The pay some companies offer is frustrating sometimes. Even more so after reading this:

[mysteryshopblog.com]

Pretty amazing numbers.

Thoughts?

There were two things that stood out. The first was that customers sign one to three year contracts. That means there was really no excuse for MF to start paying $12 for a shop and within 4 month reduce the fees twice, finally landing on $8. Oh wait, there was. As the article pointed out they have experienced a 24% increase in revenues. It's not hard to see where that increase has come from now is it

If I get $7 for the shop and $11 for the burger at the "fast Casual" place and it's 2 miles down the road...then I think $18 bucks for 20 minutes is worth my time

See that's where shoppers differ. A free burger is of no value to me so it is just a $7 shop. You may also want to remember when the restaurant reimburses $11 in food they are actually paying you about $3.65.

I have been watching CORI for a couple days and one of their shops was $4 pay, $1 Reim (several for the same client). I figured I'd watch till they went up a bit. This evening I logged in and someone has snapped them up. I couldn't believe they would take them for so little money as it will hardly pay for their gas and car upkeep running from one shop to the next.

Last week I noticed that someone did the same thing with a little convenience store shop where several of them were spoken for pretty quickly and they only paid $3. Again that's hardly enough to pay the gas to run around to all those different stores.

The only thing I can think of is that in this economy there may be people who are so afraid of missing a couple bucks that they'll grab at anything which only means they are selling their time, energy and vehicle pretty cheaply.

I also wonder WHO are these people????????????????????????????????????????????

I would not only like to know WHO but would also like to see the kind of reports they turn in. If they don't have enough common sense to figure out how much it's costing to do the shops them vs. how much they are making for doing the shops . . ..

I think it's insulting that CORI starts theirs off so low to begin with! Come on... $4 for the home improvement store shops and you have to have SIX employee interactions and an extensive narrative! INSULTING! And I also don't understand why anyone would do it for so little. It's very close to home so sometimes I'll do it for $12, MAYBE $10 if I have to go there for something else anyway, but that's about it. I usually wait for it to go to at least $15.

I have taken the $3 convenience store shops when they are the exact location of a convenience store I go into regularly anyway and the shop is in no way out I my way.

The 2nd paragraph begins by mentioning "helping others;" I work to help BOB.

With respect to CORI, an MSC from whom I requested deactivation before completing any work, this is business and obviously their model is successful. While being devoid of any interest in a business relationship, I admire their ability to turn a profit.

I personally will take a low payment, but ONLY if I am being reimbursed for food because my fiance eats a ton of fast food. So getting paid $7-$10 to do the shop, plus a free meal, works out for me because I won't have to spend money to buy dinner that night.

My thought is that the people who take these low paying shops are novices and will eventually wise up and stop doing them for that ridiculously low payment, or they will stop shopping because it doesn't prove to be beneficial to them.

That previous statement was not in reference to shoppers like gigishopper who does a low paying shop at a place she goes to regularly. Like me, she has made it work for her.

But in reference to that CORI shop which pays only $4, if all of them are being snapped up in a particular area, assuming it is one shopper doing them, that person obviously doesn't know better (and definitely isn't a part of, or reads, this great and resourceful forum.) That particular shop requires a lot of time and work if it is done correctly and with integrity. And to do it for for that amount of money???

One of the gas stations regularly shopped fronts the strip mall of the grocery store I visit a minimum of 3 times a week. I never took that shop for $4. Gigi you really need to think about two things. First, you are allowing them to devalue your time. Second, they base future increases on what shops have gone for in the past. That job will never increase or will increase much more slowly.

I do have to disagree with the description of "extensive narratives." Try writing up the sales interaction for that job. There aren't enough characters available for more than a few sentences, LOL!

The shop in question can be completed correctly in 20 minutes and the report can be done in 10. That said, $4 is not enough for me to bother getting dressed, LOL!

HaveARayDay Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>That particular shop requires a lot of time and work if it is done
> correctly and with integrity. And to do it for for that amount of money???

Some od the shops i see in my email actually make me upset. They want to pay you 5 bucks to drive across the city and eat a burger then spend 30 minutes on the information. PALEEZE, I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but equally I am not the rustiest!

Take the same time and go do the higher paying shops, and yes, do include the Burger Joints for the free lunch. Heck, you re there, go for the lunch as well Go for the 20 dollar shops first, then fill in the cracks in time with the lunches and other things like that. The only shops I will NEVER accept are the ones that reimburse you for your $$$ spent, they do not pay. If you screw up on this one you can loose the cost of the meal that you payed for. Then, I truly feel this way, sometimes they will look to find something (minutia / iota) to refuse the shop, but they still send it in). I have shopped for over 10 years and I swear, I feel some companies do this.

You can do it! Go for it!

Don / Vegas



plmccut Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have been watching CORI for a couple days and
> one of their shops was $4 pay, $1 Reim (several
> for the same client). I figured I'd watch till
> they went up a bit. This evening I logged in and
> someone has snapped them up. I couldn't believe
> they would take them for so little money as it
> will hardly pay for their gas and car upkeep
> running from one shop to the next.
>
> Last week I noticed that someone did the same
> thing with a little convenience store shop where
> several of them were spoken for pretty quickly and
> they only paid $3. Again that's hardly enough to
> pay the gas to run around to all those different
> stores.
>
> The only thing I can think of is that in this
> economy there may be people who are so afraid of
> missing a couple bucks that they'll grab at
> anything which only means they are selling their
> time, energy and vehicle pretty cheaply.

plmccut Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have been watching CORI for a couple days and
> one of their shops was $4 pay, $1 Reim (several
> for the same client). I figured I'd watch till
> they went up a bit. This evening I logged in and
> someone has snapped them up. I couldn't believe
> they would take them for so little money as it
> will hardly pay for their gas and car upkeep
> running from one shop to the next.
>
> Last week I noticed that someone did the same
> thing with a little convenience store shop where
> several of them were spoken for pretty quickly and
> they only paid $3. Again that's hardly enough to
> pay the gas to run around to all those different
> stores.
>
> The only thing I can think of is that in this
> economy there may be people who are so afraid of
> missing a couple bucks that they'll grab at
> anything which only means they are selling their
> time, energy and vehicle pretty cheaply.

In this economy they are not afraid of missing a couple of bucks they are afraid of starving. This is why the federal government is moving to "protect" shoppers from themselves.

Minimum wage is minimum wage. The mystery shopping companies attempt to skirt around minimum wage by hiring desperate slaves that will work for nothing.

You must figure your time, your cost of travel vehicle expense or bus fare. The time to perform the shop, the pre-shop prep like reading guidelines which must be read to make sure scenarios and compensation do not change and the time to do the reports, you may have more cash in your pocket if you decline the shop.

If the shop offers less than $10 compensation and it takes you 2 hours pre-shop, performing the shop and post shop reporting, and you pay for travel expenses you are making less than $5 an hour.

If you use the rationalization that you are comminuting and will be there anyway the MSC is counting on that to reduce their rates. If you pick up shops like popcorn, by the hand full to share the expenses, that savings should profit the shopper not the MSC's

Still, when your stomach is growling some people need food. A hamburger that is precooked and put in a drawer, pulled out and reheated in a microwave and served to you in 2 minutes because the hamburger joint's priority is speed rather than quality of product is better than being hungry.

I am not that desperate. You should be fortunate that you did not have to take that charity from a MSC. In this scenario, who is taking advantage of whom? It seems like an exchange of value (a hamburger) for a value (a report) like a handout to a homeless person.

Has America reached this level? Sorry to speculate that it has and the MSC's and their clients are profiting from that. If I did the shops I would give the burger to a homeless person and ask how it tastes for my report. With the fee, I would not know what to do with that. It probably will not pay for the gas to get to the location.

I realize the OP's link is to a MS blog, but why is this not considered SPAM? Only one post directing people to a blog by an anonomous "expert" that is bringing in ad revenue for everyone that clicks on their blog. Also I found it interesting that many of the blog titles were the same titles of threads started around here.

I really would like to hear from people who are taking these $3 shops.

I also go to one location every Saturday where I have 1/2 hour to wait while my daughter takes a violin lesson. This mall has the famous '$7' shop. I can easily do this shop but I wont do it as the MS company is exploiting you.

The MS companies will continue to keep the rates low if there are people like us taking these low paying jobs. We need to smarten up!

That's exactly my point. 30 minutes of my time is not worth $4. I know I said "a lot of time" which is relative.

Also, excellent point about how even doing a $3 shop on a regular route devalues one's worth and also causes companies to offer a minimal amount for similar shops. Thanks for that.



LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The shop in question can be completed correctly in
> 20 minutes and the report can be done in 10. That
> said, $4 is not enough for me to bother getting
> dressed, LOL!
>
> HaveARayDay Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >That particular shop requires a lot of time and
> work if it is done
> > correctly and with integrity. And to do it for
> for that amount of money???

That's why I love the new xx shops. I've done them a few years ago for another company. STN now has them. Same rates, the report however can be done in about 5 minutes if there are no comments required. I hate the purchase part and often return the item a few days later to another location. But that just means an extra buck or two in my pocket. Minimum wage is $8 here. Thats $7-9 I'm making for about 35 minutes of work.

Or how about Playstation, $15 for 20-35 minutes.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/19/2012 03:30PM by sferro.

You need to edit your post to either remove the client name or the MSC. Per IC agreements and the posting guidelines of the forum it is a no no to mention both in the same thread. In the bottom right hand corner of your comment is a blue edit link

plmccut Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I would not only like to know WHO but would also
> like to see the kind of reports they turn in. If
> they don't have enough common sense to figure out
> how much it's costing to do the shops them vs. how
> much they are making for doing the shops . . ..


LMAO yeah I'd like to see my mother's reports myself. I am on her computer and when I went to check if my last report had been graded I was able to log in to her account. She has a gas station shop, $6. And also two fabric shops, $3 each, still in the preassign stage. WTF your not going to make your $50/day goal by nabbing those kinds of shops. There are so many gas sation shops within 10 miles that are $12-19. Really what is she thinking.

Shame on you MF.....I know someone is getting rich from this industry, not us.
We shoppers will never get a raise when companies just throw us away for no reason, and move on to new shoppers. They are then able to keep prices down,
Boycotting is one way, but of course, then you wouldn't get your lousey burger.
The other thing is (my case), when we get too experienced, we also get too
select and sort of find reasons for not doing the 7.00 job, this also allows
companies to move away from us...kinda like a catch 22, experienced shoppers
feel they should get gas $, higher fees, we bring experience, but companies
like MF just move on. The article was an eye opener and believeable.

I've noticed a lot of the 3 dollar shops are getting snatched up around here too. My thoughts are, 'they'll learn the hard way."

Got a call from a company this week, pretty much inquiring why I had not accepted any shops since setting up a shopper profile. I let the nice woman know the fees were not enough for me to use my gas. She asked me what amount I needed and I let her know. She proceeded to tell me their bank shops were easy, quick and they are done all over the country for 9.50 and 12 dollars. I asked her if they were done in parts of the country where gas is four dollars a gallon. She told me they were.

O_o Well I hope the shops are close enough that they don't cost a gallon of gas!



RobinMarie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've noticed a lot of the 3 dollar shops are
> getting snatched up around here too. My thoughts
> are, 'they'll learn the hard way."
>
> Got a call from a company this week, pretty much
> inquiring why I had not accepted any shops since
> setting up a shopper profile. I let the nice
> woman know the fees were not enough for me to use
> my gas. She asked me what amount I needed and I
> let her know. She proceeded to tell me their bank
> shops were easy, quick and they are done all over
> the country for 9.50 and 12 dollars. I asked her
> if they were done in parts of the country where
> gas is four dollars a gallon. She told me they
> were.

Lets be real. Most of the MS shops don't require any experience. I am an experienced shopper but a newbie can do what I can do (most of the shops). The MS companies also know that and move on to other shoppers.

Strevel -- I'll do a reimbursement only shop if it's something I need or someplace I want to go. For example, I did a Japanese Garden that only reimbursed the entrance fee. It was a lovely afternoon for me and my friend and we wouldn't have gone if I wasn't going to shop it. I often do clothing stores that don't pay much because I'm trying to rebuild my wardrobe after losing a lot of weight. I figure I need the clothes anyway and like the idea of getting part of the clothing paid for by the MSC. I guess we all have our individual motivation for doing certain shops.

I try to stay away from jobs that pay less than $10 (except I will do some phone shops that have quick reports for less and except for the above), and even then, look at what is required. If there is too much to work to make the payment worth it, I'll pass on it.

A while back I took some phone shops that paid $6 each. Seemed reasonable so I took several dozen. It turned out that the MS company wanted a virtual transcript of the conversation. Each shop took more than an hour. I learned my lesson and didn't take any more of those.

In the last few days another company sent an email offering phone shops that paid ... $1.75 each.

If the MS companies go much lower, we may be paying them for the privledge...

Well said!

I've taken some low paying phone shops thinking they would be easy but wound up taking much longer than I thought. Well, live and learn. The company that pays $1.75 per phone shop I think is the same one that starts the hardware store shops at $4. Insulting. I wish people would not take them... it would force them to start them higher.