Hi There,

I am new to mystery shopping and was wondering if you tried to do this as a full-time job, what are the average earnings per month once you get rolling? I am unemployed and just want to get an idea from people who are actually doing it successfully.

Don't plan on it as regular full time employment. Job availability varies greatly by area--major metropolitan area, large city, small city, town, rural. It also varies by shopper saturation in your area--areas of higher unemployment and/or retirees tend to have a lot more shoppers. It varies by how far you are willing to travel--if I doubled the distance I would almost double the number of jobs available.

Several years ago, while the economy was still booming, there were a lot more clients being shopped. With the collapse of the economy, some clients have gone out of business entirely, some have reduced the number of locations open, some have reduced the frequency of shops and some have eliminated shops entirely. This combined with significantly more shoppers in my area has led to most shops being grabbed quickly at their original fee. Shops that have been $7 for years I rarely did three years ago until the fee was raised to $14 or $21 and still that client was good for 15 jobs per month. These days you grab them at $7 because they will all be gone from the job board within an hour of the time they are posted. The client has also cut back the number of shops by 50% so it is even tough to get 15 of them per month any more.

My own shopping looks at the overall value of the shop to me, both in terms of the fee and the reimbursement. Half to two-thirds of the value of the shops I do is in goods or services. It is fees that pays your bills and reimbursements that can supplement your household budget when reimbursements are for items you would need to spend your own money on anyway.

In my current market, with my parameters about how far I am willing to travel, I earn around $500 in fees per month and $500 in reimbursements. I view this as a very part time employment during retirement, but I am cherry picking what jobs are available. If I took as many shops as I could schedule into a day I would be taking a whole lot of low value jobs and would work 4-6X as hard and perhaps double the fees monthly.

I'm not sure there's any way you could get enough to keep you busy full time. Although there are a lot of really cheapo shops around and you could do a number of them and not make any money. I don't think you could make a full time income out of it. I work full time and do this on the side for fun and free eat-outs. I do so love to eat out. So I take as many dining shops as I can, with a few fastfoods in between, although fastfoods are not my favorite eat, and take other shops for fun and pocket money. Welcome to the forum, there's lots of info here. You will probably have a good time and probably make some money, although I don't think you'll get rich on MS'ing.

First, you need to be ready to spend money to make money. All the driving around eats up gas, so plan your shops in groups of 2 to 4, and map the route to be efficient. Also, you may be required to make small purchases, many of which you will be reimbursed for: gas, gum, a meal, a hammer, etc.

Second, it varies when companies pay you: 2 - 6 weeks.

Third, keep good notes and keep your shop history up to date on your laptop. You will need all your mileage for taxes. This is my first full year at mystery shopping, and I am going to try assuming that anything I do not get reimbursed for is my expense - so spend wisely. If the shop has a maximum reimbursement for a meal, I try not to spend any more than that.

I have grossed $900 in 2010, but my expenses eat up almost 2/3 of that. I don't believe that it costs me 30 cents/mile, so I may gain something there. I figure if my husband and I can have a meal out, or go bowling for free, it might be worth all this.

rarely done Wrote:
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> First, you need to be ready to spend money to make
> money. All the driving around eats up gas, so plan
> your shops in groups of 2 to 4, and map the route
> to be efficient. Also, you may be required to make
> small purchases, many of which you will be
> reimbursed for: gas, gum, a meal, a hammer, etc.

Absolutely correct and wherever possible, plan out your schedule to be going to shops at least in the same direction on the same day/trip.
>
> Second, it varies when companies pay you: 2 - 6
> weeks.
>
> Third, keep good notes and keep your shop history
> up to date on your laptop. You will need all your
> mileage for taxes. This is my first full year at
> mystery shopping, and I am going to try assuming
> that anything I do not get reimbursed for is my
> expense - so spend wisely. If the shop has a
> maximum reimbursement for a meal, I try not to
> spend any more than that.

And keep track of expenditures for required purchases where you are NOT reimbursed (a "flat fee" shop) as these are deductible as business expenses as well as the situations where you are actually not reimbursed enough to cover the required purchase(s). The latter include situations such as you are required to purchase a "basic oil change" and reimbursed $30 but the actual cost was $34.87. The $4,87 is an "unreimbursed business expense". Or you are reimbursed "up to $1" to get a receipt for a small purchase and discover there is nothing you can readily spot in the store that is less than $4.99. Your total comes to $5.34 because you purchased the cheapest thing you could find. $3.34 is "unreimbursed business expense.
>
> I have grossed $900 in 2010, but my expenses eat
> up almost 2/3 of that. I don't believe that it
> costs me 30 cents/mile, so I may gain something
> there. I figure if my husband and I can have a
> meal out, or go bowling for free, it might be
> worth all this.

Yes IRS allows a 50 cent per mile mileage deduction for at least the first half of 2010. Unless you are driving a car that is depreciating fast or leasing a vehicle, the chances are good that 50 cents per mile more than covers your gas, tags, insurance, maintenance and other vehicle expenses. You will find it useful to enhance life style with shops (like the bowling or eating out) as reimbursements are not taxable.