I just started Shopping 2 and a half months ago. Man.....it was a rough start lol I had no clue what I was doing, kept missing due dates and flaking on shops. I had no idea I needed to stick to a due date and how important it was to do so! lol, I now work for a bunch of different companies, but one of the first ones I signed up with was ISS, and I get so bummed out about my shops with them because my score is so low from screwing so much stuff up in the beginning. I rarely get any shops available to me with them, and if I do I usually get declined. I did all the testing suggested to help my score out a little, but I don't know what to do now to get it any higher. I have plenty of other companies I still work for, but I liked that App and would like to get more jobs with them. Just don't know what to do about my crappy score.
Anyway, I didn't post to talk about that really, just wanted to come on here and say hello. I absolutely love doing these jobs so far. It's the perfect line of work for someone like me. The worst part is having to wait so long to get paid though. You seriously have to wait like 2/3 months before you start seeing decent paychecks coming in! That's really rough when most of your job is driving around all over the place with gas at $5 bucks a gallon SMH.
Anyway....I'm in Flordia myself....and would love to hear any tips or advice some experienced shoppers would want to give? I am all ears and will take anything I can get! lol, I really like doing this work as I said, and I want to be good at it....no great at it. So definitely send any pointers or anything you got that might help me out! loll I'd really appreciate it!!!
XOXO
KristinBBKF

@KristinBBKF Welcome to the world of mystery shopping! My tips: Use a calendar to write down your shops along with the company, pay, address and any other information. Also, find the one company that you like the most and always check their boards to find the shops you love best!
Happy shopping!

Kristen,
Welcome to the Forum! Where in Florida are you?

Try contacting the scheduler of one of the shops you want to do on ISS and explain what you just explained to us in your post.

Years ago once when I just started up, I did the same thing with a mystery shop company and the scheduler blocked me from the site but I emailed her and explained myself and she gave me another chance, and I made sure not to mess it up again.

I am in AR. My husband and I are going to FL in July for 2 weeks. We have a huge mystery shopping route going on within these states: AR, TN, MS, AL, GA, FL, LA. Staying in FL the most time. And we are super excited. Never been to FL.

Yeah, I had another company block me from using their app during my first week of doing this. I've tried reaching out to them to give me another chance but I never hear anything back. Oh well, there are plenty of other companies to work for. I will try doing that with ISS though. I like working for them and hate that my score has gotten so low. Hopefully, I can climb back up with them! lol
That's so cool about your big route! I had been assigned my first route this past week, but the client put it on hold so I never got to do it Hopefully, I will get to do another one soon. It sucks being the grunt doing all the little jobs, in the beginning, lol I can't wait till I climb the ranks and can get the bigger better paying jobs. But I really like doing this work so I will put the work in to get there! Maybe one day you can visit Florida! I could never live anywhere else lol

I live in Deland, right in between Daytona and Orlando

Welcome @kristinbbkf! Due dates and no flakes are huge in the industry as you have found out (unfortunately, the hard way) but just take it one day at a time. I hope you have success explaining your situation - I overbooked myself quite often when I started out. I am old school, so I really like the advice given to you by @Shopper797 about writing your shops down. It helps me - when I write, I remember much better than when I enter shops into a digital calendar. Everyone is different though. There is no right or wrong way as long as you are hitting the dates, performing quality work, and raking in the dough! Happy shopping

Dang, I was super late seeing your post that you were coming to Florida! How was it? Did you love it? It's so dang hot here right now lol I'm also curious about these huge routes you speak of....lol What exactly do they entail? The only thing I know of Routes is the small NJOY routes I've been doing for the last couple months lol

So....since I wrote my original post...I have gotten way more professional and way more organized with my shops lol. I bought one of those desk calanders teachers usually have that I keep on mh main desk to write my shops down on so I know what I'm doing for that day. I have files for every day of the week, and I've created my own "Job Sheets" that I fill out every day with all the information about each job, address, phone, hours, etc and then I have checklists for every job, like Guidelines, GPS Verifier, Exterior photo, other required photos, etc. I change them almopost every other day cause I'm always adding new things to them, so they are still a work in progress lol I also bought a budget planner that I keep track of my income and expenses for every day. I'm getting a lot better with my time managment and keeping track of everything, but I still mess up sometimes lol. I'm getting there! But I am enjoying this work so much, I just want to be great at it.

Anyone going to the Ipsos Shop Talk in Georgia next month? Been thinking about going, it would be my first "convention" I'm excited to meet other shoppers and hear from real professionals.

Welcome! I am in Florida also. One thing I found to be very helpful is to use a dedicated email address only for mystery shopping-related communication. Check it frequently so you'll be less likely to miss out on great shops that get assigned quickly. You will need a PayPal account that is registered with the same email address as the one you're using in your shopper profile, but that's not a problem even if you're already using PayPal under a different email - they allow two accounts per person. Also, sometimes you can increase your shopper score by becoming a certified shopper. And if you add yourself to the IC Pro mystery shopper registry, it gives you a leg up with many companies to be selected for more shops (the service is free). I definitely recommend IPSOS, if you're not yet registered with them. They have great banking shops that pay well on their Shopmetrics platform (they also have a Sassie platform). They pay much faster than most companies and the bank shops are consistently available - account opening, complaints (both in-person and by phone). These shops also pay very well, although fees go up and down and sometimes you have to play the waiting game in order to get the higher fee.

I have seen those NJOY jobs pop up in my area. How long does it really take to do and what is involved? It says it should only take 10-15 minutes and only lists remove old marketing material and put the new marketing material in its place as the job.