The offer is ten dollars to do an evaluation of a mattress store. So...why pay at all? This is the result of there being too many mystery shoppers who enjoy working for nothing. I wish that they would go away.

Never happen, where else can those with no education submitting a profile work....(just asking). Maybe they should make MSing a more difficult industry to get into, but the way it is, they can keep fees low, and let's be real, many MSC's just take advantage of that. There are a few that seem fair, and we do hear a lot about those shoppers that are smart and make a decent living. Pay for companies like MF and more will never change, why should it, they can get a report done for 3 bucks......holds head and gently leaves room.
p.s. I'm not taking them, in case you wondered. I do food shops for 14.00, lowest I go.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2019 12:02AM by Irene_L.A..

I always wait until the end of the month when the shops are bonused.

I do the same for the storage facilities and the bank shops.

@jameschicago wrote:

The offer is ten dollars to do an evaluation of a mattress store. So...why pay at all? This is the result of there being too many mystery shoppers who enjoy working for nothing. I wish that they would go away.

I saw that and deleted it too. I’m not leaving my house, driving to the mall, doing the shop and driving home to report it for $10. I wouldn’t even do it for $10 if I was already in the mall.

I am not even doing the email or phone inquiries for $5-7 dollars. At this point, it is not worth my time. I agree that others are driving the price down. There has been a storage facility shop that I have not applied for because it is only $12 so forget it.

I want to add, I was just on Ipsos where I've done a lot of shops, normally for 17.00...they are now (same job) $11.00 and 12.00, quite a difference.

Learn and develop the skill sets necessary for the better paying opportunities. Then just ignore the opportunities out there that do not pay enough for you.

Focus on what works for you rather than fret over what doesn't.

And in my area those jobs have been there at that price for a couple of months. They used to get increased to $18-$20, but for some reason they're not doing that now.

Even so, Ipsos is one of my favorites and they have a lot of work.

@Irene_L.A. wrote:

I want to add, I was just on Ipsos where I've done a lot of shops, normally for 17.00...they are now (same job) $11.00 and 12.00, quite a difference.

The jobs seem to be paying next to nothing lately. I get emails all the time about various $10 jobs. So you are supposed to read the directions, drive to a store, do the shop, drive home, and report it for $10? No way.

I limit my shops to the $100+ restaurant shops. For $150 on average, I would need to earn about $225 before taxes for the same $150 dinner, so that's already $45/hour on my couch. That seems more fair than a $10 shop.

I've been doing the same, food and restaurant shops where I enjoy the food and love going out to a nice dinner.
I see nothing wrong with expressing feelings over shops you like that have dropped prices extremely....that's what the forum is for....most of us are experienced, at least for me 13 years of shopping and seeing things go lower, is a valued complaint.

I’ve seen those mattress shops as well and no way I’m doing the phone inquiry for $5 or thr shop for $10. They regularly increase to $20-25 at the end of the month in a few less populated areas near me so I always wait for atleast $20 before I’ll do them..

They regularly increase to $20-25 at the end of the month in a few less populated areas near me so I always wait for at least $20 before I’ll do them

And I hope you are driving by the location anyhow to make this worth your time.

I've only been shopping for three years, so I don't have the long term perspective that many here have. However, here is what I do know:

* Payment for shops goes up and down. It is very difficult, as an individual shopper, to have the perspective to know what the trends are for all MSC's across the nation. It's easy to point out when fees offered are lower than they had been the previous month.
* This January was my most profitable January yet. This February is my best February yet.
* I do see a multitude of shops on various job boards that don't pay enough to interest me - even as filler shops.

Right now, I think there are several things going on:
* At the beginning of every contract, many (most?) MSC's put out low-ball fees. Their profitability and ability to offer bonuses for hard-to-fill locations depends on some (many?) of their shops being completed at these low fees. Until some are completed, MSC's are going to be hesitant to offer better pay.
* The majority of this country has experienced some rotten weather so far this year - weather that has certain dissuaded us from going out to complete shops. I strongly suspect that, fewer shops than normal have been completed so far this year and MSC's are not ready to offer better pay, yet, as they have to eye their bottom lines, too. They are likely hoping that more shops are picked up at the low fees soon, so that they can start to offer more to complete the rest.

I have also found that, by signing up with more MSC's and diversifying my shopping efforts, I can immunize myself from such market instability. Some MSC's offer reasonable starting pay and never offer bonuses. Some shop contracts require MSC's to have shops completed more frequently. Yesterday, I completed 31 drive through shops for close to a $400 profit. I added a 32nd shop to put me over $400. This week, I am flying to California and have enough work lined up (nearly all video) to turn a profit of over $300/day. (yes, profit - money after all expenses incurred).

I am not convinced that things are getting worse for shoppers. I am convinced, that, if we are looking to have steady income from shopping, we need to continuously adjust our efforts and seek out new opportunities.

@MFJohnston wrote:

I have also found that, by signing up with more MSC's and diversifying my shopping efforts, I can immunize myself from such market instability. Some MSC's offer reasonable starting pay and never offer bonuses. Some shop contracts require MSC's to have shops completed more frequently. Yesterday, I completed 31 drive through shops for close to a $400 profit. I added a 32nd shop to put me over $400. This week, I am flying to California and have enough work lined up (nearly all video) to turn a profit of over $300/day. (yes, profit - money after all expenses incurred).

I am not convinced that things are getting worse for shoppers. I am convinced, that, if we are looking to have steady income from shopping, we need to continuously adjust our efforts and seek out new opportunities.

I am going out on a limb here as I have no idea of the exact statistics. It seems like the majority of shoppers that get frustrated over low paying shops are either new to this, shop part time, and/or are in saturated markets. In addition, the majority are not aware of, or confident about, video or routing shops. Additionally, there appears to be many video shops and major route shops that are not available; because, unless the MSCs have trouble assigning them to the established shoppers they have developed a relationship with the shops are not visible or offered to most of us.

I for one am not confident in learning video shopping, nor sure that with a full time job they would work for me. The majority of shops in my area are unfortunately $10 or under. I work for a car dealership so can not perform any vehicle sales or service assignments. Even if I could, I wouldn't.

So, I revert to my first response here "Focus on what works for you rather than fret over what doesn't." Because at least 80% of what I see posted are low paying opportunities that make no sense to me. I sift through the haystacks looking for needles. If you focus on the hay you feel lost and will miss the needles.

@isaiah58 wrote:

I am going out on a limb here as I have no idea of the exact statistics. It seems like the majority of shoppers that get frustrated over low paying shops are either new to this, shop part time, and/or are in saturated markets. In addition, the majority are not aware of, or confident about, video or routing shops. Additionally, there appears to be many video shops and major route shops that are not available; because, unless the MSCs have trouble assigning them to the established shoppers they have developed a relationship with the shops are not visible or offered to most of us.

I for one am not confident in learning video shopping, nor sure that with a full time job they would work for me. The majority of shops in my area are unfortunately $10 or under. I work for a car dealership so can not perform any vehicle sales or service assignments. Even if I could, I wouldn't.

So, I revert to my first response here "Focus on what works for you rather than fret over what doesn't." Because at least 80% of what I see posted are low paying opportunities that make no sense to me. I sift through the haystacks looking for needles. If you focus on the hay you feel lost and will miss the needles.

I am not new, but I got that same email as the OP. It doesn't upset me or make me fret, it annoys me. I read it and delete it.

I have no interest in video routes. That's far too much work for the reward. I don't travel for less than $300 a day (profit after expenses). I have plenty of work coming to me. I just wish that the pay was more balanced within the same MSC sometimes. $10 for the mattress shop isn't fair to anyone. It just perpetuates poverty. I see people posting about driving 250 miles in winter (somewhere besides So Cal where there is a light rain if you are unlucky) to do a shop for $90. That's ridiculous.

It seems that those of us with experience and who are seasoned bypass the low paying jobs. It makes me wonder though....if someone completes a job for $3, is the client getting the quality reporting they deserve? Some of the comments on this form have misspellings and poor grammar, and I always think, "Is this how reports are being completed?" I agree with the rest of you who value your time and have standards in place for doing shops. Whether part-time or full-time, the low paying jobs just aren't worth i. If shops need to be bonused at the end of the month, then the MSC was keeping too much for themselves and were being greedy with not offering higher shopper pay in the first place.

I think what annoys me the most are the companies that make their pricing like a game — the drive through shops come to mind in particular right now — granted, I will do a whole route of them once they hit a value point for me that I know I can clear $10-12 profit (after food cost) on each one (this has consumed my last two days — but I will never do them for a base rate (which actually puts you in the negative by a few cents with the cheapest food options).

Yet — rather than notice the price point at which I do them, that I’m a reliable shopper, and say “Hey! I have a ton of these to get done again — would you like your route that you did for $XX each last time?”, they spam me to do them at base rate for a month — and the ones that I could route that are still in their old period that I could do the next day, actually got $2 cheaper! Essentially once someone does them at a high price, it’s like they fish them back out $2 cheaper. The schedulers appear to have zero control of offering bonuses.

I wish all companies worked like Informa and Mintel where you negotiate your bonuses and routes and it’s minimal hassle... even TrendSource, who many people seem to complain about here, is one of my favorite MSCs because after 2 years of bartering for bonuses, they finally stopped asking, they text me directly and my negotiated “PAD” amount is included by default

N

@ngbmediashop wrote:

I think what annoys me the most are the companies that make their pricing like a game — the drive through shops come to mind in particular right now — granted, I will do a whole route of them once they hit a value point for me that I know I can clear $10-12 profit (after food cost) on each one (this has consumed my last two days — but I will never do them for a base rate (which actually puts you in the negative by a few cents with the cheapest food options).

I did 31 one these on Saturday... I have the same standard.

This is also why I won't do reimbursement only shops. Especially ones that are capped. The MSP is most likely getting full reimbursement (not capped) and making a decent profit margin for not paying the shoppers.

I'll do reimbursement-only shops if it is for something I was going to purchase anyhow. Then, it's just as good as money. I need to do oil change about every two months. Since I need to do it anyhow, why not get it reimbursed for a short report?

@samshopper wrote:

This is also why I won't do reimbursement only shops. Especially ones that are capped. The MSP is most likely getting full reimbursement (not capped) and making a decent profit margin for not paying the shoppers.

Living in an overly populated area with shoppers (like I do) doesn't allow the bonus's written about so freely here.
Routes to rural area's bonus, what about shoppers in populated area's, shouldn't we get a decent fee for going out,,,,please stop blaming the shopper.

How about the mall audit that pays $7 to include multiple areas and photographs??

@hotsauce1, I saw those and was wondering why would anyone do them? The job was gone within a day!! Even the no pay $5 reimbursement only job was taken within a day! So sad! Why would anyone bother increasing pay when there are some willing to accept these as is!

I need an oil change but haven't seen any in my area lately...bummer. I haven't paid for an oil change in about 17 years.

@MFJohnston wrote:

I'll do reimbursement-only shops if it is for something I was going to purchase anyhow. Then, it's just as good as money. I need to do oil change about every two months. Since I need to do it anyhow, why not get it reimbursed for a short report?

@samshopper wrote:

This is also why I won't do reimbursement only shops. Especially ones that are capped. The MSP is most likely getting full reimbursement (not capped) and making a decent profit margin for not paying the shoppers.

I did 2 of those $10 mattress shops. The first one was to give them a try and see if they required less detail than the $25 mattress shops for another MSC. They didn't. The second one was a couple years later at a mall location, only because I was there already for another shop and viewed it as filler. That was a few years ago. I've continued the $25 shops for the one MSC but not the $10 ones. Too much detail for too low of pay IMO.

@ngbmediashop wrote:

Yet — rather than notice the price point at which I do them, that I’m a reliable shopper, and say “Hey! I have a ton of these to get done again — would you like your route that you did for $XX each last time?”, they spam me to do them at base rate for a month

If you're referring to JITB, I get emails that say exactly that: "Want to do the same location again for $<bonused amount>?"

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/19/2019 01:45AM by boridi.

Two things come to mind as I read this post. First is the move from box and mortar to online shopping; we are getting paid less for our time because so many online shop that stores aren't making the same revenues they once did. Case in point - closures of Toys R Us, Shopko, Gymboree and now Payless; the paradigm is shifting. Second, I recently signed up for a company and since I was new I took a shop for a store I really like. After I accepted I realized it has no flat rate, expects two separate purchases (café and store) expects the retail to be returned and only reimburses $5 for the café. Are you kidding me? 30 minute shop, 30 minute report, and hey, I get a free coffee? This is crazy to me.

@boridi wrote:

@ngbmediashop wrote:

Yet — rather than notice the price point at which I do them, that I’m a reliable shopper, and say “Hey! I have a ton of these to get done again — would you like your route that you did for $XX each last time?”, they spam me to do them at base rate for a month

If you're referring to JITB, I get emails that say exactly that: "Want to do the same location again for $<bonused amount>?"

I usually get those as well at the end of periods — in my case the most recent e-mail I received was to do the same ones I did yesterday — for $2 less each. Nope!

I was referring in general to the way these are priced — I get tons of emails from the schedulers over the course of a period begging me to do previous ones I’ve done... but they only offer $5... then 7... then 9... then some are 9 and some are 11... 14... 15... obviously tons are still sitting. I just did 40 over 2 days between 17 and 20 each. 15 is the magic number for my closer ones — once it’s 17 and 20 I’ll make a weekend out of it.

My point is... if they are that desperate, and know what my rate is, why play the game? If I was able to plan these easier, I’d actually be able to hit a number of their extremely hard to fill ones that I know they always miss.

40 shops over 2 days?

Road warrior!

There are four in two miles of me with HUGE bonus.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I need an oil change but haven't seen any in my area lately...bummer. I haven't paid for an oil change in about 17 years.

@MFJohnston wrote:

I'll do reimbursement-only shops if it is for something I was going to purchase anyhow. Then, it's just as good as money. I need to do oil change about every two months. Since I need to do it anyhow, why not get it reimbursed for a short report?

@samshopper wrote:

This is also why I won't do reimbursement only shops. Especially ones that are capped. The MSP is most likely getting full reimbursement (not capped) and making a decent profit margin for not paying the shoppers.