45-60 days is a very average amount of time to wait for payments in this industry. It is very typical for MSC's to pay their shoppers between the 20th and 30th of a month after doing a shop. So, if you do a shop February 1, getting paid between March 20 and 30 would be considered very normal. However, each MSC is its own entity and has its own pay schedules. Some pay very quickly (especially some of the companies that have quick, low-paying jobs on apps) - even as quickly as a matter of minutes and hours. Others (especially smaller and newer companies) need to wait to pay shoppers until they have been paid by their clients for your work, which can mean that the shopper must wait 60 days or longer. I periodically work with a company where I might have to wait 90-120 days for payment.

If you are wondering about payment for a particular shop, read your ICA with that company and see what their procedures are. There is no need to contact the company (or reason to complain) unless they are past their promised timeline. Do remember that the folks you are dealing with are all human (so mistakes can happen), but the vast majority are honest and will take care of issues. I have done several thousand shops over the past several years and have only had to chase down missing payments six times and never for any iSS MSP. Four of those were for the same company (one notorious for struggling to pay shoppers). One was for a small start-up which I suspect was struggling with some cash-flow issues. One was for a huge company for which I had done quite a few shops and they simply mis-labeled one of my shops. In each of those cases, clear, polite, firm (yet humble) and respectful communication easily solved the issue.

There are other companies that work in the UK - though they may not use the iSS platform. Coyle Hospitality has very high end hotels and restaurants worldwide. It definitely serves the UK. I know I've seen other shops there, but simply don't remember which companies.

Only sign up for shops you KNOW you complete. Not doing so will give the you reputation of a "flake" and you won't be able to get any more work.

Always read all the guidelines and make sure you follow them. Failure to do so frequently results in non-payment. If you have a question, ask.

Complete your visits on the assigned date and submit your reports on time.

Only do good work.

Keep accurate records of your shops - for both verifying you are receiving payments and, later, for tax purposes.

If you find you want to keep doing this, sign up for lots of companies - there are over 200, most of which do not use this platform.

Crystal -

You can report the $125 as income (as the MSC will likely to do on your 1099). However, you can, on your taxes, then deduct it from your taxable income as a business expense.

Hello!

Yes, money can be made doing this... I've earned between $15,000 and $20,000 each of the past three years - and I only do this to augment my full time salary.... I did not make nearly as much my first year, but I had a lot to learn... This afternoon, I made three car wash visits using hidden video and spent about an hour writing up the reports. I earned $120 and will be reimbursed for the car washes.

First take not that, in this industry, your reliability, integrity, and ability to communicate is everything. If you take shops, but don't complete them - or do them poorly, you will struggle to keep picking up work. Do your shops on time and in accordance with the guidelines and you'll make money.

Once you are assigned a shop, read the guidelines carefully - take special note of anything you might have to bring back (receipts? business cards? brochures) or pictures you might need to take. Then, fill out the report online. After (usually) just a few days, the shop will be approved if you did a good shop. You do need to monitor email and voice messages in the meantime, in the event that the editors have questions. Thereafter, you will be paid. Payment can be as quick as a few hour or as long as several months, depending on the pay policy of the MSC.

You'll find that the world of mystery shopping is huge.

When you first start on this site, you may not have self-assign abilities. If I remember correctly, you'll have to request a shop and have it assigned by a scheduler. Once you have completed a few shops (I don't remember how many), you will gain "points" and earn self-assigning rights. At first, you'll only be able to self-assign one at a time. As you continue to complete shops on this site, your self-assigning abilities will slowly increase.

Yes. However, they do not use iSS. I don't like to recommend non-iSS companies on the iSS platform. If you venture to the MysteryShopForum, you can find out about non-iSS companies.

Mystery shoppers provide detailed information that those surveys cannot. The surveys are not a threat to us.

Looking up a company name on any list (including MSPA) is useless. Scammers frequently use the names of real MSC's.

If you are receiving an email for several hundred (or several thousand) dollars or unsolicited check, it is a scam. Period. Only a few assignments will pay that much and they will pay after you complete the work - not before. Moreover, they tend to be more involved, requiring a significant time commitment (several days to a couple of weeks). Yes, sometimes you can get a significant bonus to drive to a remote location to do a simple shop. However, those offers will only come from companies with which you have a relationship. they will put the assignment on their official website for for you and pay you after the assignment.

There is a very common scam right now that has caught a lot of folks. It involves sending the shopper a check and having him/her use the funds from it to purchase gift cards. The shopper then mails the gift cards to the scammer. About two weeks later, the bank figures out that the check is fraudulent. The shopper is out the amount spent on gift cards plus whatever the bank charges in fees for depositing a bad check and the potential resultant overdraft.

Those companies that are going to surveys instead of mystery shoppers are the ones that are going to drop they mystery shopping program anyway. They have decided that the real data they get from mystery shoppers is not worth the expense - or they have it done in house.... McDonald's is not shopped in the U.S. either - neither are most fast food chains, from what I can tell.