Business licence/Insurance

Do all mystery shops require a business licence? Also: do you carry business insurance to do mystery shopping? Is this required?Who do you use for your business licencing? What is the average cost per month?

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I have both. Some shoppers will say they do not have either. I would suggest checking with your Clerk of Court, local city website, or Police Jury to see if it is mandatory in your area or not. I pay $50 per licenses for location I shop yearly. My insurance is only like $400 or so a year.

@01Happy wrote:

Do all mystery shops require a business licence? Also: do you carry business insurance to do mystery shopping? Is this required?Who do you use for your business licencing? What is the average cost per month?

Shopping Arkansas, Louisiana, & Mississippi.
Thank you. I found out that I can just use my social security number until I make a certain amount of money, use a different name, or hire employees in the state I live. I don't need to have Unemployment insurance unless i have employees, but still not sure on general business insurance because I do not have an office outside of my home. I guess I will call about the kind of insurance if someone wants to sue me. I don't know what kind that is. If someone got fired because of a report, and they wanted to sue me. That's probably important to have.
The insurance I have is a "general insurance" policy for a business. I went through a small local insurance company. I paid a small lump sum and first month and then $40 a month for the remaining of the year. I called around locally and asked if they carried it. Big insurance companies such as State Farm carry it but, I found it to be much higher.

Some shoppers will say that they never heard of a shopper being sued. It is completely up to you.

@01Happy wrote:

Thank you. I found out that I can just use my social security number until I make a certain amount of money, use a different name, or hire employees in the state I live. I don't need to have Unemployment insurance unless i have employees, but still not sure on general business insurance because I do not have an office outside of my home. I guess I will call about the kind of insurance if someone wants to sue me. I don't know what kind that is. If someone got fired because of a report, and they wanted to sue me. That's probably important to have.

Shopping Arkansas, Louisiana, & Mississippi.
An umbrella policy might help if you, as a mystery shopper, cause harm. But what about other types of business insurance? Is there anything for IC's that covers business disruption [who knew what covid-19 could do?!] or other catastrophic loss for a mystery shopping based business?

@ArkLaMissshopping wrote:

The insurance I have is a "general insurance" policy for a business. I went through a small local insurance company. I paid a small lump sum and first month and then $40 a month for the remaining of the year. I called around locally and asked if they carried it. Big insurance companies such as State Farm carry it but, I found it to be much higher.

Some shoppers will say that they never heard of a shopper being sued. It is completely up to you.

@01Happy wrote:

Thank you. I found out that I can just use my social security number until I make a certain amount of money, use a different name, or hire employees in the state I live. I don't need to have Unemployment insurance unless i have employees, but still not sure on general business insurance because I do not have an office outside of my home. I guess I will call about the kind of insurance if someone wants to sue me. I don't know what kind that is. If someone got fired because of a report, and they wanted to sue me. That's probably important to have.

Bach is not noise, Madam. (Robert, in Two's Company)
There is insurance that you can get that covers business income loss.

@Shop-et-al wrote:

An umbrella policy might help if you, as a mystery shopper, cause harm. But what about other types of business insurance? Is there anything for IC's that covers business disruption [who knew what covid-19 could do?!] or other catastrophic loss for a mystery shopping based business?

@ArkLaMissshopping wrote:

The insurance I have is a "general insurance" policy for a business. I went through a small local insurance company. I paid a small lump sum and first month and then $40 a month for the remaining of the year. I called around locally and asked if they carried it. Big insurance companies such as State Farm carry it but, I found it to be much higher.

Some shoppers will say that they never heard of a shopper being sued. It is completely up to you.

@01Happy wrote:

Thank you. I found out that I can just use my social security number until I make a certain amount of money, use a different name, or hire employees in the state I live. I don't need to have Unemployment insurance unless i have employees, but still not sure on general business insurance because I do not have an office outside of my home. I guess I will call about the kind of insurance if someone wants to sue me. I don't know what kind that is. If someone got fired because of a report, and they wanted to sue me. That's probably important to have.

Shopping Arkansas, Louisiana, & Mississippi.
FWIW, lawyers here are running ads looking for clients whose insurance companies aren't paying on those policies. I don't know how common the problem is.

@ArkLaMissshopping wrote:

There is insurance that you can get that covers business income loss.
A very good first step would be to make sure your auto insurance has a business pursuits rider. Standard auto policies typically do not cover you when operating the vehicle for anything business related. The cost is nominal and covers a very real area of substantial exposure for mystery shoppers.

If you're on your way to a shop and there's an accident you may have no coverage. You may not have comprehensive coverage either. So that windshield chip won't be covered if it happened while on business travel.

This is true for employed persons also. If get in an accident while on your way to visit a client in a personal vehicle on behalf of an employer or even just running to buy office supplies or to check the company PO box, and get in an accident, you may have no coverage unless you have the business pursuits rider.
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