Again, I am not saying that it hasn't happened. However, it is not common.
A couple of notes: Just because you don't see a job being re-posted that has been rejected does not mean that it has been submitted. Consider:
- For some MSC's, you cannot see posted jobs for which you are ineligible, such as for rotation reasons. In other words, the job very well could be posted on a job board again, but simply not visible to you.
- Sometimes when shops are rejected, they are past a deadline and the shop simply gets cancelled.
- It is very common for an MSC to only need to shop a percentage of locations. It is entirely possible that they reached the required percentage despite the shop's rejection and no longer needed the shop done at all.
- Often when shops are rejected, they are assigned via phone or email to another shopper, never to find the job board again.
My one experience...
- I believe that the vast majority of shoppers who accuse MSC's of submitting their reports after rejecting them are simply angry and wrong.
- If this were a common or widespread issue, I would have had more shops rejected by now. Yes, I am but one person. However, I have done enough shops for enough MSC's that, where this an issue, I would have experienced it. The vast majority of rejected shops are due to shopper error.
Your guy from Texas....
Sometimes an MSC will try to push a shop through to the client when they thnik it needs to be rejected as a way to placate an angry shopper. It usually does not work. Why? There was something wrong with the shop that raised a concern with the MSC. The client will almost certainly have the same reaction. You are drawing a conclusion here through faulty logic. Is it possible that "Texas" is really cheating shoppers? I suppose. However, nothing you have said undercuts the more probable: Shop was rejected and he tried to push it through for the shopper anyhow, hoping to get paid.
I've been and have registered with over 130 MSC's. I've performed thousands of shops and been paid by about 50 different companies. Overwhelmingly, my experiences have been positive. There is one MSC for which I will never sign up as they are an organizational mess and cannot seem to pay shoppers (after accepting reports). Perhaps I simply haven't run into the "bad" MSC's? I just don't think this is the case. Lots of shoppers level accusations against MSC's for which I shop regularly. Nearly every time, the shopper who levels the accusation: 1. Did not read the guidelines, 2. Did not agree with the guidelines and did something they thought "better," 3. Openly admitted missing a guidelines, but thought they should be paid anyhow or 4. Lied in their accusation. I've even seen situation where the same user created multiple identities on a forum for the purpose of "bolstering" their accusations against an MSC with more "vicitims." So, I put very little weght into accusations I read from strangers online.
Hi Marie!
Just as MSC's that don't use iSS are all different and have different response times to scheduling requests, so does every MSC that uses the iSS platform. Sometimes jobs are assigned within a few minutes and other times it can take a few days. Thankfully, once you've successfully completed some shops, you'll be able to self-assign work and not have any delay at all.
Good luck!
Greetings!
I have been doing this for three years as a side gig, augmenting my income form my full time job. If you really get into it and live near populated areas, there is some very real money in mystery shopping. There are folks who do this for a living.
Hi!
Yes, it is very possible that other shoppers picked up the jobs before you went online. Those emails go out to hundreds, if not thousands, of shoppers at the same time. If the job was appealing to you, it likely was for at least a dozen other folks nearby and they simply scooped it up before you got there.
Hi Leah!
I live in Seattle and travel to the Vancouver/Portland area several times a year to shop. I'm happy to give you pointers to help you get going...
You should also know that iSS only represents a small fraction (10%) of the mystery shopping companies out there. There are several that are larger than all iSS companies put together. If you are looking for more work (or just more variety), you'll want to seek out the other companies as well.
Hi Rita!
I do quite a bit of video shopping and find that it is quite lucrative when compared to other mystery shopping. If you live near a good-sized city, especially in a two-party consent state, you should be able to find work near you - it's just a matter of locating the companies. Of course, there is not nearly as much of it as there is regular mystery shopping. At the same time, MSC's will pay good video shoppers well enough to compensate them for travel. I've made several multi-day trips the last couple of years that have been lucrative enough to not only cover expenses, but to give me a tidy profit.
The primary way to increase your points is to successfully complete shops on time. (You can get a few points by completing training videos and answering the occasional surveys that get pushed out.) Of course, it's harder to get shops assigned to you when your points are low. I suggest that you apply for a shop that interests you and email the scheduler. This doesn't guarantee anything, but will increase your chance of being chosen. If you apply at the beginning of a month with the promise of doing the shop that day or the next, you'll also increase your chances. Good luck!
The primary way to increase your points is to successfully complete shops on time. (You can get a few points by completing training videos and answering the occasional surveys that get pushed out.) Of course, it's harder to get shops assigned to you when your points are low. I suggest that you apply for a shop that interests you and email the scheduler. This doesn't guarantee anything, but will increase your chance of being chosen. If you apply at the beginning of a month with the promise of doing the shop that day or the next, you'll also increase your chances. Good luck!