MYSTERY SHOPPING THREAD XVI - please, no mention of client names or fees on here

Flygirl767

Brian_Damage wrote: »

That's the sort of attitude that allows all the MS companies to keep cutting their fees. You should be coming on here and saying you're bl**dy fuming.

The MS companies all monitor this board and when they see people saying that they're happy to pick up loads of jobs for a reduced fee, they think they're getting away with cutting our income again.

Come on people stop taking the jobs when the fees are reduced - it's the only way they'll learn that we're not complete pushovers. Why should they increase their profits at our expense? :mad:

Hey now hang on a minute..did I say I was happy about it? The only reason I am not surpised is that they have cut the fees on all their other jobs and it was inevitable that this was next. I am not planning on taking any of these jobs (Have doen most of my local ones anyway) so if they ring me up like they always do then I can negotiate some expenses to make up the short fall.

I am no fan of ESA, I only joined recently and am less than impressed. I will stick with the agencies that pay me a good fee and don't constantly try and increase their margins.

proshopper

Brian_Damage wrote: »

That's the sort of attitude that allows all the MS companies to keep cutting their fees. You should be coming on here and saying you're bl**dy fuming.

The MS companies all monitor this board and when they see people saying that they're happy to pick up loads of jobs for a reduced fee, they think they're getting away with cutting our income again.

Come on people stop taking the jobs when the fees are reduced - it's the only way they'll learn that we're not complete pushovers. Why should they increase their profits at our expense? :mad:

mysteryshoppingninja wrote: »

To be honest I like to play the game with them as they're usually one of the better ones, if I can help them out by booking it at the standard fee and it be worth my while then I will but there has been a few times, particularly since the fee drop, where I've thought no I'm not doing that much work for that and then got a begging call about it anyway and got more than the original fee

Sometimes dropping the fees has the opposite effect to what the MS company is hoping... We all start to think no it's not worth it so they end up having to call and offer stupid amounts to get us to drop everything and travel out of our way when it's something we would have probably picked up anyway had it been at the old fee... Thus it ends up costing them more in the long run... Nice little paradox :rotfl:

In this business, low fees seem to breed even lower fees. This is predictable, I suppose, because the MS companies are all in competition with each other. I have been doing this work for many years and have seen many clients migrate from MS company to MS company, sometimes several times over. Each migration seems to be accompanied by a cut in fees (and/or expenses). It seems as if the likes of RE (with their pittance fees across the board) are now starting to become the benchmark.

As Brian says, while assessors show that they are happy accepting the ridiculously low fee jobs, the downward trend can only carry on. New MSers are not helping matters: they have little choice but to accept anything and everything, just to build some rep. Those of us that have the rep at least have the power to negotiate.

More and more now, I am finding that clients that used to make up some of my "core work" are becoming my "filler jobs." At this rate, most of my jobs will be filler jobs and I will only be earning realistically on jobs that are manually allocated at negotiated higher fees. I have been saying as much to several companies for quite some time now. I am also noticing that my enhanced fees are spiralling upwards as the base fees decrease. Mysteryshoppingnija's paradox!!

There doesn't seem to be an easy solution to this from the assessor standpoint. There will always be assessors accepting jobs at low fees, for various reasons (to build rep, because they look on the reimbursements as "freebies," etc.). While jobs are being accepted, it seems likely that the MS companies will carry on cutting fees. The only plus side to this is that the MS companies seem to have a bigger margin to play with on the fees for urgent work.

cheekychipmunk

mysteryshoppingninja wrote: »

Has anyone put ESA's address into street view? No wonder they're dropping fee's :rotfl: think it's to help pay the rent!

The other clients they've dropped fees on recently i.e. freezers, travel, pharmacy I haven't bothered with

Think there may already be some sort of mutiny in my area - not one of the travel jobs has been taken at all - the dates have been extended at least 3 times so far. On the other hand, ESA don't seem to be harassing us as usual to do them. Who will give in first???????

Not me

WiiMee

jen_br wrote: »

Yup its 10% and remember its 30% purchase... albeit you return the item but sometimes you don't get a refund just exchange.

So now its 33% purchase...
its ok if your doing local ones but once those are done you can't do them for 6 months!

Welcome back Jen! xx

Fiver29

I've just been allocated a purchase and refund with eDigital. It says purchase XXX amount then refund XXX amount, but on the email that came with it I have to buy a certain item and return that item. The item is way more than the purchase amount, so does that mean I can buy something else with the purchase amount that I keep?

anika

Hi

I am finally starting my tax returns and have done all my sums! I think!

I have taken mileage, parking and expenses off, and allowed a yearly cost for an office.

I have phone call work I did, so my question is..how much per call can I resonably put down, or if I claim a percentage of my line rental, do I put that down as expenses.

I did look at the opening messages, but I can not work individual cost etc. so do I just put a percentage down of the line rental?

Any idea on what percent would seem reasonable, or would that come into the monthly costs of the office?

Any help please, I am getting confused by the minutes.

Thanks

nickc1989

anika wrote: »

Hi

I am finally starting my tax returns and have done all my sums! I think!

I have taken mileage, parking and expenses off, and allowed a yearly cost for an office.

I have phone call work I did, so my question is..how much per call can I resonably put down, or if I claim a percentage of my line rental, do I put that down as expenses.

I did look at the opening messages, but I can not work individual cost etc. so do I just put a percentage down of the line rental?

Any idea on what percent would seem reasonable, or would that come into the monthly costs of the office?

Any help please, I am getting confused by the minutes.

Thanks

I hate to state the obvious, but I suppose it depends what percentage of the calls made on the phone were for the purpose of MSing. If you use the same percentage you use for electric/gas, that might be a reasonable assumption (i.e. MSing accounts for e.g. 10% of the utilities I use.)

If not, it's a case of adding up the number of calls for MSing, and the number of personal calls and finding the ratio, which could take a while...

Lil_Me_2

Personally for the phone calls I get an itemised bill and put the real cost down as an expense. However I don't use the phone for that many MS calls and the phone package is mixed up with the internet etc so it would be a right faff to look at a percentage.

anika

Thanks

I have sent you a PM.

Becles

Fiver29 wrote: »

I've just been allocated a purchase and refund with eDigital. It says purchase XXX amount then refund XXX amount, but on the email that came with it I have to buy a certain item and return that item. The item is way more than the purchase amount, so does that mean I can buy something else with the purchase amount that I keep?

I think you just have to buy the specified item and then return it. The purchase fee is to cover the costs of delivery etc., but if there are no delivery fees, you get to keep the whole amount

anika wrote: »

I have phone call work I did, so my question is..how much per call can I resonably put down, or if I claim a percentage of my line rental, do I put that down as expenses.

I did look at the opening messages, but I can not work individual cost etc. so do I just put a percentage down of the line rental?

Any idea on what percent would seem reasonable, or would that come into the monthly costs of the office?

I don't claim anything for my line rental. If I wasn't self employed, I'd still have a landline so it's not something I had put in specifically for business reasons. Any chargeable calls I make for work, I put down as the call cost expense. I do have a anytime call plan which again I'd have anyway as I have teenagers, so most calls are free anyway.

I claim all the costs of my mobile phone as that was bought with work in mind. It's got a decent camera on it for jobs, and I check my email and websites on it when I'm out and about. I only make work calls on it. If I was a SAHM or in a fixed place of work job, I probably would only have a basic PAYG phone.

I've never claimed for use of an office. Partly because my office is in the utility room so I share it with the washer, dryer and the dogs beds! Partly because I read something about being charged capital gains tax if you sell your home in the future, but I can't remember how that worked. Might be something to look into.