I have read lots of posts that deal with fees and reimbursements. There are those shoppers that do this for a living, making this their full time job and those that do it because maybe it is part of their social thing and it allows them to do things that normally maybe they couldn’t afford regularly.

There are many good shops dealing with restaurants that reimburse only. Most reimburse from $70-200 with maybe a 30-45 minute report. The smaller shops pay less but possibly include a small fee that combined costs nothing in the end. Some of these places are actually establishments that you may frequent often, so if it ends up being free or close to free how is that not a good deal for the RIGHT person. The best are those with little paperwork and no required pictures.

So take it easy on those that don’t do this for a living, but do it as a hobby or a social thing. Everyone is entitled to do these shops and shouldn’t be scrutinized because you might feel that they are taking away from what you can earn.

My reply is for those entering or have recently entered the shopping business. I am currently in my 21st year and have never encountered $70 to $200 shops with maybe a 30 to 45 minute report; that is not to state, though, they do not exist. In addition, the only occasion when I have heard of free meals was when that verbiage was used by a scheduler AND that IS to state they are nonexistent.

I definitely agree with the OP's position that leisure time shoppers should not be criticized for their choices. It all goes back to an old adage that states, :"Whatever floats one's boat."

I was going to say that I also think it depends on how quickly you can type and compose a report. I used to regularly write 15 page reports in an evening in college - it's just something that's easy for me to do. I take quick notes in the car afterward and just string them into the report when I get home. I don't do mystery shopping for a living, per se, but I'm a teacher and had unexpected expenses this summer, so, I am hustling right now. I'm honestly running out of some shops in my area because of rotations. Most of the time, though, I just do it as a hobby or to get a free lunch if I'm in the area or something. When my daughter was young, we had very little money, and I did it to get things we couldn't afford and to supplement the grocery budget (used to have a bunch of grocery shops here). It wasn't a bad gig - we ended up with all expenses paid to an MLB game, a three day/two-night stay at a resort in the area (again, all expenses pay, including mama getting a massage and having to get a couple drinks at the bar, etc). And I just did the reports after she was asleep, so it wasn't bad (if I remember correctly, the resort one ended up being twelve pages long or so, almost all narration, but I was making sure that trip got reimbursed because it would have cost me well over $1000 if it wasn't accepted (I had done jobs for this company before, so, I knew they were pretty legit/wouldn't find a made-up reason to slam me).

All this to say, even for one person, the reason they mystery shop can change. Right now, it is definitely about the Benjamins. In the past, getting things we couldn't afford. Usually? Free lunch/hobby.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2023 12:49PM by mysterioso412.

My answer is both. I started doing this because I had one kid graduating college and one graduating high school and I knew many expenses were coming this year and I needed to supplement my income to pay for hotel rooms, travel, meals out, etc.

So yes, I have made a good amount of money each month from shopping and that is the focus. However, when you are looking at colleges and there is a Texas Roadhouse down the road, why not get a discounted meal? And.. if I am doing a route in an area and there is a Sonic there, why not get a free lunch? If it is an anniversary or big birthday, why not get a reimbursed meal even if there is no pay?

It all depends on my needs at the moment. The money is more the need so I have been trying to limit the eating out as it takes money out of that pocket.

@Datagirl wrote:

My answer is both. I started doing this because I had one kid graduating college and one graduating high school and I knew many expenses were coming this year and I needed to supplement my income to pay for hotel rooms, travel, meals out, etc.

So yes, I have made a good amount of money each month from shopping and that is the focus. However, when you are looking at colleges and there is a Texas Roadhouse down the road, why not get a discounted meal? And.. if I am doing a route in an area and there is a Sonic there, why not get a free lunch? If it is an anniversary or big birthday, why not get a reimbursed meal even if there is no pay?

It all depends on my needs at the moment. The money is more the need so I have been trying to limit the eating out as it takes money out of that pocket.

Hi Data Girl--

Want to applaud your outlook. I share it (mostly). I don't think I've ever had more money than I needed though. LOL. TO that end, I'm thinking of becoming one of those annoying people on TikTok who will "tell my secrets" about mystery shopping for a fee...of course. One of the things I'm going to discuss is what you touched on; if you're to the point to where doing the shop is second-nature...why not get the discounted/free meal or maybe make a few bucks while doing it?

Also, this just might be me but I love long car trips covering hundreds of miles in a day; listening to books that were downloaded and a series of podcasts. Last month, there were some apartments out in west Texas paying upwards of $100. I knocked out a few of them and slept at a rest-stop. It was fun.

It started as a necessity for me, that was the only gig I was able to do when arriving in the USA that did not require a work permit. I created my own LLC, and was able to start making a living. I had $25 in my account when I arrived in the USA, no work permit, and I did not want to rely on my partner only to make a living. Then I became a resident, then a citizen, and I did not rely anymore on mystery shopping solely for a living. I still shop a lot, but differently. Luxury resorts, casinos, fancy hotels and restaurants, groceries - they can make you save up a lot of money on a household budget. Writing a report has never been an issue for me, since I'm a writer. I still sometimes drive an hour each way for some restaurants that I particularly love. Before I severed the ties with the company that does the shipping shops, I used to buy a bag of rice or beans and ship it to my husband's family who needed it. I would end up getting half the fee because I would purchase the rice/beans, but I'd still make a small profit and help someone in need. That's one thing I like about mystery shopping, you tailor it to your needs. There's also one aspect to keep in mind, even when doing a shop for no fee : the expenses related to the shop (gas, mileage, etc.) can be tax deductible - even if you're shopping a fancy restaurant, you are still working since you're doing a report... the possibilities are endless! And, of course, I went to places I would never had gone or even think of going to (Indian reservation casino by Tucson!) and met wonderful people along the way - I've been working with the same schedulers for over 10 years now!

I mystery shopped for a decade along my commute back and forth to my “real” job, picking up $25-75 daily. Then 6-10 hours on the weekends.

I brought in between $800-2000/month doing this, enough to allow both of my children to graduate debt-free from college.

Hobby shoppers are, in my opinion, dragging down fees and hurting the industry as a whole. When you do an assignment for $6, instead of waiting a bit and letting it age on the board to $15-18, you’re the equivalent of a sweatshop employee.

Maybe you don’t know this, but that shop you’re willing to do for $6 is something the client is paying the MSC (mystery shop company) $50-100+ for. There’s plenty of room for fees to increase, if you’ll just hold your horses and wait.

@ColoKate63 wrote:

I mystery shopped for a decade along my commute back and forth to my “real” job, picking up $25-75 daily. Then 6-10 hours on the weekends.

I brought in between $800-2000/month doing this, enough to allow both of my children to graduate debt-free from college.

Hobby shoppers are, in my opinion, dragging down fees and hurting the industry as a whole. When you do an assignment for $6, instead of waiting a bit and letting it age on the board to $15-18, you’re the equivalent of a sweatshop employee.

Maybe you don’t know this, but that shop you’re willing to do for $6 is something the client is paying the MSC (mystery shop company) $50-100+ for. There’s plenty of room for fees to increase, if you’ll just hold your horses and wait.

Too many shoppers have flooded in and grab jobs as quickly as they are posted. I do wait for those fees to increase and sometimes I lose out on the job completely. But often the waiting pays off with big bonuses. A MSC posted yesterday several jobs. I grabbed the 4 near me because I know those will go. There is a group that is further out that nobody seems interested in doing. I let them sit there hoping the fees go up. Sometimes I win big. That is the goal. Do less, make more. I have a minimum for certain jobs. Sometimes I will take a job I have never done before at base pay only to see if I like it and if I understand it and to make sure I get paid. If all goes well, I will wait for the fees to increase. I use base pay jobs as a learning experience one time and that is it.

It takes me to cities I would overlook or takes me to stores I would not go to.

I mystery shop / audit almost exclusively for money. I used to do a nearby chain chicken restaurant which I really liked, but I'm not in that area now. When I'm out eating / drinking, attending events, etc., I want to enjoy them on my own terns. Maybe I'd pick up some reimbursement assignments if going by myself and seeing a nice fee attached, but otherwise I'm passing.

A lot of people pick up assignments for small fees and I can't gripe about that, at least partly 'cause I know it won't do any good. We all have our own individual standards for what qualifies as being worth our time. I'm contemplating an assignment which I've seen at least a few others say isn't worth the fee, but I have the time and can use the money so I'm probably going in on it.

Also, on rare occasions I'll pick up an assignment 'cause I'll pick up some information which may be helpful in the near future. I did a few investment shops before I had any investments.

I've been mystery shopping a living for over 10 years. It took me a couple of years to understand that if I leave the shops on the board they will get bonuses. And that strategy has worked for me pretty well up until the pandemic hit. Suddenly there's a lot fewer people working regular jobs and a lot more people doing gig work, and they are new and they don't understand that the the pay will go up, and there will be incentives added if they just wait a week or two or three.

There are a lot of new mystery shoppers now, and it's getting harder and harder to get a job that pays enough to make it worth doing.

Out of nowhere I seem to be getting shops. I just did one for an trendy but yet reasonable cost restaurant downtown. $13 plus reimbursement up to $40 which was enough for a salad, a Bombay Sapphire gin/tonic and a 20% tip.

I'd love more shops like this as I'm not eating out much these days - too expensive.

Came back to add - I'm only getting worthwhile shops from one source - Intellishop. Other msc's I'm not doing so well with.

I agree with a lot of the responses above. We are all free to do this for our own reasons, and it offers a great deal of flexibility and variety, so I don't throw shade to anyone who does it for their own reasons.

The experiences can be a nice way to supplement your social life or do/try things you may not normally be able to afford otherwise. I've been a shopper about 15 years and when I realize that some of the fees are still THE SAME despite inflation, minimum wage increases, additional requirements, etc, colokate summed it up - hobby shoppers drag down the fees.

I do some merchandising projects and I will not take rock bottom fees that undercut other merchandisers in my area. I also will not do work for companies that post billions in profits and want to have shoppers gather intel for them for $7 and a $1 reimbursement and $2 of gas. A lot of new shoppers don't realize how fees or bonuses work, and they don't realize their own overhead involved in doing a shop. More than likely, you will need to have a phone, data/wifi plan, a vehicle, pay your own taxes, and of course, your time.

We are all "labor" and not the elites in this country. The only way labor has advanced their pay, benefits and working conditions, has been to organize and display solidarity. I don't expect that to happen in this industry anytime soon, so I stick to my own principles and protect my bottom line.

I have encountered dining shops im the $70 to $200+ range that take me more than five hours. Where are these shpps that take 30 to 45 minuted to report?

I agree that we need to be strategic about what shops we take. The fees will increase. The effect of new ahoppers dragging down fees seems most evident with Market Force. I don't shop for them more than once every few months, as a result.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2023 09:21PM by Niner.

I have always been annoyed by the shoppers who think they deserve to get shops more than another person who may be doing this for other reasons than they are. I like telling stories so here is my equivalent story to illustrate. When i was working at a full time job two of us got laid off from the same job. We both applied for the same new posted position at the company we got laid off from. In the end I was hired into the position and my new boss told me later that the other person who applied (my former co worker) attempted to convince her she should hire him because he had a wife and daughter to support so he needed the money and job more than I did. At the time I was without children but as a female in those days you never would tell a boss you were trying to get pregnant. That would automatically disqualify you from being hired in most bosses minds in those days (and perhaps now too?) My husband did not have a stable income as a free lancer.
My story if i felt I could tell all and still get the job was that I was getting older and if I did not have a solid job with health insurance my chance of having a family might be over. The refrain was heard over and over in those days that if a woman employee had a child she would quit. I knew I would not and stayed in that job for many years.
So basically you can never walk in another person's shoes as you do not usually have access to those shoes and how they fit on that person.

I have been mystery shopping for over 20 years. I started when I was a merchandiser. My merchandiser job I had daily routes that I did that was up to 100 miles a day. So I would pick up fast food shops for my lunch and other shops that had places that I would be driving by anyway. I had to retire early due to some serious health problems, so I could no longer do merchandising. I do the mystery shopping now to supplement my social security and it helps pay the bills.

I can be a cheapskate. I used to do the little survey on the back of El Pollo Loco receipts so that I could get a couple of bucks off my next purchase. On the back of the receipt was an ad about mystery shopping. I responded and was introduced to MF. There I discovered I could get the whole El Pollo Loco meal free and get paid a few bucks too! What!!! Later I discovered Sin**** Met**. I began to do Little Caesars shops on my commute. The next day I'd put the pizza in the microwave serve it to students I tutored in an after school program. They thought I was the greatest. That was then. I no longer commute. I'm retired, but still a bit of a cheapskate. Generally, I don't do shops at the basic rate, but I understand that everyone has a price. Furthermore, I'm aware the mystery shopping industry has a business model that works...for them. They know people will accept a shop at any given rate. That will never change. Knowing this, that the industry is a business that is designed for profit for themselves, and that people will accept a shop at any given rate, it is up to the shoppers to make it work for the shopper. What works for me may not work for you, just like what worked for me back in my Little Caesars days won't work for me now.

@Datagirl wrote:

Too many shoppers have flooded in and grab jobs as quickly as they are posted. I do wait for those fees to increase and sometimes I lose out on the job completely. But often the waiting pays off with big bonuses. A MSC posted yesterday several jobs. I grabbed the 4 near me because I know those will go. There is a group that is further out that nobody seems interested in doing. I let them sit there hoping the fees go up. Sometimes I win big. That is the goal. Do less, make more. I have a minimum for certain jobs. Sometimes I will take a job I have never done before at base pay only to see if I like it and if I understand it and to make sure I get paid. If all goes well, I will wait for the fees to increase. I use base pay jobs as a learning experience one time and that is it.

I think your post is the winner in the thread. The message is..."you've got to adapt".

I have a minimum that I will accept for a shop fee. I don't even look at shops that fall below that amount.
I expect MS companies to be reasonable about tasks they want and what they will pay for them. No five hour shops (total time, from reading guidelines, to making the visit, to submitting), for example, that only pay $15. When I started this policy a couple of years ago, fewer shops qualify, but I make more money, and find the shops I accept more interesting and satisfying.

To contradict myself, I did a shop this week that had a (generous IMO) ) flat rate (no reimbursement) and required the purchase of an item/s (pretty much anything and I could later return). I purchased two items with the intent to return, but now, as long as the shop is accepted, I’m keeping them because they would allow me to try a hobby that I’ve been wanting to try for thirty years but always thought was wasteful to put money into because I have never shown skill in related areas. But if I enjoy it, and it’s free, who cares if I’m good, right?

I’ll make less than $2 profit off of this, but I’m getting the opportunity to try something I’ve always wanted to do and it cost me less than an hour of my time, including the report. And I’ve been hustling this month, so I just added in a couple extra less-favored shops to make up for it.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2023 03:56AM by mysterioso412.

I started mystery shopping out of necessity, since it was the best-paying job out of the few I could get after cancer recovery. That was 2008 and was my only source of income. Now that I have reached retirement age and collect Social Security, I continue to shop full-time and will probably mystery shop as long as I am physically able, because it is not just for the money that I mystery shop. That being said, I will not shop for reimbursement only or any shop, no matter how "easy," that pays less than $10.

I continue to mystery shop because it is fun, fulfilling, profitable, keeps my brain sharp, lets me travel and see places and meet people, and allows me to set my own schedule including vacations. I also enjoy the perks, such as free gasoline, but I would never do a gas station shop for no fee. I have stayed in most of the finest hotels on the Las Vegas Strip and ate at their fantastic fine dining restaurants. I would never have had the opportunity to experience those hotels, restaurants, and shows if I had not been mystery shopping.

Yes, those shops were work with hours of reports, but I enjoyed perks that I could not afford and got paid money for doing it! Although I mystery shop primarily for money, I also shop for the experiences that mystery shopping gives me. I also work with several schedulers who are not reluctant to compliment me on my work and standards. I have the satisfaction and pride of having earned the "go-to" nomer which has resulted in getting many of the best shop offers.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/2023 02:44PM by AZwolfman.

My answer to the title question is that no job is, "All about the money," unless it is a job that you hate everything else about it.

It is always about money and meaning, as long as one does not have a financial need to take some jobs at initial fee in.order to guarantee some income. If you have money, you can wait for fee increase, complete routes, wait for reimbursements, etc. If you are desperate, you need to get money asap that does not require money to make money. More personally, I am in transition, haha. I am returning slowly after eleven months away due to health challenges. I can't just take any good fee. I have to figure out accessibility (occasional use of cane that has a quirky personality and falls noisily) and energy levels. I did one small local gig without cane and could have done a small route of these in other circumstances. I would need a larger city with multiple merches and/or shops. As the day progressed I would probably need the kooky cane for the last locations of the day. For now, I am limited by locality and what cane and I can do together. At re-entry, I did one local gig that worked out to the hourly equivalent of ninety bucks per hour with no monetary outlay and, most important, learned what the next likely possibilities are. I enjoy all the responses and perspectives in this thread!

Sometimes you get paid in money, sometimes you are reimbursed with food or an experience, and sometimes both. I am sure I do shops that other people do not think are worth it, but everyone has their own reasons for choosing to do what they do. Heck, I have done shops and by the end of it all I have felt that it wasnt worth it, lol.

You mention we are the labor and not the elites. Here’s a video from some guy named MIT Dr. Shiva for president 2024 who happens to be married to Fran Drescher, explaining very eloquently how elites control us: [youtu.be]

No, it's about the perks for me.

Pretty much about the money, and while I don't do any reimbursement-only shops, the food shops are feeding me (and saving me money from buying food) since I'm one person living somewhat nomadically. Same with the gas shops with low pay - while I'd prefer to do them when the money is better, if they are close and I need the gas it only makes sense. That said, I do enjoy the work.

It's a balance of money/time/interest. Certainly the shops I like to do, I want as much money as I possibly can get. But there are some shops that pay decent that I won't bother doing . That could be because I don't want to spend the time faking interest, or the report is longer than I want to deal with, or its with a company that is less shopper-friendly than others.

I have to be able to tolerate the scenario or what I'm doing. If I don't buy into it or could care less about it (apartment shops(, I just will not do them.