Some mystery shoppers have found a way to make mystery shopping a full-time job while others struggle to make more than a few hundred dollars each month. If you are still trying to figure out how to make the most money possible at mystery shopping, you are not alone. The bottom line is that mystery shopping probably will not ever make you rich, but there are ways you can stretch your mystery shopping income.
Choose Your Assignments Wisely. As you scour the job boards, you may be inclined to look at the face value of the shop pay. Seeing two $10 assignments, you may think these assignments are equal, but most likely they are not. Some assignments are quick and easy to complete, which will free up your time to complete additional assignments that day. Other assignments will eat up your valuable time and ultimately cost you money. Unfortunately, the amount of the shop pay is not always an indicator for how much time an assignment will take to complete. Instead, read through the assignment requirements carefully before you request the assignment, and know what you are getting yourself into. Remember, your goal is to make as much money in as little time as a mystery shopper. If an assignment will take up a lot of your time, make sure you are being compensated well for your time or that no other assignments are available during that time slot that will pay better.
Look Beyond Shop Pay. The shop pay is usually only part of the overall compensation you will receive for an assignment. Consider bonus pay, travel pay, and expense reimbursements. If an assignment has been sitting on the job boards for awhile, don’t be shy about requesting some bonus pay or travel pay from the mystery shopping provider. Why make $10 on an assignment when you can get $15 or $20 simply for asking? Also, be sure to keep a travel log of your mystery shopping miles so you can write off your miles traveled on your tax return at the end of the year.
Make Your Expense Reimbursement Count. New mystery shoppers often will use an expense reimbursement to buy themselves something fun that they had not intended to buy. But when you consider that you dropped $50 on a fun purchase of something you had no intention of buying beforehand and only got a total of $25 compensation for that assignment, it’s not hard to figure out that you actually lost $25 of your own cash by completing that assignment. Instead, use your expense reimbursement to help cover expenses you already have planned. Consider gifts you need to buy for people, clothing and shoes for your family, gas for the car, groceries, and so forth. These are all expenses that will be coming out of your pocket whether you are mystery shopping or not, so why not stretch that expense reimbursement to cover some of your planned expenses?
You can really stretch your mystery shopping income if you take some of these helpful tips to heart!
I regret to say, when I signed up for this part-time employment my first thought was to make some extra cash, however when I began receiving assignments I see that the compensation did not fit what I had in mind, for me to take an assignment that pays $10 or 20 dollars and with the gas being $2.60 or 2.80 I loose and loose big.
I will continue to stay engaged however I’m looking for a bit more compensation. (Just my thoughts currently).
When considering the expenses that go along with a job, it is very important to remember that as a mystery shopper, in almost all cases (exceptions include Nevada and Hawaii), you are really your own small business. You are selling your services to the mystery shopping company as an independent contractor, not an employee of the company.
This is what allows you to work for multiple companies and request only the jobs you are interested in (if you were an employee, the company could give you any assignments they wish).
Being an independent contractor also means that many of the expenses that are part of doing the job may also be tax deductible as business expenses. For example – mileage (or gas), paper, printer ink, other necessary supplies, etc. are all necessary for you to provide your services to a mystery shopping company and, since you are independent, the company cannot supply it without risking the independent contractor status that is crucial to the operations of most companies.
It may be worth a conversation with a tax professional to explore the possibilities.
Sincerely,
Cory Jensen, Owner
I-Spy Mystery Shoppers
Omaha, NE
I recently completed my first mystery shop for Confero. They gave me a good rating and I was so happy. I read everything about mystery shoping, what to do, what to say, how to act and it really paid off. These forums are very helpful and informative. I am looking forward to my next shop.
I can not accept the restrictive compensation that is being offered these days. When are the MS companies going to wake up to the fact that the economy sucks.
I have been at this for 5 years. I refuse to pay to shop for any of the companies. But I want to do the big time shopping, going over seas, cruise ships, spas etc. I have not come across any information on any of them. If you have information you think might help, I would appreciate it.
If there are no shops in your area, take a day and shop maybe 4 or 5 say $20 bank shops in one day. So you drove a little further than you would have for one regular shop. This evens out once in a while/