Whose the best?

Im just getting started with this and i dont know much about it so any help is appreciated. But, what company is the best as in if they pay good, and treat you right ect? secretshopper.com is the first company i found and they seem legit, but im not sure yet,

Also, is there any company that doesnt require you to be 18?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/2012 11:39PM by court811.

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There are a lot of different opinions about who is the best. I generally suggest that folks start with Market Force (blue portal) which pays like clockwork and although the shops are overall low paying, there are a variety of nationwide chains they deal with so you are almost guaranteed work wherever you are. Similarly Corporate Research International, Maritz and Bare International. These are fairly basic shops, easy to perform, easy to gain some experience, easy to report and pay in a reasonably short period of time. Overall they have decent instructions so can form a foundation of shops for you while you look for other companies to add to your repertoire that have shops in your area. And although you will hear folks beefing about all of these companies, it is in part because after a while you need to move on. But you need to start somewhere and these are not necessarily companies that you want to keep for the long haul. On the other hand you don't want to start with a shop where you are out of pocket $50 and have the shop rejected! Or spend 6-8 hours on a shop that subsequently gets rejected.

Flash, you probably know the answer to this. OP also asked if any companies hire shoppers under 18. I didn't think there were, but I'm often wrong

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
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Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

LisaSTL Wrote:
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> Flash, you probably know the answer to this. OP
> also asked if any companies hire shoppers under
> 18. I didn't think there were, but I'm often
> wrong

i added that after Flash posted.
but thanks to the both of you

The age at which one can legally contract varies from state to state. If the OP is of legal age to enter into binding contracts in their state then they may be able to be accepted as a shopper with some companies. It may take a few phone calls to make the case and see if the company is willing.

Even though I'm way beyond that, I was still really curious myself!

I just did a little checking and legal age in 47 states is 18 with it being 19 and 21 in the other three. So under 18 would be pretty much out of luck unless it is American Samoa, where the age is 14. However if a younger person has been 'legally emancipated' from parents, they are allowed to contract younger. I will admit I find this a little strange because I was required to take off myself as the custodian on the 'custodian for minor' accounts when my kids hit age 17 and all through their high school years I was throwing away the credit card applications flooding into the house addressed to them.

SPAM

Whats the deal with all the spam on the boards?

I think people Google shopping or something to that effect and end up here. Then they just post their crapola and go away

LisaSTL Wrote:
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> I think people Google shopping or something to
> that effect and end up here. Then they just post
> their crapola and go away

No, it's the equivalent of physical junk mail. Direct e-tailers have automated programs that will troll various message boards/social sites for repeated use of certain keywords tied to their targeted demographics. When they come upon a site that meets some of their criteria, they will either have automated bots register and start spam posting, or hire somebody in Nigeria for 3 grains of rice per day to spam post.

Watch the spam postings here. I would bet you that the majority of them are female targeted, since there are more female MSers and there are several usernames here that have female names in them.

Newbie here....gonna give the two companies suggested by Flash a try...wish me luck !!

Best of luck, NanaZan! Just follow the instructions. Read through them as soon as you have been assigned the job and take notes of all the observations you need to do. Read through the questionnaire so you will know just what you are going to need to tell about. If you have questions, either ask them here or of your scheduler because any job you face someone here has likely performed in the past month. You may want to walk through a different location to practice your first job. Then go do it and don't worry, we all figure that everybody in the store knows we are the shopper :-) The point is that they don't, so it all works.

SPAM

There are a few companies that hire people under 18, they have their parents sign the agreement on behalf of them. I know because I was asked if I could do a long route that required two kids of a specific age. I had to have the parents sign a release form etc and sent it in to the company. They then paid the two kids directly(via check) in addition to me.

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There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots
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When you try to please everybody, you end up pleasing nobody

The companies I would suggest all require you to be 18, and what's a good job for one is not for another. Wait till you turn 18 and register with compliance
jobs, many companies offer them.

Live consciously....

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