Compensation for mystery shopping assignments will vary by a variety of factors. This includes which part of the country you are in, what the assignment requirements are, and the length of the report. Most mystery shoppers are pleased to earn $15 to $20 on a general assignment, but many savvy mystery shoppers know that it’s best not to choose an assignment based on the face value of the compensation alone. After all, that $20 assignment may take you thirty minutes to do, which would be a pretty good deal. However, it could also take you two hours to do, and in that case, it doesn’t look so good after all!
While many mystery shoppers have a certain figure in mind in terms of how much they want to work for per hour, many will automatically view lower-paying assignments on job boards and immediately write them off. It’s true that some of those $5 and $10 assignments may be more trouble than they are worth, but some of them aren’t so bad after all. Here are some points to consider:
The Time Commitment
First, you will want to consider how much time it will take you to complete the assignment. Be sure to factor in your travel time, your time on-site, and your time to complete the report at home, too. A $10 assignment that requires a 5-minute phone call from home, and then has a 10-minute report to complete really isn’t such a bad deal at all. So you should read the fine print on the requirements for these lower paying assignments to see what they are really about.
The Location
Another factor to consider is where the assignment is located. If you can pick up a $5 or $10 assignment en route to work or within walking distance of your daytime place of employment and the site visit isn’t to complicated, this may be worth your time. After all, you can write off the travel expense for the commute, and if the location is in a place you planned to be anyway, you may find that you make out ahead on the assignment.
When They Just Don’t Make Sense
Every mystery shopper has seen those assignments sitting on job boards for days and even weeks. These are assignments that are too complicated, too far away, or otherwise just don’t pay enough to be worth your time and effort. Every other mystery shopper seems to agree with you, too. Yet your mystery shopping provide desperately wants to find someone who can do the work. If you can honestly look at that assignment and say that you’d do it if it paid you $10 or $20 more, you can certainly toss that offer out to your provider to see what they say. It certainly doesn’t hurt to ask, and you may just come out looking like a hero and having some extra cash in your pocket for your efforts!
It’s pretty easy to pass over those low paying assignments on the job boards without giving them a second look, but you may find that with a closer look some of them actually do make a lot of sense!
I do some mystery shops in the area that are new shops. I may want to find out what the new store has to offer and be paid for looking. I also want to help out with some of the shops so that I may be able to get some of the better shops.
I did one shop that does not pay much and found the report to be very long. Even though the shop is very close, the report was just too long.
I found that they are good filler shops or to get your foot in the door with a new company.
Most of the time as supposedly independent contractors, we don’t get to see what all is involved before we accept the shop. Some companies that will let you see the survey in advance or tell you that there is a long detailed narrative,make them feel that they are there and ,or you must have execellent writing skills. Since I do have another job, I will try to be careful when accepting jobs from MS Companies. Sometimes good schedulers can make a not so good shop OK.
I have done several shops that were low pay for one company because they were close together. The shops were quick-about 10-15 minutes with a report that was only 5 minutes. I was able to do 3-4 shops in an hour of drive time. So that made it worth it to do 8 shops in two hours of work. I did have different rates of pay depending on whether the shop was open or not. But felt I came out ahead because I did not have to drive far to do the shops. It is good if you can find and group them together in one area. This is not always easy to do as shops are usually scattered all over.
If you watch how you schedule your shops, you can sometimes find several shops in the same area from different companies. The trick is finding them to be due around the same due date. That is the tricky part.
I like to put it this way. I am on S.S. and am retired. The gov. has not given a raise in a while until this year but if you make too much $$$ they take it away from you. I have 30 % of my hart left so I take the small jobs but still get a 1099 from 4 of the places I work for, for making over 600.00 a year. So the little jobs pay and not a hard job if you can’t do much. I still am proud of paying taxes and work somewhat even when the doctors say I can not work. So do not put down the little jobs let the people like me and the other who can not move that fast take them if others just do not want them.