how many companies do you work with?

I'm fairly new to MS, and am signed up with four companies. I was wondering how many is "normal" to work with.
Seacaptain1947
Pacific Northwest

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What does it take for me to get started to make so type of monies and get into the field of working under cover. This is what I have always wanted to do and being retired now this will work out great for me. I cannot wait. Happy New Year to All.

Lots and lots.

I just started in Nov. getting my feet wet, then decided I was going to make a little business out of it in Dec. I am retired and need to stretch my fixed income a bit.

I spent a lot of time on this forum reading, reading and more reading.

Then started signing up with companies on the list below. I think I'm up to about 120 companies. I haven't tracked all of the ones I signed on with because it was obvious they were not doing work here in the SW where I live.

I think it depends on how much work is available where you live as well as how much work you want.

I have no idea how many I've actually signed up with. Over the years there have been 60 plus that I've actually completed jobs for and some of those may only be one or 2 shops. The number I work with each month varies as well. What you want out of mystery shopping will dictate the answer to that question. If it is going to be a hobby and you are more interested in dinner or lunch out occasionally and some reimbursed groceries, you don't need to bother with many. If you want to make any type of living out of this then you need to join the ranks of shoppers who are registered with anywhere from 150 to 300 companies.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

Apply to as many as you are interested in and keep only the ones you are comfortable working for. You will be surprised at the number of companies who will contact you based on referrals from other companies or schedulers, once you have established a very good record. My policy is to work only for companies who respect shoppers and value them.

Start with five to see if they have the assignments you want. Keep it simple so as not to be overwhelmed. You need to be organized and allow no distraction when doing your tasks. Be sure to never renege on your obligation unless you have a very serious reason. That will give you the reputation required to be in the top of their lists. Then, without your realizing it, you will be offered assignments by other companies who will ask you to sign up with them. Good Luck!

Like Lisa, I am signed up with a whole lot of companies and have probably done at least one job for 60-80 of them over the years. In a standard year there are probably 40-50 companies that have at least something available in my market. Of those there are probably 10 companies that are just not worth working for (chasing payments, 'attitude', etc.) and another 10-20 who just pay too little to bother messing with. So in a normal year I am working with 20-30 companies. Folks often want to know what the 'best' companies to work with are and that is truly a personal preference thing. You find companies with whom you mesh well and those that just are a PITA and I always laugh because the ones I work well with often are the same ones others find a PITA and vice versa. The only legitimate companies we all seem to agree are not worth working with are those that regularly don't pay shoppers according to their stated pay cycle.

I really do appreciate all the feed bac that I received to my question. This was very helpful to me. And I do understand what you mean about being in it for the right reason. Knowing what I want out of this. I want a career. I still want nice things and being able to work at my own pace. This will be the right thing for me. So once again thank you. God bless.

I did shops for 39 companies in 2011. I'm signed up with approximately 80.

Of those 39 companies, 4 made up 50% of my shopping pay and 11 made up 80%.

I've signed up with 70+ but so far only done jobs for about 15. But then, I only started November last year. I'm still picking up "first jobs" with various companies almost every week. It pays to apply with as many as you can find, I think.

D'Agosto

"What does it mean? You ask. I answer not/For meaning, but myself must echo, What?/And tell it as I saw it, on the spot."

This forum has a great list of MSC's companies. Like many others, I have signed up with many and do shops for a few. I keep track of all of my sign-ons using Roboforms. While it is a free program, you do need to purchase an upgrade to store lots of passwords. I happily paid the fee. I just click on the name, it links to the site and then loads my user name and password. It makes it easy to plow through the list of MSC's I am signed up with. I also have a list of companies that don't have shops in Texas and check that list less frequently.

Hi I just started last November, I did 7 shops my first month and 16 shops in December. I have signed up with about 40 companies. And I have done jobs for about 10 different companies. I am retired and really enjoy the shops. Some of the surveys seem kind of long wanting a comment for everything. But I enjoy shopping and eating out and the extra money I can make.

I am signed up with about 200 companies. I work for 30-40 in a year and make 90 percent of my fees from about 12 companies, plus reimbursement only from about 6 more (hair care, oil changes, etc.) HOWEVER, about once per quarter, and always in Jan and October (the starts of many MSC'sfiscal years) I check just about every web site. This is because clients tend to move their accounts in October or January, depending on their fiascal years.

Every year, I have also found at least one additional company that I ad never heard of, signed up with, and then made substantial fees from them. In 2011 that was a company that made up almost 20% of my fees for the year!

Sooooo, always be on the alert for changes and new things that will make money for you. That means maintaining at least some communication with many, many more companies than you may shop for routinely, AND haunting the forums for mentions of new companies.

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.

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