Mystery Shopping Thread 22 *PLEASE READ THE OP FIRST**PLEASE NO CLIENT NAMES OR FEES*

misssarahleigh

brooke3 wrote: »

But how much is a decent wage? Do people really make £30,000+ doing mystery shopping? And if they do are they really getting paid much more than minimum wage when you think of all of the hours you have to put in.

I wouldn't say it was a problem...The month that I spent mystery shopping full time wasn't intended to make a living wage, I was just shocked that at the end of it after working sometimes 10 hours a day (not including the hotels, restaurants and the museums etc.) and only taking four days off in total I was left with less than £1,000 profit. I'm not complaining, I had a really fun month and got to do a lot of things that I wouldn't have thought of doing. And having £1,000 in addition to my salary was of course lovely. All I'm saying is that if I was the person who asked if they should mystery shop instead of claiming job seekers I would be wary.

(And by the way I do work for company's that aren't listed here, I meant that I don't work for every company listed on this forum and if I did I'm sure I would make more money.)

Well if £30k is your idea of a decent wage thats fine. I earn a lot less doing a 'proper' job.

It's a tricky field as you are dependent on the work about at the time.

But I would most certainly take MS over job seekers.

brooke3

misssarahleigh wrote: »

Well if £30k is your idea of a decent wage thats fine. I earn a lot less doing a 'proper' job.

It's a tricky field as you are dependent on the work about at the time.

But I would most certainly take MS over job seekers.

I guess it depends then on what your bench mark is.

I agree, it's difficult when you have to rely on there being work available.

I would rather work than be on unemployment benefits but I think people need to be realistic. It's expensive living in London. When you consider the cost of rent, travel plus just general living costs it's difficult to live on an unreliable wage and a wage that may not cover everything. Some people are in the very fortunate position of being able to do that, either because they are so well established as mystery shoppers that they are pretty much guaranteed work or they have partners or enough money to fall back on but I don't think that's the majority of people.
Plus you don't get London weighting with mystery shopping!

sparklysaver

I would suppose that a "decent" wage is a bit different if you live in central London where your housing costs are massively higher than elsewhere in the country and most standard jobs come with some sort of London weighting to take account of that. I don't think anyone's ever going to live a luxury lifestyle doing it though.
ETA; crossed posts! I'm too slow.

To the person looking to do this instead of benefits; I don't know what if anything you're entitled to but remember you can do up to 16 hours a week and still be entitled to some JSA although you're only allowed to "keep" the first £5 of any earnings before your benefit starts being reduced by the amount you're bringing in. You would work out your actual profits as your declarable earnings though, not your turnover. You would count your travel card as an allowable expense so it's worth signing up with as many companies as possible and working out if you'd be able to make a profit after travel costs.

DevilsAdvocate1

brooke3 wrote: »

But how much is a decent wage? Do people really make £30,000+ doing mystery shopping? And if they do are they really getting paid much more than minimum wage when you think of all of the hours you have to put in.

Not sure where the £30K comes from as I didn't earn this amount in my last job and I was well paid for the north east in my last "proper" job.

I currently earn around £200 less than I did when I worked as a computer programmer in my last job. However, as I am now self employed I can work the hours that I want to. I am there to drop my children off at school. I am there again to pick them up in the afternoon and to spend time with them in the holidays. If I was still in a "proper" job the amount I'd have to spend on childcare would be far more than £200 a month. So I'd end up with less money and less time.

However, I can see that someone starting a career who does not have commitments which reduces the amount of time available to spend working, could earn far more doing something else.

Rather than saying that you cannot live off mystery shopping money, I would say that you can but it takes years to build it up properly. I have regular jobs that I get every month, others which I get bi-monthly and some which are quarterly. This didn't happen overnight though and literally took years to build up to where it is now.

To the person considering it instead of JSA, I think that's great and can be done. However, if you don't have the time to build it up and need regular money coming in every month then I think you need to look for something else.

HTH.

Siouxsie32

gastronomix wrote: »

Anyone who has been doing mobile enquiries had a request for a head and shoulders photo, today or in the past? I received one today and can't say I'm particularly happy about supplying this in case it somehow compromises any future enquiries.

I was unsure about this as well. Why would they want it?

TractorGirl327

gastronomix wrote: »

Anyone who has been doing mobile enquiries had a request for a head and shoulders photo, today or in the past? I received one today and can't say I'm particularly happy about supplying this in case it somehow compromises any future enquiries.

If it wasnt mentioned in the brief I'd refuse to send it for exactly the reason you give!!! Its a bit of a cheek to be honest!

mskitten2904

Checkout UK paid today, think GAP will be 30th or 31st, TNS 28th I believe

MysteryMe

Managed to snag a couple of slappers for a change after your alert Mskitten! First time I've got in before the email so thank you very much.

ShyLouisa

Having a frustrating morning. For some reason Hotmail is down and I also can't get on React or Bare. :mad:
Anyone else having problems?

MysteryMe

Got onto Bare a little while ago.

Talking of which could anyone who does work for Bare let me know of any banks that don't charge outrageous amounts for receiving payments in Euros. My bank (RBS) charges £7 per transaction!

I know this info has been posted in the past but must be an older thread as not having much luck using search function.

Many thanks!