Market Force used to be my favorite company to shop for. However, in the last six months or so, I have noticed they are posting several shady shops in my opinions. A lot of fast food shops with no fees. No fees? Who wants to go drive and write a lengthy report for a gross unhealthy burger or a mound of overrated fried chicken strips to get paid back in a month? Then they banned me from shopping from one place and wouldn't give me a reason (even though all my shops were accepted with no questions). It is sad, but luckily they are plenty of other companies out there who are fair to their shoppers.

When MFI fired me almost 15 yrs. ago, their procedure was to remove the line to view new jobs. As I am not a WHY oriented person, their lack of an explanation did not concern me. I do both understand and respect, though, some folks desire to know why the association has changed.

Recently, I've been working towards a deep spring-cleaning that will take forever. I mention this because this includes old digital files. I stumbled upon an old hard drive with mystery shopping files from when I first started. Initially, there was a feeling of nostalgia. Even looking at the documents and pictures, it re-jogged my somewhat idyllic and eidetic memory, in terms of visual recollections from the location and shop.

Anyways, in my area, for the most part, the payments, reimbursements, and requirements were relatively the same from around six years ago compared to now. I'm not sure about the frequency of bonuses. There was a long hiatus in between for the burger and chicken finger shops. After completing the burger and chicken finger shops recently with that much time in between, I now see the shops as something that's low stress and easy to complete.

Maybe it's based on market, but over the past two years though, I have noticed some worthwhile shops. Report wise, I don't think I've spent more than 10 minutes on a report. When a small amount of narrative was required, it might've taken 20 minutes.

Someone will take them for no pay. If not, they will raise the fee to $3 and put it on the "Hot" list.

@Okie wrote:

Recently, I've been working towards a deep spring-cleaning that will take forever. I mention this because this includes old digital files. I stumbled upon an old hard drive with mystery shopping files from when I first started. Initially, there was a feeling of nostalgia. Even looking at the documents and pictures, it re-jogged my somewhat idyllic and eidetic memory, in terms of visual recollections from the location and shop.

Anyways, in my area, for the most part, the payments, reimbursements, and requirements were relatively the same from around six years ago compared to now. I'm not sure about the frequency of bonuses. There was a long hiatus in between for the burger and chicken finger shops. After completing the burger and chicken finger shops recently with that much time in between, I now see the shops as something that's low stress and easy to complete.

Maybe it's based on market, but over the past two years though, I have noticed some worthwhile shops. Report wise, I don't think I've spent more than 10 minutes on a report. When a small amount of narrative was required, it might've taken 20 minutes.

Well, you didn't address my main concern, which is that they don't give ANY fee for these shops unless they get no replies. Even when they do it's like $3-5.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/2025 12:22AM by HowardJuice23.

Maybe the MSC can answer ... I guess there are people who really enjoy the food, and the reimbursement goes a long way. Who knows?!

It really depends on the area and who is grabbing the shops. Most of the higher end burger shops go pretty quick but I recently did one for $30. This is pretty much the only time I will take them anymore. I also noticed one mattress shop left and made an offer of $30 and they accepted it.

The fast food places they have here and there start off with zero fees but again, I have waited and saw a few go up to $15 for a drive thru shop. I mean, that is not bad and the report was so simple.

So is it Marketforce or is it the people that just want to eat and are not concerned about the fees? I know that there have been less bonuses this year, amongst all of the MSCs, as compared to last year. Social media opened peoples eyes to mystery shopping but hopefully the ones that are just in it for a meal will get bored and move on.

There has always been a lot of competition in my area. If I want the shop I pretty much need to get up early and grab it before it is gone even with no fee. If I wait for a small bonus I have to drive a half hour or more each way to find a less popular location. Those locations usually do not have a lot of other shops around. Definitely not worth it to me to drive an hour round trip to some other area thru LA traffic to get a bonus or even a fee of $3 or even $10. Mostly they are offering me a bonus of $3 to $5 to drive 450 miles.
I noticed on the thread about how much to charge for driving time and it was suggested $20 an hour or $1 per mile. I have never seen a high enough bonus to make that happen in my town.

@HowardJuice23 wrote:

@Okie wrote:

Recently, I've been working towards a deep spring-cleaning that will take forever. I mention this because this includes old digital files. I stumbled upon an old hard drive with mystery shopping files from when I first started. Initially, there was a feeling of nostalgia. Even looking at the documents and pictures, it re-jogged my somewhat idyllic and eidetic memory, in terms of visual recollections from the location and shop.

Anyways, in my area, for the most part, the payments, reimbursements, and requirements were relatively the same from around six years ago compared to now. I'm not sure about the frequency of bonuses. There was a long hiatus in between for the burger and chicken finger shops. After completing the burger and chicken finger shops recently with that much time in between, I now see the shops as something that's low stress and easy to complete.

Maybe it's based on market, but over the past two years though, I have noticed some worthwhile shops. Report wise, I don't think I've spent more than 10 minutes on a report. When a small amount of narrative was required, it might've taken 20 minutes.

Well, you didn't address my main concern, which is that they don't give ANY fee for these shops unless they get no replies. Even when they do it's like $3-5.

Pretty sure this is a client thing, not a MF thing. MF has 2 burger clients. The one named for a quintet of men starts at $9 base at the popular locations, even higher at the hard-to-fill ones, and can reach $35, $40, $45 at the latter. I've even gotten paid $50 plus reimbursement a few times at the hard-to-fill places.

The one that primarily serves at drive-in stalls, and is named for the video game hedgehog, starts at $0 plus reimbursement, then will climb slowly, $3, then $7, etc. If someone flakes late in the cycle you might get lucky and get $20-25, but that's rare.

Keep in mind that the Quintet of Men restaurant, according to reports, doesn't advertise much on radio-TV-etc. and believes in maintaining an active schedule of mystery shopping to improve its product and foster good word-of-mouth, as opposed to advertising. That would explain the higher fees there.

The hedgehog one advertises. A lot.

I'm sure MF would pay higher fees if the drive-in client wanted to allow higher fees.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/2025 08:06PM by KokoBWare.

The chicken finger restaurants are quite popular in case you haven't noticed during the latest dinner rush. Many shoppers will gladly do it for reimbursement only. If you don't like it, then let someone else take it. The free chicken is a nice treat and the occasional $3-7 shop fee is the icing on the cake. I get most of my shop fees from the last-minute burger shop cancellations anyway, and even an occasional burger shop with the regular shop fee is fine if I'm in the area anyway and want a quick and easy meal.

Unless I am missing your point, the reason they don't always give fees is because they don't want to. They would rather keep the money than give it to you!

If I am missing something in question, I'm sorry.

Dan

@HowardJuice23 wrote:

@Okie wrote:

Recently, I've been working towards a deep spring-cleaning that will take forever. I mention this because this includes old digital files. I stumbled upon an old hard drive with mystery shopping files from when I first started. Initially, there was a feeling of nostalgia. Even looking at the documents and pictures, it re-jogged my somewhat idyllic and eidetic memory, in terms of visual recollections from the location and shop.

Anyways, in my area, for the most part, the payments, reimbursements, and requirements were relatively the same from around six years ago compared to now. I'm not sure about the frequency of bonuses. There was a long hiatus in between for the burger and chicken finger shops. After completing the burger and chicken finger shops recently with that much time in between, I now see the shops as something that's low stress and easy to complete.

Maybe it's based on market, but over the past two years though, I have noticed some worthwhile shops. Report wise, I don't think I've spent more than 10 minutes on a report. When a small amount of narrative was required, it might've taken 20 minutes.

Well, you didn't address my main concern, which is that they don't give ANY fee for these shops unless they get no replies. Even when they do it's like $3-5.

@jp43209 wrote:

The chicken finger restaurants are quite popular in case you haven't noticed during the latest dinner rush. Many shoppers will gladly do it for reimbursement only. If you don't like it, then let someone else take it. The free chicken is a nice treat and the occasional $3-7 shop fee is the icing on the cake. I get most of my shop fees from the last-minute burger shop cancellations anyway, and even an occasional burger shop with the regular shop fee is fine if I'm in the area anyway and want a quick and easy meal.

Yep. I've received the chicken finger shop with a $14 fee for a later time slot. Again, MF reached out to me with the higher fee. I assume someone flaked.

Let the shops come to YOU.

Maverick1 opines--Let the shops come to YOU.

Bob agrees--Amen and awomen!

I’m not sure why MF is being singled out here. Here’s the business as I understand it – Ron’s pizza wants mystery shops done, they put it out to bid to some MSC’s. Ron’s has a set of things they want to find out, this may include a simple, short report or it may consist of extensive photos and essays. The MSC calculates the cost of shoppers, schedulers, editors, websites, apps, etc. in order to accomplish the number of shops wanted, then they add a profit margin or they will go out of business. If the MSC can get the average shopper for $0 + a free pizza, their profit goes up (a little), if it takes $20 the profit goes down, if it takes $50 the MSC is likely losing money on that shop. Yes, MF tends to be one of the companies that has fewer narratives and rather simple “idiot proof” reports, so they tend to (at least at the beginning) pay less than some others, but the business model is the same, pay the shopper a high enough fee to get a shopper who is capable of successfully completing the shop/report but low enough to make a profit, they probably don’t much care that one shop is $0 and another is $50, they just want the average to remain under, say $20 and the number of shops sufficient to satisfy Ron so they can get Ron to renew the contract. MF seems to do a good enough job with at least some of their clients that they keep coming back.

From my speculation/understanding, it's somewhat of a zero-sum game. Where a bonus budget is largely reserved for difficult locations. If a shopper is in a position to command a large bonus, it's good for the individual shopper, but it's most likely not going to happen for shoppers in certain areas. Unless, some event like late payment caused a large number of shops to go unfilled. That's just my guess!

Other than the last month where they took longer to pay, I can't say I've had a bad experience with them.

I don't bother applying for any of the burger jobs anymore and just wait for them to contact me. The base fee they pay and reimbursement barely cover cost and time.

@lxa330 wrote:

Other than the last month where they took longer to pay, I can't say I've had a bad experience with them.

I don't bother applying for any of the burger jobs anymore and just wait for them to contact me. The base fee they pay and reimbursement barely cover cost and time.

What? You wait for them to contact you? You sound like a Maverick.

Well done Padawan! Well done.

I've noticed their shops going to MAO at around $13 in my area. So apparently I'm not the only shopper who has realized you can get much more pay.

Don't take it personally. It's bottom feeder jobs. Don't do them any favor. Only take what is advantageous to you. I only put in effort that I am paid for. They pay me peanuts, they will get min effort.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2025 05:53PM by hksh1.

They cut back on higher fees. With the inflation we had since Covid, it's not worth the effort unless they're paying at least above $20. More if I have to drive more than 5 miles.

They have so few clients left, they may be struggling to stay afloat.

I used to do the cell phone audits back in the day! I think it was for them. Att and Cricket. I think the Cricket ones are somewhere else now.

@87Supra wrote:

I used to do the cell phone audits back in the day! I think it was for them.

I did the cell phone audits that GFK had before Ipsos swallowed them up. (I edited your comment so that it wouldn't violate forum rules on my post)

@Morledzep wrote:

@87Supra wrote:

I used to do the cell phone audits back in the day! I think it was for them.

I did the cell phone audits that GFK had before Ipsos swallowed them up. (I edited your comment so that it wouldn't violate forum rules on my post)

GFK rings a bell! I have probably worked for almost all of them that had stuff in my area over the years. I very, very rarely mystery shop anymore! I really just do revealed stuff. Used to love the marathon shops with the old company using Mobi Audit. I did them heavy for a few years and was actually able to see positve results I think. Some stations got sold and cleaned up and some just got cleaned up. I like to feel I played a part in that!

Years ago MF use to appear to be a caring company. (a decade or so ago) They would give Birthday Bonuses and Shout Outs, and much higher fees on those 3 dudes & arches shops. Now, it is what it is. Deal or don't do them kind of attitude. They lost their ability to be concerned enough to value their shoppers. After Covid, they became focused on task completion at the lowest price possible. It did not help that people went online to tell the entire world what they did to earn extra cash. In this day, as someone said, wait for them to come to you or check frequently if you have that kind of time to see if the price increases. Personally, I have not done a shop with them since they started with these low ball prices which is not worth my gas even if I am in the area for something else. I rather pay for something healthier at the rate fast food is destroying lives..

I rarely go to their site anymore. They were one of the first companies I got involved in but stopped once I realized there were more sites out there willing to pay much more and most times for less the hassle. Surprised that company is still around honestly. Them and Secret Shopper.

Market Force has also had issues with their payment recently, or has that only been me?

@Kaito wrote:

Market Force has also had issues with their payment recently, or has that only been me?

They seem to have issues maybe once a year, but otherwise they consistently pay on or around the 20th of the month. It sounds like any lingering issues as of late are from those using PayPal instead of direct deposit. I still recommend Market Force, especially to someone who is new to mystery shopping, as the reports are often easier to deal with and they are much more flexible for scheduling.

I would just appreciate it if they’d stop calling me. I made the mistake of accepting some shops over the phone. I didn’t want to continue to do one of them and the caller decided to call me 7 times in 3 hours. I emailed support asking why this was acceptable. No reply. They’ve called me literally every single day since then, and that was 3 weeks ago. I just landed from a flight and found a text from them, too. I see no option on the site to block them from calls. Disgusting.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2025 03:59PM by Hockeymoose.

@Hockeymoose wrote:

I would just appreciate it if they’d stop calling me. I made the mistake of accepting some shops over the phone. I didn’t want to continue to do one of them and the caller decided to call me 7 times in 3 hours. I emailed support asking why this was acceptable. No reply. They’ve called me literally every single day since then, and that was 3 weeks ago. I just landed from a flight and found a text from them, too. I see no option on the site to block them from calls. Disgusting.

Just answer the first call and tell them you'll only do the shop for a certain amount. I say $30. They either stop calling or call me and offer the $30. At $30 plus reimbursement, I might just take the shop. But they're not calling me several times a day.

The other option is to block them with your phone company. But i have noticed their overseas scheduler call now show as GA based calls. True GA based schedulers have the ability to grant nice bonuses on the spot no questions asked.