Mystery Shopping Thread 25 *PLEASE READ THE OP FIRST**PLEASE NO CLIENT NAMES OR FEES

JohnnyG

weeg wrote: »

I've been so quiet recently I actually considered the brief for a scandi furniture shop.

I've never been this quiet, have had to take a couple of RA low paid assignments just to keep me ticking over :cool:

superliss wrote: »

You ever try to negotiate a fee with a MS company and feel they said yes a little too easy? I know my worth and I always try and work out a mileage before I agree a fee but wish I asked for an extra fiver even!

Absolutely. Did a TNS last minute phone shop early in the month and, after giving them my fee, had the assignment in my account in 2 minutes!!!! Actually think I could have doubled the fee I'd asked for :cool:

Larac

weeg wrote: »

I've been so quiet recently I actually considered the brief for a scandi furniture shop. As a bonus, at least they no longer seem to require the visit on a weekend (I one when asked told them they would have to pay me 3 figures to get me to visit the shop on a weekend, let alone MS it). Then I read the brief and realised that I still value my time and sanity higher than that fee. Who does these?!

I did it once as they wanted a MS of the kitchen department. Not sure I would rush to do it again as it about 45 mins in the shop + hour for the report. Certainly would not attempt to do it at the weekend as even when quiet I had to hang around for a 'designer'

hayley11

I'm writing a report now and it says throughout the report I must refer to the member of staff as the "assistant" not he, she etc. but surely when i'm writing a paragraph about what they did/said, I can't refer to them as the assistant every single time, I must be able to use he in that way?

sparklysaver

hayley11 wrote: »

I'm writing a report now and it says throughout the report I must refer to the member of staff as the "assistant" not he, she etc. but surely when i'm writing a paragraph about what they did/said, I can't refer to them as the assistant every single time, I must be able to use he in that way?

Nope. If it specifically says not to use he/she, then you can either use "they" as a singular gender neutral pronoun (which is actually grammatically fine, it just sounds a bit awkward to my ears), or use "the assistant" every time.

ETA actually, you've used "they" and "them" in your comment! Just do that in the report, it'll be fine.

MysteryMe

Just say "they"

skivenov

I alternate between the preferred term be it "the assistant", "the member of staff" or whatever else and "they".

Eg "The member of staff aprroached me and asked if they could help. The member of staff listenned to my enquiry and they asked questions to clarify..."

212

weeg wrote: »

No, you can't claim a £2 loss - it was entirely your choice to spend that money. Go back and read the first post again for the common consensus on this.

Thanks, still not completely getting it.

Working out your profit/loss

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 @ 45p (HMRC’s agreed rate per mile) (£ 4.50)
12 pages printed @ 6p (reasonable cost of printing a page) (£ 0.72)
Profit (income less expenses) £ 4.78


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!

Taxable Expenses

If the breif required you to purchase said products in order to be paid a fee, the products are 'incidental benifits' and can be classified as an allowable expense.

So is the above only helpful for flat fee assignments?

Let's say a hypothetical pub, in a nearby village 5 miles away.

Total assignment fee: £12 (£8 reimbursement, £4 fee)

Less expenses of....
£7.95 (spent in the pub restaurant as per brief)
£4.50 Mileage

So straight away that's a loss making assignment on paper? How would that go into records?

I'm actually studying accounting... possibly why I'm making this a little too complicated for myself!? Or just having a very bad day!

sparklysaver

212 wrote: »

Total assignment fee: £12 (£8 reimbursement, £4 fee)

Less expenses of....
£7.95 (spent in the pub restaurant as per brief)
£4.50 Mileage

So straight away that's a loss making assignment on paper? How would that go into records?

Well, yes, it is a loss making assignment. So, what any HMRC auditor is going to ask is; why are you taking it, knowing that to be the case?

Either you're taking it for the "free" meal, in which case I personally would count the total reimbursement as a fee and take my mileage expenses off the £12, or you're taking it to show an on-paper loss to count against profit elsewhere. In which case, you might get lucky and never be audited.

Everyone does it slightly differently I suspect. I count a reimbursement as an expense if it's something minor I've had to buy to earn a decent fee. If the fee is minimal and realistically I'm only taking the job for the reimbursement because it's something I want, then I take the hit and pay tax on the whole thing. Others will no doubt disagree.

hayley11

Thanks, it specifically says not to use he, she or member of staff, didn't actually think about using they/them haha!

samtastic7

samtastic7 wrote: »

well tonight i do my first shift as a general assistant at a fitness centre. Need to do less merchandising and Mystery shopping as retail is started to annoy me.

Free use of all facilites and half price for partner..ooh yes please