Hi! I've been browsing these forums for a little while now and I have learned so much! I'm new to mystery shopping (I've completed 5 shops so far) and I have 2 unrelated newbie questions.

1. I've signed up with the majority of reputable companies that have websites listed at [mysteryshop.org]. However, some companies only have an e-mail/phone number. How do those companies work? Do I just e-mail my qualifications and they will let me know if they have a shop in the area? Also, do they e-mail forms to be completed that I fax in or are they electronic?

2. Some mystery shopping companies have shops but they don't let me see the forms until I agree to do the shop. Is this just how it is for some companies or is there a way to see the form (to check if it is too complex/too many narratives)?

For example, I thought this one company had a really easy grocery shop and I figured ok I need to grocery shop anyway so just getting a reimbursement sounds good! I couldn't see the form but when I signed up, it was way too many narratives and involved way more checking/talking to employees than the description originally conveyed. I found a way to cancel the shop because it was definitely not worth my time and listed the reason as "Not enough way compensation/too much work" but I would hate to do that again.

Thanks for all of your help!

Welcome! I am relatively new as well. At the bottom of the page is an official list of mystery shopping companies that you may want to sign up with. For the ones you asked about woth just phone/email, some companies do not have a job board and just email you when they have shops.

I'd also like to see the details before I sign up for a shop. From what I've read on here, some schedulers will send them to you. Others don't. I think they are pretty understanding if you cancel immediately. Just don't wait to look at the guidelines and cancel a week later.

I'm sure the veterans can help more.

Good luck!

1) Just because a company is a member of the MSPA is no guarantee of 'reputable' though it does tend to be a general indicator. It mostly means they paid their MSPA dues and gave lip service to behaving professionally. I would strongly encourage you to rather use the list at the bottom of each page of this forum as "Official List of Mystery Shopping Companies" because these are companies for which you will find discussions on this forum by shoppers who have actually worked with the companies. The companies don't buy their spot on the list here by paying dues.

I don't know about the 'just an email address/phone number' issue because I don't use the MSPA site. But it seems to me that PayPal and some other companies that offer no shops and do no scheduling have paid their MSPA dues and are or were on their lists.

2) Companies will generally not let you see their surveys before you have agreed to perform the shop because they consider these things to be confidential. Some companies will not even let you know who you are shopping until you agree to perform the shop.

Confidentiality - When a company spends the time and money putting together an evaluation tool they are hardly interested in having their competitor just steal it, make a quick change or two and use it themselves. This has happened and does continue to happen, but the companies try to prevent it. Similarly, if I am an employee at XYZ and discover that MSP ABC is the company doing shops on which we keep getting marked down, if I could see the shop dates and see what I am being evaluated on, I could get the bonuses for scoring well on the shop. Yes, it does happen. Again it is in the best interest of the integrity of the shops to prevent it.

Yes, sometimes you will find that a shop is just not worth doing. There are graceful ways of quickly cancelling out so that they have plenty of time to assign the shop to some other shopper. Many of us will go ahead and perform the shop on a one time basis to avoid cancelling and indeed it may not be nearly as bad as it looks on paper.

Flash Wrote:
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> Many of us will go ahead and perform the shop on a
> one time basis to avoid cancelling and indeed it
> may not be nearly as bad as it looks on paper.

I agree. Learning experiences are invaluable.

What is the "graceful" way of cancelling?

The most graceful time to cancel is as soon as possible, as in immediately, and not on the day of the shop. Canceling is never a positive but sometimes we do it. I cancelled a couple of shops today that I applied for yesterday because I couldn't get a program to work. I downloaded CutePDF so I could convert jpeg items to PDF and my computer went all hinky on me. I removed it and downloaded from a different site. It went strange on me again. Didn't have time to get it worked out today and the first shop was today, so I cancelled. Not good, but necessary, and I had a reason. I restored to an earlier date and am back to normal but still don't have CutePDF or any other converter.

I once had to cancel a shop for the same reason Mary. Initially the MSC gave me a citation which I disputed and they rescinded because it was out of my control and they offered no other option. I never could figure out why the program wouldn't work on that computer.

Thanks so much for the advice/suggestions!

Before taking a new shop i try to research it to see if the report has multiple narratives/if people feel it is worth the pay (which the ones i have been seeing are $9-$15).

Many times people say to wait it out until they are bonused.

How do you know when they get bonused. ..by an email? I only get emails right now about shops from a few companies but not all of them.

I'm not sure of negotiating the wait out/bonus game.

for advice on bonuses do a search here for bonuses as there has been plenty of discussion. The longer you are in the business the better idea you will get.