Most shops in a year?
There's a reliable shopper on this forum who claims to make 6 figures. Wish he would do a seminar and tell us how. Can't imagine it but then, more than 6 shops a day and my brain is fried.
Shopping domestic and international locations since 2003.
8 shops per day at $46+ per shop. Not in my reality.
I'm glad I don't need full time income doing MS.
I'm glad I don't need full time income doing MS.
I wonder how many $2-$5 phone call shops this person is doing to get to nearly 3k shops for the year.
The only phone calls I will do are the 2 per month for the stage coach bank that pay $25 each. That is $50 per month for very little effort. I'm good with those.
The only phone calls I will do are the 2 per month for the stage coach bank that pay $25 each. That is $50 per month for very little effort. I'm good with those.
How? How does someone average $46 a shop with IPSOS, and find an average of 56 jobs a week that pay that well for an entire year?
Will someone humor me with an example on how it could be possible?
Will someone humor me with an example on how it could be possible?
The top IPSOS earner improved on the 2023 figure by 169% since in 2023 the top earner made $51.2K, The top number for shops was 3912 in 2023 compared to 2934 in 2024. So if it is not the same person, the most number of shops done by one person dropped by 25% year over year! They didn't say that the top earner also had the most shops. If it is the same person, having that $46+ average per shop is impressive.
Interesting that they don't share the type of shops that were performed. Did the busy beaver do more field shops versus phone shops? In 2023 they claimed the highest earner made under 52 grand and then one year later in an environment of fewer shops they shattered that number by over 169%in an environment of fewer shops and fewer bonuses. You can easily average that amount of shops over the short term, but I am sure most would see no more shops in their area and it would bring that average down.
Interesting that they don't share the type of shops that were performed. Did the busy beaver do more field shops versus phone shops? In 2023 they claimed the highest earner made under 52 grand and then one year later in an environment of fewer shops they shattered that number by over 169%in an environment of fewer shops and fewer bonuses. You can easily average that amount of shops over the short term, but I am sure most would see no more shops in their area and it would bring that average down.
@hbbigdaddy wrote:
I wonder how many $2-$5 phone call shops this person is doing to get to nearly 3k shops for the year.
The only phone calls I will do are the 2 per month for the stage coach bank that pay $25 each. That is $50 per month for very little effort. I'm good with those.
Averaging $46 per shop they certainly aren't doing phone calls.
After looking at it again, it does NOT state that the person who did 2934 shops is the same person who is the top earner. I'm referring to the slide show presentation. I did not investigate further, but it is possible someone could do that many shops with phone calls, Chinese food, banks, and oil shops. I just don't know how someone is "making" $137K. The way it is stated, to me that is SHOP FEES and above and beyond reimbursement. If they are including reimbursements for Chinese food or gas, then maybe with that screwy math, it really could get to $137K easier. I just have a hard time seeing shop fees reach $137K. but if you take the $10 reimburse for Chinese food, now you basically "doubled the pay" for the shop. I don't treat the food as "making money". The shop fee is what I "make." If you throw in some of the airline stuff and restaurants, those reimbursements are higher and could help "make" that goal of $137K as well.
I guess we need to establish what they define as "make"?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2025 02:42AM by hbbigdaddy.
I guess we need to establish what they define as "make"?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2025 02:42AM by hbbigdaddy.
@pambam wrote:
There's a reliable shopper on this forum who claims to make 6 figures. Wish he would do a seminar and tell us how. Can't imagine it but then, more than 6 shops a day and my brain is fried.
@pambam I don't see why they would put together a seminar so they can create more competition for themselves. A person that lives in an area with little or no fellow shoppers (competition) has more negotiating power for higher rates than someone who lives in an area that is saturated with shoppers.
Imagine if the top earner is not the same person as the one who did the most shops, then that means that they are averaging more than the $46 and change per shop quoted earlier.
The decrease (25%) in the number of shops by the top "shopper" YoY aligns with what many were discussing in other threads about seeing fewer shops. 3900 + shops in 2023. The earnings is what seems out of whack given Ipsos seems to be offering smaller, if any, or less frequent bonuses.
Props to that person who earned it. You gotta figure they did more than that since they are smart and would pick up other non-IPSOS shops along the way as someone else noted earlier.
@hbbigdaddy I am sure you are kidding. Doubt it is the social media person because their "program" would carry more weight if they said make 6 figures instead of the 50K she claimed.
@hbbigdaddy Claiming they "made" that much money is suspect. Not stated as fees, or reimbursements.
Some shops have extremely high reimbursements, so if they are just looking at $$ paid out by the company, that could be seriously misleading. My reimbursements for 2024 doing this extremely part time for one company were over $52k, but my 1099 (actual profit) should be $1,115. Not nearly as impressive...
And anyone doing 3k shops a year does not have a quality lifestyle, or is subcontracting work out, IMHO. If you were in a position where you mastered one particular shop, could do it remotely and take 10-12 of them per day, and had a continuous supply, it could make sense to just take all that work for one company. It's certainly not something that more than a small handful of shoppers could pul off.
Some shops have extremely high reimbursements, so if they are just looking at $$ paid out by the company, that could be seriously misleading. My reimbursements for 2024 doing this extremely part time for one company were over $52k, but my 1099 (actual profit) should be $1,115. Not nearly as impressive...
And anyone doing 3k shops a year does not have a quality lifestyle, or is subcontracting work out, IMHO. If you were in a position where you mastered one particular shop, could do it remotely and take 10-12 of them per day, and had a continuous supply, it could make sense to just take all that work for one company. It's certainly not something that more than a small handful of shoppers could pul off.
Just the facts. I shop mostly for food. ( I have often thought my ID name should be "ShopsForFood".) 
I keep a spreadsheet and I see that I did almost exactly 700 shops last year (lost a few days data). Now that Sonic is gone, I am doing much fewer. My total spend last year was about 15K and my reimbursed amount plus bonuses about 18K. My "earnings" were enhanced by the use of gift cards with discounts and SUB for opening new CC. My additional expenses for groceries was about 2K ( 2 person household) and my gasoline expense around $1200. We are retired and don't drive much other than my MS. This year, I have cut out all shops that are more than 15 miles from home and am being more selective in general. I get questions all the time from family members but only one has every taken the initiative and stuck with it. I was forced to retire earlier than planned and I will say that I am very pleased that I am able to cover our food expenses in such a way. I shop mostly national chains but there is one regional casual dining company that I average 3 shops a month.
I keep a spreadsheet and I see that I did almost exactly 700 shops last year (lost a few days data). Now that Sonic is gone, I am doing much fewer. My total spend last year was about 15K and my reimbursed amount plus bonuses about 18K. My "earnings" were enhanced by the use of gift cards with discounts and SUB for opening new CC. My additional expenses for groceries was about 2K ( 2 person household) and my gasoline expense around $1200. We are retired and don't drive much other than my MS. This year, I have cut out all shops that are more than 15 miles from home and am being more selective in general. I get questions all the time from family members but only one has every taken the initiative and stuck with it. I was forced to retire earlier than planned and I will say that I am very pleased that I am able to cover our food expenses in such a way. I shop mostly national chains but there is one regional casual dining company that I average 3 shops a month.
@ShopperGirly
Good that you are finding ways to make it work and keep expenses down. but if you are feasting on most of this crap food being offered, then you are jeopardizing your health and while your OOP expenses are low right now your health matters more especially as you get older. I put the "big" in bigdaddy. Now I'm more "medium" daddy and happier and healthier. Wish I would have done it sooner. But if I was to eat this crap being offered all the time (sonic, panda, 5g, etc), I would be worse off health-wise. I will do Panda shops and get the super greens and teriyaki (no sauce) if I'm going to eat it. I do lettuce wraps and don't touch the fries on a 5G shop. But I only had maybe 5 of these a month total.
I like shopping for food as well too. love the TXRH where I can feed 3 people after tax/tip for $50-60 and only be OOP $10 at most for a simple report and food wifey and the kid enjoy.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2025 07:02AM by hbbigdaddy.
Good that you are finding ways to make it work and keep expenses down. but if you are feasting on most of this crap food being offered, then you are jeopardizing your health and while your OOP expenses are low right now your health matters more especially as you get older. I put the "big" in bigdaddy. Now I'm more "medium" daddy and happier and healthier. Wish I would have done it sooner. But if I was to eat this crap being offered all the time (sonic, panda, 5g, etc), I would be worse off health-wise. I will do Panda shops and get the super greens and teriyaki (no sauce) if I'm going to eat it. I do lettuce wraps and don't touch the fries on a 5G shop. But I only had maybe 5 of these a month total.
I like shopping for food as well too. love the TXRH where I can feed 3 people after tax/tip for $50-60 and only be OOP $10 at most for a simple report and food wifey and the kid enjoy.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2025 07:02AM by hbbigdaddy.
Shoppergirly, just curious if your MS food shopping includes any grocery stores? if it does, what do you estimate your split between between grocery shops and eat-away-from-home shops?
I am purely curious.
I am purely curious.
With the popularity of social media and sensationalized media, I rarely believe anything I read anymore, honestly. Everybody's out to sell you something....24 x 7.
I prefer to live here in the real world, with boots on the ground.
I prefer to live here in the real world, with boots on the ground.
No grocery stores but I do have one food warehouse I shop a couple times a year and make a $20 reimbursement. plus $20. I usually buy a big bag of shrimp or sliced ham. Daddy- I eat as healthy as I can. I get the big steak salad at TRH and leave off the cheese. 5G is usually without the bun and no fries. Panda I get the Teriyaki chicken or string bean chicken with super greens. My casual and fine dining all have healthier options.
I am aware I posted this info in the past.
Approx. 2009, a female posted on Volition she had grossed in excess of 100K the prior yr. She completed the shops, while her partner handled the reports. They were on the road 28 days a month and, when unable to secure dining/sleeping jobs, paid out of profits. Each person netted 40K for the yr. I do not recall, but I am guessing that experience was not repeated.
As Steve posted, there can be an enormously wide gap between your payment and net. In the past, I explained to two start-up business people that what they considered they had earned needed adjustments to arrive at an accurate figure. Both remained friendly, but avoided conversation.
Approx. 2009, a female posted on Volition she had grossed in excess of 100K the prior yr. She completed the shops, while her partner handled the reports. They were on the road 28 days a month and, when unable to secure dining/sleeping jobs, paid out of profits. Each person netted 40K for the yr. I do not recall, but I am guessing that experience was not repeated.
As Steve posted, there can be an enormously wide gap between your payment and net. In the past, I explained to two start-up business people that what they considered they had earned needed adjustments to arrive at an accurate figure. Both remained friendly, but avoided conversation.
I’d love to know if that’s fees or reimbursements.
I suppose if you were in the right region and did gas station audits 5-7 days a week, you could achieve that.
I’ve been doing this for a very long time. Even when I did this “full time” I don’t think that did over 1,000 shops a year. My fees maxed out at around $50,000 a year. I only hit that a couple of times.
If you want to talk about reimbursements. There were 1-2 years where I easily exceeded $200,000. I only kept about 5% of that. The rest was travel and/or shipped back to the client in Europe.
(It wasn’t IPSOS or Coyle.) Nowadays, I am lucky to hit $50,000 in reimbursements a year.
I suppose if you were in the right region and did gas station audits 5-7 days a week, you could achieve that.
I’ve been doing this for a very long time. Even when I did this “full time” I don’t think that did over 1,000 shops a year. My fees maxed out at around $50,000 a year. I only hit that a couple of times.
If you want to talk about reimbursements. There were 1-2 years where I easily exceeded $200,000. I only kept about 5% of that. The rest was travel and/or shipped back to the client in Europe.
(It wasn’t IPSOS or Coyle.) Nowadays, I am lucky to hit $50,000 in reimbursements a year.
That's like $46 a shop, assuming they also did 2,900 shops, which isn't a given. There just aren't enough $46 gas station shops to keep anyone busy for more than a week at a time, much less year round. Either they are getting high reimbursements, and I haven't seen many of those on Ipsos, or they are bypassing the boards to get super high fees to fly around either doing a special projects or cleanup work. Good for them either way.
@BayShopper22 wrote:
I suppose if you were in the right region and did gas station audits 5-7 days a week, you could achieve that.
Are there enough gas stations in said high paying areas to sustain that, though? Like 100-200 stations a month without traveling?
The paradox is that near me, there are tons of shops, but also tons of shoppers, so while you could easily spend all day every day MSing, you would probably never clear $50k. The places with higher paying shops do not have the same amount of available assignments, or shoppers...hence the high pay.
My numbers on FT shopping are quite old now. It was more than 20 years ago when I attempted it, but fees were generally higher back then. Reimbursements more so. And the dollar was worth more. I had the advantage of living in a metro area where I could walk to a lot of the outlets where others did not want to pay for parking or deal with traffic, but still could not break $50k in fees. I was easily doing $60k with reimbursements included and could live on $30k when nearly all of my food and clothing was being subsidized by MSing. I was also splitting the reporting with my live-in GF at the time, but the caloric intake from MSing full time was slowly killing us, and we were not able to save much money.
When I moved to scheduling FT, my girlfriend was also working as an editor for the MSC, so we technically made 6-figures combined that way, but being trapped together in a small apartment all day long while dealing with others who were traveling and enjoying fine dining was also not sustainable (for that relationship, at least). I remember working straight through Thanksgiving when I was scheduling. Sitting at the Thanksgiving table with a laptop, ignoring my family and realizing that I would rather be a broke shopper than a full-time scheduler.
The people in the Ipsos photos for that post might be smiling, but I am pretty sure that's as fake as the claim of someone profiting $137k.
I agree with you SteveSoCal on the paradox. I previously lived in a city and could find tons of shops, but the fees weren't very high due to competition. Now, I'm in a more rural area and you can get larger bonuses but it would require more time spent travelling.
@SteveSoCal wrote:
@BayShopper22 wrote:
I suppose if you were in the right region and did gas station audits 5-7 days a week, you could achieve that.
Are there enough gas stations in said high paying areas to sustain that, though? Like 100-200 stations a month without traveling?
Yes if you’re in the right part of LA, I bet you could easily cover 200 stations a month in a 20 mile radius. I’m assuming that the shopper did the same shops in bulk.
Not my cup of tea. It’s a grind. I’ve done gas stations in LA on a route (15-20 years ago). I can’t imagine it’s cleaner, nicer or safer in East Los Angeles or Compton now?
@BayShopper22 wrote:
I can’t imagine it’s cleaner, nicer or safer in East Los Angeles or Compton now?
Depends on the area for East LA. My current neighborhood was dangerous 20 years ago and now people are in bidding wars over real estate here.
There are still very few shops in my immediate area, though. One or two corporate entities have moved in with all the gentrification, and those have shops, but it's mostly independent businesses that are not partaking in MSing.
I did a few hundred shops for them most years. I do not make six figures. I used to mail things. I’ve always done some cell phone shopping and I love Chinese American take out food. Electronics stores and home improvement stores - also my jam. Plus banking. Maybe this person has an intricate system of opening and closing bank accounts for shops?
Once I ran out of gas in Compton and an elderly man bought my gas. Nice things can happen anywhere.
@rargirl wrote:
Once I ran out of gas in Compton and an elderly man bought my gas. Nice things can happen anywhere.
My Camaro Z28 ran out of coolant in the Crenshaw District. I went into a Da Boys market to get Prestone. I couldn’t get the radiator cap off. So in my pink miniskirt, white crop top, white pumps and crazy blond hair, I asked a couple of Bloods for assistance in the parking lot. They were surprised and quite helpful. 10/10 for them.
I drive through Oakland pretty frequently. It’s nowhere I’d want to stop for gas though.
The 8 shops I did today generated well under half of the $375 ($137k/365) the person in the 1st post averages each day.
That includes the value of groceries, gas and cash (fees and reimbursement).
That includes the value of groceries, gas and cash (fees and reimbursement).
Isn't there an in-n-out in compton? BTW....many of the hoodrats in compton left for moreno valley and lancaster
I still remember the "crystal park" push and naming that casino. funny how they were too cheap to make sure all the letters lit up on the sign. I can't imagine the hellhole that place is.
I still remember the "crystal park" push and naming that casino. funny how they were too cheap to make sure all the letters lit up on the sign. I can't imagine the hellhole that place is.
@hbbigdaddy wrote:
Isn't there an in-n-out in compton?
I have never eaten a burger at In N Out. I have had their fries pretty often.
Pro Tip: Their bathrooms are always clean, always free, always unlocked and usually open until 1 am if you are on the road.
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