I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter Sunday. As for me, I live in So Cal, and the temperature was in the 90s. We couldn’t have asked for a nicer Spring day.

But, today, it’s back to work…lol.

In my blog “Getting Started and Income” I mentioned I would be blogging more about the pay in the secret shopping industry, and this is what today’s blog is about.

Questions about payment such as: when do shopper’s get paid? how do they get paid? and when do shopper’s get reimbursed? are the most frequently asked questions about the industry, and there is a lot of information about the pay, so again, this is one of those, “grab a cup o coffee” blogs….enjoy!!!

For as many secret shopping companies as there are, there are that many ways of payment. Each company has their own schedule of payments. Here is a list of the most common used pay schedules:

Weekly: There are very few, off-hand I can think of two companies, that pay this quickly. The work is done in one week, and payment due is paid in the next week.

Bi-Monthly: Again, there are few companies that pay twice a month on pre-determined days such as the 1^st and the 15^th.

Monthly: Checks issued once a month is the most common payment schedule. What day of the month will vary between companies. Here are some examples of how monthly checks might be issued monthly:

Assume for a moment work was completed in the month of May. Based on work being completed in May, checks for May might be issued as early as early June to as late as the first of July. Again, it varies with each company. Terms of payment for each company are usually consistent. In other words, if a company’s payment schedule is the 15^th of the following month, that shouldn’t change midstream to the 30^th without prior notification.

Other Payment Schedules: Though not the norm, there are assignments that can take longer to receive payment, sometimes up to 90 days.

The three most common forms of payments are:

Direct Deposit into a Checking or Savings account: This form of payment, fortunately for shoppers, is evolving into the more popular form of payment. The shopper supplies the routing and account number for a specific account to the shopping company and payments are sent directly to this account based on the company’s pay schedule.

By Check: Though Direct Deposit is becoming the more popular form of payment, issuing checks are still the more common way of payment.

Paypal: Several applications ask if one is willing to accept Paypal payments, but it’s not readily used. A key point to remember for accepting Paypal payments is if the shopper’s Paypal account is a premier or other business account where they are charged for receiving money, Paypal charges could be deducted from payment. Setting up a personal Paypal account specifically for secret shopping, could avoid these charges.

Each time a shop is assigned and a purchase is required, the instructions should state the guidelines for the purchase. In most cases, the guideline is a maximum reimbursement amount. For instance, a restaurant shop might have a $50.00 maximum reimbursement. If the shopper spends $60.00. The reimbursement amount the shopper will receive is $50.00. If the shopper spends $40.00, the reimbursement amount will be $40.00 based on these terms. There are exceptions, but this is the general rule.

In most cases, the shopper is expected to pay for purchases out of pocket and then receive reimbursement with whatever payment schedule the company uses.

Most people, when they start a new job, work for a designated amount of time, most likely one to two weeks, before they receive their first paycheck. Then, assuming they work steadily, paychecks become regular. Secret shopping is no different. If a shopper works steadily, within a few months, payments also become steady.

Each Shop’s Pay

Shoppers are generally paid per shop, not hourly. How much a shop pays and/or reimburses also varies, but a general rule, with few exceptions is, “all things are considered.’ and payment for each shop is based on these considerations. Considerations include:

The amount of data a shopper is expected to obtain: Quick shops such as: gas stations, fast foods, etc. generally require little information to be collected. Longer shops such as: retail, banks, etc. will require more data to be collected.

The time it takes to complete a shop and a report: Some shops can be as quick as a couple minutes with mainly yes/no questions. Other shops, such as a fine dining experience or a day of golf are more detailed reports and will obviously take longer to complete. A hotel stay will be an overnight shop, and reports will coincide with the type of shop being conducted.

Here are some examples of the various ways shops could pay:

1.) One shop might pay $10.00 and has a $2.00 reimbursement. The shop time is estimated at 10-15 minutes to complete, and the report time is estimated at 5-10 minutes.

2.) One shop might pay $25.00. The shop time is estimated at 10-15 minutes to complete. Report time is estimated at 30-45 minutes.

3.) One shop might pay $25.00. The shop time is estimated at 30-45 minutes to complete. Report time is estimated at 5-10 minutes.

4.) One shop might pay $5.00 plus $25.00 reimbursement. The shop time might be estimated at 45 minutes. Report time is estimated at 10-15 minutes.

5.) One shop might pay $100.00 reimbursement but does not have any pay. Shop time might be estimated at a couple hours and report time might be estimated at one hour.

There are so many variations, but the above examples demonstrate the relationship between pay and shop time, report time, and reimbursements. With few exceptions, shops pay per shop and not hourly.

Overall, all things considered, a shopper should average between $20.00 to $30.00 per hour plus free merchandise. This is accomplished by completing more than one shop in an hour. If the shopper completes 3 shops in one hours time that pay $10.00 each, then the shopper has earned $30.00 an hour.

When I consider average pay, I consider both shop time and report time. So long as my shops are within reasonable driving distance between each other, I can average 4-5 $10.00 shops per hour in the field, then I take into consideration how long it will take me to complete the reports to get an average. In the case of 5, $10.00 shops, I would have roughly 30-45 minutes in report time…averaging $25.00 - $30.00 per hour.

I know that “pay’ is one reason so many shoppers don’t stick with the industry. When shoppers first start, and they complete only one or two shops a day for the first few weeks, it’s difficult to “see” how pay will become average and steady over time. But, if you stick with it, it should all average out.

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