The Mystery Shopping thread - VIII

Dearr MS-ers,

As HRW Timmne is currently AWOL, I've taken thre liberty of starting the new thread. I hope he (and the rest of you don't mind!)

So, to copy (with a few very minor changes) his post from the start of the last thread...

The old threads are linked to below - it's worth reading as many of them as you can to get a feel for what you might need to know.

Part I |Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII

Below is a load of advice which will hopefully help newbie/wannabe Mystery Shoppers, contributed to by a number of regulars from this and past threads.

An introduction to the mystery shopping thread

The companies mentioned below are a good place to start. Don't worry if they ask you for bank details when you apply as this is only so you can get paid. Numbers of jobs offered seems to vary and very much depends on your location in the country so it's difficult to generalise. Lots of the companies have training materials and tests which help you to know exactly what to do and the standards they expect on their reports.

Most of us have worked hard to get good at this job so whilst we are helpful we are not keen to hand on a plate information to people not willing to do the legwork too. Please also note that there is a finite pool of MS work so respect that people may not be willing to share all their knowledge with someone who in essence will be taking work away from them or causing a decrease in fees. Being able to read and digest information is a vital skill for mystery shoppers so the next stage is to read the rest of the thread and you should find people happy to answer specific queries you have.

When you are ready pick a job: The first one is always nerve wracking. Possibly try one without timings or many complex stages as those give you just that bit much to think about on the first time. Go for one close to home so you aren't going out of your way as the fee will probably not be worth it otherwise. You can always go back into most places with an excuse if you miss something or if allowed take someone else who can keep an eye out too for details such as name badges.


Basics you should know before you begin mystery shopping

There are a few things you should know; these will help you hit the ground running, or alternatively, not bother with hitting the ground at all as mystery shopping isn't for everybody!


Equipment - things you'll need to get a good start with most assignments

• Stopwatch (or a timer on your mobile can be useful)
• Scanner
• Printer
• Notepad & pen (pocket sized!)
• Camera/camera phone

Companies

A pretty long list of companies is listed below. I would say though (and I'm sure most MSers would too) that registering with as many companies as you can get your hands on is never a bad thing. My personal advice would be that GAPbuster's probably a good company to get started with due to the number of jobs available. They're not famous for high pay but the reports are great and not too laborious.

Good and bad points of mystery shopping

Mystery shopping will never make anyone rich - the pay is simply not high enough. If you're just looking for some free meals or clothes, be aware that it's not just a case of buying them and getting paid. You need a good memory, you need to be objective and have a great eye for detail. Missing the smallest bit of information from an assignment can mean that you don't get paid for a job - this can be a nightmare if you've had to spend your own money on buying something as part of doing it too!

The great thing about mystery shopping is that you can make a difference to shops' service standards and your comments are listened to! You do get a meal or two paid for and sometimes you're paid handsomely to do them. As long as you treat the job with respect, you'll be rewarded.

The more you work for a company and the better your reports get, you will be given better paying and more rewarding jobs. Companies aren't big on giving new shoppers the best jobs; these come as a reward for your loyalty and hard work, later on.


Companies used by MSE Mystery Shoppers



Retail Eyes (if you get a current MSE'r to refer you they'll earn £1.50!) GapBuster TNS BAI/BARE GFK Retail Maxim Frontline Focus Amber Arch
Allocation of Jobs – By email Optimum Contact Pay Day: About 2 weeks after work is completed, by BACS.
Customer Perspectives Limited
Allocation of Jobs – By telephone.
Pay Day: 21 days maximum, but usually within 7-10 days.
Mystery Customer Evaluations
Allocation of Jobs - By email
Pay Day: 30th of the month - if you do a job on 1st, you'll get paid on 30th - do a job on 27th and still get paid on 30th!
Business Blueprints
Allocation of Jobs - By email or phone
Pay Day: Monthly by BACS
Aba-i
Allocation of Jobs - Self allocation, you need to keep checking the website
Pay Day: Depends on the job, but generally within a couple of weeks of the job, by cash or voucher sent by post

See FAQ (below) for how to add nother clients

Registering for tax

If you wish to start Mystery Shopping on a self employed basis, even just one job, you need to register with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) within 3 months or you could face a fine of £100. Please don’t think that because you’ll potentially only earn a few quid doing MSing that you needn’t register as self employed – it’s absolutely essential that you do as being caught out can be costly. The admin work involved in being self employed is so minimal that it’s not worth avoiding - and we're here to help you do it! It might be a myth but there's been word of mystery shopping companies passing names of their shoppers to HMRC before, which can spark investigations is said shoppers are not already registered as self employed.

Forms and Guidelines you will need –

To register as Self Employed you will need to either ring HMRC on 08459 15 45 15 or download and send back the form CWF1 (http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/forms/cwf1.pdf )

(Please check the below rates I've used, in case they've changed without me updating this thread!)

You may also be required to pay class 2 National Insurance at the rate of £2.30 a week, but only if you earn more than £4,825 (between 06/04/08 and 05/04/09) after expenses in any one year through Self Employment. This means earning more than £4,825 in addition to your other sources of income.

If you think you will earn less than £4,825 in the financial year, then you can apply for a “Certificate of Small Earnings Exception” which means you will not have to pay NI (National Insurance) Contributions. The Exception application can be found at the end of this document CF10 - http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/forms/cf10.pdf

IMPORTANT National Insurance point: (thanks to Becles for this!)

Bear in mind that HMRC generally seem to have very long delays on processing these forms so don’t worry too much if it’s a few weeks before you hear anything. It's usually better to just call them!

Information on Self Assessment - http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/sa/selfemp.htm


Working out how much tax you’ll have to pay

You will be taxed at your normal tax rates for your mystery shopping. This sounds desperately vague but means that your MSing income (profit) will be added to any other income you have (employment, generally) by HMRC and taxed at the following rates (between 06/04/08 and 05/04/09):

If your total income is less than £6,035, you’ll pay no tax.
If your total income is more than this, the next £36,000 will be taxed at 20%.
Any earnings higher than £42,035 will be taxed at 40%.

Tax rates can seem confusing but following the above information logically will help you work out your tax.

For a lot of MSers, MSing is done in addition to their full time job. If the full time job pays between £6,035 and £42,035 then your MSing income will most probably be taxed at 20%.

Unless you earn more than £6,035 by mystery shopping, National Insurance (self employment’s version of National insurance is known as Class 4) will not be applicable.


“Tax doesn’t have to be taxing”

Many people are put off MSing because of the tax registration work involved - but they needn’t be. Tax is actually quite easy to deal with and when you know what to do you’ll have no issues.

I am an accountant (sorry ) and am happy to help anyone on this thread if they have any questions. There are also a few other accountancy trained MSers who regularly visit this board who will be able to help.


Record keeping

Keeping records is something that’s vital with MSing. This is for two main reasons – one is that the MSing company may call you (potentially ages) after the job has been completed to query your report, and the other is for your tax return information at the end of the year.

In terms of tax, the record keeping can prove invaluable on a month to month basis and it’s worth investing some time and possibly money in setting up a bookkeeping system.

The recommendation I would make for the accounting system is QuickBooks Simplestart – this is my absolute favorite piece of software (:D). I used to train people in this software group as part of my job and it’s very user friendly. Most people can get started with Simplestart on their own without training although this usually requires a bit of basic bookkeeping knowledge. The only downside to this software is that it costs £39.95 (inc VAT) to download. This is actually a great price for such a thorough and capable bit of kit compared to its competitors, so don’t be put off by it straight away is my advice! (Check Quidco and the like in case cashback can be made when buying!)

Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2008 is another piece of software you could use - It’s free to download so although this is great news, I have my reservations as this is a little hard to navigate and use unless you have a bit of bookkeeping knowledge/training.

Of course if you don’t fancy either of these, you could always use a spreadsheet or a manual book. These have their disadvantages too and as an accountant, would tend to advise against these if you can spare some time (and possibly money) on getting a proper piece of software set up.

There are a number of regulars on this thread who use a simple spreadsheet so there's always help around if you need to set one up.


Working out your profit/loss

There have been lots of people on the old MSing threads asking how to work out their taxable income. Below is a little example of how to do this for each job, with some suggestions of what you could include for each job you do:

Income (includes all fees and reimbursements): £30.00

Expenses:
Job specific costs (anything you had to pay out as part of the job) (£20.00)
10 miles @ 40p (HMRC’s agreed rate per mile) (£ 4.00)
12 pages printed @ 6p (reasonable cost of printing a page)(£ 0.72)

Profit (income less expenses) £ 5.28

You can also claim expenses against your income such as buying software or small equipment (calculator, diary etc) which aren’t necessarily related to one job.

It’s important to remember though that you can’t take the cost per page for printing from your income AND replacement printer cartridges and paper – it’s one or the other.

When the MS companies state that the fee includes all expenses, it is up to you to work out how much you have actually 'earned', and how much you have legitimately spent on expenses. And yes, it is even possible to make a loss, on paper, for the odd job!

What expenses can I claim against my income?
Claiming expenses other than the direct costs incurred in the job (meals etc) can be a bit of a minefield, and requires a bit of educated guestimating sometimes! with MSing, the usual, more obvious costs are:

• Paper & printer ink OR a cost per page (usually 6p for most people)
• Postage
• Files, dividers, folders etc
• Mileage costs (anything up to 40p per mile is acceptable)

There are some other things you can claim for though - these are more indirect costs and things you would have paid for even without MSing in most cases. These are simply contributions your business is making to you, for providing certain things. Below are some examples:

• Broadband - you can claim a % of your monthly cost against your income. For example, if you estimate that you use your internet 25% of the time for MSing, then claim 25% of your broadband costs against your income
• Telephone - this is done in a similar way to broadband. Line rental is done similar to broadband; calls are done either on this basis if you can't easily work it out, or using the exact costs if you can.
• Use of home - this is something most small businesses charge against their income. It's a bit of a notional amount (usually set at £5/£10 per month) that's supposed to contribute towards the costs of keeping your business running at home, using the heat, light and a bit of the spare room as an office!

The last one is definitely a guestimate one - it goes along the lines of using your common sense and making educated guesses. More info is available here from HMRC on allowable "other" expenses....

Confidentiality is something MSers really need to bear in mind. Please don't mention fees or client names on this thread as neither the MSing company nor the client being shopped will be very happy about their names being discussed on here.

The fundamental issue with this is that MSing is a very competitive business and if an MSing company finds out which company shops a particular client (and even for how much) then it puts that contract in jeopardy. This therefore means that the competition between companies will always mean less fees for us, the shopper.

Alerts thread

Timmne as set up a thread specifically to alert shoppers of new job releases - the link is here. This is a very handy thread and it ensures us shoppers keep each other in the know - so if you spot a release of jobs, please let everyone know by posting on the alerts thread!

Jobbingmusician's useful phrases thread

So, once you've started shopping, you'll need to get typing those reports! Jobbingmusician has created a thread here which is designed to help you along with typing up those reports. As with the alerts thread, this is only as useful as we make it so PLEASE add to it if you think of anything. Thanks JM!


Please let me know if there's anything that could do with being changed on this post. Thanks to the guys who PM'd me a while back with suggestions for the above - much appreciated.