For whatever reason? Maybe just no shops near you or where you are.
For me?
BARE
Why? pitiful compensation

Coyle - long, redundant reports and generally upscale fare.

Cirrus - extra long payment time and requires constant nagging to get paid at all.

There a slew of MSCs that have just never had anything in my area in 20 years that I'm signed up with.

Sentry...due to things I've read here about the owner

Coyle, you people scared me!
BARE, never
Amusement Advantage
Jack Network
Elite CXS

Most of these have little to no work near me but even when they do, they are not great pay

As to Coyle, at least 17 yrs. ago and being ignorant, I applied for and was accepted to shop a BAR. After reading the report, I contacted the scheduler with the explanation that I could never remember all of the required info; she responded with a thanks. I repeat, this was for a BAR.

The food does not exist that, for me, would be worth the tribulation accompanying a relationship with Coyle.

I passed at Cirrus after reading their payment terms of net 100+.

As to Sentry, Dave phoned me, after a single completion, and I agreed to not mention him on the Internet. This was approx. 15 yrs. ago.

For me, Sentry has been good. It's one of the longer MSC I'm still with when I started and have a good presence in my area. I did a good number of shops to try different clients. In my area, the clients have mostly remained the same and haven't done as many shops with them lately. However, I've had worthwhile shops with them, as well. Overall, I felt that the editing team was patient and helped me early on with the type of reports that the MSC seeks. That's been one benefit of the forums, reading past threads and posts. But at least for me, my interactions with the MSC have been professional. However, I believe this was after changes were made to the MSC. From other shoppers in my area, they've had similar and positive experiences.

For Coyle, it comes down to the report versus the value, if it's worth it. Also, any reimbursed amounts you have to front. In that way, I get why it's going to be at the bottom of the list, and it's going to be a smaller pool. Even though I haven't been with this MSC long, I can say I've had a positive experience with them, to be worthwhile to me. In terms of overall value and reimbursement amount, it's by far the highest with the hotel and fine-dining shops.

Merchandising in general - I haven't looked into or pursued. I don't know if I would really be effective and efficient at this. I think I would have to glean from others or go through a lot of trial and error. For those who do it regularly, I think they've got it down, but it would be a learning curve for me.

Confero - Used to be active, but not as many clients before.
The Jack Network - Lost a bigger client and a local client. To me, I had a good working relationship with KSS. But no more shops in my area that I would be interested in.
Trend Source - Used to offer sizable bonuses for grocery store. Only did the grocery store shops.
Regal Hospitality Group - Considered a hotel shop, but after reading charlhenri's experience, glad that he posted.
Second to None, BestMark (CX Group) - Outside of grocery shops, took a break.
Market Force Information - Select shops every once in a while. But may ask to do the burger and chicken finger shops again! For other reasons.

Also, I've been making a list of MSCs I've been meaning to sign up with that others have recommended, but may not start until next year.

Amusement Advantage - when I first started I thought it sounded fun but changed my mind.
Sentry - my friend has had a bear of a time with them; they frequently want more info than what the questionnaire asks and obviously don't pay for multiple revisions, etc.
Elite CSX - glad I didn't based on the payment drama.

I signed up with Amusement Advantage to see if I could use it to take my grandsons to amusement parks and me to the GA Aquarium (I once was a Monster Fishkeeper, now I just live vicariously through other folks tanks). But, the timing never worked, when I was here and available the shops I wanted weren't. And then the grandkids became teenagers and didn't want to be bothered with Grandma Cappy (not my name, just what they called me back then), now they are adults and I haven't heard from them since they graduated high school. And I think AA removed me because I never did any jobs for them.

Maybe now that my brand new shiny grandson is almost 4 and I'm getting another grandbaby in a few months I should try again. Maybe my grandson will like fish as much as I do?

Extra likes for "brand new shiny grandson."

I raise your extra like with another like.

For those who have done shops with Amusement Advantage, how narrative heavy is the report? I was always a little weary of how their site appeared. I just checked though, and there is a shop nearby that I would want to try.

Its been a while but when i last did them I found them pretty easy to do. The narrative for each section follows a pattern so I found that there were multiple shortish narratives very easy to answer. I always thought they were worthwhile to do but now my kids are grown and do not live here anymore.
I did the local large aquarium once and that was tricky as there are so many hallways twisting and turning upon themselves and finding all the wheeled in teaching stations on the shop list was difficult. Doing that one with a 4 year old in tow might be challenging unless you bring along a "babysitter". actually I went to our local large Aquarium last month during free Senior Day . My friend was planning to bring along her usually good natured 3 year old granddaughter but her grand daughter had a huge meltdown at the jellly fish exhibit at a small aquarium refusing to leave as she was fascinated. So she decided it was not time to take her to the much larger big Aquarium.

@Okie wrote:

I raise your extra like with another like.

For those who have done shops with Amusement Advantage, how narrative heavy is the report? I was always a little weary of how their site appeared. I just checked though, and there is a shop nearby that I would want to try.

I have done a few shops with AA and it depends on the type of shop on how long the narratives are-definitely longer than any other MSC I personally shop for. The last shop I did, the narratives had multiple pages and specific requirements of what to call the employees. I had a half hour call with the scheduler prior to the shop to go over the requirements. It wasn’t hard but just took time (1.5 hours) and attention to detail. For most of the shops, you need a way to keep notes due to the requirements to talk to multiple employees and get different information from them in addition to visiting all of the required places-too many things to keep track of for the report. I just text myself with any notes so it is discreet and have a spreadsheet I can access on my phone with all of the things I need to get so I can check them off when I complete them. I do appreciate they have an emergency hotline for when you are in the middle of a shop and can’t meet one of the requirements or have other questions - I have called and they do answer it and provide specific guidance. One thing to keep in mind is that in jobs where if you are required to bring along a child then there also is often the requirement to have another adult who manages that child so you can get the shop requirements done. It’s not all shops with AA that have this, but I think it is important to pay attention to these details.

When they give big bonuses for the shops, I think about doing some of them but don’t think it is worth it for their base pay. I do think if you see a smaller shop with them to try it out so you can see what their surveys look like. I don’t see those smaller jobs as often but they do sometimes happen. I always get my surveys in within the timeline to get the $5 bonus pay without too much trouble.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2024 04:59PM by etcardent.

I just completed one at a distillery (if that happens to be the one you are referring to) and it wasn't bad at all. The shop was approved within a couple of days and no follow up questions. I was paid quickly. Very easy to work with.

@Okie wrote:

I raise your extra like with another like.

For those who have done shops with Amusement Advantage, how narrative heavy is the report? I was always a little weary of how their site appeared. I just checked though, and there is a shop nearby that I would want to try.

Thank you! I will check out Amusement Advantage and look into trying a small shop. The one I was interested in was a movie theater that also has a bowling alley and bar. But it seems like it's a movie trailer check and only covers the movie tickets. I saw a different one in the past for a bowling alley and large reimbursement. Might give that one a try if it ever gets posted again.

I'm pretty open to trying them all at least once. But, right now I have a shop from September 19 with Sentry that was approved but they haven't paid yet. It feels like they look for excuses to delay and possibly avoid paying. They threatened not to pay me claiming my detailed descriptions were insufficient and demanding something equal to a fine dining write-up. This was a fast food pickup shop and they're asking about the weather and ambiance? Are you kidding me right now? And, with a specific order to be placed plus photos and a recorded call... All for a whopping $10 pay. Fool me once...

Sentry is the slowest paying MSC that I work for. They take 2 months minimum to pay. It is usually about 2½ months. The pay schedule is inconsistent. Tracking payments on their website is confusing and time consuming. They are the only MSC I go through the trouble of making a spreadsheet for.

I decline many of their shops because of the demanding editing, but there is one client I have done shops for where I usually don't get any questions. They just always say that I can't write and need to use Grammarly, even though I write well. I ran some of my writing for them through Grammarly a couple of times, and nothing was flagged. But of course, there is grammatically incorrect writing on their own shop forms.

@Deedeezthoughts wrote:

I'm pretty open to trying them all at least once. But, right now I have a shop from September 19 with Sentry that was approved but they haven't paid yet. It feels like they look for excuses to delay and possibly avoid paying. They threatened not to pay me claiming my detailed descriptions were insufficient and demanding something equal to a fine dining write-up. This was a fast food pickup shop and they're asking about the weather and ambiance? Are you kidding me right now? And, with a specific order to be placed plus photos and a recorded call... All for a whopping $10 pay. Fool me once...

Who has not yet signed up to video shop with Melinda Brody & Company?
There is no better time - great paying video new home shops are available!
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Their movie theater shops are a major headache and you have to upload both the receipt and the tickets into different links and had to do all the times specific movie was playing which meant the whole day there. Big headache and not worth the small fee.

Elite CXS: Thank you for warning me, folks, about payment issues.
Coyle: Thanks for the warning again, but for very different reasons. I wouldn't worry about getting paid by Coyle but I am a short story writer, not a novelist.
Sentry: Well, that's three now. This forum has scared me off.

Doesn't quite fit the category but almost does:

Observa: Did two jobs, they refused to pay for both, citing "blurry photos." I doublechecked and the photos were fine. Observa is crooked and will cheat you, beware.
BestMark: Considering how big they are, I haven't done much. Did one car dealership for them pre-Covid, so I understand that fails the "never" test. My one experience with them was positive (I had to reschedule that one shop and they were cool about it). That's it. For some reason, they just aren't prominent in the two places I've lived since I started shopping.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/07/2024 10:18PM by KokoBWare.

I really like shopping for them. They don't pay great but I enjoy getting out of the house with my son. The reports are not bad at all. Very quick. Six sentences per question at max I believe.

who?