Maximising income - Mystery Shopping? Surveys?

freebird65

I've just been offered one that's 15 miles away from me, will involve a spend just over £3 and for this they were offering £5 and a £3 contribution to the spend. The travel alone would cost me £6.50.

Then my fave market research lady rang and offered me a 2 hour group, taxi both ways and £60.

Guess which one I accepted?

Now I know you're not meant to discuss fees, but the point of this post is to illustrate just how badly paid MS is for the effort involved. If it fits in with your lifestyle then that's terrific. But it doesn't appear viable as a serious alternative income. I know the above is an extreme example, but it really made me sit back and take stock. I'll keep doing the MS for now but will definitely be very choosy about which I do, whereas I accept every group I get offered.

Happy shopping all.....hope you get some good ones!:D

blownalot

Freebird 65
Would you mind sharing with us how you get on to the lists for these groups or who you recommend please? I am all mystery shopped out and would love to be able to get a focus group or two.
Thanks
blownalot

newleaf

I've done one MS, and been paid for it already, but I think I probably just broke even after tax, fuel and 'small spend' to make it look genuine. I've got another one lined up for next week, but the brief has come and it looks like a lot of hard work - I showed it to hubby and he said it wasn't worth it. So I don't think I'll be bothering with any more - unless it involves a free meal!

Rachie_B

was called up today to do another on friday that will be my 3rd this week!!

im only doing local ones,places i travel to anyway on a regular basis, so im not out of pocket,like you say no point doing it if its costing a lot / travelling etc as you will be only making peanuts!!!

freebird65

I've done most of my MS's locally, but even after petrol, time, spends etc, they've not really been worth it - I think the biggest killer is the nightmare 18 page questionnaire's you spend ages doing afterwards.

I got into groups years ago though a mate and have three local ladies I do it through......if anyone lives in the north london area, PM me and I'll see if my ladies can take any of you on. Apart from that, I have a list somewhere of ones you can sign up to online - when I find the list I'll post it on here!

:-)

Becles

freebird65 wrote:

I've just been offered one that's 15 miles away from me, will involve a spend just over £3 and for this they were offering £5 and a £3 contribution to the spend. The travel alone would cost me £6.50.

Now I know you're not meant to discuss fees, but the point of this post is to illustrate just how badly paid MS is for the effort involved. If it fits in with your lifestyle then that's terrific. But it doesn't appear viable as a serious alternative income.

It is possible to make a decent living, but not if you accept odd jobs such as the one in your example. I might have picked that up if it fitted in en-route to other work with paid mileage or a high fee, but I wouldn't have taken it as a stand alone job. I am also reluctant to take jobs that require you to spend more than the allocated reimbursements. Fair enough for something you would buy anyway like groceries, but not if it's something you wouldn't have normally bought.

Most of my work comes personally through allocators. This is due to me building up an excellent reputation with companies through good work. This work is much higher paid than what you find on "fastest finger first" websites.

Once you become established and used to writing reports, the paperwork becomes much easier. You know in your head what you want to say, and it doesn't take long to get it down on paper in "report speak". I did some visits last week, where I had to make some observations, make a shop floor enquiry then purchase something for a till interaction. The company likes a detailed report of all converations and everything that happened, and it only took me about 15 mins for each shop to type up.

I am interested in the company using an 18 page report. Could you tell me who that is? I've never had a report like that before, and I'm curious!

Good luck to everyone and happy shopping!

freebird65

Hi Becles - have PM'd you.

You make some good points there - I was getting quicker at the questionnaires after the first few so hopefully that will improve.

I think I'd really enjoy MS if I got some better assignments. Is it simply a case of keeping at it and building up my reputation with the companies I'm with, or do you have to find specific companies to get decent jobs.

Please can I have a mystery shop in Mulberry with a £500 budget?:D

Becles

Thanks for the PM. I know the questionnaire mentioned now, but I fill mine in online, so I didn't realise it was 18 printed pages long. It doesn't seem that long when you are mainly ticking boxes on a web page!

Try practising writing quick reports on non-mystery shopping transactions, to get your speed up. Also do the basic observations.

I would stick with the easier lower paid jobs until it becomes natural to count queues, time things, and take in all the basic info without thinking about it. Once you are confident you can do that, apply to companies that use an allocator as these jobs tend to be better paid.

The reports tend to be more in depth and require you to do certain things. The jobs I'm doing today state you must mention a specific thing as an objection before buying the item. If you are still at the stage of concentrating on remembering the basics, you are likely to forget to mention the crucial point! Been there, done that

The only downside is once you are into it, you never switch off. I went out for a birthday meal last week, and kept mentally noting what staff were doing, checked everyone had the meal as stated on the menu, and was desperate to write down the fact that my MIL got a soup spoon to eat her dessert with :rotfl:

freebird65

Becles wrote:

..........was desperate to write down the fact that my MIL got a soup spoon to eat her dessert with :rotfl:

:rotfl: :rotfl: I was a barmaid in my youth and for years afterwards picked up stray glasses on my way to bars - I got some strange looks from my friends!!!

Thanks for those tips - I'll do that as I do my general shopping. I'm quite good at report writing as I did a lot of it in my previous job so hopefully I'll be able to move on to better things.

Rachie_B

freebird65 wrote:

I've done most of my MS's locally, but even after petrol, time, spends etc, they've not really been worth it - I think the biggest killer is the nightmare 18 page questionnaire's you spend ages doing afterwards.


:-)

:eek: 18 pages !!!
its only been taking me 10 mins to fill in the report ,so thats 20 mins max in store + 10 mins report writing = 30 mins not a bad hourly rate for the payments ive been getting lol

i know i will pay tax etc on that ,have sent off for the forms

regarding expenditure ive been lucky and actually needed
things from the stores ive been in so far lol

one i turned down was ,you had to make a purchase of at least £5 on a debit card ,make 3 enquiries and payment was only £4, LOADS of writing up to afterwards so i turned that one down !

doing a lunch one today

im really enjoying MS so far and have signed up with more companies so im hoping i will get regular jobs

hope to become as good as you becles ,you seem to have done well out of it !

:rotfl: im the same and ive only been doing it a week,every shop i go into now,im automatically checking for litter outside,general tidyness etc in store,service received by staff :rotfl: :rotfl: