Bestmark - late payments

Starting about 6 months ago, my payments from Bestmark are very delayed. I had shops from April that never got paid til I contacted them in June. Since then, payment is sporadic and never on time. I've had to reach out a couple more times after two pay periods went by with nothing. I haven't received a response or anything. What is going on? Anyone else have these issues? Thanks for your insight.

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Yup!

They told me they had changed their payment system, leading to a number of outages and missed deadlines.

@Susan L. wrote:

They told me they had changed their payment system, leading to a number of outages and missed deadlines.

Sounds like a cop-out. That might happen one month, but a repeat performance in a decent company would cause the head of AP to be fired and replaced.

I have been having the same problem. I had shops completed in late July and I still have not received payment.

@Jenny8258 wrote:

I had shops from April that never got paid til I contacted them in June.

How long is it taking you to finally get paid? Do you only get paid once you reach out to them? I finally sent a message about it last week and have not heard back yet.

If they cannot pay on time and that bothers you, it is probably time to move on from them...
But get paid first!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/08/2021 11:03PM by Susan L..

For me personally, as long as I know I will get paid eventually I will stick in there with them as their virtual shops are my favorite. Hopefully I will hear something from them or receive payment on the 15th. Crossing my fingers!

Before I comment, I was fired by this MSC in 2007 for refusing to complete their shops for which the work:pay ratio was unacceptable to me.

This is an absolute: When money begins arriving late, you do NOT know you will be paid and crossing your fingers is a contortion that will avail you nothing. I have witnessed this scenario on numerous occasions in my 58 years of self-employment and have no recollection of the outcome ever being positive.

So far, every time I contact them and give them a list of the unpaid projects, I get paid all of them by the next pay period (sometimes sooner). They NEVER ever reply to me, but they must be reading my messages because my payment issues resolve shortly after. If the reason for these delays is because they switched to a new payment system, it sure is taking them a long time (half a year!) to fix the problem. I think it's totally unreasonable for them to not have figured out the issue by now. I don't take any large assignments anymore for fear that I won't get reimbursed or paid one day!

@lizbtayl wrote:

For me personally, as long as I know I will get paid eventually I will stick in there with them as their virtual shops are my favorite. Hopefully I will hear something from them or receive payment on the 15th. Crossing my fingers!

Done that the first time, burnt many times to trust any MSC again. There is along list of MSCs that folded and shoppers were left owed $$$. The investment fund that owns Bestmark does not inspire a lot of confidence. Just do not overextend yourself with large outlays, or trust when they gingle sudden and unusual large bonuses to do a shop. I have forgotten the MSC names and no time to look up their names but will name their clients that I was burnt and my losses. 1-Shoe store, footaction? $14 fee plus $3 purchase (in OH? run out of owner's house) + $47 bounced check+$40 that my bank charged me for bounced check deposits; 2-Disney store (returned purchase) promised $50 bonus to do it 2 days before folding quietly + gift card for two lunch shops at CAKE (company in winter Park, FL); 3- Disney on Ice $30 parking fee, $70 bonus (thankfully tickets were free at the window) (the company owner died and employees kept assigning shops I assume to fulfill contracts and get payments for their wages) These are what I remember right now but there might be more.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2021 03:09PM by KateH.

Ugh!!!!!! It seemed like BestMark was a well respected MSC so I figured I’d get paid eventually and have continued to accept shops - I have been doing all virtual shops with an e-commerce platform in which I purchase items, evaluate, and return. Luckily the seller reimburses the items so I am not out $$ there but currently I have almost $300 worth of outstanding shops. I have never been paid for any of them, my first one should have been paid a month and a half ago - and they supposedly pay out twice a month, so it’s been 3 pay dates that I have received zilch. I have called twice, sent a web inquiry, and finally received a response via email 2 days ago. They said they have sent my issue to their payment department to “investigate”. I just wrote back today and asked if I can be provided an estimated timeline for when I will be contacted by them or if I can have the payment department’s contact information so I can reach out. I included that I had heard great things about their company but as a new shopper with them and not receiving any payments, it was beginning to cause me a lot of concern.

It cannot be legal for them to just not pay me, right?????

@lizbtayl wrote:

It cannot be legal for them to just not pay me, right?????

If someone declares bankruptcy you can join the line. Never overextend yourself with any MSC company, especially if there are concerning signs. I would make exceptions only for MSCs that are part of international conglomerates like Ipsos and ISX. I did a few of the virtual shops but then decided not to do more because I was worried how it would affect my amazon and ebay "secret" internal algorithm ratings.

Paraphrasing an e-Bay sellers' adage--do not list anything you are not prepared to lose through a scam, do not engage in any shopping efforts for which you are not able to walk away from and forget. Be especially leery of a large volume of no/low fee assignments that incur considerable expenditures from your wallet. In my 18+ years in this business, past due payments and/or ignored E-letters have always been a portent of which to be deeply concerned.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/2021 09:23PM by shopperbob.

Have you all received your compensation yet? I'd like to accept a quick serve shop that is reimbursement only. I've never done one and don't want the hassle of narratives, if there are any, only to be chasing down the payment months later.

I did, I had to contact them several times but since then I’ve received all of my payments.

I have only done a handful of shops for them this year, but I have been paid on all of them. The payment does seem to come on the 20th of the second month after the shop was completed, but they have been consistent with that.

Bestmark paid me very quick! No shenanigans

Thanks all. Glad to hear this.

Does anyone know if BestMark’s AP department shutdown for the year? I should have gotten paid last cycle (12/15) with zero response to inquiries. Now pending pay screen says says, tomorrow. A good chunk of the amount is a reimbursement from online shop costs that I’ve floated for over a month.
Update: 1/6/22 pending payment says 12/31 and no response yet to 2 inquiries

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/2022 06:56PM by buckhill2.

I don't shop for them, but it seems to me that in the 8 or so years I've been on this forum, this isn't the first time people have posted about late payments from them. Payment seems a little "iffy" when so many people are reporting recurring trouble with them.

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

The same thing happened to me several times and was quite concerning since I was waiting on hundreds of dollars worth of reimbursement - I just kept bothering them about it for about a month or so and although they never got back to me I eventually was paid. I think I will probably continue to work with them in the future because I really like the particular shops I do for them, they are really easy and good $$. I just will make sure not to count on getting paid or reimbursed in a timely manner as that does not seem to be something they do.

Yes, 1st month was my last month, so many emails and still 2 month wait...

Maybe something changed last year, they have a long standing presence in the community so you know they are Ledford but something must have changed to have this problem Im seeing it from everywhere now.

Threaten(and then DO) contact the labor division, you'll get paid quickly, but DO contact the labor division if you are not paid. It IS illegal.

They have not paid me for shops that I have performed in January and February.. At this point I am waiting to get paid. They are ignoring and not responding to people which says to me that they are in trouble because communication is the key to business. In 2019 they were fantastic. I. I feel bad for what the pandemic did to them but I can't stand for being ignored.

@nawneebirchmier wrote:

Threaten(and then DO) contact the labor division, you'll get paid quickly, but DO contact the labor division if you are not paid. It IS illegal.

Your relationship with BestMark (and virtually all MSC's unless you live in Nevada) is that of an independent contractor and not that of employer and employee. Most state labor departments can't and won't do anything about it. Wage and hour, payment frequency, etc, don't apply to you. Plus the BestMark contract has an arbitration provision, it is cost-prohibitive to start an arbitration proceeding.

Departments of Labor deal with employees. We are not employees (except in Nevada), so contacting the Department of Labor would be a total waste of time.

@nawneebirchmier wrote:

Threaten(and then DO) contact the labor division, you'll get paid quickly, but DO contact the labor division if you are not paid. It IS illegal.

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008

My shops say payment March 31st.

I really don't see any shops in Southern California for them, but I also do not go looking either. They used to have a good shop in SoCal like 10 years ago. The smart shoppers were fighting for them as they overpaid (yes they overpaid for the work and effort). They finally caught on and lowered the payment, but it was still a juicy shop at the reduced rate.

Anyways, their software platform was less than desirable to use (and still is) and once they lost that client, I really did not miss shopping for them the past 10 years (or longer).

They switched the pending date to 3/31

I anticipate being paid without issue.

I hope they get back their clients. They really pay better than most MSCs for the amount of effort.

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Bestmark - late payments

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