Hello everyone, I'm kinda new to MS (less than 2 years). I started out scanning items for terrible pay until I found some food shops that helped and on to lighting audits. Small time stuff I know, but it was a place to start. I have joined so many platforms but they mostly seem to circle back to Presto....
Recently Ive started to pick up property condition reports which I like but they do seem long.
Any hints or tricks appreciated.
I get a little lost going from platform to platform...any advice on best companies and ways to build routes?
Thank you

You might consider reading the "New mystery shoppers" section of this forum which has a wealth of information. And many posters have shared almost everything else one would want to know in the other sections.

Thank you I definitely did start there I just noticed that a lot of it is kind of outdated.

@Trinitye124 wrote:

Thank you I definitely did start there I just noticed that a lot of it is kind of outdated.

Even though the dates on the posts are not recent the information is still relevant. I spend a lot of time just reading threads. The conversation is very helpful.

The key is organization. Once you are signed up with multiple companies, it does get overwhelming. You will learn that there is a pattern to the shops. Some are monthly, many are quarterly. As you learn the pattern of when shops are released, it will be easier to build a route. You've got to determine how much money you need to make a route worthwhile. Everybody's criteria is different. Heck, my own criteria change, depending on the quantity of work I have manged to get for the month or if I have an urgent. Consider the amount of work a shop will take, the amount of time driving, the amount of time doing the reports, etc. Be flexible. Be willing to take risks. But don't take on more than you can reasonably handle. When starting out or when conducting a shop or audit for the first time, it will naturally take longer because you are learning it. Read the guidelines and report questions beforehand so you are familiar, but even with doing that you'll find the reality on the ground will come with nuances that the guidelines don't anticipate. If you do fuel audits, look up the location on Google Maps and put it into Street View. This will give you an idea of how big the location is, how many pumps there are, and you will know whether you need to plan for a longer visit. Be careful about accepting mystery shops that have a narrow time window to shop. I am doing a 60-mile route with a combined 12 shops, I know I cannot be at shop #12 if it has a shopping window of 10am-12pm, unless I am going there first and working myself backward. Sometimes I'm able to do that, sometimes not. If you have never done a route before, I would plan out a simple route of 5 to 7 shops, no more. Depending on the shops, you may break even or even lose money, but you'll be able to take your time and learn as you go, which is the best way to learn. Then, next time take 7 to 9 shops, and so on. Read the other threads as others have said. Welcome and good luck!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/13/2024 04:19AM by ServiceAward.

Someone mentioned money. Wait for fee increases or bonuses-- if you can. In a perfect world, everyone could. Never feel shamed by some ideas in this forum if ever you need to take any gig at any fee in order to fund something immediately or as soon as possible. Let this work for you. I hope you will always be able to get those higher fees and bonuses.

Advice:

Pay special attention to the time a project is due and use that to your advantage. If they can wait until 9AM the next day, don't stay up until 3AM finishing the report.

Make friends with the schedulers. Don't be afraid to ask for extensions so you don't stay up til 3AM. ...I had a $95 targeted apartment shop. Without divulging too much; there were like six targets at the complex. Instead of doing the whole russian roulette thing where you need to talk to Dick and Jane answers and you have to call back, I asked the scheduler if it is possible to just take the shop for Dick and if Jane answers, have them switch me to the targeted shop for Jane? It was. So with one call, I hit my target, had a great shop with a leasing agent who actually knew how to sell, and everyone was happy. There are far more stories of how a great relationship with the schedulers is for your benefit than that one. Absolutely crucial if you're planning a route.

If you have 3 days off on a weekend or whenever, I find it more satisfying to schedule my shops on one or two of those days and use the 3rd day to just rest. Don't over-extend yourself. Half the battle is showing up; showering, getting dressed, driving there etc... Its easier to get 4 shops done in one day than 2 one day and 2 the next in my view. When you get home and type out the reports, you get a rhythm going. I scan all my receipts at once, air-drop all of my photos at once, and after all of the folders on my desktop are ready, I then brew some coffee or air fry some chicken strips, open the report and uploading the files is a breeze.

Wait for bonuses BUT do what makes sense to you. I had a $60 apartment shop the other day. Literally across the street was a Sonic that was still offering introductory fees. I took it. Easy $9. Nearly zero gas spent getting there. Had I waited a week or two, maybe the apartment shop would be offering $80 and maybe the Sonic would be offering $16.... but $69 in the hand beats $96 worth of "what if's)' Now, if the apartment was still offering $25 (introductory rates), I wouldn't have done the Sonic. My target is to make about $500 a month mystery shopping. That bridges the gap between the income at my "real job" and my expenses and then some.

I almost always record all interactions using my voice memo on the phone. Not so much for the narrative but for timing purposes. Its better if you can use an old cell phone you no longer use.

If your assignment has you taking pictures, take 2 or 3 more of each assigned target. You may not have noticed that bird flying in front of the gas prices on the sign but your scheduler would.

Stay out of Southeast Texas. (My territory).

Now thats what I'd call advice! Thabk you so much, I will definitely make note of all of that!
I appreciate it so much. I struggle a lot with multiple steps since my accident but Im going to make this work! Ive got to.
The free meal would be incentive enough for me, at this point, its one I don't have to buy for myself! Plus a few dollars for eating it! Ive been eating a lot of Chinese lately just because it gets paid back. I dont even eat Chinese!
Any templates or anything you might be able to suggest?
God Bless Texas, I'll leave you to it!

Thank you so much, I will keep that in mind. I dont want to set a standard of taking low paying work but I have to keep money coming in also.

Wow, thank you! Thats a lot of great information! I'm definitely taking notes! Thise narrow windows can definitely throw things into a mess!
Do you just know how to plan your route because your familiar with the area or is there a way to input addresses and have it shuffle for least miles/ most efficiently route?
Thanks for the help!

Definitely some really good information, i was just looking for things to look out for and ive noticed a lot shoppers comments about lots of changes lately.
I guess I was looking for current warnings or companies to avoid.

@Trinitye124 wrote:

Any templates or anything you might be able to suggest?
God Bless Texas, I'll leave you to it!

Can you elaborate on what you mean by "templates?" Like, when I do gas audits, I have a form I made that outlines all the required information and required pictures. It's in an order that makes sense for me. Are you talking about a template like that?

@Trinitye124 wrote:

Wow, thank you! Thats a lot of great information! I'm definitely taking notes! Thise narrow windows can definitely throw things into a mess!
Do you just know how to plan your route because your familiar with the area or is there a way to input addresses and have it shuffle for least miles/ most efficiently route?
Thanks for the help!

I don't know if you were responding to me or not but let me stress--I was just kidding about staying out of my territory.

As for route running, I'm no expert on the topic but here are my rules of thumb. Unless you have a fluid due date where the Mystery Shopping Company gives you a deadline and it's days away (merchandising is often like this) or are shopping a yellow and red diner or truck stop, you have to fit your shop into a location's business hours and an even more narrow window due to the MSC. Like the red button drive in (RBDI) is open from 7AM to Midnight in my area. But you can only shop between 11 and 8. So if you have a RBDI, you have to set up your route to where it falls within those 9 hours. So when setting up the route, you would be wise to not put a shop that may take hours longer than you thought it would before a RBDI Do it first and then the shop that may take a long time. Auto test drives are like this...seems pretty easy until you get to the dealership and you find out they have one salesperson that day and the customer ahead of you brought pictures of her grand children to show the salesperson. Still, you can't plan for everything... I was at the Asian Bear one day for a 30 minute shop and one of the employees had a medical issue that involved ambulances that happened to park right behind my car which was facing the building. The geographic area doesn't really matter that much to me. The smart phones pretty much have taken the guess work out of finding places. Weather matters more during the winter months than locations.

=====

As for companies to avoid...I urge you to make your own mind up about that. There is a famous exclusively apartment mystery shopping company; I think they've based in Dallas that goes by four letters. I love shopping for them. Apparently I'm the only one. LOL Here is the link to one of the pages about it.

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

Once you get used to it, you learn to live with the complexity and the length of the forms. It used to be much more onerous than it is now!!!! But my point is that I just "clicked" with them whereas others have not and I have enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with that company. In my previous post on this thread, they were the one who let me switch targets. I'm not sure another company would have done that. Maybe...but maybe not. Anyway...back to the company.

Now, I didn't work every single minute of it--keep that in mind but I also didn't take 45 minutes off in the middle but I had two reports to file for Ellis one night. I got home, made my coffee and some oatmeal (my go-to) and settled into to file the reports. I turned on a movie. The movie was over by the time I finished the second report. The movie? Titanic. Yeah...it was that heavy on details and repetition. Still, I had a fantastic payday the next month and was able to pamper my then-girlfriend a bit more. So I see it as a win. If I could give you some advice on what types of shops to avoid...be careful about overnight hotel stays and high end dining ($100 or more). That is a lot of exposure (I feel) and they could turn down your report. But as far as companies go...I haven't been straight up stiffed by any of hem in a very long time.

I don't know if this helps at all, but I just use an excel spreadsheet to keep track of all my shops. It has date, target (ie. the specific location I'm shopping), MS Company, the max reimbursement (which I then change once I've completed the shop if I'm under reimbursement), the fee, and then, once it's paid, I add in total payment, the date, and how (paypal, check, direct deposit, etc). I did the simple formula that adds up the reimbursement, the fee, and the paid columns and have a final one for how much is still outstanding. I highlight still to be done shops in bright green, and, during the summer when I might be doing 3-6 shops a day, I make notes if any have very specific times, so I know when to place that in my "route".

I also have one for mileage - same first three colums, then start location, end location, mileage, start time, end time. Again, I input the formula to add up total mileage, and then another that multiplies that by the mileage rate.

Thank you! Thats what Im working out now... being on so many platforms will be way less overwhelming I hope once I get good systems in place.
I noticed the export to excel button but honestly I barely knew how to use it years ago.
I have recently realized that since I use google maps to go everywhere, (one address at a time as im trying to figure out the route planner....) it does keep track of my mileage and also how many stops in a day and where... i think that will be useful to help consolidate things into one place. Its thenonky place so far everything comes together in one place.
Any further suggestions are very welcome! Thank you so much

Always request PAD from the company that does property inspections.

Could you give some examples please?

@Trinitye124 wrote:

Could you give some examples please?

As far as PAD, it depends on what you want to charge per mile. Then, times that by the miles you will drive to and from the job. For me, if I am making a special trip and I don't have any other jobs, I will simply come up with a flat fee that isn't based on the number of miles I'll be driving. For example, if I am traveling 30 miles and I don't have any other jobs, I'm going to request $80 PAD. This is because I would not do a route for less than $100.00. One job fee will be around $20, take or give, so an $80 PAD gives me my $100. Now, if I am doing a route of jobs, and this job is just part of a route, then I will charge 50-cents per mile. At 60-miles, that would be a $30 PAD request. If it is a job in town, I'm good with $10 or $15 PAD, depending on what side of town I am going.

Keep in mind some projects you cannot get that much PAD, but some you can. If there are numerous shoppers, they will go with the one who has the lowest PAD request or does not ask for PAD. That might be why you are getting a lot of those jobs.

Again - you have to figure this out for yourself. Everybody's situation will be different. Your cost for gas might be more than mine - or less. You may need a quick $50 and don't want to risk your offer being turned down. I don't know. Ask for a number you are comfortable with and for a number you would be happy to get it. The worst they can say is no. The point is, always request PAD because one of the benefits of that MSC is that you have that option. Don't leave that extra cash on the table.

My starting point for PAD is the IRS mileage rate plus a charge for the time I spend driving to and from the location, plus any tolls. For many of the PAD assignments, I have to go when the client says they are available. I have no way of knowing in advance whether I will be able to add other shops to make a route, so the PAD has to cover the trip. The typical $17 payment for a business verification is sufficient (barely) for the 30 minutes on average that I spend on-site plus the time it takes to submit the report.

I have occasionally been asked to accept a lower rate. I reply that I do not bid against myself.

This makes sense and isnkinda hiwnive been covering my basis! Thank you so much! I didn't even consider tolls because of my ipass but yeah, i need to consider that and add fubds too!

Thank you so much! Thats a lotnto consider and kearn from! Im taking notes a d i appreciate your time!!
Thank you

One more thing, I realize this is a message board, and you are probably trying to type on your phone. That said, it's good to make sure your reports do not have those type of errors.

@ServiceAward wrote:

One more thing, I realize this is a message board, and you are probably trying to type on your phone. That said, it's good to make sure your reports do not have those type of errors.

Funny. I saw the difference in the last few posts and immediately thought (from experience) that Trinity might be enjoying a drop or two while typing. Not being critical! Most of us have done it at some point, somewhere. The posts eerily resembled my own drunk-typing results!

@sestrahelena wrote:

@ServiceAward wrote:

One more thing, I realize this is a message board, and you are probably trying to type on your phone. That said, it's good to make sure your reports do not have those type of errors.

Funny. I saw the difference in the last few posts and immediately thought (from experience) that Trinity might be enjoying a drop or two while typing. Not being critical! Most of us have done it at some point, somewhere. The posts eerily resembled my own drunk-typing results!

There is a gas station near my residence. First the back story. My girlfriend wanted a specific drink--Tahitian Treat. It taste like 100 proof Kool Aid except instead of liquor, it has sugar, sugar, and more sugar. I found a place that sold it. This gas station near my residence. The bottles have enough dirt on them where you could write your name on it. The counter that holds the beverage machine has the hoses coming out of the door and up the front because they are too cheap to drill a hole in the top. The doors to the beer coolers have never been cleaned; ever. The gas pump is something from the 80s’. The place is wretched. And the owner/clerk was all up in mine because he didn’t like that me and my late wife were a mixed couple and said something about it to us once. So guess who was getting mystery shopped one day. he he he...

I documented with my camera each and very infraction I would normally come across. The pump didn’t print a receipt. Points off. The beer cooler was poorly stocked and dirty. Points off. The beverage set up was abysmal and most of the dispensers were out of order according to the duct tape over the Coke logo. Points off. Points off. Points off. I get home and file my report (one of six I did that day for Circle K).

The gas station I referenced above was a CITGO. The Circle K I was assigned was about 200 yards down the street.

Drunk posting is kid’s play.