I have no recollection of having signed up with this MSC, but it is certainly possible. I do know I have never completed any work through those folks. Today, I received a solicitation from the company for a charity. IF it is authentic, it is my opinion that to use a business list for a personal reason is unacceptable. Please share your thoughts.

While I have signed up with AlbatrossCX in the past, I've never done any jobs for them. I, too, got that same email, and deleted it. Not sure what the deal was with them.

Bob, I don't know if the e-mail you refer to is authentic, but the last question on every Albatross asks the shopper to waive the fee in exchange for a promise to pay Albatross' pet charity. I have no doubt that they turn the waived fees over. But I wouldn't be surprised if they make a similar contribution out of their own pocket for each shop where the shopper does not waive the fee.

That said, Albatross is a legit MSC. Their shops are easy and their reports are easy. But, the surveys questions are sometimes weird in that they were obviously written in other than English and then translated into English by someone who is not a native speaker. Albatross is based in Dubai but most of their clients are European, with many from Italy and France. The fees are good. Most of their schedulers are extraordinarily appreciative and responsive. Fee payments are always on time, if not early. They use Shopmetrics but have customized the UI so it looks rather different. Shops have a minimum one-year rotation. Some are five+ years.

Like Bob I did not sign up for my new best friend AlbatrossCX who e-mails me about once a week. There never are shops close enough for me to accept. 8~(
BUT they are not on the list of MSC on this site. There are other MSC on the list that are no longer in business.
Who maintains the list? Is there something 'we' forum users can do to update it?

@Rho* wrote:

Like Bob I did not sign up for my new best friend AlbatrossCX who e-mails me about once a week. There never are shops close enough for me to accept. 8~(
BUT they are not on the list of MSC on this site. There are other MSC on the list that are no longer in business.
Who maintains the list? Is there something 'we' forum users can do to update it?

Wow. Once a week? I shop for them as frequently as they have shops. Even with recording in my portfolio that I shop in two separate, major metropolitan areas 500 miles from one another, I get an e-mail once every few months.

I receive personal emails for shops at high end retailers from them. I love their jobs when I am able to do them. Years ago, they were always a high reimbursement only. Now they are mostly a fee. Although i have visited their site, I have never applied or self assigned a shop as there was never enough information regarding the requirements in my opinion. I have never seen or received an option for charity.

Perhaps they contact me because I live, on paper- as the crow flies--close to Chicago and the Magnificent Mile Michigan Avenue.
Not worth it to me to travel over an hour each way no matter how great the shops look. There was one bundle that was offered that would have been worth taking the train into the City to complete three shops but she who hesitates is lost and I was lost.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2021 02:14AM by Rho*.

I have done shops at the airport for them but have never taken a city one. They have been sending me offers regularly but I am hoping to score a reimbursed shop except it seems I waited to long as I appear to be aged out of them. I have never been asked for a donation of the fee that I can remember.
I have the same issue with accepting shops as Madetoshop speaks about. The last shop I looked at the only info about the shop was that it was 175 questions. I also knew where it was and what they sold there. I sent an inquiry for more info but never heard back.

I'm not signed up with this company and didn't receive the email. I don't like this type of solicitation for a charitable request. Under most circumstances I'd consider it SPAM, unwanted junk mail. Most certainly SPAM if I wasn't signed up with the company.

If I was signed up and the sole purpose of the email was to make me aware of a charity I would question the legitamacy of the email. If it was an email from a company that I'm signed up to and they're making me aware of a possible shop with the mentioning of any charity (which I consider a solicitation), I'd be irritated. I have a separate gmail for my shop/IC related endeavors. I don't login to the "business" account looking for ways to give money away. It takes time to read an additional sentence and my time is money. My little IC mystery shopping business is not in a position to make charitable donations. I don't like the nonprofitabable distraction.

Regardless of how it's presented, I don't like it. It's an intrusion of my time/money. I'm not signed up with or aware of any MSC's that are a non-profit or not-for-profit. If the MSC wants to make me aware of THEIR contributions w/every shop completed I may or may not choose to work with that company. Even then, I believe they may be alienating a percentage of potential and current shoppers. Some people may be irritated, offended, or just not care for that particular charity.

Some schedulers work as IC's for more than one company and apparently maintain an email list so they can make shoppers aware of other opportunites with companies they may not be signed up to. It makes it difficult for weeding out a spoofed email and SPAM.