MYSTERY SHOPPING THREAD XII - ** New people please read posts 1 & 2 **

TractorGirl327

Flygirl767 wrote: »

Hi and merry Christmas to all.

Slightly off topic but does anyone here have a netbook? I am definitely going to get one as other half has given me the money for Xmas. Any recommendations? I am looking at the Samsung N130 and so far this looks the best value/reviews etc. Also, does anyone use mobile broadband, again if so which would you recommend? Am hoping to pick up more jobs when out working as I can take this out with me for the day.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

My hubby got me a Netbook for Xmas for exactly the same reason. And I got it early, in October!!! I have the Asus Eee PC 1005HA and can highly recommend it. 8.5 hours battery life was the clincher for me. It fits into by (albeit large) handbag so I can take it out with me and when I stop for a coffee etc I can log on and check the sites.

I have an O2 mobile broadband dongle but to tell the truth I don't use it - MacDonalds, Starbucks, Costa, Pret a Manger, Wertherspoons ...... loads of places nowadays have free WiFi so I just go in there for a coffee and use theirs.

You can get a Netbook contract like a mobile phone contract where you get the Netbook free and pay a certain amount each month, but with free Wifi in so many places I don't really think this works out any cheaper.

Lil_Me wrote: »

30 minutes?? Took me 10 seconds. Homepage - "join the team" under "other opportunities" click "mystery shopping"

Logical, no?

Does the link on the front page need changing? If so I'll do it .... but never had any problems before now?

Lil_Me_2

TractorGirl327 wrote: »

Does the link on the front page need changing? If so I'll do it .... but never had any problems before now?

Not really. It's one/two clicks away from the MS part of the website depending on how you access it. I wouldn't link directly to the application form as St00zer would like you to, but if you really wanted to make it even easier you could link to http://www.gfkmysteryshopping.co.uk/ instead of http://www.gfknop.com/

Generally if 99% of the people have managed to sign up from the link it doesn't need to be changed, but GfK do a lot of non-MSing stuff as well so it's not as obvious as other sites.

gallygirl

St00zer wrote: »

I recently bought a digital camera. Does anyone know if I can offset the cost of the camera against any profits I make from MS?

Also I know I can offset some of my heating, eletric, broadband costs from my pofits but does anyone know exactly how much would be possible?

Thank you.

Puzzcat wrote: »

I'm not a regular poster, but I am a regular reader, in fact I have never yet asked a question on here because I have gone to the trouble of reading back through the previous threads to find out what I need to know. I can understand the frustrations of the good people who set up this thread if others do not do this. Granted every so often a new question does appear that doesn't appear to have been previously answered but some people don't seem to have gone to the trouble of doing any research prior to posting. The tax office has a website have you looked at it???? or even the front page of the thread..

Puxxcat the problem is that the tax office website does not give definitive answers, only guidance (which is correct as they cannot cover ever possible example).

St00zer, re camera it's a case of what is reasonable. So, have you only bought the camera for MS? Doesn't seem likely you would go to such an expense for the few shops which require a photo - most phones have a camera which would be sufficient. On the other hand, if you had a basic phone with no camera or internet access & were working with say 20 MS co's I would think you could realistically say you had upgraded your phone - if this would enable you to accept jobs while you were out when you received an alert without having to find a computer with internet access. It's all about reasonability.

With regards to heating etc. the simple answer is yes, but again it is not straightforward. If you are self employed and have an office set up exclusively for this you can claim a proportion of all costs (say the office was 10% of floor space you could claim 10% of heating etc.). However, realistically the tax man would look at the amount you earn from MS and say 'on your bike you can't claim business use for that amount of work sunshine (couched in slightly more formal language ).

However there are issues to consider if you own your home. 1. When you sell you will be liable for Capital Gains Tax on the same proportion of any increase in property value. 2. Your mortgage co would need to give permission I believe if you are formally saying you work from home.

You could of course just claim & hope you don't get inspected by IR. Not to be recommended - it's illegal to claim what you know you are not entitled to and you really don't want to have a black mark against you for the future.

If you did not have broadband before doing MS you could realistically say you needed it for business, otherwise you would need to 'prove' what proportion is for MS.

plane_boy2000 wrote: »

Another tax question here - (sorry if its been covered before but I couldn’t find it)

If I carry out two jobs in the same shopping center can I claim the mileage from home for each job, or can I just claim the mileage for one job?

Also if I carry out a job at the shopping centre next to my day jobs office can I still claim the mileage from home, or can I only claim if the journey was wholly and exclusively for the MS visit? - Thanks

You should only claim what you have actually done over & above normal mileage. Realistically though people do say they have made 2 trips when they have only made 1.

For the latter I would say go ahead & claim the whole mileage. I'd like to think the IR have bigger fish to fry than trying to find out where your normal employment is, then asking where a specific MS was & what time of day you did it then use google maps to work out mileage. If it's a job you would have accepted anyway it's up to do when you do it.

St00zer

gallygirl

Thanks very much for your response.

Yes I have only bought the camera purely for MS, otherwise I don't need a camera. I have spent a fair amount of my time and broadband usage on MS.

When claiming back travel expenses would it be possible to claim the cost of say travelling on the train/bus as opposed to mileage?

How would you claim if you paid a flat rate for a bus pass/train ticket per month? Would you work it out based on mileage or would it be based on the cost of per journey to the MS destination?

I understand mileage is about 40p/mile and paper is about 6p/sheet.

Also what about using the telephone to carry out phone jobs? I assume one can reclaim the full cost of a phone call for a MS ?

I would prefer not to claim and hope I don't get inspected. I'd rather pay whatever is due and not claim for things I am not allowed to claim for.

twinklie

How blonde am I? I've been sat lurking on the old thread and hadn't noticed there was a new one....thought it was quiet!!! Ha ha

On the plus side...read through the new first posts (looks like I missed a bit of a barney there) and thought I'd try gfk again. They are accepting applications from my area for a change!!! Woo hoo!!! Just waiting to see if I'm accepted now.

St00zer

I have an idea which I think will benefit all.

I have been reading the first MS thread which is about 200 pages long. It has taken me a day or so to get halfway. There are alot of posts where people are either talking about new jobs being posted or people talking about their first MS etc etc.

There are alot of posts to read that are outdated. I have spent a day doing this and have learnt a couple of things but don't feel I have been effective with my time.

I think it would be more efficient to have a website that compliments MSE.

Basically someone would have to read all XII MS thread and extract all the useful posts and put on a website in a orderly manner.

This would take a solid months worth of reading IMO.

However the website can have things such as Adsense and affiliate marketing and banners to generate a small income for the owner of the website.

As new MS always tend to join the business they will continue to visit the website and generate traffic for the website.

I think this is more effective use of everyones time then reading through hundreds of posts and it will save time asking questions already asked on this thread.

I also think it would be useful to have a separate MS thread about tax related queries.

The above is just an idea, I would be interested to hear what others think?

thumper1970

St00zer wrote: »

I have an idea which I think will benefit all.

I have been reading the first MS thread which is about 200 pages long. It has taken me a day or so to get halfway. There are alot of posts where people are either talking about new jobs being posted or people talking about their first MS etc etc.

There are alot of posts to read that are outdated. I have spent a day doing this and have learnt a couple of things but don't feel I have been effective with my time.

I think it would be more efficient to have a website that compliments MSE.

Basically someone would have to read all XII MS thread and extract all the useful posts and put on a website in a orderly manner.

This would take a solid months worth of reading IMO.

However the website can have things such as Adsense and affiliate marketing and banners to generate a small income for the owner of the website.

As new MS always tend to join the business they will continue to visit the website and generate traffic for the website.

I think this is more effective use of everyones time then reading through hundreds of posts and it will save time asking questions already asked on this thread.

I also think it would be useful to have a separate MS thread about tax related queries.

The above is just an idea, I would be interested to hear what others think?

Sounds like a wonderful idea - I would be happy to arrange hosting, but am not brilliant at HTML, so maybe there's someone out there that would be able to assist?

Becles

I wouldn't feel happy about having my posts and the information I've given copied to another website.

This has happened before when I posted a lengthy MS related post on here and some nasty person copied it and was selling my work on ebay :mad:

St00zer

Becles

I was hoping you could actually be 'head' of the website. I have been reading the first MS thread and your contributions are FANTASTIC.

You really are a fountain of knowledge and seem readily available to help answer questions.

Perhaps whatever income earned from the website via banners, affiliate marketing and adsense can be shared out amongst the contributors to peoples questions e.g Becles
This way you get something back for your help and hopefully it will encourage people to continue to help others become better MS.

I still think it would be a good idea to have a separate tax thread as the quite a few of the questions asked will be based on individual circumstances.

And it maybe worth asking new questions on this thread to get a variety of answers that can be summarised as one and posted on a separate site.

Chris357

TractorGirl327 wrote: »

My hubby got me a Netbook for Xmas for exactly the same reason. And I got it early, in October!!! I have the Asus Eee PC 1005HA and can highly recommend it. 8.5 hours battery life was the clincher for me. It fits into by (albeit large) handbag so I can take it out with me and when I stop for a coffee etc I can log on and check the sites.

I have an O2 mobile broadband dongle but to tell the truth I don't use it - MacDonalds, Starbucks, Costa, Pret a Manger, Wertherspoons ...... loads of places nowadays have free WiFi so I just go in there for a coffee and use theirs.

You can get a Netbook contract like a mobile phone contract where you get the Netbook free and pay a certain amount each month, but with free Wifi in so many places I don't really think this works out any cheaper.

Does the link on the front page need changing? If so I'll do it .... but never had any problems before now?

People should realise that using public wi-fi is unsecure. You are at great risk of being hacked. If there is no confidential information on your computer, you don't do financial transactions, you don't use any sites that need passwords and you don't mind the possibility of your emails being read by all and sundry, then you might be safe. Even if they don't get you right away, the bad guys will probably leave a virus or some spyware.