Hi

I just joined. I am pretty new to mystery shopping. I've noticed that most shops don't pay well($10-$20) for what they ask you to do. I realize this may be the market setting the price. I have signed with 20 companies. Can't seem to find better paying shops. Any help will be appreciated.

That is certainly the standard for mid level jobs. There are jobs as low as 95 cents and two day jobs posted at $130 and everything in between. Part of shopping is building your reputation with companies so that as they have jobs that require a reliable shopper and pay better they will think of you. Most every company seems to have 'better' jobs they give to their more reliable shoppers, so it makes no sense to name them. Rather you build your reputation with the companies that have work in your area. Will you get rich? Heck no! Can you earn more elsewhere? Heck yes! Companies do seem to ask an awful lot for what they pay, but as long as someone is willing to do the work for the money, that is the way it is going to be.

So is it possible to say make $60 a day doing this? 3 $20 shops a day or 6 $10? How long does it take to get ranked high enough? 100 shops, 1000 shops, and can you e-mail them like crazy begging for better jobs?

So hold your horses, here, Pat. You really have to scheme and plan to get several shops a day particularly in the same area so you are not driving from Marysville to Olympia. (Just had to put that in because you said you are in south Seattle). Register for as many companies as you possibly can, (see the sticky post on mystery shop company discussion), and then work to get and coordinate ones near to each other on the same day. Today I did 3, two each at $14, and one at $16, bonused because no one would take it for a month (had started out at $10). Tomorrow I am going to do 4, one at $27, time consuming, about an hour, one at $9.50, should be quick, and a fairly quick $15 and $13. Some days I do none. I probably average about 8 to 10 a week.I figure I make a little over $100 a week secret shopping and because I have another part time job, a family, and up until a few weeks ago, a Masters program to finish, that is great by me. Now I could pursue it more but I won't, it would be too much stress. If you want to jump in with both feet and are willing to drive, there is a lot going on in our area. You will soon find out how much is doable for you, because remember there is always the input time afterward. I really don't know if there is a set limit on how many shops it takes to rank higher. Remember that it won't be 100 with the same company. It will be more like 100 with 10 different companies. It's fun, but it
is not a way to get rich. It's time consuming. It is now 1 a.m. Pacific time and I am ready for bed. Good luck!

Pat, check your private message box. I have sent you a job you might want to get started with. There are actually loads of jobs in Tukwila, at or near Southcenter. Good luck!

patfultz Wrote:
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> So is it possible to say make $60 a day doing
> this? 3 $20 shops a day or 6 $10? How long does it
> take to get ranked high enough? 100 shops, 1000
> shops, and can you e-mail them like crazy begging
> for better jobs?


It is not all your ranking. Ranking helps. If the company has nothing, there are no 'better' jobs either. There are jobs more likely to fall in your lap when you are a known reliable shopper. A company I normally do assbreaker jobs for for $35 that take usually 3-4 hours recently dropped in my lap a series of quick $5 phone shops that I am scheduled to do a series of 14 of within a 2 hour window one day a week for several months. That is a sweet $70 for 2 hrs to start my day. Who knows what, if anything, they will have that is as sweet in the future? The same day I last did those I had 4 $7 shops with $10 reimbursements each for stuff I needed/could use. Those had to be done in a 3 hour window. So depending on how you slice and dice it, it was either a $98 day with $40 in reimbursements or a $138 day. Total shop, travel and report time of about 6 hours. Another day this week was an $87 day with 6 shops if you don't count useful reimbursements, $127 if you count the reimbursements. Two of the shops were given based on reliability as a shopper, 4 of them were things anyone could have self selected, but experience tells you where and when to look for them to grab them as soon as they post. Miles driven for day 1 was about 40 miles, for day 2 was about 62 miles. If I planned less my routes I would not have gotten the shops done in the time allotted and would have put a whole lot more miles on my vehicle. So there is an art, a science and luck that go into shopping and experience is about the only way you develop the feel for how you truly can make it work for you. Of course having work available helps and for that you just keep signing up with companies to see what they may have for you.

Well said, as usual, Flash.

Just like anything else, it takes work and practice. I remember going to a Broadway musical. The performance was effortless and yes, these guys got paid big bucks I assume for a 3 hour performance. I would certainly like the paycheck of one of the guys in the orchestra. Now lets see, he has been playing his instrument for how many years? Paid how much for lessons? Spends how many hours a day practicing? Attended how many hours of rehearsals? Went home and spent how many hours working on his specific part for this show--especially that convoluted part toward the end of the second act? And how many of these hours was he not paid for or actually paid for himself? And now, for the run of the show, he will get paid for performing it every night the theater is not dark. If the show closed the next night, that would be it. If the show runs for years he may be assured longer term employment.