Hello Debora,
When requesting/self-assigning the shop, the shop overview should provide general information of the shop. Once the shop is assigned to you, you can find it in your Assigned Shops, click Complete on it and you will enter the shop report page. There, you can find the attached files (usually in PDF format) containing additional information, guidelines, scenarios, etc.
If you have any questions about additional shops info prior to taking on the shop, you can contact the MSP that posted it, and ask them to give you the info that you want to know.
I hope this helps, and good luck with the shops!
Hi Teraisa,
Thanks for jumping in on the forum! I love seeing veteran shoppers here!
Hi there,
Well, it all depends on the expectations and perspective. I've seen shoppers that make over a dozen or two dozen thousands of dollars annually just from shopping, doing all kinds of shops on a regular basis, but also some that only do a shop or two every once in a while, and spend a lot of time doing it.
I like to think of secret shopping as a "buffet" - you will get as much as you are willing to reach out and take. And iSecretShop is a large one at that - there are over 20 different MSPs posting their shops regularly.
I hope you both find something worh your time, and if there's anything we can do to help, feel free to let us know!
Hi Idrissa,
Welcome aboard! You can find a summary of a lot of great tips on this thread in the forum:
https://www.secretshopforum.com/thread/1/2/94/pro-tips-for-those-who-want-to-be-the-best-shoppers
I hope that helps!
Hi Lilian,
Here's a few things to keep in mind regarding those shops:
First, there is A LOT of demand for phone and web shops. Dozens of shoppers request each one within hours of the shops being published. Schedulers then review the requests and approve those that are from the most reliable shoppers and that are for the nearest dates (if for example you can request them for any day next week, the first ones to be approved will be those requested for Monday - so make sure to request the soonest dates).
Second - Badges. If you do even one of them, you'll get a badge proving you've had some experience in doing them before, making it more likely the schedulers will give them to you in the future. If you keep doing them, your badge level will increase, and the schedulers will, at a glance, see you've had extensive experience - and be very glad to give them to you again. Of course, new shoppers are not left out, and are whenever possible, given a chance to start off and earn some experience in every type of shop.
You can also try emailing or calling the MSP that posted the shop, and letting their schedulers know that you have requested it and would love the opportunity to do it - it's not guarantied to work, but it's a small extra step you can take if you want to, and that sort of engagement is greatly appreciated by schedulers, and often rewarded. :)
I hope this helps!
Hi Cyanne,
I have personally never witnessed/heard of someone being removed or suspended from the entire system due to cancellations, in a very long time. However, here is what does happen and what the actual consequences are:
Whenever you cancel assignments (or they get canceled or declined), you automatically lose shopper points. This can have different effects:
a) If you are completing a bunch of shops and they are getting approved, your score is rising, etc - canceling a shop or two every once in a while due to circumstances is not that much or a big deal at all. Of course, informing schedulers about it in a timely manner is always a good and recommended thing to do.
b) If you have only ever completed a couple of shops, and you start canceling multiple ones, your shopper score can become negative (when the number of negative points from cancellations surpasses the positive points from completed shops), and this will cause 2 things:
-It will prevent you from self-assigning shops until your score goes back into positive (you can still request as many as you want, but not self-assign)
-It can make schedulers reluctant to approve your requests for shops and assign shops to you (they will see the negative score and sometimes check your recent activity and when they see multiple cancellations recently, they might hesitate to assign the shop).
On rare occasions, when a shopper has a deeply negative score and a bad reputation for cancelations, MSPs sometimes place bans on those shopper's profiles preventing them from seeing their shops in the system.
All that said, I don't think that canceling a few shops will be a problem for you or anyone as long as you continue to be an active, reliable shopper overall.
And one more thing - the MSP schedulers/editors have the ability to restore lost points if they deem it appropriate, though this is rarely done (for example, they do it when an issue on their end causes the shopper to be unable to complete the shop), but you can always ask.
I hope this helps!
Hi there,
Is that for a car dealership? If so, just tell them you have changed your mind (or some big financial issue came up, or something) and that you won't be buying a car any time soon. I know those car salespeople can sometimes be quire persistant after the visit itself (in a way, they are just doing their job).
Good luck!
Hello,
I believe you should be able to, yes - make sure the correct answers are in this week's shop, clear out the answers from the one for next week, and make sure to let the schedulers/editos know about the whole thing, so they don't suspect you're up to some "funny business" like duplicating shop reports, etc.
Thanks for asking!
Hi John and LaTisha, and welcome to the Forum and to the world of secret shopping! You can find a summary of useful tips and tricks I've managed to collect over the last several moths, on this thread here, if you really want to be good at this :) https://www.secretshopforum.com/thread/1/2/94/pro-tips-for-those-who-want-to-be-the-best-shoppers#post616
If you have any questions, feel free to ask - the comunity is great and a lot of people is more than happy to help.
Cheers!