Major flaw in Ipsos weekly payments

Ipsos has recently revised their terms and conditions. One thing stood out to me.

“Payment. IPSOS will pay you for each assignment within 45 days after you fulfill it; except that IPSOS may withhold payment if you have broken any of the above promises or if IPSOS or IPSOS' client otherwise determines that you did not properly fulfill your assignment. IPSOS payments are made only via PayPal; therefore you are required to have an active and valid PayPal account. You are responsible for maintaining and updating your PayPal email. IPSOS will not pay or reimburse your travel expenses or any other costs you may incur.”

So far, I’ve completed over $300 of assignments for the company this week and only $100 of assignments have been verified. Ipsos, if they wanted to, can pay me the remaining $200 in 6 weeks.

This is causing me concern because we work hard for them and initially, the weekly pay was much needed relief.

Create an Account or Log In

Membership is free. Simply choose your username, type in your email address, and choose a password. You immediately get full access to the forum.

More Discussions About Ipsos Mystery Shopping (All Companies)

More About Payment

Are you saying they announced that they went from the weekly pay to 45 days after shop completion?

They used some strange language, but it appears that they could stop the weekly pay if they see fit.

So far this week, I’ve completed 16 assignments for $296.50. Only 7 have been verified for $108.50. Ipsos, under the new terms and conditions, don’t have to verify the remaining 9 assignments for another 6 weeks.

It’s basically their way of weaseling out of their weekly pay agreement. They pay weekly based on how much work the editors feel like putting in that week.

Theoretically, you could go weeks without getting paid.

I haven't seen the revision to which you refer and have done 14 shops for them this month including 12 this week. The first two are in Paypal and 10 of the other 12 have been approved for pay, including two completed this morning. The remaining two are being reviewed and I expect them to be approved soon. It seems to me that they are reviewing and paying much quicker than they used to.

I have been waiting a week to get mine validated already. My experience has been they are slow slow slow.

I have one that has been sitting there for weeks.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2019 11:46PM by 4muppets.

Sometimes they are slow. Other times they can be very quick. But they are one of the fastest payers out there and have never given me any reason to question their motives. I would give them the benefit of the doubt.

In my home area they are quick approving shops of any kind, typically within 48 hours. I completed 46 shops Tues-Thurs of this week while on a working vacation (almost $700) and not one is approved yet. My fingers are crossed that at least some, if not most of them, are approved for the pay period ending Tuesday.

I have little doubt that they want to pay shoppers on time. The accelerated pay schedule is a way to incentivize people to do work for them. If the money does not show up, the incentive fails. If they wanted to pay after 6 weeks, that would be in line with most of the industry. There's no reason to bait and switch.

That said, I was also stressing a large number of shops not being cleared quickly. It's stressful because it's hard not to have expectations. Still, I don't think it's a scheme or that it comes down to how editors feel. People get sick or have vacation or it all happens at once. Maybe they just didn't anticipate the degree to which faster payouts would increase their editors' workload.

How do you manage to do this, in what looks like 3 working days?

Do you use the app, and complete the report on site?

I read all the time about these amazing numbers of shops shoppers complete in a relatively short period of time, and I'm just wondering how the devil they do it.

I ask, because I think the most I've ever done in a day was about 10 shops; then I had 8 more hours of driving to do to get home, then hours and hours and HOURS on the reports.

@grille wrote:

In my home area they are quick approving shops of any kind, typically within 48 hours. I completed 46 shops Tues-Thurs of this week while on a working vacation (almost $700) and not one is approved yet. My fingers are crossed that at least some, if not most of them, are approved for the pay period ending Tuesday.

I have no idea how some Ipsos shoppers make that much in a week, but I believe it’s possible. I guess they are super dedicated. It’s not easy at all.

@4muppets wrote:

I have been waiting a week to get mine validated already. My experience has been they are slow slow slow.

I have one that has been sitting there for weeks.

If you have an Ipsos shop that has been sitting there for weeks, contact your scheduler about it. That is not the norm.

@ceasesmith wrote:

How do you manage to do this, in what looks like 3 working days?

Do you use the app, and complete the report on site?

I read all the time about these amazing numbers of shops shoppers complete in a relatively short period of time, and I'm just wondering how the devil they do it.

I ask, because I think the most I've ever done in a day was about 10 shops; then I had 8 more hours of driving to do to get home, then hours and hours and HOURS on the reports.

@grille wrote:

In my home area they are quick approving shops of any kind, typically within 48 hours. I completed 46 shops Tues-Thurs of this week while on a working vacation (almost $700) and not one is approved yet. My fingers are crossed that at least some, if not most of them, are approved for the pay period ending Tuesday.

Hi

I did about 1/3 each day. The were all Visual Standards audits done on site, on the app. In the area I’m visiting there were an abundance of locations close together. My average day was 7 hours and I did some errands, shopping etc.... in between as well.

And an update on the editing, they’ve approved 11 so far today.

@ceasesmith wrote:

How do you manage to do this, in what looks like 3 working days?

Do you use the app, and complete the report on site?

I read all the time about these amazing numbers of shops shoppers complete in a relatively short period of time, and I'm just wondering how the devil they do it.

I ask, because I think the most I've ever done in a day was about 10 shops; then I had 8 more hours of driving to do to get home, then hours and hours and HOURS on the reports.

@grille wrote:

In my home area they are quick approving shops of any kind, typically within 48 hours. I completed 46 shops Tues-Thurs of this week while on a working vacation (almost $700) and not one is approved yet. My fingers are crossed that at least some, if not most of them, are approved for the pay period ending Tuesday.

They had a digital /virtual payment job that in theory, if you had enough location density, you could easily have done 30-40 in a day and reported on the app.

The last two shops that I mentioned in my earlier post have been approved for pay. In the past Ipsos was on the slow side but I am very satisfied with the new efficiency.

MY phone doesn't work correctly to use most of the apps or chrome. I can do Go Spot Check assignments easily enough. I've even done some OSI's on the mobile app (usually completing at home for directions). MobiAudit I removed from my phone because it did not work right. Most of the time I can upload pictures, and answer yes and no questions. Anything that requires typing messes up. Plus I type much faster on a keyboard.

The new app, ishopforipsos, is pretty good. That is how people do a lot in one day. But there has to be shop density. If you are having to drive hours inbetween it's not going to work. If you don't want to go home and spend hours on reports then download the app. You can do the report in the app, and then submit when you get to wifi if needed. The photos should back up on your phone so all is good even if something goes sideways.

@CoffeeQueen wrote:

The new app, ishopforipsos, is pretty good. That is how people do a lot in one day. But there has to be shop density. If you are having to drive hours inbetween it's not going to work. If you don't want to go home and spend hours on reports then download the app. You can do the report in the app, and then submit when you get to wifi if needed. The photos should back up on your phone so all is good even if something goes sideways.

Some have rural connectivity issues and trouble with small keyboards/screens so the app may not be an option for them. Even on a tablet or laptop, you still need reception.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/2019 03:20PM by sestrahelena.

I have seen the 45 day terms, have them in my spreadsheet. So far they have paid within two weeks. Once they start dragging their feet, I will shop for other MSCs, so I do not know why they would even mention this policy.
I have a tendency to simply accept the going rate - maybe they are using this to winnow out folks who want more money?

Ah, "shop density". Nicely put.

IPSOS has enough varied shops in the Omaha/Lincoln area that a person could THEORECTICALLY complete a hundred to a hundred fifty shops in a week (at base pay, yet), and take the rest of the month off. Add a few additional shops from Maritz, Alta, EPMS (nicely bonused, not sure they are worth it even at $90), and the shop density means a shopper could do well.

I'm lucky to find 20 shops within a 200 mile radius of my home.

I do some rural locations where I don't have any signal. The app works without it but you have to submit later. Having been shopping these rural locations for some years I've gotten used to working around it. Like I said, worst case scenario (app won't upload or submit) the photos are still on your phone so you can do the report at home.

@sestrahelena wrote:

@CoffeeQueen wrote:

The new app, ishopforipsos, is pretty good. That is how people do a lot in one day. But there has to be shop density. If you are having to drive hours inbetween it's not going to work. If you don't want to go home and spend hours on reports then download the app. You can do the report in the app, and then submit when you get to wifi if needed. The photos should back up on your phone so all is good even if something goes sideways.

Some have rural connectivity issues and trouble with small keyboards/screens so the app may not be an option for them. Even on a tablet or laptop, you still need reception.

For years, GFK had a system of weekly or biweekly payments of some shop fees. And sometimes I'd be paid for shops within a couple of days of reporting them, so evidently the GFK system could even handle daily shop fees.

When IPSOS took over GFK, I think they looked at the GFK payments system and adopted parts of it. It may be that it is easier to do weekly payments over the old GFK Sassie platform (which IPSOS is using under the new IPSOS logo) than on the IPSOS Shopmetrics platform, for whatever reasons. That may explain (a big maybe--I'm no expert) why it seems that sometimes they pay weekly, other times it's biweekly or monthly, when everyone is now (because of their previously announced system-wide change in terms) expecting weekly payments.

Wanted to update with more Kudos for IPSOS. Of the 46 audits I did last week Tues - Thurs, 44 are approved for payment, including several that went into ‘Hold Pay’ because they were closed locations. I was also pleasantly surprised to see full pay for the closed locations!!!!

Update... all 46 approved. I’m a very happy camper !!

@KA047 wrote:

@4muppets wrote:

I have been waiting a week to get mine validated already. My experience has been they are slow slow slow.

I have one that has been sitting there for weeks.

If you have an Ipsos shop that has been sitting there for weeks, contact your scheduler about it. That is not the norm.

Agreed. It's my experience the approval process takes about 5 days.
I usually wait until 10 days to contact the scheduler who either writes the edit staff or project manger to resolve.

@tstewart3 wrote:

@KA047 wrote:

@4muppets wrote:

I have been waiting a week to get mine validated already. My experience has been they are slow slow slow.

I have one that has been sitting there for weeks.

If you have an Ipsos shop that has been sitting there for weeks, contact your scheduler about it. That is not the norm.

I emailed about it today and it was approved along with several of my other shops! Yay!

To update my scenario, all but 3 of my shops have been approved (the other 3 are still pending) and I will be paid for most of my work from last week. I can’t complain.

However, I still believe the 45 day policy is something all of us should keep in the back of our minds just in case they inexplicably drag their feet.

With that said, the editors do work very hard and they have proven to be prompt with their work.

I must be the odd man out. I find their weekly pay schedule more work for me. I long for the days when they were biweekly. I now have twice as much accounting paperwork from them and have to process it weekly. The jobs I perform are more often mixed with some OK For Pay while others still Pending in the short pay period making my record updating process not as smooth. Of course, I have a nice cushion in my MS account after these years of working which is not a situation all shoppers are blessed with.

Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.

Click here to login

Major flaw in Ipsos weekly payments

Create an Account or Log In

Official List of Mystery Shopping Companies

Mystery Shopper Magazine