I don't pay attention to my "rank." I know that if I do my scheduled shops well and on time, companies will continue to hire me. I can't see them being excited about some artificial increase in my "score."

The real question is whether or not they will help me to either have access to more shops or become a better shopper. I am yet to hear of any company requiring the "age verification." I have been told that a company *could* choose to require it, however, to my knowledge, none do. As for the "basic training," I am very doubtful that a short online training will give me some magical bit of knowledge that I have not found for free already. Many MSC's require you to go through a short "training" program before shopping for them. I can't imagine that this one will have anything that those do not already cover - and most them are pretty much the same.

I am also skeptical about having to pay money to mystery shop. I suspect that both are offered with the primary purpose (though maybe not the stated purpose) of padding profits for iSS.

India - That's frustrating. Losing out on one MSC is really not a big deal - there are hundreds more. What you see on iSS is but a fraction of the shopping that's available. If you are interested in continuing to shop, I am certain that you can find more work. Have you looked for mystery shopping work outside of the iSS platform?

Hello!

There are quite a few things that could be going on...

* It could be that the folks on the leader board travel further than you do - even hundreds of miles. I live in Seattle, but, in the last year, have done shops in Oregon, California, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota.

* You could try to expand your search radius.

* Sometimes folks have a relationship with a scheduler and are able to be assigned shops before they are ever advertised.

* Some folks have regular shops that they are assigned every month, so these never show up the job board.

* I just did a search around zip code 68501. At 25 miles, I found 3 shops. At 100 miles, I found around a dozen. There is not a lot there right now. However, iSS only represents a small fraction of all mystery shopping. If you want more work, you can look to other companies. I am registered with around 130 of them. I do very little work through iSS.

You need a PayPal account. The majority of all mystery shopping companies pay through PayPal (almost every MSC on iSS). Some pay through direct deposit (I don't know of any on iSS that do this) and a very few send paper checks.

There is zero reason not to sign the ICA for every MSP. Just do it and then you'll know that you can see everything.

You will not be an employee of these companies: You will be an Independent Contractor. (The exception is Nevada...) You were contacted by the EDD, most likely, due to current litigation between the state and an MSC names "A Closer Look." There is zero reason not to sign up with all the companies you can. I am with over 130.

I do not now CA state law regarding mystery shopping and taxes. However, I do know that if you don't make "enough," you are not considered a business owner, rather a "Hobbyist." As a hobbyist you do not pay taxes. I do participate in a different forum where quite a few California shoppers post regularly - some have been shopping for 20 or 30 years. I am certain that they can answer your question more fully than I can. If interested, just Google "MysteryShopForum."

ISS is a platform that allows many different MSC's (Mystery Shopping Companies) to advertise their shops and hook up with shoppers. Each company has it's own payment schedule and policies. Generally, you can find this information in the ICA's that you signed for each company. There is a link off the main iSS page to those contracts.

It is very normal to receive payment for mystery shops 4-8 weeks after shop completion. A handful of companies pay within about two weeks and a number of others can take 3-4 months.

Any time you cancel a shop, you will lose points. When polls are available, you’ll see a link on your main page.

With thousands of shoppers on their roles, MSC's don't change payment methods lightly - as such a change will cause headaches with their shopper force and cause some to leave. Moreover, they have to pay for the services that they do use and have their payroll departments acclimated to the different options. In other words, it's a PIA for companies to add/switch payment methods. Don't expect them to change soon.

Ignore the posting. Sometimes, as iSS is courting a new MSC, they put up a "test shop" so that the potential client can see how the platform operates from the MSC end of things.