Hi folks,

Many thanks to the ones who posted and were discussing the MF change in payment policy. When I signed up to be on that platform, I never put in any direct deposit information because I would have to track that information down. I have a main checking account but I also have what is basically a throwaway account from a bank that I did business at many years ago. That account gets used very sporadically here and there but this is a good opportunity to link it to MF for direct deposit since that account hardly ever even has any money in it but I’m glad I kept it open for times such as this.

As I understand it, if you signed up for direct deposit with MF, you will still get an ACH deposit during the month following when you did the shops. The $50 minimum thing only comes into play if you have not signed up for direct deposit. Is that correct? I’m really happy that someone posted that because like everyone else, apparently I signed it without really looking at it.

And on the topic of pay, all these companies with their slow pay are really pathetic. For the most part, the mystery shopping companies are dealing with major chains and unfortunately these chains have ways of negotiating very favorable payment terms for themselves, meaning they don’t have to pay their vendors for 60 or maybe even 90 days or beyond. That means the mystery shopping companies likely aren’t getting paid very promptly and of course we shoppers are at the bottom of the totem pole. It just kind of sucks because these are clearly all small business people who are unfortunately under the whim of these major retailers.

Rant over.

You correctly summarized my understanding of what the policy is, although the agreement itself is not in agreement. I signed without reading all of the terms. Then I decided to keep doing shops since I could wait to be paid. Then people started explaining that DD is not affected anyway. I got a call on Sunday evening for a nicely bonused shop for tomorrow (Tuesday). I assume it was dropped by a shipper who didn't like the new, official, terms.

@MS007 wrote:

As I understand it, if you signed up for direct deposit with MF, you will still get an ACH deposit during the month following when you did the shops. The $50 minimum thing only comes into play if you have not signed up for direct deposit. Is that correct? I’m really happy that someone posted that because like everyone else, apparently I signed it without really looking at it.

I was paid for 2 shops through 3-26, but have not been paid for any since. My April shops total to about $180.

Most MSCs are paying within 30 - 40 days. I did find a few that had longer terms and I moved them to the bottom of my list. I will only do a shop for those if it is a really good fee. I added a column to my spreadsheet of who pays when and by what method. It helps me keep track of payments and when to expect payments. There are only a handful that pay quickly.