It would be very useful for everyone if we had a big list of the companies that self assign...

So...which ones do you know that are self-assign?

Off the top of my head;

Marketing Endeavors
Shop N Chek
CRI

I'm sure there are more but, that's all I can think of off the top of my head.

To have a self assign job, you must work your way up to it. To do this you must do at least 10 shops for the company to earn a good reputation of always turning in your work on time,never schedule a job and cancel it at the last moment and be accurate,spell correctly etc on reports. If you succeed in all this it will earn you a good reputation with the company so they will let you self assign your self. You don't just go in and self assign your self right off the bat with these companies. You must earn the privilege.

Sorry, Louise C., but that is not true

I just started shopping at the end of June and have done about 50 shops for about 10 different companies. They have all been self-assign. The ones that are not self-assign that I have applied for have all come back to me assigned to someone else, so I stopped wasting my time with them. It is impossible to prove yourself if you cannot get jobs, never mind immediately upon seeing one that will fit into your schedule.

I also spent hours applying for a huge number of shops to find the ones that work best for me. Why would I list them? It would take jobs away from me!!! Lists of these companies are printed free if you look for them on the internet. I found shadow shopper a waste of money.

This is all just IMHO.

WTC

I have found 3 myself. Shop n chek is good,also sqm.ca is a good one and cybershoppersonline is good too

GapBuster also lets you self assign.I do rather agree with Wendy, but we need to help each other out sometimes. Good will towards mankind!

There are several companies I shop with that are self-assign. The following is a list: Bestmark, Checkmarkinc.,IMYST,A-Insights,FeedbackPlus,Jancyn and Restaurant Cops.

Happy Shopping.

Thanks for being so kind, June. You are right. Also, we can't take away each others jobs if we don't live in the same location...
service evaluation concepts is a good company.

Trend source is a company that makes you earn the self-assign status. They don't pay well.

Maritz research is pretty good.

I would like to get more shops for Maritz, but they don't seem to have many in my area? They are located close to me, (a neighboring zip code) but I have only done one shop. I followed the instructions to a tee, on deadline, etc. but nothing more. Does anyone know how to get more shops with Maritz?

I do a lot of shops for Customer 1st and Experience Exchange and they are both self-assign. also.

In some ways, I like the companies that don't self assign. The jobs come out during the day, when I am out doing 6 shops. By the time I come home, the self assigns I want are gone.

Better to establish a relationship with a company and then they call you. Watch for that shop that is hard to fill, and do it. For me, I will shop an area that is out in the desert, 20 miles from the outskirts of the main city. I save gas by looking for other hard to fill shops, and doing them at once. Thus ingratiating myself with several companies.

Oh, and keep your end of the month free. In August, I did 24 shops in 4 days, not the 5 dollar kind. They called me, said they needed help, were quite willing to pay gas money. Once we are on a first name basis, they remember you when you have a need.

I am a psychologist; spent my whole life working for myself. This is a new experience for me, forced by health issues. But it seems to me that we are all one community; companies.... schedulers, editors...... shoppers; if we don't learn to work together, none of us get paid. Figure out WHY you are not getting assigned shops, and change something. And if they call me because they have an urgent need, I try never to say no, even to fast food at 2 AM (yuk, I took my teen, lol). Because next time it will be a primo job, and she will (did) remember me.

To the most enjoyable job I ever had,
Beth

i was just wondering if all these companies you ladies are referring to are in the states. Because i am in CANADA and cannot get in somehow. i was with one lady and she went under so had to group with some company with a name i cannot even remember. the area was pickering town centre (durham area). does anyone have a heads-up on the company? please reply asap. i would really like to do this full time for financial as well as enjoyable reasons. i have this one now that's usually for Texas Lone Star restaurant but before i can put into pickering which would be the closest to me (i'm in Bowmanville which is past Oshawa) someone has already taken it. i need help people please.
thanks
teresa

Volition has a list of companies. If you go there and do a search in the forums using words like "canada" or "canadian msp's" you should do well.

I believe there is also a forum there where people can meet others from their area. If they want to share, that could be a wealth of information.

I do know there are quite a few ms companies in Canada, just from reading the forums.

Good luck!

~Christina

P.S. Did you do any google searches using those words? It might be a treasure trove...

Beth - you are right. Once you get well established with a company the jobs get assigned to you more frequently and you may get a call at the last minute or for some of the better jobs.
I started at the beginning of the year doing just 8-10 shops per week, trying different jobs with different companies. Some I liked, some I didn't so now I concentrate on just a few companies. I will often get a call saying someone cancelled last minute or there's a rush to get it done.

As with all jobs, it takes a while to learn the ropes

Be careful for GAPBUSTER. They dont like to pay. I have done many shops for them, the reporting is difficult at times, They do not allow the correct answer, then respond with, we are not going to pay you, you asked the wrong question, or somthing lame liket that. They do not have good communication. You email them a question, you are lucky to hear back. They owe me a lot of money, and yet call me to fill jobs. I tell them to pay me for what they owe me, and I will work again. They promise, offer to help, then don't deliver. I work for almost 40 companies, have a high rating. I do this as a full time job. I do very well. I love that I do it from my home, do not have specific hours, a boss over my shoulder. Schedulers do call me, and email me for help. I agree with the keeping the end of the month option open. We should also try to stick together on asking for more money on the $5.00 shops. Don't accept those, trust me, they will pay more. (CRI.......) I love that every day is different.

Corporate Research does self assign, but they don't pay well.

i worked with Gapbuster and CRI too. It makes me worry about the payment. I hate those with late paymnet and so on especially we nee to come out money from our own pocket first.
How should we get around with all these matter? thx

My best advice on that subject is to keep your finger on the pulse of the other shoppers. Read this forum and Volition faithfully, and if there is a problem with a company you will know. (hopefully before you invest any or many $$)

And, some people refuse to take reimbursement shops. It's whatever you feel most comfortable with.

~Christina

I have done several jobs for Corporate Research and after I signned up for direct deposit I get paid weekly and can self-assign. GAP Buster was slow pay at first but when I got direct deposit they paid every 2wks to a month. I even get calls from them to do jobs.

Companies that don't pay much, I hold out for more pay. I worked with Corporate Research and if they want a job done pronto, they are willing to pay extra. So, with those companies hold out for the bonus. I did.

I agree with June about self-assign shops because Gapbuster does let you assign your own shops and I have not been working MS very long at all. If you do your assignments correctly and be very careful with you spelling Gapbuster will put them on your computer. The have sent me a notice saying shops in your area and I have self assigned. One thing about this realy that it is really small so I do not get too much but I enjoy it so much it is really fun. We should help each other and give each other advice because a lot of people that join in on the Forum do not give helpful information. If I can I do because it seems only fair that we do that for each other. I do know that I got most of my knowledge from Cathy Stucker's Mystery Shop Manual. I keep refering to it all of the time because she is extremely helpful. Sometimes I do not agree with her about certain things but that is ok because that is just the way that we do things we do not have to agree with everything someone says and still be friendly and helpful. Cathy Stucker is right on the money as far as MS is concerned believe me if you follw her directions or what ever she tells you about MS you cannot go wrong. I do love hearing from her and I am so thankful that I brought her book before I started anything. She is not a phoney and she will not tell you anything wrong about MS really she wants us all to succed in MS.

I love these Forums that Jacob has they are so informative and I hope he never stops. Those Shoppers that write about how many shops they do like 100 or so that is fine but it seems as if they bragg about it and a lot of us do not live in MAJOR Cities so we do the best we can and then they say they have no problem getting work and that sometimes they have too much work to me all of that is not necessary to tell us. If they do all they say then good for them just go on with your life. There is an old saying that says Birds fly pretty high but they do have to come down some time. We need to help each other and not act like they are so special because they get a lot of work any thing can happen in life and one day you might not be able to get out to do any shops whatso ever and no one is exempt from that and I mean no one. The same people you pass on the way up you have to pass them coming down believe me. The person that wrote and has a lot of medical bills I feel for them and I sure hope things get better for them especially their health so let's pray for each other and don't give people that read these Forums the impression that they are so perfect because I only know one perfect person and that is who we really have to answer to.

Those companies that pay so little, hold out for the bonus. That when they really need someone to do the job. I worked for several companies that pay too little. But when they in a bind, who do they call, ME. You do has to signed up with lots of mystery shopping companies in order to make it pay.

Self assign are great because then you plan your shops around your other chores and work. I don't know of any other than what were mentioned. What about the phone shops can one get those self assigned? I live near a Major- Capital city but for those of us in the "sheriff" towns pickin's are slim, and gas is high priced....I used to get milage when I started.

msj,

AMEN to that. I agree with you about large cities. I live in Kentucky in a medium sized city but like to do shops around me in other small cities. Also, I totally disagree with wednythecat. I have found JACOBJ and Shadow Shopper to be awesome. You get e-mails from other companies that you have never heard of and that keeps connecting you to more and more jobs. You have to put some time into it to get good results that you want. I usually spend about 2 hours a day on the computer applying for positions, self-assigning and printing out my instructions. YOU get out of it what you put into it.

I shop for aboutface, jm ridgeway, shoppers critique, shopnchek, a closer look, experience exchange, epsmonline. Shaddow shopper has been very helpful. I am constantly being contacted by companies who got my information from shadow shopper.

Hey Kitchens;

I'm in Louisville. Just moved here last year, and just started shopping again last month.

Are you nearby?

~Christina

Trendsource, National Shopping Service, ICCDS, Ritter Associates, Second-to-None
Service Intelligence, Feedback Plus, Corporate Research International and Gap Busters are several companies that you can self-assign.

I'm new at this, and still learning. I'm currently shopping for CRI, and Service Exchange which are both self assigned. All of your information that I've read throughout this thread is helpful.

I'm also shopping for a company called Advanis. They are not self assigned. They mainly shop cell phone providers. They are very professional. I'm very impressed with them so far. www.advanis.ca. Look for Mystery Shoppers. They pay $15 an hour.

-Sharyn