing so will not only lead you to find the shops you are seeking, but really introduce you to the breadth of what is out there - which has a side benefit of making you a better shopper.

I would also suggest following the threads here... It is very common for a shopper to ask for advice on how to deal with XYZ MSC and then describe a scenario at a bank, casino, whatever.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/14/2018 02:38PM by MFJohnston.

There is an excellent "search" function. Type in hotels or the shops you are interested in, change the menu to reflect all dates, and then search for threads that mention what interests you.

Maritz CX is primarily known for their gas stations and bank shops. Market force really has a great variety of assignments but many qsr and cell shops. Alta 360 is also known for it's pseudo-gas station shops and some storage shops. On Confero I can find some better'ish restaurant shops and some diners and even merchandising. If I was looking for hotel shops and a great steak dinner I would look at Merc, Data quest etc. If I wanted to check out some apartments I would see iMyst and others. Most companies have some sort of food shop, like A closer look. Intelli, who also has a variety of shops, will take offers for their shops, even early in the game, if you can complete a series in sequence.

Back in the day, there were true auto mechanic shops, now there are oil changes. There were roofing shops, appliance repair shops etc., now there are go to a big box and check the graphics or beg for 3 recommendations. I've deleted it again, but someone is doing carpet cleaning shops. Most shops now are reporting on the various points of interaction among lower level employees.

great thread with good advice, thank you

Thank you, @SPicy1, yes, Maritz CX is my go to for bank shops, though I do bank shops for many for the sassie platform shops.

Thank you for mentioning some of the MSC above. Of all mentioned, I'm not signed up to Alta 360, iMyst and will do so.

Through Jobslingerplus I signed up to all sassie platforms. I've also signed up to maybe 2/3 of the companies listed on MSPA website. The one thing I noticed is that eventually I stop receiving emails and have to reactivate my email because gmail blocks it.

I definitely understand the notion of newbies focusing on getting experience and building a rapport with schedulers. I've been mystery shopping for about 18 months. The amount of shops I work vary monthly since my aim is to earn $500-1000.

However, I'm now looking to branch into new MS assignments and learn about other types like possible apartment shopping (I receive notifications for those).

Shops I've worked included: opening acct, bank inquiry, gym inquiry, medical related, retail product shopping/experience, food/restaurant related, ordering cable, phone shops, testing centers, testing an app (first one and best one), tourist related activities (love them).

Shops I would like to perform: casino, household related (carpet cleaning etc), reimbursement shops related to products rather than just food (love freebies).

Sentry Marketing has some reimbursement related products, although they are service interaction reports. For everything written above, although it would have been easier and more congenial to just taken a moment to mention the go-to company for X shops, all of the shop types you asked about do have threads on this forum. The ones that have received answers are typically the ones that ask 'who does this one type of shop' instead of a list like you asked.

Compliance Solutions, that email just came through again!

I was only doing Market Force for the first year. Then, I tried out BARE. A couple of months ago I found this forum and have since started signing up with different companies. Now my email is jam packed, but it's only the same few schedulers with the same shops over and over. When I go to their job boards, I see that they have more to offer. Is there a strategy someone can share about getting all of this organized so that deleting my email does not consume my day?

Deleting emails all day is a necessary evil. Sometimes I don't even open them (if I see in the subject line it doesn't pertain to me).

If you set up your email so that mystery shopping company emails go to one box away from your normal mail, you can just scroll. I have five schedulers' emails that go to an "urgent" box and I read them as soon as they come in; everything else goes to the general MS box. I don't bother reading most of them past the title as you get to know that Scheduler A's big bonus is a whopping $3, Scheduler B is offering the same job at the same amount as the last hundred emails, and Scheduler C is stuck with the crappy jobs; it's usually the same emails week after week. Mostly they build up until the end of the month or quarter when I know I can work for a bonus. There are over 8,000 unread in that box. I really should clear it out.

No longer relevant.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/14/2018 03:08PM by JASFLALMT.

Remember some secret shoppers are angry old people. These people would give a bad rating to a pregnant woman for not walking fast enough. Trust me. Some horrible people are secret shoppers.

And how exactly do you know this? I am guessing you worked in retail or at a restaurant that got shopped and got bad scores? And then are guessing who the shopper was and pinning it on some person who was old and irritable. Lots of people who are shoppers are neither angry or old. Trust me.

Jeff is just packing on because he feels it makes him part of the group See what I mean, there is the perfect example. He/She is assuming, obviously, that I am old, angry and horrible. Now he is one of the "We" that MFJ is so proud to be. Congrats

You think he was referring to you? I got the impression he was generalizing about the forum members as a group.

Good morning to you, too!

@spicy1 wrote:

Jeff is just packing on because he feels it makes him part of the group See what I mean, there is the perfect example. He/She is assuming, obviously, that I am old, angry and horrible. Now he is one of the "We" that MFJ is so proud to be. Congrats

Why was my post about "cheerful old folks" taken down, I'd like to know?

Me too. I saw nothing wrong with that.

Perhaps the moderator got involved this morning before drinking his/her coffee? I am anything but cheerful pre-caffeine...

@walesmaven wrote:

Why was my post about "cheerful old folks" taken down, I'd like to know?

I, personally have reported only ONE post, that of the creepy stalker stalking IreneLA. Posters report all kinds of posts instead of exercising freedom of speech and freedom to change the channel. Im sure the mod will have their way with mine in a minute.

Not aimed towards you at all. However if you have guilt that is on you.

Exactly. I guess some people have guilt.

@Jeffpeds1 Incredibly sociologically philosophical