Best Companies?

It is hard to go through all the threads and keeping track. Who are the companies I should look into. I do not want to fight to get paid. I have done a few for CORI. It sounds like they are good except they pay low. What are your favorite companies?

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Let me suggest that you pick a company from the list to sign up with and use the "Search" feature to check through the discussions by simply listing that company's name. It is some reasonable research for your business. As you hear of new companies, you need to know how to use the search feature on this and other shopper forums to see what reported experience has been.

Trish,
My favorite company may be one you hate. Flash gave good advice. Select a company; check their reputation by searching here and on other forums that have a company-by-company list of threads. The companies that you have to chase to get paid are not so many, and the shopper reviews will help you sort out the good from the bad. Just remember that some reviews are "sour grapes" due to the shopper not having performed and then griping about not being paid. So, please, read the whole thread when you find a bad opinion of a company, and then make up your mind.

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.

I went through and signed up with a whole bunch of companies. It really doesn't take that long to sign up with them. Many will not have jobs in your area. But don't write them off because even though they don't have anything RIGHT NOW in your area, new clients/jobs could come up. One company I signed up with 2 years ago never had anything, but suddenly had 4 really, really good jobs...and I grabbed them. Before you accept a job with a new-to-you company, come to the forum and do a search to see what the experience of others has been. We all like different companies and different styles of MS'ing, so be aware that if one or two don't like a company or one or two love a company, it doesn't mean you will feel the same. But if there is a trail of unhappy shoppers, especially payment issues, that's fair warning.

Since companies differ with the shopper (believe me they do), register with many. MSPA as well as other forums have lists. Do a couple jobs for each, and pick your favorite. Come here to see what others say, but the final decision as to your favorite company is yours. I'll try and help by giving you my fav's that I work for monthly, and has jobs (at least) in my area.
You need to do your own research, that is what this business is all about.
1. Bare Int'l
2. Tell us about us
3. Intellishop
4. Market Force is a good one to start with, then move up to higher paying jobs.
5. Customer Impact
6. NSS

edited to remove one and add 2.

Live consciously....

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/2010 02:51PM by Irene_L.A..

And of course I live in another area entirely and only one of Irene's favorite 4 do I work for a fair amount while a second one I have done 1 shop in two years. One of them has never offered anything in my area that pays enough to bother with and the fourth I used to work with a lot before they changed their rules to make the shops impractical.

The biggest issues that make us different in our choice of favorites are availability of shops with reasonable clients in our area and quality of scheduler and our relationship with him/her. I think we all agree on slow paying companies as rarely being worthwhile--especially when their slow payment is in violation of the contract we entered into to do the work. Those are really the companies you need to be aware of and they are discussed here ad nauseum. You also need to be aware of companies that seem to just make things too difficult, but those really come down to your own personal experience working with them.

There are surely lots of variable issues. There are many that the people here recommend highly that absolutely never have anything in my area or in the entire two states of Kentucky and Indiana. I have a program called RoboForm (there are others that do the same thing) that retains passwords and ID's for each website I want to visit. When I started out shopping, I added two or three new companies a night for a week, then two or three more when I had time. Now I have around fifty, but I only shop for about 15 of them right now. But when I hit a lull like now at the end of the month and I catch up on rest, I'll add more or go through all the ones that I have saved just to check up on them. Every once in a while I get an email on one I'd given up on to tell me "we have a shop in your area" so it pays to keep them out there. I bought my daughter's birthday out fit for $33 last week on sale and will get $30 of it back because of "leaving it out there." Shoot, talking about it is making me think I ought to be adding companies instead of typing in the forum or resting. lolol

I try to always be researching and adding companies...it's a part of the job. Favorite companies come and go as their clients change co's or stop shopping or the nice staff leaves or the company starts paying slowing, etc. Always have to have new favs waiting to be discovered. And, as for me, there is enough competition for the jobs I love the most that I don't need to add any more by giving out my favorites. I turned two friends onto shopping, helped 'em get their first job (with a company with local jobs) and then told them they were on their own to find the other companies, even though both have had fancy dinners with me while I was shopping, neither ever asked who I was working for or what other companies I liked.

**********************************************************************
“Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and supreme experience if only one had a colored pencil long enough to draw on the ceiling."
~Gilbert K. Chesterton

I have a social group I meet with mornings, some are looking for work, or want their wive's to do what I do, free meals (yahoo) they think. I'm always asked about how to start, but, really why would I start them...they are NOT taking my jobs, thank you! I need to protect what I've worked for as I have enough competition from Steve...lol.

Live consciously....

I am so glad I read these forums, Marketforce is a steady for me here, and I found it here. Thanks for all the input and I need to add more companies to my list. I currently only have 3, but didnt want to get overwhelmed at first.............so I better get going!!

Thank you all for your thoughts. I'm starting to go with several companies than what I started with, so hopefully things will pick up here. Hopefully my day of adding companies up will leave me with options to choose from.

I must have signed up at aleast 100 companies. How many do I work for? Maybe 7. Every now and then a client will drop a MS company and go with another. And low and behold, it will be one that I signed up for all those many months ago (and forgot about.
My suggestion is to sign up with as many as you can. You never know when one will come up in your area.

HOW DO i KNOW WHO IS THE BEST COMPANY TO WORK FOR.

cynthia1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> HOW DO i KNOW WHO IS THE BEST COMPANY TO WORK FOR.

You don't.

Search and research. Register with as many as you can. See who has shops in your area and pays a comfortable fee for you.

Video Mystery Shops pay alot more than written shops. We specialize in video mystery shopping for the new home building industry and we're always looking for new shoppers! We pay twice a month and are never sketchy. You can apply on our website at www.impact-mrkt.com If you don't have video experience you should check out www.undercoveressentials.org for some upcoming training sessions, the owner and video specialist is fantastic.

Impact Marketing
True Performance Measurement
www.impact-mrkt.com
Info@impact-mrkt.com
Video Mystery Shopping Company
Serving the U.S and Canada

Best company to do work for varies by location. My best ones are National Shopping Service and Market Force. Whoever you work for, develop a personal relationship with a scheduler (or more than one), show yourself as reliable. Once you have done that, look for the shops within reasonable distance but hard to assign and ask for bonuses (travel allowance). I have been paid more going out to the smaller towns 1-3 hour drive, doing a large concentration of them, and returning home in same day than for same shops within the metro area I live in. These companies would rather pay a reliable trained person that meets their deadlines more than to deal with unproved and untrained people, or where they don't have anybody.

Also if traveling at a bonus for one, find shops with another company and ask for bonus. Tomorrow my plans call for work for 3 companies, $500 in shop fees, and about 200 miles of driving. It will be a 6 am to midnight, but well worth it to me.

I work for Safeway World Class Shoppers. I am very impressed with their program. I did not see it on the companies list.
I signed up with another company a few months ago and I was so disappointed with the shops offered, the shops might be for a hair cut the pay was $15 by the time I went there paid, tipped drove home and did the report, it didn't seem worth it. No reimbursement for cost of haircut. so I guess the post should have read "Will work for haircut"
Do most of the jobs pay like this? When you do a shop at a restaurant, how are you paid?
Thanks, from new to this.

Fastfoods usually reimburse and pay a small fee. Most restaurants are reimbursement only up to a certain limit. Most will pay for tip in that reimbursement as long as you have not exceeded the limit. The haircut sounds a little low, althugh I haven't seen any haircut shops that pay a lot. I do a haircut shop that pays $13.95 (cost of the haircut) and $6, some of which you spend for tip.

Kimjef,

The company you work for is different than most, in that you are an employee, rather than an independent contractor.

There are advantages and disadvantages to each type of work relationship, but one reason that you don't see too many people taking about the employee based mystery shopping programs is that employees are forbidden from talking about it on public forums such as this one.

While the pay rate at the employee based program is certainly higher on an hourly basis that most, I find that being selective with the IC jobs that I take allows me to draw a larger average pay rate over time, after adding in the reimbursement, than working as an employee. As a former employee of the company mentioned, I can tell you that I left the company because the reimbursement for food items at the store was minimal and I was only being paid for my time, as well as having no freedom to choose when I worked.

While everyone has grocery needs to a point and can justify the purchases they make at a grocery store, going to get a haircut on a weekly basis or eating out for fine dining nightly doesn't make sense for most shoppers if it's not fully reimbursed.

I have worked with Market Force, STN, Beyond Hello, Quest for Best, Trendsource
and Cori for a few years now.

Sign up with as many as you can. I keep a login sheet in a folder next to my keypad.

I think BES is the best, not sure if they are in your area, but try 'em out!
[www.mysteryshopperservices.com]

I have several companies I like, but the three I always recommend to newbies are Beyond Hello, Feedback Plus and ICCDS. Interesting to see how we all have different opinions on this topic. I see some companies listed here that I like, and some that I don't. Just goes to show, to each their own!

I've said different MSC, but today my fav's are, (they change depending on job selection), etc. I've become disappointed with Beyond Hello, because they only have the sunglasses and tell you what to drink on their great coffee shops, otherwise they are good.....

1. Customer Impact
2. Intellishop
3. Bare Int'l
4. Coyle
5. QSI

Live consciously....

Irene, I think it really depends on the area, for all MSCs. While the majority of BH's shops here are vision related, they do offer more.

MysteryShopSteve Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think BES is the best, not sure if they are in
> your area, but try 'em out!
> [www.mysteryshopperservices.com]

I tried them out over two months ago and have yet to be paid.

Yup, they're a sloooow payer. Done only one shop for them, and won't be doing another unless the pay is really worth it.

nicelytwicely, how long did it take for you to finally receive payment? I searched their site and I thought it said something about 30 days, but for me it's been close to 75.

Over two months. Look at the wording on their site closely -- the days are counted as BUSINESS days. No Saturdays, Sundays or holidays! Crafty, huh.

Ahhh, I didn't notice the "business".

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