I believe that is true. It depends how large a city you live in. I kive in a city of 65,000 and I have a couple of companies I work for but have never made large bonus.

How do you find new companies in your area?

Hi!

There are several ways to find more companies in your area...

1. There is a huge list of companies on this website (scroll down to see the link). Sign up for them - lots of them. Start with the "Most Discussed" as they are larger companies with work nationwide. I'm with about 150 companies.

2. Watch the job postings on this page. Various MSC's post open jobs across the country.

3. You can sing up for services such as "JobSlinger," which will periodically email open jobs to you.

4. Expand your area. Most large bonuses come from rural areas where few shoppers will travel.

@TerryJane wrote:

How do you find new companies in your area?

@Hoju wrote:

I can’t figure out what that means...?

[abc7chicago.com]

@iShop123 wrote:

@Hoju wrote:

I can’t figure out what that means...?

[abc7chicago.com]

That seems so random and unrelated.

@Jill_L wrote:

So...just curious...should I talk to the MSC and explain that I would pick up the shops but that it might take a couple weeks to get all of them done?

Why not? What do you have to lose by writing a quick, professional and personalized email? 2 minutes?

ETAdd 2 minutes

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/2019 07:35AM by nslinhar.

I don't know how you can earn $500 in a day with this, but congratulations to those who have managed it (without video shops). You must have worked hard, developed relationships, and figured this all out!

Folks who make this type of money frequently share their “secrets” here. You’ve been around long enough to see this. You are correct that it is easier with video.

@Niner wrote:

I don't know how you can earn $500 in a day with this, but congratulations to those who have managed it (without video shops). You must have worked hard, developed relationships, and figured this all out!

@MFJohnston wrote:

Folks who make this type of money frequently share their “secrets” here. You’ve been around long enough to see this. You are correct that it is easier with video.

@Niner wrote:

I don't know how you can earn $500 in a day with this, but congratulations to those who have managed it (without video shops). You must have worked hard, developed relationships, and figured this all out!

People are gracious here and are kind to share and help. I still do not get $500/day doing this just based on what I have seen. Once in a while, I have done crazy bonused shops, but those were perhaps ten or fifteen in total, not things that I have seen on a regular basis where people could make over 25k-30k/year doing this. Some of you do, and that's wonderful. The longer you do this, the more you learn. I know I don't know a lot! I know much more than when I started though. Learning and figuring this out is a big part of the enjoyment.

@nslinhar, Thanks for the encouragement

@Niner

Some questions...
* You want to avoid video. Why?
* How many MSC's are you with??
* How far from home will you venture as you shop?
* Will yo do apartments and/or car dealerships?
* Do you seek out bonuses or just home they come to you?

Bonuses: Today I did four USPS shops (regularly $12) for $200. I have four more on Monday for $250. I got those for several reasons:
1. I never flake and never have shops returned. (I've had one....)
2. I check mass emails.
3. When I saw the shops were being bonused, in more rural areas and not being assigned, I made an offer to the scheduler. It was accepted. (Note: I look for similar hard-to-fill shops on job boards and make offers.)

Most of my offers are not accepted. However, sometimes I'll get counter-offers. Sometimes, the scheduler will contact me at a later date.

@Niner wrote:

@MFJohnston wrote:

Folks who make this type of money frequently share their “secrets” here. You’ve been around long enough to see this. You are correct that it is easier with video.

@Niner wrote:

I don't know how you can earn $500 in a day with this, but congratulations to those who have managed it (without video shops). You must have worked hard, developed relationships, and figured this all out!

People are gracious here and are kind to share and help. I still do not get $500/day doing this just based on what I have seen. Once in a while, I have done crazy bonused shops, but those were perhaps ten or fifteen in total, not things that I have seen on a regular basis where people could make over 25k-30k/year doing this. Some of you do, and that's wonderful. The longer you do this, the more you learn. I know I don't know a lot! I know much more than when I started though. Learning and figuring this out is a big part of the enjoyment.

I do shops where I could be a legitimate and real customer. I have no issue shopping at Dior, LV, Chanel, or the like, but was not believable at Ross (they knew, I am sure of it). I will shop BMW and similar, since I fit their demographic. Video shops are outside of my comfort zone, I don't want to be on camera, have my voice recorded, or record others. We go between two major cities every week, so I shop two major markets. I have done an apartment shop, but I do not have time to track someone down. I will ask for bonuses if I don't want to do a shop and am asked to by an MSC. This is purely lifestyle. Over the summer, I was off and was doing this "full-time," and made around 2k/month, if that, with a lot of running around. Seeing what I have seen, $500 per day on any regular basis seems challenging. If someone does this full-time, that person should video shop.

MFJohnson,
You are giving a lot of great advice for people who are trying to make a go of this full-time, so thank you for doing that, and for your reply and advice to my post.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/27/2019 05:22AM by Niner.

I just hit a personal milestone for me...$3000 in a month! I spent a lot more time doing it, but a lot of it is thanks to the advice I've gotten here, mainly being more comfortable asking for a bonus and refusing a shop if it isn't worth it.
I don't know that I'll hit that much again during the school year, but it's shown me that I should be able to make the summer quite profitable.

I made 800 in a day between Parking shops, opening a credit card shop, tax shop and sport event evaluation. of course I can only combine those shops once a year.

*You want to avoid video. Why? I just think it is above my level of commitment, I'll leave that to professional mystery shoppers. Maybe I do 1 and I like it.

* How many MSC's are you with? Around 80 total, actively work with 10.

* How far from home will you venture as you shop? I took a 1000 miles flight for one, 2000 miles round trip so my limit will be 2001 miles.

* Will yo do apartments and/or car dealerships? I don't like to be so memorable, so I avoid them. Unless the bonus forces me to accept them.

* Do you seek out bonuses or just home they come to you? 95% of my weekly work come from schedulers offering bonuses, you get that when you work for many years and have a good reputation based on reliability. Many experienced shopper would agreed.

I know you won't tell me who is giving you these great vacation shops but please consider it. I have had a bad year and would love a free vacation. You lead an awesome lifestyle!

@Mossy
I do hope you realize that my comment was more directed at the poster who did not see how $500 could happen. Trying to make that much money is not what everybody tries/wants to do.

English Morning- Coyle.

$500 hotel fee or is that reimbursement?

@bluegirl wrote:

$500 hotel fee or is that reimbursement?

For myself, the $500 refers to the fee. It's usually a 2 day shop. Reimbursements for me are usually an average of $2000 for the 2 days. It really depends on what is involved with the property.

I spent $8,000 over a weekend in August at a hotel. The client cut a check for me 48 hours later, which was nice. I was planning on waiting a month for it.

@bluegirl wrote:

$500 hotel fee or is that reimbursement?

$500 hotel fee plus reimbursement. I am on a five night hotel assignment right now. It pays $1200 fee plus hotel, spa, food and beverage, airfare, etc in reimbursement.

$400-$500 for two night/three days is the norm as a fee but they are not vacations (far from it) and obviously no they are not coming from Coyle where the fees are far lower (though the experience might be more vacation like I suppose).

Making $500.00 in a day is rare, so let's not say you can make that every day, as many jobs have a 3 month wait to re-do. I notice Ispos has cut their fee from 17.00 for a big box to 12.00. Target jobs do pay a bit more, but much more of a hassle. I don't see it, but then I don't work hard. Good for those that can make that on a regular basis.

duplicate

How rare or $500 days? That's an interesting topic... For somebody who just occasionally shops on the side (most folks), I'm sure they are non-existent.... I shop as a side job and have only been doing this about three years, and I have had five or six? I have no idea how often somebody who does this as a living hits the mark, but I'm guessing it is with some regularity.

I usually think of $300 as a good target for a single relatively full day, without wiping myself out.

The 30 cent per mile was part of the agreement to complete the assignment, offered by the company giving the assignment. Many companies that offer tasks instead of calling them mystery shops sometimes offer a mileage incentive.

I hane never seen that kind of fee paid by Coyle, The most they seem to pay for hotel shops is $95 and they want you to live close by so they don't have to pay for travel.. How are you getting $500 fees?

@RuralRunner wrote:

Great article. The writer mentioned 30 cents/mile for a mileage deduction. I'd like to know where that figure came from.

That's the same rate I figured also and use it. Of course I add for overnight lodging when necessary, and I must get at least $100 in shop fees.

I would agree that jobslinger is a great place to find new companies to shop with !!

@EnglishMorning wrote:

I hane never seen that kind of fee paid by Coyle, The most they seem to pay for hotel shops is $95 and they want you to live close by so they don't have to pay for travel.. How are you getting $500 fees?

By shopping for companies other than Coyle.

I just came back from a $500 day. I was on the way to do four shops (2 at $100, 2 at $110), and got an e-mail from a scheduler for an emergency shop (another $100). Gladly picked it up. Not a single video shop among them. The first shop took 20 minutes, the second and third 6 minutes each, the emergency pickup at least 45 minutes (I had to stop and print out the paperwork AND prep for the shop, and was on-site for half an hour), and the last one
20 minutes. I was then about 200 miles from home, after completing 600 miles of an 800 mile circle. And yes, it was an 18 hour day.

Last week, also had a $500 + day. Three shops at $100, 2 at $75, one at $70; and a whole slew of $14 shops that consisted of geoverifying a location and taking a photo of the storefront that were in tiny towns that I was driving right through to get to my other shops.

In a rural area, this is good money. Minimum wage around here is $10 an hour, and the only people making more work for the schools or the government (federal and state; our county only has 2,000 people, so there's not a lot of local government). So even if it's a 24 hour day after adding in reporting time, I console myself with the thought that a lot of people where I live work 40 hours a week and make less than I made in one day.

Yes, I am exhausted.

But no more so than if I just stood on my feet for 8 hours at the local gas station!