All mystery shopping assignments are not created equal. Some assignments are located right around the corner from you while others are a 20 minute drive away. Some assignments will compensate you for a required purchase on groceries or other necessities while others will compensate you on a required purchase of a knick knack or other unwanted item. And even other assignments will pay you a nice wage for easy requirements and an easier report, while others pay you the equivalent of peanuts for hours and hours of your time.
You only need to be a mystery shopper for just a few days before you figure this out, and it only stands to reason that you would want to choose the best assignments possible. You want to make the most money for the least effort, and you want to work for a provider who you trust will pay you time and as agreed. After all, it does you little good to work on an easy assignment and then not see the payment for it for three months.
So Which Providers Are Good to Work For? If you are new to mystery shopping and are trying to build up a great set of providers to work for, the online forums are an excellent source of information. Simply post a question and wait a short time for dozens of your mystery shopping “co-workers” to respond to you. Even if you have been mystery shopping for awhile and you aren’t happy with your mix of providers, you can shake things up a bit by finding some better providers who offer better assignments and better pay.
Know What To Look For. Ensuring that you are working with great providers is only half the battle in finding the best jobs. Next, you want to scour the job boards in search of plum assignments. Read each assignment carefully and try to analyze how much travel time is involved, what items you can buy with the required purchase (would the item be a necessity for you or a frivolous purchase), what is the total compensation, and do you need to return to the job site a second time for a return?
Many people pass over certain assignments without giving them a second thought because they are at undesirable locations. However, you may want to give such assignments a second glance. Keep in mind that you can write off travel mileage for business purposes on your tax returns. Also, if nobody else is requesting a specific assignment, you may be able to get bonus pay just for the asking.
Read the Forums. You can get a great deal of very valuable information from the online mystery shopping forums. You have to be a regular reader of the posts to get the best information. However, many mystery shoppers will often ask what your favorite assignment was, what your highest paying assignment was, which provider you will never work for again, and so forth. While these questions are likely posted to spark up some interesting conversation between mystery shoppers, there is some valuable information in such posts that is there for the taking. All you need to do is read, and ask a few questions if a certain response piques your interest!
Picking good assignments in the mystery shopping world can really make or break your monthly income, so you really want to make an effort to pick the best assignments possible each and every time. Use these tips to ensure you are working on top assignments!
I just threw away a request for $12.50 payment because after I got into the muddled instructions, it was a contractor working for a contractor. They can take the information which amounted to nothing anyway – shop Restoration Hardware – as there were no signs posted or credit applications being promoted by the staff.
My caution is confusing instructions of printing out a paper form to complete the pay vocher. After I submitted the online data, no form was printed. Errors in their data format that never cleared. Be cautios of a third part shopping company “contracting” out for some other company.
Thanks
Dennis Small
If the pay is too little to pay for your time and gas for your car and have at least $5.00 for that hour leave it alone. Less than five an hour is just slave rates.
I won’t work for less than approx. $12 an hour. Simply not worth it. 🙂
Thanks Carol I will not work for less either .
Not all schedulers are equal. Not all websites are easy to navigate. Some reports are long, tedious, redundant, difficult to follow. So even if the pay is higher, it may still not be worth your while. Mystery shopping requires that you become very adept at organizing. For example, if a job pays $10.00 or $12.00, has a simple fill in the boxes report, and there is a route or run in which you can schedule 9 to 10 on one day (plus bonuses and/or travel expenses if helping a provider meet an end of the month deadline)it can be quite lucrative. Keep checking available shops along familiar routes and co-ordinate with personal appointments, etc. Your travel is thus a business write off. Low paying telephone shops, when no other shop is available, or when you do not feel like hitting the road, is still a way to generate a little money without going out. No ‘one’ shop is going to have it all. Establishing yourself with various providers, will pay off in time. They will call you to help them out. They will pay bonuses to get the job done. Quality work, reports, dependability will build your paycheck. Look at the whole picture.
I get frustrated by sites that want you to fill in a book worth of information not to mention the time doing the shop and driving to the shop and only want to pay $10 – $15, by the time you are done, a shop can cost you hours of work…..and I really hate the site that offer “Bonus” if you can do the shop and the “bonus” be $3