The form now asks if you left a tip and if so, how much. Guess what? Even if the tip keeps you under $8, you will NOT be reimbursed for it! From now on, it's none of their dam business. I'll answer no and give cash.

@sestrahelena wrote:

The form now asks if you left a tip and if so, how much. Guess what? Even if the tip keeps you under $8, you will NOT be reimbursed for it! From now on, it's none of their dam business. I'll answer no and give cash.

Yeah, I never understood why they cared.

BTW, no one bothered to mention that the shops showed up again. Sadly, the same crappy ones that were there last week. There's one that I would do, but it's over a half hour away, and I don't plan to be there until Saturday. We'll see if they're still available then. Probably not.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/2024 08:36PM by MisterBill.

Last year I hated the thought of these shops because taking an item to the register and then leaving it there if they answered wrong is so awkward. I liked the change to just buy two, but of course that needs the right price.

In March they hit $30 and I was happy to take a route. I made like $150 for a short day and had meals to reheat for the next few days. (And two Delta 8 prerolls I haven't smoked yet. ????) I even found it worth it to go into a hair salon as a bald man and pick a haircare product to buy. (Couldn't make nails work though. Apparently none of them actually sell the polish? I guess that would defeat the point of the service.)

Some things to watch out for though. It's very important that the receipts to be identical except for surcharge stuff.

* I don't know if it specifies, but do use the card first, then cash. In one case they had an unposted minimum on card transactions, so I had to buy a second of the item I had picked out. Which means also a 4th. (Even identical items they won't accept 2 on one receipt and 1 on the other.) Had I paid cash first I would have had to return 1 to buy 2, with cash, and look really conspicuous.
* You have some flexibility to meet the checkout minimum, but not to max your reimbursement. For example, I went to a bakery and got 2 small cannolis for $5. (On each receipt.) They accepted it but told me I should have only bought one. But I could have bought a large cannoli for $6 and been fine. And I've bought 2 different items on each receipt to meet a $10 minimum. So if you're trying to get close to the $8 reimbursement, better to do it with one item.
* As long as you finish the shop in the window, you don't have to do both visits simultaneously. Most of the time it's still easier to double up, but if for some reason you don't want to then it's fine.
* I don't think there's a rule against returning a product afterwards. (Providing the business doesn't mind taking it back, of course.) I don't have the guidelines in front of me, but there was one salon where the least I could pay was noticeably over reimbursement. So after the shop was accepted, I returned it. (Unless of course that's not allowed, in which case none of this ever happened.)

Don't take them cheap, because they're very precise and difficulties arise. If you have to spend $10 over reimbursement, that's a lot more acceptable when the fee is $30 than if it's $14.

(I still have no idea why locations appear and disappear like they do, but MSCs be cryptic sometimes.)

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/2024 10:31PM by Amarsir.

I saw a bunch of restaurants, mostly Mexican food. I'll probably start doing them when the pay goes up. Right now I'm just avoiding going out during the heat of the day. Summer is brutal for me, and it's worse this year than ever before. We did a bunch of Chinese food places and small hamburger shops last round, but only after the pay went over $30. I didn't do nail shops or flower shops because those places are unfamiliar to me, I don't understand the language or their products.

Some from last round or two showed up today.

Isn't the surcharge kind of a double dip for the business? They're charging the fee to the customer but they could still claim it as an operating expense on taxes, right? Especially if the surcharge is hidden by way of dual-pricing. I'm not good at math or taxes but curious about this. Could it get them in trouble with the IRS if the card company rats them out? Maybe somebody here who has a better understanding of how the businesses can or can't cheat the system with these charges could enlighten me. Thanks.

@sestrahelena wrote:

Some from last round or two showed up today.

Isn't the surcharge kind of a double dip for the business? They're charging the fee to the customer but they could still claim it as an operating expense on taxes, right? Especially if the surcharge is hidden by way of dual-pricing. I'm not good at math or taxes but curious about this. Could it get them in trouble with the IRS if the card company rats them out? Maybe somebody here who has a better understanding of how the businesses can or can't cheat the system with these charges could enlighten me. Thanks.

It's income, but it's also an expense. Not a double-dip. If anything, it cancels out.

The ones that I saw show up today are new, at least to me. I took a Mexican place nearby that's supposed to be good, but finding something that my wife and I both want to eat is a challenge. Same for a Chinese place where I could order lunch specials, but obviously they would need to be the same.

Seems like their five-minute approvals after submitting are a thing of the past. I submitted two on Friday and one on Saturday, and they're all still waiting for approval. Hopefully I won't have any problems. One place charged me $6.95 and $1 for an upgraded size for an item that was listed at $7.95 on the menu. Fortunately, it was excellent. Then a deli only gave me the debit card receipt for that transaction rather than the itemized receipt I got from the register for my cash transaction. And that receipt did not have the store name, and the time is off on both. I considered reporting the time based on the receipts, but if they looked at the metadata on my pictures, they'd see that the times did not match.

I found a shop at a deli that is cash-only. It's 20 minutes away, so I did not bother taking it to be paid $5 for submitting it as unable to shop.

Also noticed that if a shop times out because you did not submit it, you cannot immediately take it again. They put you in a sort of time-out for a couple of days. I had a problem a while ago where somehow my shop did not submit when I thought it had. I was able to immediately take it again and submit it with the receipts I had, and it was accepted. I would not be able to do that now.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/19/2024 03:12AM by MisterBill.

All three shops that I did have finally been approved. Oddly, the only one that they initially sent back to me was the one which I didn't have issues with because f pricing or not getting an itemized receipt but because the register receipt claimed that I paid with credit and did not include the last four digits of the card number. I had to upload the transaction information from the app to show that I had used a debit card. Of course, it did not have the card number, but I showed that it was from a checking account, plus it had the transactions from the other two shops. It seems like if you can explain any discrepancies in your comments (like the two items on the receipt in one of my shops), they will accept it. Or maybe I'm just lucky.

As usual, the remaining shops are popping in and out. I managed to get one for tomorrow.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2024 05:12AM by MisterBill.

All that is available in my area are shady neighborhood mini-stores, and I have to get more than $14 to tackle those. I feel really out of place, the neighborhoods aren't safe, hardly anything is priced, they don't give receipts, and they are not the types of places one browses.

However, I did about 20 of them when they went up to $30-$35 last spring, and I got it down to a science. I would walk in with my camera on, snap as soon as I saw the register area, then proceed to the back cooler with a mission. There was always a price sign advertising 25 ounce Natty Daddy or similar, and I would snap a pic of the sign, grab the beer and go to the check out. Just as they were slipping that baby into a brown paper bag, it would suddenly occur to me that it was a two Natty kind of day. The cashiers seemed to find that very relatable, and I imagine they were thinking, "wow, Grandma doesn't play."

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/2024 10:11PM by Sshhhopper.

I haven't seen any available for a couple of days now. And they didn't go up to $30 last time they just didn't get done.

I almost screwed up big time on yesterday's shop. I procrastinated submitting it when I got home, then it kept deleting the photos and it took a while for me to check it. I submitted it with literally two minutes to spare. And I only realized it after I'd submitted it!

Good to know it's not just me, I thought I was on punishment for letting a couple slide. Last week it seemed like editing was a bit slow. Maybe they're trying to pace them?

I watched them for a couple weeks at least, they never went over $14. I would do some of the easier 35mph food shops for $20, but not many. Then they went away, I don't know if someone made a route through here (seems unlikely, there would have been an extraordinary amount of driving to remote places to get them all) or they were pulled again though. I guess we'll see what happens.

Yesterday I was looking at the map. No red pins. I moved the map 1/4 inch and all the red pins populated. Then I moved the map another 1/4 inch and they all disappeared again, never to return. All of that happened in just a few seconds. I'm sure the company knows what it's doing. *eye roll*

@sestrahelena wrote:

Yesterday I was looking at the map. No red pins. I moved the map 1/4 inch and all the red pins populated. Then I moved the map another 1/4 inch and they all disappeared again, never to return. All of that happened in just a few seconds. I'm sure the company knows what it's doing. *eye roll*

Something screwy does seem to be going on. I'm seeing them, then moving around and they disappear. So either they shouldn't be showing up to begin with, or they're disappearing when they shouldn't be.

I had my latest shop accepted, took three days (Thursday afternoon-Sunday morning)

There are new shops and, as before, they're disappearing. Was looking at shops last night trying to decide which to take, and they disappeared by the time I decided and have not returned. There is one left over from the last cycle for $20 at a tanning salon that is staying around.

Update -- just checked and they were back. Took one, then tied to take a second and got "Sorry, this shop is unavailable (we JUST reached our allotment for this particular shop)!"

Meanwhile, a shop I submitted yesterday is still awaiting review. I miss the days when they were approved within five minutes of submitting.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/2024 02:14AM by MisterBill.

The guidelines say to buy one item with a debit card and get a receipt. Then buy the same thing again several minutes later with cash and get a receipt.

My son and I do these together, I go in with my debit card, and he goes in and pays cash. One at a time. The one time we both went in together the cashier couldn't figure out how to make our purchases separate.

If there's an overhead menu and I'm seen taking a pic I just say I'm sending it to see if my friend wants something. After my debit order is placed and receipt recieved, my imaginary friend texts to say they want the same thing. Who needs live friends? Haha!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2024 10:25PM by sestrahelena.

did one on Friday and it was accepted today. I will try to get more but they are far away.

The fact that people are still doing these high rejection shop blows me. Bet i will continue to stick to those car counting and site experience shops in Presto. That's it That's all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I WISH they had car counting in my area! But no....

You count cars getting gas for 15 minutes.

I like the pizza shop. I will go in, get a slice and leave. Go to my car and eat it. Go back in and say, that was good, I think I will have one more. Then I take the other one home.

It used to be you could pick up a bunch of these but they just keep disappearing. I was able to do one last week, now they are all gone again.

I also wish they had those car counting jobs here. Absolutely none by me.

@sestrahelena wrote:

If there's an overhead menu and I'm seen taking a pic I just say I'm sending it to see if my friend wants something. After my debit order is placed and receipt recieved, my imaginary friend texts to say they want the same thing. Who needs live friends? Haha!

I've done several of these. The employees don't care that you're taking a picture or doing two of the same order. Maybe it will seem strange but they'll forget about you five minutes later (maybe sooner). The important thing is to get the required photos and write the narrative in the format they give you.

Sadly, the last two that I did, there wasn't anything cheap to buy but I wanted to try the place and still ended up breaking even with the shop fee. And they weren't very far from me.

these are some of my favorite shops currently. lenient with the approvals too cause a couple I have done, I forgot to get the correct receipt and should have been declined. The only deterrence are the saloons and shops that don't have stuff to buy or expensive items. Closed stores when they are supposed to be open is annoying too.

@joedor101 wrote:

these are some of my favorite shops currently. lenient with the approvals too cause a couple I have done, I forgot to get the correct receipt and should have been declined. The only deterrence are the saloons and shops that don't have stuff to buy or expensive items. Closed stores when they are supposed to be open is annoying too.

That must be a change in attitude. I found them to be pretty strict when I did these shops at the beginning of the year. The last few have been easy enough though. (Not that I expected problems but sometimes there's pushback on small stuff.)

I do think they found a good process with "buy two things and compare." Last year the process was "Take something to the counter then ask about fees and leave it' and I wanted no part of that. Still needs to be the right place at a decent fee, though.