Power Tools for Mystery Shoppers

ReachOut is a tool for SASSIE schedulers to contact JobSlinger shoppers near the shops they're trying to fill. ReachOut respects your privacy by sending these emails "blind", meaning that schedulers cannot see any of your information. All they know is that they sent a certain number of emails to shoppers near a specific zip code.

Password Scramble lets you create an extra-strong password for your SASSIE accounts. If you click the SCRAMBLE radio button, JobSlinger Plus will create a random, very hard to guess password and will update all your SASSIE accounts with it.
NOTE: the scrambled password is not displayed on the screen -- so you will not know what it is, and you will not be able to log into your SASSIE accounts directly. You can still log in through SASS-Master, and if you ever need to log in directly, you can use the Set all to Password option to set all SASSIE passwords to a known value.

JobSlinger shops are posted to the JobSlinger job board. They come from hundreds of different mystery shopping companies, through JobSlinger's partner sites. They include shops from the MSPA job board, the Volition job board, and also some (not all) shops from SASSIE job boards.

SASS-Watch shops are shops from your connected SASSIE MSPs -- including shops that were NOT posted to JobSlinger! Using the SASS-Watch option allows you to search ALL your SASSIE job boards at once!

"Group similar listiings together" lets you view shops with multiple locations on a single line (which lets you see more shops on a page!). If you choose this option, instead of seeing (for example) ten lines for "$25 dining shop" with ten different locations, you would see one line with "10 locations" in the City column. To view all locations, just click on the "10 locations" link. Then, to view an individual listing, click on the "View Listing" link next to the city name.

SlingMe lets you get email or text message notifications when a new shop is posted that matches this Target. If you already have Email and Text Message boxes, you can check either or both of them to get alerts. If you don't have the checkboxes, you can go to the SlingMe page by clicking on the SlingMe Settings link -- but make sure you click Save at the bottom of the screen to save your Target first!

If you're only seeing some of your SASSIE accounts, please check the following:

Make sure that the SASSIE account's email address verified in the Email Manager
Click the Rescan for SASSIE Accounts button on this page
Wait one minute, then click Ctrl-R to refresh this page

Also, some SASSIE and SASSIE related accounts can only be added by logging into that account and connecting through the Shopper Log page.

Signing up for a new SASSIE account? Using an email address registered to JobSlinger Plus? During registration, look for the EXPRESS SIGNUP link to auto-load your shopper info into the sign-up form.

W-9 info (required) 40%:

Name
Business name
Submitted (but not verified) TIN/SSN
Address
Business Type (Corp, Prop, Ind/Sole Prop)

Verified SSN/Tax ID 30%

Agrees to invoices 10%

Logo 10%

IC Statement 10%

IRS Form W-9 is a Tax IS form that all companies are required to collect from individuals that are going to receive payments. Mystery shopping companies need this information in order to legally pay mystery shoppers. You can view the full IRS W-9 form at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf

You must submit a W-9 form (complete with an SSN or Tax ID/EIN) in order to qualify for IC Pro status.

You will also receive 40 percentage points towards your IC PRO rating for submitting a complete W-9 form. The higher your IC Pro rating, the more likely you will be assigned mystery shops.

IC Pro registration is 100% free!

IC Pro status is your personal (not legal) statement that you wish to conduct mystery shopping as your professional independent business. This statement helps the mystery shopping industry and in return most mystery shopping companies will give shops to you instead of an undeclared, riskier shopper.

You will receive 10 percentage points towards your IC Pro rating for checking this box. The higher your IC Pro rating, the more likely you will be assigned mystery shops.

IC Pro registration is 100% free!

Checking this box allows us to AUTOMATICALLY submit invoices from you to participating mystery shopping companies - you don't have to do a thing! You can also view and download your past submitted invoices at any time (by going to your shopper profile on participating systems). Submitting invoices for your mystery shopping services helps establish you as as an independent professional mystery shopping business.

You will receive 10 percentage points towards your IC Pro rating for checking this box. The higher your IC Pro rating, the more likely you will be assigned mystery shops.

IC Pro registration is 100% free!

A business logo (no matter how plain or fancy!) simply helps to establish you as as an independent professional mystery shopping business. If you don't have a logo, feel free to use a picture of yourself OR we can generate a quick logo for you.

You will receive 10 percentage points towards your IC Pro rating for establishing a business logo. The higher your IC Pro rating, the more likely you will be assigned mystery shops.

IC Pro registration is 100% free!

If you've had your SSN or EIN/Tax ID verified with any SASSIE mystery shopping company, click this box to receive 30 more percentage points. As an IC Pro with a VERIFIED tax ID, you are establishing yourself as a highly reliable and professional mystery shopping contractor.

NOTE: In order to verify your Tax ID on IC Pro, you must meet the following requirements:

1. Your SSN or EIN must be entered and verified on at least one SASSIE mystery shopping company.

2. The verification process on SASSIE must be complete. When you enter your SSN on a SASSIE system, it isn't instantly verified -- instead, it shows as "pending" until it can be processed. Once it is processed, the status on SASSIE changes to "verified" or "invalid". Any status other than "verified" on SASSIE will NOT be verified on the IC Pro page!

3. Your name on the IC Pro page must EXACTLY match your name as it appears in the SSN verification section of your SASSIE profile -- first and last name ONLY (SASSIE does not use the middle initial when it verifies the SSN). If your SASSIE account has your name as "Jane Smith" but your IC Pro page says "Jane A. Smith", it won't verify. Also, if your SSN or EIN on SASSIE is associated with a business name, you must enter that business name on the IC Pro page -- again, exactly as it appears on SASSIE. "Mystery Jane Inc." is not the same as "Mystery Jane". Finally, if you didn't use a business name when you entered your SSN or EIN on SASSIE, don't use one here. If you enter a business name on the IC Pro page, IC Pro attempts to verify using your business name rather than your name.

IC Pro registration is 100% free!

In a nutshell, registering for Independent Contractor Pro status will:

* Get you more shops (especially over other shoppers who aren't IC PRO) - the higher your IC Pro rating, the more likely that you'll receive shops.

* Help keep your shop fees as high as possible

* Help the entire mystery shopping industry (and the shoppers, the MS Companies and the companies that pay for mystery shopping) stay profitable and thriving as a whole

At the federal and state level, government agencies are challenging independent contractor status ("IC" status) in many industries. By declaring more workers as employees instead of IC's, these government agencies can collect more taxes and other revenues from you (as mystery shoppers) and mystery shopping companies.

While mystery shopping is not the intended target of this pending legislation, our industry is in definite danger of getting caught up unless action is taken from all sides.

This is why mystery shopping companies are giving preferential treatment to shoppers who support keeping the mystery shopping industry as free as possible by declaring themselves as mystery shopping professionals running independent businesses.

IC Pro registration is 100% free!

While being considered an employee might sound attractive, the reality is:

* Your mystery shopping income would be subject to immediate state and federal withholding (so your "take-home" pay would be smaller)

* The increased fees for running a mystery shopping company with shoppers as employees would result in lower shop fees (for you) and higher fees for companies who use mystery shopping services (meaning fewer mystery shops available overall)

* You might not be able to work for more than one or two mystery shopping companies - very few mystery shopping companies would feel comfortable employing a shopper who was an employee of a competitor mystery shopping company. There are too many conflict-of-interest issues.

* You might get no work at all - there would be very very few mystery shopping employee positions available. The state of Nevada requires all mystery shoppers to be employees (of a private investigation firm). As a result there are only a few hundred mystery shoppers in the entire state, shutting out thousands of people who would like to be mystery shoppers there.

* Your unemployment benefits would likely be negligible - many shoppers think that being an employee would be a good idea because they could file for unemployment benefits. However, unemployment would only pay a small fraction of your mystery shopping income (and then only for a limited time). And obviously, if there were fewer shops available (for less pay) and very few mystery shop employee positions available, it's likely you'd receive no unemployment benefit at all because you wouldn't make enough to qualify in the first place.

IC Pro registration is 100% free!

Actually, from a purely LEGAL standpoint you're not committing to anything. Federal law is clear that even if an individual and a business both state that the individual is an IC the federal government reserves the right to render a final decision.

So in essence, IC Pro status is your personal (not legal) statement that you wish to conduct mystery shopping as your professional independent business. That in itself helps the mystery shopping industry. In return most mystery shopping companies will prefer to give shops to you instead of an undeclared, riskier shopper.

IC Pro registration is 100% free

Mystery shopping companies will give shops to you (operating as a professional independent business) instead of a much riskier shopper who operates less professionally as an undeclared individual.

IC Pro registration is 100% free!

All of the information we collect (W-9, Tax ID, Business Name & Logo, Invoicing) goes to establish you as an independent professional mystery shopping business.

Your SSN will be transmitted in encrypted format using the industry standard Secure Socket Layer. For additional security, your SSN will be stored in encrypted format in the JobSlinger database. Finally, only specifically authorized individuals at the SASSIE Companies you connect to are granted viewing access to your SSN for billing and identity verification purposes.

The databases are operated and secured by SurfMerchants LLC in Boston who have operated in the mystery shopping industry since 1998 as SASSIE and JobSlinger. SurfMerchants LLC has received IRS authorization to collect and verify (only with the individual's explicit permission) SSN and EIN information on behalf of mystery shopping companies who are also IRS authorized.

IC Pro registration is 100% free!

IRS Form W-9 is a Tax ID form that all companies are required to collect from individuals who are going to receive payments. Mystery shopping companies need this information in order to legally pay mystery shoppers. You can view the full IRS W-9 form at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf

IC Pro registration is 100% free!

We HIGHLY encourage shoppers to apply online for an EIN (Employer Identification Number) from the IRS and submit that number instead. Submitting an EIN implies that you're operating as an independent business AND provides a little more personal privacy.
Go to http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=102767,00.html

IC Pro registration is 100% free!

A business logo (no matter how plain or fancy!) simply helps to establish you as an independent professional mystery shopping business.

IC Pro registration is 100% free!

BUT I'D PREFER TO NOT ENTER MY SSN

Otherwise, you can leave the Tax ID field blank for now but you will NOT be granted IC Pro status until we receive this information, as it is legally required on all W-9 forms.

IC Pro registration is 100% free!

This company is participating in the IC Pro Coalition.
What's IC Pro?

This company is not currently participating in the IC Pro coalition, but may choose to do so in the future (therefore, we recommend connecting this account).
What's IC Pro?

AOL and other email providers often tell SASSIE to stop sending you emails EVEN if you want them! Guarantee that you'll continue to receive SASSIE shop offers by going to the "Email Manager" page in your free JobSlinger account and adding yourself to the "Protected List".