I notice a lot of comments about how minimal the payments are for this work. But I really really need to find a new way to make a living and like doing the shops. Can anyone tell me whether they are able to make a decent living solely from shopping?

I think you will find that the majority say "It all depends on where you live." If you live by/in a large metro area, maybe.

You have to remember - the cost of gas is going up and that eats into your profit. You are better off getting a part-time or full-time job and shopping to help supplement.

Also, what some may consider "making a living" in one area is barely a week's paycheck in another. (Think New York City versus a small farming community in a very low cost state).

However, I would have to say - nope, you cannot consider making a living just by doing shopping. My best month - between BOTH my husband and I we made $1600 - 2/2012. My worst month? Dec 2011 - We only made $473.00; and we hauled butt looking for jobs. Just nothing out there.

There are shoppers who have purchased video equipment and video certification who indicate that they are making good money. I have no reason to doubt that. Mostly what they are doing is apartment shops. Apartment shops tend to have a 1 year rotation from everything I have heard. So unless you hit the road, once you have shopped out the apartment shops in your area you are dead in the water for a year.

It used to be that there were a lot more clients being shopped and fees were the same as now or better. There were fewer shoppers because many folks are needing to cover either unemployment or under employment. Bonuses have become rare. As an example . . .in 2007 I performed a lot of shops for a particular company and between fee, bonus and useful reimbursements I earned an average of $22.84 per shop. In 2011 I performed a lot of these same shops for the same company, but now with more requirements, and I earned an average of $17.34 per shop. The difference was the average bonus between years because in 2011 I received almost no bonuses and had difficulty even getting the jobs due to local competition.

Similarly, in 2007 there were quite a few months where I benefited between fees and useful reimbursements (gas, oil changes, restaurants, groceries etc.) by more than $1000 and several were over $2000. In fact there were a couple of months where the fees alone were over $1000. In 2011 there were only 3 months that fees plus useful reimbursements exceeded $1000 and only one month where fees alone were over $1000. There were no $2000 months at all.

In 2012 there are ever more obstacles being thrown up, more fees have gone down, more clients are missing than have been added, and gas prices have gone up. It is not a good time to be mystery shopping.

Dear FLASH:

Thank you so much for your candor. I really enjoy the work. But I really have to make a living to support my family. So I will keep MS work as an "augment," I guess, and keep looking for my main bread and butter elsewhere.

Thanks for the honest feedback. I appreciate it.

LCP

Ooops, and thank you, too r@inydaZe3. I really do appreciate the guidance at this critical moment.

Love the work, though, and wish it was enough.

Thank you!

It takes not only a lot of video shops, but also a lot of routes, including some days of 30 short shops per day for the folks who are making a really good living at this. AND, it takes quite a while to build a rep as a reliable shopper who will be trusted by one MSC with 600-700 short shops per month, where you get every shop that the MSC has for a state.

Michael in NH, who posts here, made a presentation at the recent Chicago IMSC conference and is doing just such routes. It makes me dizzy to think about 30 convenience store shops in a day, but he has a system and the stamina to do it for a week at a time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/30/2012 01:42PM by walesmaven.

LCP, I would strongly encourage you to keep shopping, but the understanding that it augments some other income stream. There are tax advantages to having your own business and where reimbursements are useful to you or enhance your lifestyle, they can be a real boon. Many of us are retired and this is supplemental income or are working and earnings go to fund something special or augment earnings. I think it does help to have a goal to keep you motivated, so setting aside 1/2 of fees to save for a special vacation or 1/2 of fees to pay down student loans or even to cover particular bills (such as cable TV or electric) etc. can help keep you in the game.

yes it is cause the little town i live in dont have jos like you want.

LCP, I am fortunate that I live in a high volume shopping district. Most times I can fill my schedule and still remain within 5 miles of my home. I've months where I made over $1000. But I remember it's not what you make in this business, it's what you save. I started this because I was unemployed. I initially took essential jobs to help my household, i.e. groceries, car repair. It helped sooooo much. I was able to provide for my family and keep my dollars in my pocket. ven when I spent $ on essential things I didn't mind the re-imbursement. Now I am working 20 hours/per week to maintain a structured job and benifits. I still shop heavily and I make more $ shopping then my permanent part time job. The nature of my shopping jobs have changed to entertainment, i.e. dinner out, movies, etc. I really do credit the shopping with supporting my household when I was unemployed.

Go ahead and start. It will be some decent side income. But work at it to get started. Yes, it does depend on where you live. You can always take jobs when you want. You are never obligated. Go for it.

I think there is a huge difference between "making a living" and "making a good living." Technically I am making a living at this since my bills get paid every month and I have some disposable income. Most months it requires at least some traveling. This month I did not have any overnights, but on Friday alone I made a 500 mile round trip to the other side of the state. Some jobs with very good bonuses became available at 9 am on Thursday morning and I had to clear my schedule and be on the road less than 24 hours later. I also had to be prepared to spend the night if things didn't go as planned. I don't see how someone can do that consistently with a family. While I am supporting just myself rather successfully, there is no way on God's green earth I could support a family

Good point on supporting yourself versus supporting a family, Lisa. Homeowners of course are supporting a monthly mortgage payment in most situations plus unless funds are held in escrow to pay taxes and insurance, have some substantial periodic bills for those items that need to be planned for. Of course if you are renting and paying your own utilities, while you are on the road your water, gas and electric will be minimal in your absence as mostly it will be the refrigerator and clocks still running while you are gone.

Putting 500 miles on the car in a day even occasionally means that if you are leasing the vehicle you need to be setting aside to pay what are likely to be mileage overages when you turn in the vehicle and if you own the vehicle you need to be setting aside towards the purchase of the next vehicle so that you aren't killed with monthly payments once it becomes a necessity. So any excess beyond currently due bills almost should not be considered 'disposable income'.

As a quick and dirty, the income from month 1 needs to cover the bills for month 2 since month 2 is when I pay the credit cards (and most of my work and gas as well as personal expenses goes onto a credit card) even though I am not likely to get paid for the bulk of my work until after I pay the credit cards and other bills. Prior to 2009 month 1 income was likely to cover 70% to 80% of month 2, which means it was mostly covering mortgage, utilities, car insurance etc. Since 2009 I have been lucky to have 50%-60% coverage of bills.

Actually what you said about setting up income has been my method. I have my budget on a spreadsheet and it's lined out for a year in advance and includes all of those yearly and periodic payments. Technically in January I would be working for February, etc. In the beginning I would have been scrambling at the end of January to get those bills paid for the following month. Now I'm usually working at least 2 to 3 months out so my disposable income may not always be great, but my budget has been expanded to include those "wants" I feel I can't live without versus just paying the bills

I bit the bullet a couple of years ago and bought a new car going with a model that was much more fuel efficient and cost efficient, but yes those tires, etc, are all budgeted in. I am adamant about taking care of it so it will continue to hold it's value and expect when I trade it in to be able to do well enough that my monthly payments will not increase on a newer version.

Something I have very little of are reimbursements that are carried over. There are not enough jobs around me with a useful reimbursement so my average is only in the $50 a month range and I refuse reimbursement shops from any company that takes longer than 30 days to pay. I will make an exception to my reimbursement limit (but not the 30 days) for road trips where hotel and gas would be reimbursed and then it is only for trusted companies. Several of them have gotten me my reimbursement before I even saw the credit card bill

Yes, with planning it can be done. I am personally much more likely to go for the reimbursements both for the lifestyle as well as for the replacement to normal household budgetary expenses. We each find our way to make it work within our lifestyle or we go find something else to do or mess with it on a purely part time basis.

I've often read about the types of reimbursements that are available to you and can see how it would have a significant impact on the old budget

A good example (at least in my household) of saving and helping the budget are the dining shops.

I finally got all of my bank work, checking, savings, etc., up-to-date. Leaving things go for 3 months is NOT normal behavior. Before becoming a shopper, I was online daily checking balances and making sure everything was correct. The difference here is fascinating to me!

BEFORE SHOPPING:

1/10/11 - 3/15/11: I spent $1,121.42 on groceries.*

AFTER BECOMING A SHOPPER:

1/10/12 - 3/15/12: I have spent a total of $603.06 on groceries.*

(*INCLUDES: Pet food (2 dogs, 2 cats), litter, cleaning supplies, personal care supplies, etc. Not just "people edibles".)


That's a $500 difference in a year! If I include the restaurants where my husband and I were "over" the reimbursement amount, I am STILL under a year ago for my food bill. That would bring my total up to $727.14 for "food" between 1/10/12 and 3/15/12.

That's a huge difference - I just checked it for isht's and giggles and am still re-calculating the info from Quicken, because it doesn't seem right! LOL! I find the following to be true since I started shopping:

1. We eat less at home. Some nights, too tired to cook, so we eat a bowl of cereal.
2. Eating less = shopping less!
3. Too dang busy to drive into the grocery store because "I'm bored"! So, money just sits there in the checking account, and DH will pick up a gallon of milk on the way home.
4. If we dine out for a shop, I always have leftovers!

Out of curiosity, how are others doing with their grocery budgets?

PS: Now I haven't looked at the gas/fuel. I cringe at that one!

I save at least 25% on Car maint and at least 75% on Groceries. My jobs are definitely centered around my lifestyle. I love this work, I hate the bookkeeping part though.

Awesome information -- and great strategic planning ideas from everyone. I would like to learn more about "apartment shops," because I live near a major city and could probably do a few of those which would help the bottom line.

Also, I really appreciate the "getting started" tutorial with the recommendations of companies to launch with. Maybe I am just new at this, but it seems to me that entering data and receipts from the shop takes as long or longer as doing the shop itself. Do any of you use a wireless equipped laptop to do your reporting in the parking lot (or a block away) to save having to document once on-site, and then again at your desk?

Thank you again for this great information and guidance!!

There are actually quite a few people who fill out reports on the fly or stop for lunch and fill out reports. It seems to be divided by those who want to arrive home with nothing on their plates and those who find it easier to save the road time and fill out reports at the end of the day.

There are folks who do try to report from the field. I have a laptop that if I am going to have an hour or more between shops I may take along and stop in a public library to use a table and their wifi and write up the report. But generally I am home based, go out for the shops, come home and do the reports. There is little reason to fill out the full report in the field and then come home and transcribe. Notes taken work quite well and are quite quick. I generally take them in the parking lot before I start the ignition because they will take under 3 minutes--name & description, time in, time out.

How long it takes to do a report depends on the kind of shop it is. We may do a dinner shop that we are on site an hour and the report takes two hours to write up even though I know the shop like the back of my hand. I am a fast typist but there is still a lot of detail to describe in narrative. On the other hand there are quickie burger shops where it requires 20 minutes on site minimum and the report takes 10 min. Or the grocery shop I most frequently do requires somewhere between 25 and 35 minutes on site to get all the observations done but takes 5-7 minutes to input because it has no narrative.

I think a lot of shoppers spend more time dreading writing reports than writing them. I have self imposed 'requirements': I arrive home and put away any swag obtained on the shops; boot the computer hooked to the scanner while I change clothes, make my potty stop and get a beverage; scan the receipts and because I use a digital voice recorder for most of my shops, transfer the audio files to my thumb drive along with the scanned receipts. Now I am ready to retreat with my beverage and thumb drive to my laptop to write reports. Reports are done with earliest deadline shops done first. When I need a break I go get something from the freezer to cook for dinner and put it in the microwave to thaw, refill my beverage and it is back to report writing. There is no TV or other 'stuff' until the reports are all done, just short breaks that accomplish something that needs to be accomplished. I may have to take a longer break to fix and eat dinner or put away the livestock, but then it is back to reports until they are done.

I personally do not find trying to balance a laptop on my lap in a vehicle is a comfortable way to try to do a report. I think more clearly and work a whole lot faster when I'm not trying to hold an elusive wifi signal and balance a hot laptop that is too close to my body for proper arm position to type. I have tried voice recognition software and spend more time correcting it than it would take to type the darn report in the first place. I have even tried leaving messages on my GoogleVoice voicemail for it to transcribe, hoping I could copy and paste, but those too require too much time to correct before using. I know some folks use aircards with their computers in the field, but that still won't get trying to use a laptop in a vehicle comfortable. Besides, the purpose of this enterprise is to make money, not just to find new ways to spend it!

Thanks, Flash. Great visuals in your response - particularly about the livestock :0)

I use a laptop with wireless card for other kinds of work - single moms sometimes have to work during soccer practice and play dates if the bread is going to get buttered -- so I am probably more used to the awkwardness of car-work.

Thanks for the info about variation in times. There is an endless amount to learn, I am learning.

Thanks, again.

I just had a $3,000.00 month. Depends on how much you work at it.

CindyTr - Outstanding! Congratulations!

That is amazing, good for you. I think that is unusual, for a starter needing to make a monthly living, I'd get a "job" with benefits, and keep shopping for dinners out, food, oil changes and things you have to buy anyway. I did a lunch at Boston Market,(half a chicken, mashed potato's, spinach and cornbread) easy report, took half the chicken home for dinner and didn't spend a cent, reimbursement will come quickly with this company. That would be my suggestion to you, as some months are slow, never the same. My year so far has been slow and just starting to pick up as I joined two new companies and found work. Nothing in this business is written in stone, very up and down, plus time put in on computer (not getting paid for) can be spent making money. Many shoppers do runs, taking you away from home, also Video shopping pays better and may be worth your looking into. Good luck.
CindyTr Wrote:
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> I just had a $3,000.00 month. Depends on how much
> you work at it.

If you can get a regular job with benefits, that would be better. You can supplement your job with this. If the job is not happening, I think you can get by doing this but it will be a killer schedule for a new shopper. I started in 2009 shopping part time and I'm still doing a lot of bottom of the barrel shops, which I define as $15 and under per shop.

This is how April looked: I did $1,247 in fees and practical reimbursements I could use. I worked a total of sixteen days. Of those sixteen days, nine days were three shops or less and I consider them truly part time days. The remaining seven days I consider full time days, which can run as much as eighteen hours including reporting.

I'm giving no consideration to computer time spent hunting and scheduling work, reading guidelines, or desk time constructing forms and getting folders ready to go. I do that in my jammies with coffee and it doesn't bother me that I'm doing something for nothing, because I trade it off for personal freedom with flexibility of schedule.

If I were younger (than 74) I could crank up my schedule and make twice as much, which may or may not be a living depending on where you live and what you consider a living. My income doing this is supplemental. If I didn't have other income, I could support myself doing this, but my house and car are paid off and I'm not supporting a family. Every situation is different.

How much do you need to meet/exceed your monthly expenses? Do you live in an area ripe with fee and reimbursement shops? Are you willing to drive, incurring mileage and time expenses, if need be? What if the client discontinues or cuts back on shops?

There are many variables. I cannot support my household by MS'ing. Also, I am not willing to be a road warrior; I'm a homebody. What I can do is supplement the bank account, make a huge dent in reimbursements which are useful, and enhance our lifestyle.