IPsos

Hello everyone. I'm totally new to mystery shopping. I have experience in merchandising and demoing. I signed up for 2 mystery shopping companies so far and I see a ton of assignments in the ispos portal. Could anyone give me recommendation on where to start? I see a re occurring assignment that indicates $15 plus reimbursement that is due today. I'm not going to take that one of course. I'm curious to know, what is the typical timeframe to complete shop for $15? 1hr, 30 mins, 20 mins? I'm also aware that I need to sign up for a lot of mystery shop companies in order to get a lot of assignments. This will be part time for me since I already have an online business that I make the bulk of my income. However, if I like what I'm doing, would it be possible to make $1k a month mystery shopping? If so, how many companies would you all recommend that I apply for?

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More Discussions About Ipsos Mystery Shopping (All Companies)

@Latanyar wrote:

Hello everyone. I'm totally new to mystery shopping. I have experience in merchandising and demoing. I signed up for 2 mystery shopping companies so far and I see a ton of assignments in the ispos portal. Could anyone give me recommendation on where to start? I see a re occurring assignment that indicates $15 plus reimbursement that is due today. I'm not going to take that one of course. I'm curious to know, what is the typical timeframe to complete shop for $15? 1hr, 30 mins, 20 mins? I'm also aware that I need to sign up for a lot of mystery shop companies in order to get a lot of assignments. This will be part time for me since I already have an online business that I make the bulk of my income. However, if I like what I'm doing, would it be possible to make $1k a month mystery shopping? If so, how many companies would you all recommend that I apply for?

IPSOS has a lot of different shops. Not knowing which type of project it is, it would be hard to give you a time frame. Please don't give the client name but if you can tell us what type of assignment it is can help us give you a better idea. I find their appliance shops to not be worth it and it takes about 90 min.

I recommend signing up with as many companies you can find.

As far as how much you can make, it depends. Where do you live? I am strictly part time and make about 500-800 a month but I've been doing this for 10+ years and live in a large metropolitan area.

Welcome to the forum!

If the "recurring" shop with reimbursement is what I think it is, it's a fast and easy shop (for me).

Check out the "certifications" available to you (on the left side of the home page), and go through the list and see if any interest you.

I love IPSOS. Clear guidelines, great schedulers, fast pay all combine to make them #1 for me!

You will find there is no typical time frame to complete a shop based on the pay. This is true when looking at assignments across multiple MSCs or even with various projects at the same MSC. Since mystery shopping companies don't pay hourly, they don't base their offers on how long it takes their vendors. It is a double edged sword for the mystery shopper. We don't have the guarantee a merchandiser might have, but we have more control over our income in the end.

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.

IPSOS is a good company to start with. Their instructions are good and not tooooo nit-picky. Of course they need to be followed, but if you do I have never experienced hair splitting with them to discard reports. They are not the worst paying or the best paying but do seem mostly fair.

How long it takes? The first time you do a shop you will have a lot to learn before you go, a lot to do and double check on site and a lot of time with a report as you figure out what it is they want. How much narrative is not enough? Too much? Just right? The next time you do the shop, you have less new to learn, you will know what observations you made first time were not needed so on-site will go quicker, and assuming you got no feedback on your previous report you evidently 'got it' the first time so don't need to agonize as much about what to write.

For me, by the time I do a shop a 4tth or 5th time the prep time is minimal, the on-site time more like a real customer and the report pretty quick.

Try a shop. If it clicks for you the first time you now have a shop to work into your repertoire. You will pick up speed with repetition.

Hi, I also mystery shop part time..mostly on the weekends but I'm doing 3 to 10 shops per weekend and that brings in roughly 300 to 500 per month. One month I was able to pull in 700..but I had shopped both Thursday and Friday one of those weeks.

Where you live plays a huge part in how accessible shops are.

My current area has a ton of shops..but I will be moving to a new state and not a ton of shops in the new state

Also mscs don't always accept your shops, so don't lay out a ton of money for a shop until the msc has proven reliable.

As far as the best mscs that is going to vary by a huge margin from shopper to shopper and what your strong suits are, if you like filling out reports and your geographical area?

Shopping Idaho and Oregon/Idaho border region.

My advice is to pay attention to the guidelines, re-read them before heading to your shop, start off with only 1-2 shops a day until you're comfy with the process, timings, names, details, etc. Another bit of advice is to try out many different types of shops. I thought fine dining, hotel, and amusement park shops would be SO MUCH fun, but they' re not. I do, however, really enjoy retail, car maintenance, and quick casual restaurant shops.

@foodluvr wrote:

@Latanyar wrote:

Hello everyone. I'm totally new to mystery shopping. I have experience in merchandising and demoing. I signed up for 2 mystery shopping companies so far and I see a ton of assignments in the ispos portal. Could anyone give me recommendation on where to start? I see a re occurring assignment that indicates $15 plus reimbursement that is due today. I'm not going to take that one of course. I'm curious to know, what is the typical timeframe to complete shop for $15? 1hr, 30 mins, 20 mins? I'm also aware that I need to sign up for a lot of mystery shop companies in order to get a lot of assignments. This will be part time for me since I already have an online business that I make the bulk of my income. However, if I like what I'm doing, would it be possible to make $1k a month mystery shopping? If so, how many companies would you all recommend that I apply for?

IPSOS has a lot of different shops. Not knowing which type of project it is, it would be hard to give you a time frame. Please don't give the client name but if you can tell us what type of assignment it is can help us give you a better idea. I find their appliance shops to not be worth it and it takes about 90 min.

I recommend signing up with as many companies you can find.

As far as how much you can make, it depends. Where do you live? I am strictly part time and make about 500-800 a month but I've been doing this for 10+ years and live in a large metropolitan area.

Thank you so much! Your response was very helpful. I will make sure I won't mention the client's name. Sorry new to all this. I live in a large city. I live in Atlanta, so by me signing up for 3-4, I've seen a lot of assignments that's getting emailed to me. I am also part of merchandising companies as well. So with both combined, it can be a full-time income whenever I need it to be. I just got to get the swing of things and start planning my routes accordingly so I don't waste a lot of time driving around town and spending a lot on gas. However, for the most part, it will be part time for me as well. Are you using any apps that help plan your route? Any recommendations?

@ceasesmith wrote:

Welcome to the forum!

If the "recurring" shop with reimbursement is what I think it is, it's a fast and easy shop (for me).

Check out the "certifications" available to you (on the left side of the home page), and go through the list and see if any interest you.

I love IPSOS. Clear guidelines, great schedulers, fast pay all combine to make them #1 for me!

Thank you!

@LisaSTL wrote:

You will find there is no typical time frame to complete a shop based on the pay. This is true when looking at assignments across multiple MSCs or even with various projects at the same MSC. Since mystery shopping companies don't pay hourly, they don't base their offers on how long it takes their vendors. It is a double edged sword for the mystery shopper. We don't have the guarantee a merchandiser might have, but we have more control over our income in the end.

ok awesome!

Totally agree! I could work for Ipsos all day long! And their Mobiaudit app is the bomb!

What do you mean by Merchandising Companies? Please tag me on post so I can find it... thanks!!

I don't know how to "tag" you, but if you click on the drop down menu at the bottom of this page, there's an entire forum devoted to Merchandizing ("Show All Forums" ).

Good luck.

Thanks! Right after posting there was a box to click on to follow topic.

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