With Mystery Shopping Expert Melanie Jordan
Author of
The Perfect Work-At-Home Job: Mystery Shopping
How To Finally Make Money As A Mystery Shopper
The Quick And Easy Guide To Making Money
As A Merchandiser
Award-Winning Publisher of
Perfect Work-At-Home Job Update E-zine
3 Mystery Shopper Income Drainers
As an experienced mystery shopper, I believe that earning top money in this career is as much to do with doing everything right, as it is with avoiding mistakes. Here are 3 such mistakes, which I have dubbed "mystery shopper income drainers", excerpted from my book How-To Finally Make Money As A Mystery Shopper.
Mystery Shopper Income Drainer #1: Too Much Narrative For Too Little Pay
Before you accept an assignment, you need to know honestly how much of it is narrative versus "yes or no" or very simple, one sentence answers being required. This way, you will know if the pay is worth the effort that is expected.
Not all companies will pay the same for the same type of shop or level of effort. I have seen apartment shops, which are probably about the most complex type of shop, that had two pages of narrative that paid as little as $15, while others paid $25, $30 or even up to $50. They all required the same amount of effort, which is why you have to learn what is reasonable so you don't get taken advantage of.
Mystery Shopper Income Drainer #2: Failure To Watch Your Report Submission Deadlines
Sure you know when your shop is due, but remember the shop deadline and report submission deadline can be two different dates that often conflict, making you think you have more time to submit the report than you do. For example, it's June 9th, your shop is due by June 12th and your report must be filed 24 hours after shop completion. You did the shop June 10th, which means your report is due June 11th even though your overall shop deadline gave you till June 12th. If you filed the report on June 12th in this example, you would be late and likely be assessed a penalty in your shop fee.
Mystery Shopper Income Drainer #3: Checking Leads On Too Many Mystery Shopping Boards/Groups
It is easy to get to be a message board junkie. You sign up for what seems like every group out there on Topica, Delphi and Yahoo thinking "aha, I've got all my bases covered!" Then you're deluged with e-mails, or go on the boards to check for work (an exhausting process in itself) and find that most of the same jobs are listed everywhere.
That's not a surprise, because companies rarely list their available jobs directly with a lead board--schedulers for these companies who are very good and very active do, or independent schedulers from companies like Kern do. Their goal is to get the word out and they don't want to leave any stone unturned. Also, unless you are on a state or country-specific board or list, you are going to see messages for everywhere and you don't shop everywhere. Even if you ignore these postings, you've still got to scan through them. Time spent looking for work is time spent not working!
In using mystery shopping lead boards, I suggest selecting a state-specific board (if available for your state), or other resource that permits job searches by state, and up to five general lead boards, and that, along with your other efforts, should be sufficient. Experiment and see which sources are best for you.
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