Hi all. I'm Pam from S Central Cali where the land is beautiful but the air not so much! :-)

My question is really multi faceted. How much does it help to get the age and ID verification in terms of getting more company's offers and/or better offers? So far, I've dealt with only two companies. I am fairly new, so I understand it takes time to build reputation.

ALSO, I see there is an ISS Prep Course that costs $9.98. I've taken the free ones. Will taking this course help as far as getting past the limit of 2 shops or better pay, etc? (I'm at the bottom of the scale at this point).

If it were you (or was you), which would/did you choose first? I plan to do both, but step by step.

I've made a little poll with just this question above.

Thank you!

I won't pay for either.

MFJohnston @ May 30, 2019 2:55:50 PM

I won't pay for either.

Thank you for your response. I neglected to add that as an option in the poll!

So basically, you don't feel they help boost rank or help in any way?

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.

MF Johnston...i agree why should we have to pay.. im glad you posted that.

MFJohnston @ May 30, 2019 8:25:20 PM

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.

Thank you for your thoughts. They were very helpful to me, especially since you pointed out that you've never seen any company actually call for an age/ID verification. I've only worked with two companies, so I wasn't sure. The only reason I thought the paid prep may help is that I had seen the ISS mod mention how certifications can increase points (ranks now). But, as you stated, it would seem this is more of a way to pad ISS profits, and of course, the mod works for ISS. I initially had the same thoughts, but figured if it helped get better shops (better pay or progress more shops at once) I would go ahead and spend the money.

Tammy_15592515047397 @ May 30, 2019 9:39:34 PM

MF Johnston...i agree why should we have to pay.. im glad you posted that.

Thank you for your response. It does seem counterproductive to pay when we begin at such a low payment scale in the beginning in order to "prove ourselves." As I replied to MF Johnston, I was willing to go that route IF I saw someone saying it did help them get better shops, improve the pay or reduce limitations on self-assigned shops.

@Ivan if you see this thread, what say you?