What to Buy?

For the majority of the mystery shops I do at gas stations and office supply stores, I have to make a small purchase to provide to the mystery shopping company that I was actually there. This reimbursement is usually right around $1.00 and can go up to $2.00. I don't like to spend much more than what I am reimbursed for, because then I "lose" money. The average fee/pay I receive for a gas station is $10 and for an office supply shop $7.  My partner also mystery shops, so she is always buy things too.

 

So, what do we buy......we buy lots of soft drinks! I can usually find can drinks at gas stations for 75-95 cents. Other times I buy some candy or chocolate milk for the boys. I can usually find some cheap pens or pencils at an office supply shop, but then I end up with too many of those. I usually look in the $1.00 area and stock up on some teacher gifts.

 

We stock pile the soft drinks in the garage so the boys don't just guzzle them. For the last month, we have saved them for Elijah's birthday party this weekend and then we will save them for Jacob's graduation party. My mom also mystery shops and bought a LOT of candy to give us to give to our kids (my boys and nieces and nephews) for Easter. Once we are done with the parties, we will keep the drinks in the garage to drink through then summer. I guess we will stock pile them for Jacob when he goes off to college next year!

Update!

It has been a few months since I posted. Graduate school kept me busy up until around Thanksgiving, because I am an over achiever and had all of my assignments done! I then started doing more shops since the next semester would be starting in January.

I am currently doing fast food and gas shops. I did a LOT of shops during December, because we were off for two weeks for the Christmas Break. I will be slowing down again since my classes start back up on Wednesday.

We had an ice storm back on Dec. 6th and all of my shops had to be reschedules. I think most North Texas was iced in for four days. You could really tell by looking at shops online, because dates started getting extended way past the usual dates. One company even sent out an email stating that we should NOT cancel shops but rather reschedule and if we had problems to contact them directly. It was the first time I had to reschedule so many shops at once!

Slowing Down!

I just went back to work this past week as a teacher! I am also starting graduate school online on Monday! With all of this going on, I have decided to SLOW down on mystery shopping. I have signed up for some gas stations for September and October, but I generally about 60 of these and this time I am only doing 28. These just pay too well and I get free gas!

I am going to ONLY sign up for shops that pay really well OR are in town. Once graduate school gets going, I will have a better idea of how much I can handle. I am hoping to put this money away for Christmas!

It hasn't been easy to give up mystery shopping. The "hunt" for shops can almost become an addiction. However, I think I will have plenty to do with my partner,  kids, grad school, my full time job and LIFE!

Summer is a Busy Time!

The summer is one of the busiest times for me as a mystery shopper. I am a school teacher, so during the school year I usually only shop on the weekends. I get the occasional dinner shop during the week, but other than that it is all weekend shopping. I also keep busy during the holidays during the school year, but summer is my busiest time.

I spent the first week that I had off doing two gas shops a night for five nights in a row. I also spent two days in East Texas doing gas stations. Right now, I am getting phone calls offering me incentives to do fast food shops. Jacob has finally grown tired of fast food! I did go out of town for six days, so no shops during that time period, but I came home to more night time shops. I still have two more night time gas stations to do in the next few days.

I have printed me a calendar for this month and next month, and actually blocked out several days that I WON'T work. I would actually like to spend some time with the boys and maybe get in a few movies. I also think my honey would like me to spend some time with her!

I am hoping to try a few new companies if possible. One company I work for has had a huge decrease in shops. I am not sure why, but there just aren't that many shops with them. Hopefully things will pick up and before you know it, I'll be back in school!

Sometimes Companies Call Too Many Times

I wrote a blog a while back about answering the phone even if you don't know who is calling, because it might just be a mystery shopping company offering an incentive. I still believe in this, BUT sometimes these companies call a little too much. There is one company that I really like, but they have called me four times in the last two days about a specific kind of shop. It would require me to be out late at night and I won't do them during the work week. I remind them that I have signed up for several of these shops over the next few weeks, but will only do them on a Friday or Saturday night. Once school is out, I can do more, but these shops end the week after I get out of school.

This company doesn't even offer an incentive to do these late night shops. Well they do, they are $2.00 more than the day time shops, but if they are that desperate then offer a bit more! Another company I work for starts offering incentives within two weeks of the shop being posted. I do have this company on my caller ID and I sometimes don't answer and see what kind of message they leave me. I also can't believe that they can't put something in the notes of my shopper page stating they have already called me and DON'T need to call me again for at LEAST a few days or even a few weeks!

Right now, I have more work than I need. I am working it hard on the weekends and don't need ANY more shops at this point!

You Don't Have to Take Every Shop!

I have been mystery shopping for a bit over two years now. I work for seven different mystery shopping companies. When I first started, I took just about any shop I could get. Since the, I have learned to pick and choose. I don't do bank shops any more. They are boring and tedious. They can also take up a lot of my time on a weekend, and that keeps me from doing other shops.

I like doing the food shops, especially at the restaurants that I really like. In fact, I am getting three times the pay to go to one of my favorite places to eat tomorrow night, plus my meal is paid for. I have learned to read the fine print before taking a shop. Sometimes the pay just isn't very good or there is no reimbursement. Sometimes the shop is just too far away.

We are going out of town in a few weeks, so I just blocked off my calendar for no shops on that weekend. That is the best thing about mystery shopping....I can work as much or as little as I want. The second best thing is I get to pick and choose the shops I want.

Answer the Phone

I have learned that sometimes I just have to answer my cell phone, even if I don't know who is calling. It just may be a scheduler at the other end of the phone ready to offer you an incentive to do a shop! Just this morning, I was getting out of the shower when my cell phone rang. I didn't know the number, and I figured it was a mystery shopping company! I almost didn't answer it, because I wasn't sure I wanted more shops, but I thought "YOU can always say no!" I am glad I answered it, because it was from one of the new companies I signed up for. The scheduler offered me three retail shops that are $10 each, with no purchase requirements. I had signed up for them about a week ago, but hadn't been assigned them. I gladly took them and she put them on my schedule board!

I got another phone call today from another company I work for, and got another gas station for next week and was cleared to try some other shops that they have. Sometimes, you just have to take a chance and answer the phone! You never know who might be on the other end!

Incentives!

An incentive in mystery shopping, is when extra money is offered to complete a shop. One company I work for, offers these on a regular basis and it can be as little as $2.00 extra to do a shop to $40 to do the shop.

Several things can impact the size of the incentive:

• The distance the shop is from your home.
• The time frame of the shop. If the company has a deadline, they want to get it done!
• The size of the city where the shop is located--if it a small town in the middle of no where, odds are that there are not too many shoppers in the area.

There is one large company that I work for that RARELY offers incentives and if they do, it is just a dollar or two. However, they sent an email out recently stating they NEEDED shops done and to give them a call. They were even offering incentives. Well, I looked and there were five shops within an hours drive from me, in an area that I know well. I called and asked about doing them and asked about the incentive. The associate asked me how much I wanted for each shop and I said $5.00 extra. She put me on hold and came back that they would give me $5.00 extra for each shop. This meant a total of $25 in incentive. The actual shop pays $10 plus around $9 in reimbursement. Just the incentive and fee alone are $75! Needless to say, I took the shops!

I once got $35 in incentive to do ONE fast food shop that was 45 minutes away. I took it and found a few more shops to do along the way! Once you sign up with a company, start looking to see if they offer incentives. They can really add to your paycheck.

Observe and Report

The majority of the shops that I complete are unrevealed. This means that when I enter the shop the employees DON'T know that I am mystery shopping. This means that I cannot take my input forms in with me to write down what I see and hear. I have to observe, remember and report what I see. Sometimes I take notes in my phone, especially at restaurant shops where I have to time each section of the meal(how long for drinks, to get the meal, etc....), but most of the time I just make a point of remembering names and descriptions. When I get to my car after the shop, I answer the questions and write the notes down that I need.

Since many shops are at gas stations, I have found that I am always observing even when I am not doing a shop. I notice if the windshield washing equipment is present, if the pump is clean and if the credit card applications are at the pump. I also notice name tags wherever I go. I also notice if menu boards are dirty, if bathrooms are stocked, and if the store/restaurant is clean!

When I first started mystery shopping, I really worried if I could remember everything, but now I don't. I do make a point of repeating someones name in my head when I have to remember it for later. I also take mental notes of everything I see and a description of the person. After a while, it just become habit and you don't have to work as hard to remember the details.

Calendar--Keeping Track of Shops

I keep track of all of my shops using a calendar on my computer. I color code each shop based on which company I have scheduled with. This ensures I don't overbook myself for certain companies that restrict the number of shops you can do in one day. It also keeps me from overbooking myself. I also keep a paper calendar in my car, so if I am out and about and shops come out, I can schedule the shops I want.

You never know when shops will come out. There is usually a pattern to the month on when shops are released, but you just never know. I checked shops early today and then within an hour checked again and some grocery shops were out. I picked up four shops for next month. I was out with the boys getting hair cuts  yesterday when I checked shops on my iPhone and there were Internet shops that were out. Scheduling shops can become a full time job! I also have to make sure I don't schedule too many fast food shops for the same day or for the same time period!

I have completed one shop with one of the new companies and found it easy to do the input. The shops has been cleared to be paid and I should get paid for it next month. I have signed up for my first shop with the second new company, but I won't do a shop for them until next month! I am trying NOT to overbook myself for the week of Spring Break! This is another important reason to keep a calendar. If I have meetings or other things that come up on a weekend, I make sure I block those dates out so I don't schedule any shops!

Whatever you decide to do, make sure you have a way to keep track of your shops.

Two New Companies

I signed up with two new mystery shopping companies this weekend. I have one shop tomorrow with one of them and am looking forward to it. It is always interesting to start with a new company and figure out how things work. I have not found anything that I can do with the other company, due to date and time restrictions. However, I did discover that they mystery shop MY TOTALLY favorite doughnut shop! OH MY OH MY. Anyone who really knows me will know what doughnut shop this is. I grew up on these in Mobile, AL!

I can't wait to do one of these shops. Right now, the only opportunity is a Monday-Friday morning shop that I can't do because of work. I'll just have to be patient and wait until another opportunity presents itself!

Where to Start?

So, how do you get started in mystery shopping? I had a friend who was a shopper and she got me started. It is really important to find a legitimate company. Here is a link to a list of mystery shopping companies. http://volition.com/mystery.html  There is a lot of other good information here.

Whenever I start with a new company, I start off slow. I do two to three shops and then wait to be paid. I have only had one bad experience with a company that did not pay me. After several emails, I finally got paid, but I decided I would NOT work with that company any more. It is also a good idea to start slowly with shops, so you don't overbook yourself. Most companies will let you book as many shops as you want, but a few have rules about shops. One company I work for only allows you to do four shops a day. Another company only allows you to do two shops a day, but if you call they may assign you a few more shops.

It is important to know how you will get paid. I work for five different companies and am paid in three different ways. The company either sends me a check, does a direct deposit, or pays by PayPal. Some companies only pay once a month, others every two weeks and then other twice a month.

I just signed up with a new company and am hoping to find some variety in the shops, but I may not find anything I like. Right now I don't see any shops that interest me, but I'll keep checking and see what happens!

Dieting and Mystery Shopping

I decided to go on a diet a few weeks ago and it hasn't been easy. I have still taken several fast food shops, but I have to NOT eat what I buy. I usually don't eat everything I buy at the fast food shop, but it is hard when you are hungry. I have been checking calories online to make sure I know what I am getting into when I go to a shop. Thankfully, these shops fall on the weekends, because I don't do them during the week. Sometimes I bring the food home for Jacob to eat...he is a teen and he eats ALL the time! I have lost weight every week, so I guess I am doing a good job. I may need to try to find another company to work for that doesn't have so many fast food shops.



This weekend my partner and I are going to a nice Italian Restaurant for a mystery shop. We will be bringing leftovers home, that is for sure!

Scheduling Shops

My partner and I are always checking each companies web site to see if there are new shops. We text each other when we see new shops. After a while you begin to learn the rhythm of a company. We know that each month around the 20th one company comes out with all of its Fast Food shops for the next month. Notice, I said AROUND the 20th....because we just never know. We know another company releases its gas shops each quarter and we begin to start looking for them, but we never know the exact date they will come out.

We check each website at last 4-5 times daily. I can't always check them while I am at work, so she keeps an eye on them. We go days with no new releases. They always seem to come out in the later afternoon or early evening hours.  Sometimes I check a company's site and am shocked to see a LONG list of shops available!

Sometimes in my haste to get a shop, I sign up for one I didn't mean to just by clicking on the wrong shop. For one company, this is not a big issue. I can cancel it all on my own. I can also reschedule a shop with this company on my own. Other companies require that you email them to ask them to remove or reschedule a shop. This isn't usually a problem and they will do it, but is more of a hassle than just being able to do it yourself.

I can sign up for as many or as few shops as I want for a weekend. I tend to work more over the holidays when I have more time during the week. I like having the summer off, when I can really spread out the shops.

I am so glad that my partner was around to help me learn the skills I would need to become a good mystery shopper!

Here Come the Gas Stations

The last few days have been very busy. I printed my calendars out for January and February so I would be sure not to over book myself. Three different sets of gas stations came out in the last three days. We expect the fourth set to come out within the next few weeks. Two of these sets of stations reimburse for gas and you have to be careful NOT to plan too many on the same weekend. You have to be sure there is ROOM in your gas tank for ALL of this gas. Not a bad problem to have!

I also accepted several shops for the week of New Year's! I have very little next week, although I did pick up a $40 fast food shop that is about an hour from me. Well worth the drive! I am planning for a restful week next week.... I hope. It will be time to take down all of the Christmas decorations and spend any money I got as presents. The boys will have all kinds of new things too!

I am very ready for this break! I am looking forward to making some extra money that second week off though!

Bonus Fees!

There are times when a mystery shopper can earn bonus fees for shops. This can really add to your paycheck. The majority of the companies I work for offer bonus fees at some time or another. Some offer them more willingly than others.  Most of them are not eager to offer bonus fees and with those it usually starts with a phone call asking if I can do a shop that is due soon, that no one has signed up for. Sometimes they ask you what you would like the bonus to be and other times they offer you the bonus.

Just a few weeks ago, I got a phone call from a company that has NEVER called me before. They offered me $12 bonus to do a shop that paid $7 already, plus $1.25 reimbursement. So I did a $7 shop, but with the bonus I was paid $19+$1.25! That made for a nice bump in my check. I don't get bonuses with this company very much.

Another company starts by adding the bonus on the website to entice people to sign up for the shop. They also send emails to you offering the shop with a $3-$5 bonus. This company also calls to offer you a shop. Just last night I got a phone call from them asking me to do a late night shop(after 8:15). He asked me what it would take for me to do this shop and I told him a $5 bonus. This doubled the fee from $5 to $10 plus up to $5.65 reimbursement. He agreed to the $5 and offered me another shop and agreed to the $5 bonus on that one and yet another one. I went from earning just $15 for three shops to $30 for the shops, plus a total of $16.95 in reimbursement. This is a food shop, so that makes for a late night snack for Jacob! One of these was a breakfast shop! It also makes for a very busy week this week!

Another company never offers bonus fees ON the actual website. They only call and they rarely offer the bonus. I generally have to ask IF there is a bonus and generally they will agree to one. Sometimes they won't and I turn down the shop. These are shops that no one has taken and usually it is because of the distance to the shop. It isn't worth it for me to drive for a $10 shop unless there is a bonus, and they usually agree to pay the bonus because they don't call until they are desperate.

I am going to try to slow down with the shops though if I can! It is nice to have the extra money and work when I want to work. It is hard to turn down a shop when a bonus is offered though!

Passing the QUIZ

I work for five different mystery shopping companies and all of them require some sort of QUIZ before you can start doing a specific shop. However, the rigor of the tests differ with all of the companies.


Company #1-- I work for lets you take the quiz and then lists the questions with the correct answers. If you got it correct GREAT, and if you didn't, well then here is the correct answer. I copy them all down and take the quiz again....COOL! No problems. Once I pass the test, I never have to take it again. This is really nice, because the same types of shops come up each month and I don't want to have to retake the quiz!!!

Company #2--This company has you take the quiz EACH time you sign up for a specific kind of shop, even if you just did one JUST LIKE it the week before. The nice thing is, they tell you which ones you got wrong and you just try again. You keep trying until you get it right! NOT so bad, and after a while you really learn the answers because you keep taking the same test.

Company #3 and #4--You take complete a short questionnaire about the shop. They ask questions about if your family works for this company or if you have ever worked for this company. You just have to really pay attention and not rush through them, because if you mess it up and get one wrong then you can't do any shops for that kind of shop the whole month!

Company #5--Now this company takes its quizzes seriously. You take the quiz for each type of shop that you sign up for each month. So if you do 30 bank shops in April, you still have to take the same bank quiz in May. You get three chances to take it and if you miss more than 80% of the questions, they don't even tell you WHICH ones you got wrong. So you better take your time and look up each question. If you fail it three times, then you can call in and speak to someone who coaches you on the questions you miss and generally you still get the shops. Now the bank quiz is not too bad, because they are each month and the questions generally stay the same. This is also true for some of the gas shops, HOWEVER there is one particular gas shop that comes out with a different quiz EACH period they occurs(which is about three times a year) and has 25-30 questions.

Just tonight, I printed the test and looked up the answers. I was SURE I got them all right, but I missed six. I didn't even know which six. Well, my partner takes the same quiz so she came in and we searched for answers. I TOOK the test again and missed three questions, but NOW I knew which three. Well she had already failed it once so SHE took it again after we LOOKED up answers again--we really couldn't find some of them and we both have college degrees--and kept track of past answers....well she missed ONE question and we had already tried 2 of the 3 answer choices so NOW we knew the answer. She passed it on her third try and then I took the sheet and passed it on my last try. IT was almost like studying for a final exam!

We are keeping this test just in case some of the questions show up again during the next period these come out! Never take these quizzed lightly, you never know when you might read something too quickly(which I had done a few times) and get one wrong, just because you misread something!

Too Many French Fries!

Between my partner and I, we do a lot of fast food shops as well as some fast casual(as the mystery shopper companies call them) and so we bring a lot of food home. Many of these shops serve french fries as a side item and so we end up with a LOT of french fries. You would think the boys would love to eat them, but even they get tired of them after a while. So, what do we do with all of those french fries?? We could just throw them out, but my partner doesn't like to waste food. Thankfully, she has a friend whose mom has a chicken farm, so we FREEZE all of the french fries and give them to her when we see her. Right now, we have two plastic grocery store bags filled with french fries! I am glad we have an outside freezer to put these in or we wouldn't be able to do this.

I go back to work tomorrow, so we shouldn't have AS much fast food as we have during the summer when I have more time to go to lunch for a mystery shop. I already have some shops lined up for next month though! I need to start saving for Christmas!

One Month of Summer Left

With just a month left of summer, I am planning my shops for August. I am trying very hard NOT to over plan. I want to have a few days off so the boys and I can enjoy the last bit of summer. Of course, it is too hot here to be outside for long, but we can always swim. I have a few trips to East Texas for teaching, yea working before school actually starts, and so I am picking up a few shops in the area. I have a few days that I am really booked with shops and other days that I have blocked out as NO SHOP days.

I have decided that I am not going to overwork myself once school gets started. I am going to do some mystery shopping on the weekends, but try to limit it and spend more quality time with the boys. I also like to attend a monthly Tourette support group and haven't gone much this past year. I want to plan on getting back into that.

I hope everyone else is enjoying their summer!

Condiments!

We haven't had to buy ketchup in months, because of mystery shopping. Whenever I do a fast food shop, I ask for ketchup. The server generally throws between two to four packets of ketchup into the bag. I probably only use one of these packets and sometimes I don't use them at all if I am eating in the car. We have a side compartment on one of the refrigerator doors and we keep all of the ketchup there. We also end up with dipping sauces for chicken nuggets or strips. Sometimes we even end up with salad dressing! We keep it all and use it as we go with our meals. I think it is a great way to save some money. My boys LOVE ketchup and it is one less thing for me to buy. Sometimes my partner uses other sauces in one of her recipes. She sees what we have and makes something out of it. One other thing we don't throw away are unused napkins from restaurant/fast food shops. We keep them and use them. We don't end up with as many of these, but again, something else we don't have to buy! Even if you don't mystery shop,  you can save by doing this same thing. Keep those extra condiments for a later day!