I was wondering why it cost $14 Cdn to take an ISS shopper Fundamentals Test that was nothing more than common sense. Is there any genuine advantage to having this qualification or is it just a money grab?

Thanks

following.

II've been shopping with this company off and on for about 5 years and have never even heard if a test you pay for?

It is in the iSSPrep portion of the website. It is called Mystery Shopping Fundamentals. It was $9.99US to take and was not really much information for an experienced shopper. I did not see any other reward for taking the time to do this course.

https://issprep.com/shopper/courses/current

My Two Cents Worth

Hi Doug,

To my best knowledge, that is the only test on iSSPrep that has a fee, all others are entirely free. Of course, as all other tests, it is completely optional.

It can be useful both to new shoppers, and those willing to engage in mystery shopping more actively and professionally.

It's there to give shoppers an introduction to (and an overview of) the fundamental concepts applicable to collecting business intelligence from the field, as it provides insights into the the Mystery Shopping concept, complements the knowledge gained in the iSS 101 test, and gives a larger points reward than any other test, ultimately equipping shoppers with the knowledge and shopper score increase that can be helpful in understanding more about the industry itself.

It was designed as a way for the people at iSecretShop that have been in the industry for over a decade and interacted with dozens of Mystery Shopping Providers, to share their knowledge and insights with shoppers that are really interested in fully understanding the entire concept, expanding their knowledge, and taking the "professional" approach to Mystery Shopping.

It is in no way a requirement for anything, nor promoted anywhere in particular, nor are the shoppers who take it favored over others - it's rather an optional "boost" to a shopper's knowledge, understanding of the industry itself, and their score, and can be handy for all shoppers that are eager to "dive into" the entire experience more and know more.

I hope this helps!

Thanks for the explanation.

As I have not seen this test I cannot make an informed comment on its value. I would however like to make a comment on Ivan's second last sentence.

"It was designed as a way for the people at iSecretShop that have been in the industry for over a decade and interacted with dozens of Mystery Shopping Providers, to share their knowledge and insights with shoppers that are really interested in fully understanding the entire concept, expanding their knowledge, and taking the "professional" approach to Mystery Shopping."

The success of anybody involved in the mystery shopping business, (which IMHO includes shoppers, MSCs. schedulers, clients, portals, ISS) is a function of the knowledge, skill set, professionalism, level of engagement of the shopper population.  . If a shopper does not succeed then nobody succeeds. It is my opinion that the people at iSecretShop have a vested interest in attracting and developing a strong shopper base. 

The shoppers are the ones who collect the raw data. Without that data the rest of us can go home, because we would have nothing to do. 

Yes, the people of ISecretShop have valuable information. But, that information has far greater value if it is used to educate the shoppers. I don’t believe that iSecretShop is in the business of selling training to shoppers. I believe it is in the business of providing a mechanism by which MSCs can contract with highly trained shoppers for the purposes of collecting data to fulfill the market information needs of clients. 

Hi Walter,

Thank you for your thoughts and for your feedback! And you are most certainly right - shoppers are the definitely the backbone of this industry, so we at iSecretShop are always doing our best to attract new shoppers and engage the existing shoppers.

By making our platform widely available and accessible we are striving to expand our shopper base, and to provide those shoppers with a plethora of opportunities and adequate resources - thus, registering with iSecretShop is completely free and most courses and other resources are too, with the exception to this one course, which focuses on multiple aspects of the entire industry rather then only training shoppers in shopping itself.

As an example of sharing insights and knowledge with shoppers, without any requirements whatsoever, we've recently created a thread on this forum, that represents a summary of some "pro tips", advice, rules of thumb, etc - that can help shoppers make the most out of the whole experience.

You can check it out here: https://www.secretshopforum.com/thread/1/2/94/pro-tips-for-those-who-want-to-be-the-best-shoppers

Thank you again!

I had 2 shops that were pending but can't see them any more is there any way I can get a hold of them shops to see if they try to submit the payments they were for $10 a piece I'm just learning