After you have completed a mystery shopping assignment, there is just one thing that you want – to get paid fast! In the fast-paced world we live in today, it seems almost laughable to many mystery shoppers that it takes so long to get paid on many assignments. If you spend any time on the mystery shopping online communities, you will find that slow payment is among the top issues that many mystery shoppers have. While providers seem to continue on with their old (and often very slow) ways of processing payments, there are a few things that mystery shoppers can do to get paid a little faster:
PayPal. Many providers will offer you the choice of getting paid via check or via PayPal. With a check, your money is snail-mailed to your mailbox, and then you have to find time in your day to run to the bank and deposit the check. With PayPal, you get notified that you have money in your PayPal account almost as soon as the provider gets done submitting it online. You then simply have to log in to your account, click the mouse a few times, and get that money transferred into your bank account. This doesn’t even take into account the extra time it takes for a provider to physically process the check and get it into the mail. In many cases, there is about a 2 weeks difference between getting a check and getting paid via PayPal.
Reports. Long before the payments are processed, though, your report will have to be reviewed. If you have ever found yourself in a never-ending revision game with a provider, you are one of the lucky few mystery shoppers who hasn’t had that fun experience. While it is a hassle to make revision after revision to a single report on the request of a provider, it also can really cause a serious delay to the processing of your payment. After all, the provider needs to review and approve your report before the payment can even begin to get processed. So by all means, do your absolute best job on your reports the first time around. Keep in mind that it is better to spend an extra five or ten minutes reviewing your report up-front than spending days making revisions on it later.
As you review your report, there are a few key areas you want to look out for. First, double check your spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Then, make sure that you have kept the report factual unless your opinion was specifically requested.
Providers. You will find that some providers have a faster payment process. Likewise, some providers are constantly asking for revisions while others rarely ask for them. It may be a good idea to spend a few weeks taking notes about which providers pay faster and are easier to work with overall. It may be necessary to drop one of your providers in exchange for a provider who is easier to work with and pays you faster if you truly want to see money coming in the door faster.
You work hard for your money as a mystery shopper, and you shouldn’t have to wait a long time to get money sent to you. Follow some of these tips, and you will find that you may start getting your money faster than you currently are.
I agree there are some that take a long time to pay even if with PayPal. They want us to get our reports sometimes less than 6 hours no matter what else you have to do. Then it can be as much as 3 months before getting paid. I once did a shop on buying a Disney tkt at the park in Orlando. I had to evaluate the ticket person.I was reimbursed for 2 tkts(I accepted 2 shops)and for parking and received pay in 10 days.I could enjoy the rest of the day at the park. I had until the next night to submit my report.
I work for some companies that pay twice a month. There are still a few companies out there who pay on the last day of the following month. That stinks… Pay Pal is great, but I still like to find a paper check in the mail once and awhile.
I put everything in an Excel spreadsheet; date that I completed the shop and when I was paid, address, company, what method for pymt, score, comments, etc. I was able to see where I was wasting my time and where I was recouping the most for my efforts.
I could add another column for time taken writing reports…
provider has direct deposit to your bank account.