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New With Questions from Tennessee

June 18, 2013 05:01PM
Hello All. I've been looking into mystery shopping for years, and finally decided to do it. I'm signed up with probably 10 companies right now, and completed my first shop yesterday, and I have one scheduled today. It's awesome so far. A few questions:

I can not for the life of me find any retail shops? Are these the most popular or something?
When I do sign up with a retail MSC there is NEVER any shops within 30 miles of me. Is this normal?
Auto-assign: When companies have this, it seems like those MSC's especially don't have any shops in my area. Is this because auto-assign people are grabbing them all up first?

I'm so excited to be here. Thank you everyone in advance!
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June 18, 2013 06:51PM
First, welcome to the forums!

Most MSCs post shops early in the month, so you may have missed a lot of shops. However, 10 MSCs does not scratch the surface of the 250+ MSCs in the US. You would do well to visit the New Mystery Shoppers area of the forums and read, read read the top topics. Then set up a routine of adding 5 to 10 more companies a day on any day that you do not have a shop scheduled. When you get to 75-100 MSCs you will begin to see much more variety. Remember, each MSC may have from 1 to maybe as many as 10 client. And some clients split theiraccounts among MSCs, usually by region of the country. So you need to rgister with many, many MSCs before you will start to see some trypes of shops.

BTW, retail shops are often on the low end of the pay scale, and you seldom get to keep the merchandise or get anywhere near the cost in reimbursement.

As for "self-assign".... many MSCs require that you complete a certain number of their shops, at a high level of performance, before you will attain "self-assign" status. Just be patient and do several more shops for each MSC and within a couple of months you will start getting shop offers via email, and some self-assign options. It takes some real work to get your MS business up and running!

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
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June 18, 2013 06:59PM
You say there are never any shops within 30 miles of you. How long are we talking about? When did you begin to sign up with companies? After you sign up, give it a couple of months before determining that a company has no shops in your area. There is a lot of competition for mystery shopping assignments in most locations. This is also past the middle of the month. All assignments may have been posted for the month and may already be assigned to other shoppers in your area. Most of the better shops are taken very quickly as soon as they are posted. If I were in your place (I was 5 years ago), I would concentrate on signing up with at least 50 companies. Some will never have jobs in your area and others will have only a few. After a couple of months you will see a rhythm to the way each company posts its shops.
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June 18, 2013 09:09PM
Thanks for all your help! As for the companies that didn't have any shops in my area: One had literally zero within 90 miles of my zip code (which I thought was weird) and one had nothing in my city, but over 60 shops within 50 miles of my zip (which I found even weirder. I live in a city over well over 100k, and there were no shops here, but yet 30 miles up the road in Nashville there were a dozen available. This particular MSC has 3 fast food places which I go to all the time anyway so I really want it haha.

And wow that's interesting about the retail shops. I figured it purchases would be reimbursed within reason (around $10)
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June 18, 2013 11:05PM
That's a very common misconception about retail shops, and about MS in general. Often the MSC asks the shopper to buy an item that they will reimburse up to $1-2.00 just so the shopper has a receipt to prove that they actually made the visit.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
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June 19, 2013 12:25AM
Hi, TJ! Welcome to the forum! Keep signing up with MSCs, and check the forum job board for other opportunities.

~Ceridwyn
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Subscribe to Mystery Shopping Magazine for free at [www.mysteryshoppermagazine.com]
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June 21, 2013 12:53PM
It might be helpful to use [www.jobslinger.com] and the Shopping Opportunies board here to find companies that have opportunities in your area.

Working in S. Arkansas and N. Louisiana!
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June 28, 2013 01:35PM
Hi TJ may I ask what city you live in? I also live about 30 miles from.Nashville. This área is saturates with shoppers so there is a lot of competition out there. Especially since you're new and haven't established yourself yet. Even though most would advise against it including myself, you may have to take a few low paying or hard to.fill jobs untill you build your reputation with the MSC.since.there are so many shoppers in this área.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/28/2013 01:38PM by pamala.
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