Hi everyone, this is my first post here! am Canadian and a total newbie at this shopper thing, had just starting the orientation sections in some of the company websites mentioned in this forum...so nice to see many of your advises and comments on different things. it's been really helpful reading through.


Here's a question I want to ask (appreciates if any Canadian/American veteran shoppers veterans can give me some clues)

I wonder if anyone know what it means to be working as a "contractor"? What are the downs and perks of it? what do I need to do knowing that i'm working under a contract? (I know there's probably filing tax? but I'm really not clear about what and how to do it and if there's other things I need to do?)


BTW the links in this forum are fab. and this forum rocks.

It means that you are self-employed, and thus subject to the regulations on taxes for Canada as a self employed person in any business would be. It could mean you get more write offs-though I won't pretend to have any knowledge of the Canadian tax structure, so perhaps not. It means that the only rules you need to follow (other than taxes) are the ones between you and any MSC you contract with. READ their ICA's carefully, and keep a copy of each one you sign (whether the signature is virtual or in ink.) Each company has different rules and policies. Knowledge of them is key to getting paid for a job. The down side is there is NO guarantee of income, even for jobs sucessfully completed. That is due to the fact that shoppers are far down the totem pole when MSC's get into financial trouble. It also is because of other factors, such as the client might reject a shop the MSC accepted, etc. KEEP EVERYTHING you have for paperwork about a job until at least the time the check or payment via e-sources has cleared. After that, keep only what you need to fulfill your terms of the ICA or that you might need for tax purposes.

Dee Shops has certainly hit the basics. More specifically, when you sign up with a company you are agreeing to the terms of the ICA which Dee has mentioned. When you request or self-assign a job, you are agreeing to follow the instructions for that particular job.

There is no job-by-job signed contract. And even with the job there may be two sets of instructions--one general set and one specifically for the location/time you are performing the job. If there are conflicts in sets of instructions/agreements, generally the location/time specifics set has priority over the others, but watch in the company's guidelines and if in doubt about conflicts, clarify it with your scheduler or with the company before you do the visit.

As a self-employed person, you are running a business. You need to do your own record keeping for your 'company' that needs to cover what every business covers. You need your records to be good enough that you can determine what you are owed, what you were paid for, what your business expenses are, etc.

The independent contractor has both a down side and an up side. The down side is that it is not consistent employment, you will spend a lot of time lining up work to do, you will occasionally run into unreasonable companies or schedulers, you will occasionally not get paid. The 'not get paid' is a very disturbing situation, but it happens. Sometimes it is nitpicking nonsense, sometimes it is outright fraud when a company 'hires' shoppers when they do not have the cash flow to pay them and sometimes it is due to mistakes you made while doing a shop. The up side is that you have your own business to choose what works for you. There is a great deal of variety in this work. I do some telephone shops, but mostly service evaluations at banks, stores, gas stations, hotels and restaurants. Each job has its own 'personality'. Each company you work with has its own 'personality'.