Best MSC? What do you think of this list?

The Penny Hoarder listed their top 5 MSC. The article is surfacy, but interesting to read their take.

TPH Top 5 MSC.

Sinclair Customer Metrics
Market Force Information
IntelliShop
Elite CXS
Mystery Shopping Service

[www.thepennyhoarder.com]

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.

not the best from my pointof view...the person who wrote that article seems like promoting those 5!

Shopping Eastern Pennsylvania since 2009

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2023 01:58AM by gene.

Perhaps those are the only five MSCs with shops near where the author lives. I can't believe IPSOS isn't listed as it's such a behemoth, but I wouldn't rate IPSOS as one of my top 5 so maybe the author didn't either.

But I agree with gene, maybe they are getting paid to promote those five. After all, The Penny Hoarder isn't what I would call an old school objective (as if any publication is) literary source. They do provide some interesting ideas, but I'm not sure how objective their articles are.

Maybe the author just listed those with A+ ratings from the BBB.

I also disagree with Penny Hoarder. The only listed company deserving a place on my list would be Intelli-shop.

best for what? making money? being reliable? resolving disputes?

jazzy - exactly...Market Force? Intellishop? Both are marginal....

Intellishop is the only one of those with a shop near me. And I never do it, it pays $8 for a convenience store shop.

Teaching kids to count is fine, but teaching kids what counts is best.
Bob Talbert

The Penny Hoarder states, "Across the U.S., mystery shoppers make approximately $970 a week." Need I say anything more about credibility?

Is it a recent article ?

The top 5 MSC is going to be different for different people and for different reasons. Some people might prefer faster reimburse/payment. Others might prefer higher payment, Others might prefer more opportunities (more clients). I don't have a problem with any of the ones listed in the top 5, but since some of the clients are no longer with those MSC or have stopped their shopping programs, I do not do much for any of those 5 right now. I get many more shops/opportunities from other MSC.

Sinclair Customer Metrics: the staff is awesome. The shops suck (2 hours of work for $7 plus $5 reimbursement? Not EVEN if I'm already there, thanks anyway! ).

I've shopped with them for years and never had a shop take that long, unless it was including the training and certification time.

@ceasesmith wrote:

Sinclair Customer Metrics: the staff is awesome. The shops suck (2 hours of work for $7 plus $5 reimbursement? Not EVEN if I'm already there, thanks anyway! ).

@joanna81

I was looking at the Sinclair grocery’s shops the other day. I was a bit taken aback with the request to interact with every employee I run into and an evaluation for every department.

Do you pick up their shops often? I thought of trying out one the shops but the certification test length time and all the requirements just put me off.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/2023 09:33PM by Luna126.

So even if I assume the average shopper is twice as fast as Ceasesmith (sorry Cease that was just to make a point) and does not have to drive for hours to even get to a shop at that rate the average shopper making $970 a week has a 138 hour work week. If I throw in the value of the $5 reimbursement it brings it down to an 81 hour workweek.

@ceasesmith wrote:

Sinclair Customer Metrics: the staff is awesome. The shops suck (2 hours of work for $7 plus $5 reimbursement? Not EVEN if I'm already there, thanks anyway! ).

@sandyf wrote:

So even if I assume the average shopper is twice as fast as Ceasesmith (sorry Cease that was just to make a point) and does not have to drive for hours to even get to a shop at that rate the average shopper making $970 a week has a 138 hour work week. If I throw in the value of the $5 reimbursement it brings it down to an 81 hour workweek.

@ceasesmith wrote:

Sinclair Customer Metrics: the staff is awesome. The shops suck (2 hours of work for $7 plus $5 reimbursement? Not EVEN if I'm already there, thanks anyway! ).

A few years ago I would have put Sinclair on my favs list. They had one project that I made a TON of money on. Seriously, I'd faint from happiness if that project came back. I made THOUSANDS. And no, I wasn't putting in 100+ hours a week.

was that Pizza Pizza :-P ?

@luckygirl0100 wrote:

@sandyf wrote:

So even if I assume the average shopper is twice as fast as Ceasesmith (sorry Cease that was just to make a point) and does not have to drive for hours to even get to a shop at that rate the average shopper making $970 a week has a 138 hour work week. If I throw in the value of the $5 reimbursement it brings it down to an 81 hour workweek.

@ceasesmith wrote:

Sinclair Customer Metrics: the staff is awesome. The shops suck (2 hours of work for $7 plus $5 reimbursement? Not EVEN if I'm already there, thanks anyway! ).

A few years ago I would have put Sinclair on my favs list. They had one project that I made a TON of money on. Seriously, I'd faint from happiness if that project came back. I made THOUSANDS. And no, I wasn't putting in 100+ hours a week.

last time I worked for Siclair when they carry major USA bank account (prior their merger)...that was a yeasr before pandemic.

Shopping Eastern Pennsylvania since 2009

I thought it was $970 a day. That is too funny.

@AzSaguaro wrote:

The Penny Hoarder states, "Across the U.S., mystery shoppers make approximately $970 a week." Need I say anything more about credibility?

even for one week very high

Shopping Eastern Pennsylvania since 2009

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

was that Pizza Pizza :-P ?

@luckygirl0100 wrote:

@sandyf wrote:

So even if I assume the average shopper is twice as fast as Ceasesmith (sorry Cease that was just to make a point) and does not have to drive for hours to even get to a shop at that rate the average shopper making $970 a week has a 138 hour work week. If I throw in the value of the $5 reimbursement it brings it down to an 81 hour workweek.

@ceasesmith wrote:

Sinclair Customer Metrics: the staff is awesome. The shops suck (2 hours of work for $7 plus $5 reimbursement? Not EVEN if I'm already there, thanks anyway! ).

A few years ago I would have put Sinclair on my favs list. They had one project that I made a TON of money on. Seriously, I'd faint from happiness if that project came back. I made THOUSANDS. And no, I wasn't putting in 100+ hours a week.

Lol... NO!

Oh that might be the difference. I don't live near any of their grocery clients.
I used to do a fast pizza place 1 or 2x a month - it was I think 4 pics and usually about a 5-10 minute report including uploading the pics.
I did a similar grocery shop for second to none, I think it paid $14 + a 5 or 9 reimbursement and I think 8 interactions - requiring a question at the butcher counter, deli, etc.....I did that one once and that was it.

@Luna126 wrote:

@joanna81

I was looking at the Sinclair grocery’s shops the other day. I was a bit taken aback with the request to interact with every employee I run into and an evaluation for every department.

Do you pick up their shops often? I thought of trying out one the shops but the certification test length time and all the requirements just put me off.

Did it have to do with credit card labels or cc testing? If so, I did a bunch of those too - paid really nice especially for the level of effort involved.

@luckygirl0100 wrote:

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

was that Pizza Pizza :-P ?

@luckygirl0100 wrote:

@sandyf wrote:

So even if I assume the average shopper is twice as fast as Ceasesmith (sorry Cease that was just to make a point) and does not have to drive for hours to even get to a shop at that rate the average shopper making $970 a week has a 138 hour work week. If I throw in the value of the $5 reimbursement it brings it down to an 81 hour workweek.

@ceasesmith wrote:

Sinclair Customer Metrics: the staff is awesome. The shops suck (2 hours of work for $7 plus $5 reimbursement? Not EVEN if I'm already there, thanks anyway! ).

A few years ago I would have put Sinclair on my favs list. They had one project that I made a TON of money on. Seriously, I'd faint from happiness if that project came back. I made THOUSANDS. And no, I wasn't putting in 100+ hours a week.

Lol... NO!

Only thing Sinclair ever offered in my area was the fast casual Mexican place that has since moved on to Confero as a "reveal/reward" shop. The fee with Sinclair was dismal and the reimbursement inadequate, only advantage was the reports were a snap.

I like Market Force better than most folks around here seem to. Generous rescheduling policy (important to me as I have a full time job and shopping time can be tight), and they've never busted me on anything that wasn't my fault ... can't say the same for some other MSCs.

Intellishop is pretty good but they're a bit thin on shops in my area right now.

Honestly never heard of "Mystery Shopping Service." Are they a biggie?

Things can fluctuate so wildly with mystery shopping. Some of the MSCs I loved in the past became ones I now avoid. However, at this point in time, I'd say Ann Michaels would definitely be among my favorites.

Yes! Every portion of that project was amazing. The signage placement, the testing with no purchase and the testing WITH purchase.... oh I stayed so busy with all of that.

@joanna81 wrote:

Did it have to do with credit card labels or cc testing? If so, I did a bunch of those too - paid really nice especially for the level of effort involved.

@luckygirl0100 wrote:

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

was that Pizza Pizza :-P ?

@luckygirl0100 wrote:

@sandyf wrote:

So even if I assume the average shopper is twice as fast as Ceasesmith (sorry Cease that was just to make a point) and does not have to drive for hours to even get to a shop at that rate the average shopper making $970 a week has a 138 hour work week. If I throw in the value of the $5 reimbursement it brings it down to an 81 hour workweek.

@ceasesmith wrote:

Sinclair Customer Metrics: the staff is awesome. The shops suck (2 hours of work for $7 plus $5 reimbursement? Not EVEN if I'm already there, thanks anyway! ).

A few years ago I would have put Sinclair on my favs list. They had one project that I made a TON of money on. Seriously, I'd faint from happiness if that project came back. I made THOUSANDS. And no, I wasn't putting in 100+ hours a week.

Lol... NO!

Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.

Click here to login

Best MSC? What do you think of this list?

Create an Account or Log In

Official List of Mystery Shopping Companies

Mystery Shopper Magazine