I'm going to have to start picking up way more mystery shops in the upcoming months, and I was wondering if California shoppers could help me out by listing your favorite mystery shop companies lately. I'm looking for companies that have lots of shops and/or easy to complete and/or pay quickly! Thanks in advance for your help!

Sorry, if you live in my town, my lips are sealed...I had to find companies through hard work, no one told me.

It's hard to expect shoppers who love their shops and depend on the income to offer up their favorites so their competition can pick up lots more shops. I am NOT in California, but I am signed up with about 150 companies. Of those, at least 100 have shops in California. Sign up with more companies. It actually takes only a few minutes to sign up with a company since you are not providing a full resume. The online questionnaires are short and in most cases there are no tests. If you use Roboform or if you have the right browser, a lot of your information will auto fill as you are filling out these forms. Even if you are asked for a narrative, like describing a mystery shop, you can paste in the same narrative for every company, writing it only once. If you start with a list in front of you, like the one at the bottom of the page, and you click the links to go straight there, two hours would see you signed up with at least 10 and and probably 20 new companies. When I started mystery shopping, I was able to sign up with 97 companies in one long rainy 5-hour afternoon. Signing up with more companies is the way to find more shops. It's worth the investment in time.


edited for horrible spelling

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2019 12:11AM by roflwofl.

I didn't realize we considered each other as competitors! Maybe more of co-workers?

Lesson learned.

@maggiemay028 wrote:

I didn't realize we considered each other as competitors! Maybe more of co-workers?

Lesson learned.

For some people, mystery shopping is serious business. Some shoppers have built up actual businesses with significant revenues.

I am not one of them. I appreciate them and the amount of work that has contributed to their business successes. They worked and learned and earned.

I welcome shoppers to my area, but the area itself is nothing like well-known and popular parts of California. But you are welcome to shop here.

As for co-workers, occasionally shoppers team up for designated projects. Each shopper is responsible for their own portion of work. The rest of the time, we are independent contractors who operate separately from others.

Only in a broad sense are we co-working. We are part of a large industry and may perform similar tasks. We do what our contracts state we will do.

I am of the school that if I am in your territory, I do not care. This is my business and is, to me, considered survival of the fittest. I will give advice and listen but no one, schedulers excepted, will know where I currently shop.

Truth be told, and no disrespect to OP who is very new and naive.....we have so many new shoppers in my town, after all, we are Independent Contractor's working alone to improve our business and work hard for our relationship with our schedulers. so, yes, it is a personal business, I'll respect you if you put in the work and find the companies that are best for you.

@Irene_L.A. says
" I'll respect you if you put in the work and find the companies that are best for you."

Nuff said.

@OP:

Here is one way to find jobs in a specific area: utilize the aggregated job boards at JobSlinger or Volition. There is a job board sub-forum at this website. Presto lists jobs. Check out other phone apps for mystery shop and merchandising gigs.

The job boards only list jobs. You would have to sign up with companies as needed in order to apply for, or self-assign, their jobs. Good luck!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2019 07:53AM by Shop-et-al.

@nslinhar wrote:

I am of the school that if I am in your territory, I do not care. This is my business and is, to me, considered survival of the fittest. I will give advice and listen but no one, schedulers excepted, will know where I currently shop.

I used to think exactly that, when I first started, but after realizing that most of the shoppers on this board are not in my area, and if I were to share specifics in THEIR areas simply because I am not a direct competitor with someone who wants quick information, those other shoppers will share specifics in my area. Now I think exactly like @Irene_L.A. " I'll respect you if you put in the work and find the companies that are best for you." Being competitors does not make us enemies. Most contracting companies have focus groups and organizations. They are friendly and they socialize, and they may share tips and ideas much the way we do on the forum, but they do not pass out their client lists to their competitors.

Is it reasonable to ask other shoppers to share their best clients? If so, the OP could start the sharing and name 5 or 6 of her favorites first. I'm sure there are other Los Angeles shoppers who would like to pick up some more shops. If the OP names her favorites, "companies that have lots of shops and/or easy to complete and/or pay quickly," other Los Angeles shoppers could rush to sign up with those companies. That would be an actual trade of information rather than a gimme-gimme. But, since she did't offer to provide any information herself, it's a moot question.

Where did I state we were enemies?

Stating my client list would give away my location to a competetior, not an enemy.

Edit

@roflwofl I think I see where you are coming from, now that my coffee has kicked. I was speaking strictly Darwinism, not Social Darwinism aka Hofstadter.

Edited again to make my point to the right person. My coffee is not working.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2019 05:02PM by nslinhar.

Hi Miss Maggie, try doing a search at the top of the screen on the blue colored bar. Try using topics such as fast food, fine dining, and maybe the names of some of your favorite retailers, or amusement venues. And, if you spend even a few minutes a day perusing these posts, you may pick up a nugget or two.

@nslinhar wrote:

Where did I state we were enemies?

Stating my client list would give away my location to a competetior, not an enemy.

I wasn't referring to your post when I stated that competitors are not enemies, I was attempting to define for the OP the difference between co-worker and competitor. The OP seems to believe co-worker is a friendly term and co-workers should share and that we should not be considered competitors. We are definitely competitors. Although we share quite a lot here on the forum - FOR FREE - there are limits to what we share. At some point, even though a massive amount of information is provided here, everything a new shopper needs to be successful, the new shopper needs to add the one thing we can't provide. The new shopper must be willing to spend the time and effort to invest in building her business. And the OP is not a new shopper. She has been here 18 months.

Oh - and I applaud you not naming your location. I did very early when I first started to post and all it got me was PMs from people who knew better but wanted to ask me for information about shopping in my area.. One even wanted me to meet her and give her my list of companies, along with a list of the companies's clients and their pay schedules. She argued that I had already done the work, so why should she have to? She got quite snippy when I explained it would be many ICA violations. When I said I wasn't going to hand over all my hard work to a competitor, she called me "selfish" and asked why she should have to re-invent the wheel. I said I didn't invent the wheel but I built the wagon using all to tools and equipment available on the forum. No need to re-invent the wheel - it's all here free, but you have to build your own wagon. Then she called me ugly names.

I will never again identify my shopping area. I wish I had been smart enough not to do it ever.

@roflwofl wrote:

Oh - and I applaud you not naming your location. I did very early when I first started to post and all it got me was PMs from people who knew better but wanted to ask me for information about shopping in my area.. One even wanted me to meet her and give her my list of companies, along with a list of the companies's clients and their pay schedules. She argued that I had already done the work, so why should she have to? She got quite snippy when I explained it would be many ICA violations. When I said I wasn't going to hand over all my hard work to a competitor, she called me "selfish" and asked why she should have to re-invent the wheel. I said I didn't invent the wheel but I built the wagon using all to tools and equipment available on the forum. No need to re-invent the wheel - it's all here free, but you have to build your own wagon. Then she called me ugly names.

I will never again identify my shopping area. I wish I had been smart enough not to do it ever.

WTF? Hard to believe you turned down that offer! People are stupid. Apparently they can be crazy and nasty too.

The ICA really has ONE rule which is not to share MSC name and client, one rule, let's all shake hands and abide by that. Happy shopping and remember those willing to put in the work, last in this industry.

@maggiemay028 wrote:

I didn't realize we considered each other as competitors! Maybe more of co-workers?

Lesson learned.

Not really.

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

Ever find out who stiffed you on In N Out? It's not the current company that does it. It's the old one that won't pay you unless you hound them.

I think you might want to start with Intellishop.

@Shop-et-al wrote:

@maggiemay028 wrote:

I didn't realize we considered each other as competitors! Maybe more of co-workers?

Lesson learned.

For some people, mystery shopping is serious business. Some shoppers have built up actual businesses with significant revenues.

I am not one of them. I appreciate them and the amount of work that has contributed to their business successes. They worked and learned and earned.

I welcome shoppers to my area, but the area itself is nothing like well-known and popular parts of California. But you are welcome to shop here.

As for co-workers, occasionally shoppers team up for designated projects. Each shopper is responsible for their own portion of work. The rest of the time, we are independent contractors who operate separately from others.

Only in a broad sense are we co-working. We are part of a large industry and may perform similar tasks. We do what our contracts state we will do.

Being your so glad to share your shops, let's hear some names as the OP asked for...by the way, she also asked a year ago and was told, not her first pony race.

@maggiemay028 wrote:

I didn't realize we considered each other as competitors! Maybe more of co-workers?

Lesson learned.

Some people are just territorial in their lives. They don't want to share anything. I do share information.

Intelli Shop, Market Force and IPSOS are good shops.

@johnb974 wrote:

Intelli Shop, Market Force and IPSOS are good shops.

That's amusing since I referred her to Intellishop as a sort of joke.

@iShop123 wrote:

@johnb974 wrote:

Intelli Shop, Market Force and IPSOS are good shops.

That's amusing since I referred her to Intellishop as a sort of joke.

IntelliShop is now one of my better paying companies.

John, if that's true, you need some help.....

@Irene_L.A. wrote:

The ICA really has ONE rule which is not to share MSC name and client, one rule, let's all shake hands and abide by that. Happy shopping and remember those willing to put in the work, last in this industry.

You're not working for the CIA, NSA or FBI. It's no secret what we do and who we work for. We're here to share information and ideas.

john,
We are here to promote professionalism in our industry. That does NOT include violating ICAs or the main rule set down by the owner of the forum. If you want your MS business to be a success, here is what I will share to help you; sign up with 100-150 MSCs; do enough shops to test what suits you best and do them to a high standard and on time; that will teach you which 10-20 MSCs' job boards you need to watch; it will also insure that you begin to get offers from schedulers that never see the job boards.

@walesmaven wrote:

john,
We are here to promote professionalism in our industry. That does NOT include violating ICAs or the main rule set down by the owner of the forum. If you want your MS business to be a success, here is what I will share to help you; sign up with 100-150 MSCs; do enough shops to test what suits you best and do them to a high standard and on time; that will teach you which 10-20 MSCs' job boards you need to watch; it will also insure that you begin to get offers from schedulers that never see the job boards.

Than by posting on here, who we work for and what shops we do, you're violating your own interpretation of the ICA laws. You tell others what companies and shops you do. But, I'm sure you'll find ways to exempt yourself. Once again, you're not working for the CIA, NSA or FBI. You could be working for the KGB, but that's my speculation. LOL

Nonsense. I post about the kind of shop I do or about a shop for am un-named client if I name the MSC, or about an un-named MSC if I name the client. PLEASE read the forum rules! Naming which MSC shops which client company is a violation. Saying that MSC x has bank shops, with not client bank named, is NOT I really doubt that you even know what an ICA is. If you think you are being funny, you are not.

Definitely doesn't know the rules, and is making a fool of himself by not knowing. Read the rules before speaking and "thinking" your right. I get you like Jack in the Box, but these are not top jobs in this industry. ICA agreement is what you signed, do not mention MSC along with client company in same post....you will be de-activated... I'm so over him and this subject, how many ways can you say the same thing.

Let's try this one more time. You don't work for the CIA, FBI or NSA. It's not a secret who you are working for. This is interesting because many MSC ask what other MSC you have worked for. They want to know your experience.

Time to ignore the guy crouched under the bridge.