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!
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.
BUT I'D PREFER TO NOT ENTER MY SSN
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
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 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?
JobSlinger and JobSlinger Plus Privacy Policy
Last updated: 5/17/10
Overview
JobSlinger, JobSlinger Plus and DemoZilla LLC are committed to the best practices in maintaining the privacy of your personal information. We hope that this policy addresses all your questions and concerns regarding the privacy of your personal information on JobSlinger Plus. If you have further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at
support@jobslinger.com.
Although JobSlinger respects the privacy of all those who use our services, we do collect information from JobSlinger Plus users, as necessary to perform our services and conduct transactions with our users. This Privacy Policy governs your interactions with the JobSlinger Plus website and your registration for and use of JobSlinger's services (collectively, the "Site"). Except as set forth in this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Service and other published guidelines, we do not release personally identifiable information about our users without their permission.
Note that by using the Site, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to this Policy, please do not use the Site. From time to time, as required by law or JobSlinger business decisions, this Policy may be amended. Your continued use of the Site subsequent to changes to this Policy will mean that you accept the changes; therefore, please bookmark this page and review it periodically. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy, or any other privacy issue in connection with the Site, please email us at
support@jobslinger.com.
Information Collected by JobSlinger and JobSlinger Plus
JobSlinger and JobSlinger Plus gather two types of information about users:
- Information about site use that does not identify a specific individual. We collect information including, among other things, which pages were visited, which links were clicked, and the type and version of browser used. We collect this information through a browser feature called "cookies", small text files that your browser places on your hard drive and that can only be read by JobSlinger servers. They cannot execute any code or virus, and they cannot be used by a remote web site operator to view information on your hard drive.
- Information that does identify a specific individual. This includes the information on the My Profile, Email Manager, SlingMe and My Subscription pages, and includes items such as email addresses, US Mail address, telephone numbers, date of birth, certification numbers and various demographic information. This information is never shared outside of JobSlinger Plus, except for the connection between your JobSlinger Plus account and your SASSIE accounts, which gives JobSlinger Plus members the voluntary option of sharing JobSlinger Plus profile information with their SASSIE accounts. Schedulers and other Mystery Shopping Provider (MSP) staffers who use SASSIE do not have access to any JobSlinger Plus user information.
Our services are not available to children under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 13 years of age.
How Your Information is Used by JobSlinger Plus
The information that we gather is used for several different purposes:
- To allow you to use JobSlinger or JobSlinger Plus more efficiently (for instance, by memorizing your login information so that you do not have to retype it every time you log on).
- To store and synchronize JobSlinger Plus users' profile information with their SASSIE accounts.
- To allow us to bill you for JobSlinger Plus membership.
- To help us identify which features are most popular and learn about our site's effectiveness.
- To contact you with information on new products, features, services, offers and upcoming events. Any such communication contains information on how to opt out of receiving future announcements.
- To contact you with critical information, such as notification of system downtimes, possible interruptions in service, security alerts, changes to the website, account policies, your account status and payment confirmations. Because these are critical messages, you may not opt out of receiving them.
Your account information is stored on JobSlinger database servers, and is never shared outside of JobSlinger and JobSlinger Plus, except for credit card transaction requests that are sent to our credit card processing service, and the connection between your JobSlinger Plus account and your SASSIE accounts. Any sharing of information between your JobSlinger Plus account and your SASSIE accounts is done at your instigation. Schedulers and other Mystery Shopping Provider (MSP) staffers who use SASSIE do not have access to your JobSlinger or JobSlinger Plus information.
We will not reveal your email address to any party; however, SASSIE companies are allowed to blind-post recruiting announcements to JobSlinger and JobSlinger Plus users who have opted in to the ReachOut service. These offers are sent to all JobSlinger and/or JobSlinger Plus shoppers within a specified distance of a specified zip code. Schedulers can see the number of shoppers who will receive the offer, but do not receive any additional information about these shoppers. You may opt out of receiving ReachOut emails at any time by changing the ReachOut setting on your JobSlinger or JobSlinger Plus account. We may also offer similar blind-posting services in the future, either to SASSIE companies or to other partners. As with ReachOut, these services will require shoppers to opt in in order to receive these emails, and any shopper may opt out at any time.
Finally, you reserve the right to have all of your personal data deleted from the JobSlinger system at any time.
Required and Optional Information
In order to register for a JobSlinger or JobSlinger Plus account, you are required to provide an email address and zip code. You must also provide a password that is specific to JobSlinger or JobSlinger Plus. This password does not have to (and should not) match any other password that you use on another website or to secure information on your computer, and thus is not personal information. JobSlinger Plus users must also provide a unique username for use on the JobSlinger Plus site.
You are also required to submit credit card information as needed for JobSlinger Plus subscription payment.
In addition to this required information, we ask you to submit additional information (US Mail address, telephone numbers, additional email addresses, date of birth, etc.). This information is optional, but is needed for JobSlinger Plus members to take full advantage of JobSlinger Plus features: for example, in order to be able to receive job notifications via text messaging, you must provide a phone number; in order to update your SASSIE account profiles, you must enter all profile settings that you want to update on your JobSlinger Plus profile.
For additional privacy, you may disable cookies in your browser to prevent our site from remembering information about your site use, as described above under "Information Collected by JobSlinger". You will not lose any functionality if you do so.
Third Party Access to Your Information
All information collected by JobSlinger and JobSlinger Plus is only used internally by JobSlinger LLC, with the exception of credit card information. Credit card information is submitted via secure transmission to a third-party financial institution, which receives the credit card number and other personal information only as necessary to verify the credit card number and complete the transaction.
We do not sell, re-sell or distribute for re-sale your personal information. We do, however, reserve the right to transfer to a third party your personal information in connection with an assignment, sale, joint venture or other transfer or disposition of any portion or all of JobSlinger LLC's assets.
JobSlinger Plus's ReachOut feature does not involve the disclosure of any of your information to a third party. Mystery shopping companies that use the ReachOut feature send blind emails to opted-in shoppers and do not ever see any recipient information, including the recipient's email address.
JobSlinger LLC reserves the right to disclose information submitted by or concerning any visitor or member as we reasonably feel is necessary to protect our systems or businesses. Specifically (but without limitation) we reserve the right to disclose information as needed when a visitor or member:
- attempts (or is reasonably suspected of attempting) to breach our system security, obtain proprietary information about JobSlinger Plus systems or code, or obtain information about other site members;
- violates our Terms of Service; or
- partakes or is reasonably suspected of partaking) in any harmful, illegal or infringing activity.
How Your Information is Transmitted, Stored and Protected
Any confidential information that is transmitted between your computer and the JobSlinger Plus servers is encrypted with SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). Once it arrives at our servers, all confidential information is encrypted in storage.
One of your most important security tools is your password. We require your password to be at least six characters long, which makes it much harder to guess than a shorter password. You can greatly improve the security of your password by using a password that is hard to crack. Some suggestions for choosing a good password:
- Avoid an easy-to-guess password, such as your name, "password", or "secret". Also avoid using the name of your spouse, a child or a pet, or any other personal information that is easily obtained.
- Make your password stronger by using both upper- and lower-case letters, numbers and special characters. A word out of the dictionary, like "bicycle", is a fairly easy-to-guess password, but "bicYcLetReE38!" is much harder to guess, and much more secure.
- Never share your password with anyone, or record it where someone else can read it. Sharing passwords is against the JobSlinger and JobSlinger Plus Plus Terms of Service.
