It's very ingenious of the MSP to have a project which works like that, I like it!

Hi Tracy,

If a shop on the iSecretShop platform requires you to pass a course on iSSprep, the shop details will call that out, and you;ll know exactly which course is required. Most shops do not have such requirements.

Andrea - you can find all available courses by going to www.iSSprep.com.

Welcome aboard!

There's only one "type" of points in the iSecretShop system, the shopper points. They are awarded for successfully completing shops (and courses on iSSprep, and doing opinion polls), and they are deducted for shop cancellations and declines. These points are not displayed anywhere as an exact number - the system collects them, and then bases your Reputation badge level (and its progress towards the next level) on them.

The more points - the higher the score - the higher the Reputation level.

You're welcome!

Hello, and welcome to the Forum!

Hello,

Most shops do not require any special equipment - just a device you can take photos with, such as a smartphone or digital camera. There are some specific shops, like video shops, which may have special equipment requirements, but those are rare and the MSPs that post them will always let you know exactly what is needed and sometimes even provide the equipment.

I do agree with Amanda here - checking out www.iSSprep.com is a good idea in general, especially if you are new to the system - it will give you an idea of how everything works, and you can even earn some quick points.

Cheers!

Hi Erika,

There is no average pay amount, as shoppers are not employees - every shopper is free to take as many (or as little) shops as they want/can, and the payment for each shop can be different, based on what the MSP (Mystery Shopping Provider) that posts it decides. You can do one or two shops a year, or hundreds of shops each month, you can do a few high-paying shops occasionally or dozens of low-paying ones regularly - all this is entirely up to shoppers.

I guess it can't hurt to post here and let people know there are Opinion Polls available, though they already are pretty visible on the iSecretShop homepage to anyone who logs in, when they are available :)

I can't say much without knowing the circumstances (decline reason, shop due date, etc), but editors and schedulers have access to your shops even before you begin filling out the reports. For editors specifically, the moment when they see your shops "come in", in most cases, is when you start filling out the report (as soon as even one question is saved), because that's when the shop moves from being "Assigned" to "Pending". Editors have to take care of all pending shops, regardless of whether they're Finalized or not. This is why they will often review (or at least just check) the shop that have not yet been Finalized. If a shop gets declined before being Finalized, in my experience so far, there can be a few possible reasons:

1. The shop has not been completed and finalized by its due date. If you filled out the entire report and just forgot to Finalize, or if just a few answers are missing, the editors will usually send the shop back to you and ask you to complete it. However, if entire sections are missing, and/or they're on a very tight schedule, the shop can get declined.
2. Portions of the shop which had to be completed by a specific date were not completed by that date. Let's say you have a shop which consists of making a phone call to book a car repair, then a few days later taking your car out to get the repair, and then picking it up a few days later. Such a shop may require you to fill out the sections pertaining to the phone call on the day of the phone call, then fill out sections about the "main" visit on the day you took your car there, and then fill out the sections about the pick-up and Finalize the shop on the day you pick your car up. If editors had to wait for you to go through the whole process and fill out the whole report before they even review it, and it turns the shop is unacceptable due to something that happened during the phone call, or you flake and leave the shop in Pending after filling out just one answer, they could lose a whole week out of the scheduling time window. This is why, even if the whole shop may not be due and Finalized until the last part (pick-up), they could still decline it if the previous portions were not filled out when they had to be.
3. If some part of what you entered in the report makes the shop unacceptable. If something was done/said that violates the shop guidelines to the point where they cannot use the shop, they will decline it as soon as they see it. This is also true if, for example, they find that you did not/cannot provide valid Proof of Visit (let's say the shop requires a storefront photo from the time of your visit. If you forgot to take it, state that in the report, and they cannot accept the shop without it, they will decline it without waiting for you to Finalize, because uploading a photo taken at a different time would not make the shop acceptable).
4. If the project was cancelled - this happens rarely, but if this happens while you still have the shop, they will usually compensate you when declining.

Your situation may entail one of these reasons, or it may be something else entirely - I just hope this provides a bit of insight in to the editing process and the mindset behind it.