Welcome ! As a beginner you need to be aware that where a Mystery Shopping Company (MSC) is located often has little or nothing to do with where they have shop assignments.
There are many that have national or even international, clients. For this reason you need to sign up with as many MSCs as you can. To get a head start, you may want to start with some really big ones like Bare (BAI), Ipsos, A closer Look (ACL), Intellishop, and Market Force.With many clients not doing MS during the pandemic, remember that there just are very few shops available just now. But, in order to invest in your MS future career, you should consider signing up with 5 more MSCs on any day when you wish you had a shop assignment but do not.
At the foot of each page of this forum, you will find a list of about 200 MSCs. To check on how they treat shoppers, you can search the forum for comments from shops. But, we aware that some who post here making negative comments about an MSC either don not give information to substantiate their claims and/or never respond when asked for details to explain their complaint. Other posts about MSCs, where details are given AND other shoppers post similar experiences are warning signs. However, remember that just because a few shoppers feel that some assignment are not worth the fees offered, there may be even more who, for good reasons of their own love those shops. Just because I hate 95% of fast food shops, or refuse to do "revealed" shops, does not mean that these are not valuable and even preferred by many other shoppers. So, try many types of shops, more than once, to find what you like and want to do.
Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.