Hello....I'm sort of new to this site. I signed up a few years ago and then never came back :'(

I began mystery shopping in 2005 and did shops pretty extensively. I picked up all that I could that were available in my area at the time, and even traveled quite a bit and picked up shops as I traveled. I either traveled for pleasure and picked up shops, or I would try to stack shops in the Denver area and travel there a couple times a month and work. I always regretted that I didn't live in a bigger metro area.

After doing that for a couple of years, I went back to school for my master's degree. I shopped a bit during that time...maybe one or two shops a week, slowly phasing them out as the school work got more intense. Upon graduation, I was 5 months pregnant with my 4th child, and decided to home educate my children, so I got busy with family stuff and pretty much did NOT mystery shop from 2012 through 2016.

In 2016, I picked up a few shops to make a little extra money for a trip that we took, but after doing shops for 3-4 months, I stopped again.

Now, I'm trying to pick up shops again. Now I'm trying to shop more regularly. However, I'm seeing less jobs; I get fewer email notifications; and I think that mystery shopping might be dying out.

Or maybe, just maybe....I got kicked off some companies' email lists for lack of participation and/or forgot some of the companies and log in credentials that I had before.

Currently, I'm just with intellishop, RBG, Amusement Advantage, and one or two others that I just signed up with and have not gotten familiar with. But the bottom line is that if I didn't clear out my email in a week, I'd have over a thousand shop offers. It doesn't seem that busy now....?

Welcome! The problem is almost certainly the number of MS companies (MSCs) that you have signed up with. To have many options, busy shoppers are signed up with 100 or more MSCs. So look for the list of legitimate MSCs at the foot of the page. A good paln is that, on any day when you do not have a shop, but want one, sign up with 5-10 more MSCs. Soon, your in-box will be full of offers. There are 200+ MSCs doing business now.

Thank you so much for that information. I will be trying to sign up for more companies

At the minimum, one should be signed up with fifty or so companies. 100+ is more realistic for anyone wishing to be a professional shopper. That said - and I have said this before in other threads - whenever I start to worry about the number of shops in a given month, I find that the month ends up being one of my most profitable. One cannot judge 30 days by the first week.

It depends on clients and requirements. Some shops I used to see a few years ago now have quarterly rotations when they didn't before. Also, the types of shops are changing with technology. I was out of it for a few years and as soon as I did a few, I was overloaded with shop options - so that might happen for you!

Well, I'm only signed up with maybe a dozen companies, so that might make a difference.....

Thanks for your replies!