Category: Making Money Mystery Shopping

Phone is ringing. New texts incoming. Aunt Rhonda says she is going to make it for Holiday dinner after all. Jake is bringing home his new significant other from college. You didn’t order enough groceries and you now need additional gifts under the tree. Things are getting hectic! It’s the holiday season. Unexpected expenses are going to happen. We are here to help!

Apartment mystery shopping is a convenient way to get paid while you are completing your holiday tasks! Just like you can outline stores and shopping areas you could at the same time look at what shops are available in the same area. Register at epmsonline.com with a quick and easy 2-minute registration process. Then begin searching what’s available in your area. You choose what works for you.

Going to pick up a curbside order at 3PM? Great! You could have time to call and visit an apartment community nearby before heading to the pickup location. Heading out for last minute gifts? Take time to see if above and/or by the retail area there are apartment mystery shops available. There are many shops available that allow same day call and visit!

Shops that are completed and accepted by Ellis as of the 7th of any month will be paid by ACH on approximately the 22nd of the same month.  Pay off your Christmas credit card or store card spending in time to use those coupons for January sales!

Remember that the holidays shouldn’t be stressful, so have some fun and make some money instead of spending it. Apartment mystery shops are available and waiting for you! You can search by type of shop, base pay of shop, bonus pay of shop and distance from you on our data base after your quick, easy registration.

Most shops require a call and a visit. See the shop instructions and the specific instructions for additional details. If you have questions, we are here to help! Just click on the white envelope and send one of our team members a message. They will respond to you.

Once you complete the call and visit, there is an online report to be completed. You will upload your back up documentation (e.g., business card, floor plan, fee sheet) as well. After that, you wait for acceptance and then your pay day!

Apartment mystery shopping is flexible and offers you an opportunity to make extra cash without committing to something long term. This is a great way to help finance holiday festivities on your terms. Happy (apartment) shopping!

You know what else besides sleigh bells jingles? Your pockets when you apartment mystery shop with Ellis!

The holidays seem to approach faster each and every year. You can find stores that already offer decorations on sale for Christmas. Black Friday shopping after Thanksgiving is a great time for deals on décor and presents! The one thing you need to participate in early holiday shopping is the one thing we can help you with: extra money in your pocket. Choose the apartment mystery shopping experience that works best for you!

Telephone shops: You call and pretend you are interested in an apartment.

Virtual tour shops: You call and pretend you are interested in an apartment and agree to take a virtual tour either immediately or at an agreed upon time with the leasing professional you are speaking with on the phone.

Advanced virtual tour with video shops: You call and pretend you are interested in an apartment and agree to take a virtual tour right then or at an agreed upon time with the leasing professional you are speaking with on the phone and you video record the virtual tour.

Telephone On-Site shops: You call and pretend you are interested in an apartment and agree to an on-site appointment with the person you are speaking with on the phone at a scheduled time. You go in person to the property and take a tour with the leasing professional.

Telephone On-Site with audio recording shops: You call and pretend you are interested in an apartment and agree to an on-site appointment with the person you are speaking with on the phone at a scheduled time. You go in person to the property and take a tour with the leasing professional while you are recording the tour.  You can use an app on Google Play Store for Android phones. You can also utilize your current voice recording feature on your phone.

Telephone On-Site with video recording shops: You call and pretend you are interested in an apartment and agree to an on-site appointment with the person you are speaking with on the phone at a scheduled time. You go in person to the property and take a tour with the leasing professional while you are video recording the tour. You can use the Mystery Media Pro app available on the Apple store if you have an iPhone. For Android users, you can look for a video recorder that allows you to record with a setting to keep your phone from interrupting the video recording.  You can also use your current video recorder on your phone but change the settings from high to low resolution.

The more steps and more complex an apartment mystery shop is, the more they pay! Apartment mystery shops are a fun, easy way to get that jingle in your pocket. All that jingle, all the way!

Register or login at https://www.epmsonline.com/become-a-shopper/ to see what is available in your area. There are apartment mystery shops available in every state! New apartment mystery shops are released throughout the day, every day.

Where are you traveling this summer?  California always ranks among the top states for vacation travel in the country, but this summer it is better than ever!  Always known for its sunny days, the state has also received lots of much-needed rain in recent months.  This has led to cooler temperatures in most of the state.  The rainfall has also improved the scenery in many of the state’s natural recreation areas by raising the water level in lakes and rivers.  Yosemite Falls in Yosemite National Park is famous as one of the tallest waterfalls in the world.  Recent rainfall and unusually high snow melt in the spring means the falls are flowing at near record levels and are perfect for sightseeing.  The rain has been a healing touch to King’s Canyon and Sequoia National Parks, which were recovering from the wildfires of recent years.

Toward the southern part of the state, you will find some of the most scenic coastline in the country.  Santa Barbara is known as America’s Riviera.  With summer temperatures often in the 70’s, it is a sunny oasis offering fun for everyone.  Southern California is home to Universal Studios and Disneyland.   There are plenty of natural and man-made attractions to interest everyone.  On a walk through Hollywood, you are sure to spot some celebrities – or at least you can find their stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. With all these places to visit, there are also many apartments available to be mystery shopped!

If you live in California, a road trip to a different part of the state could be a great adventure!  You can plot out a few shops along your route and they may take you to parts of the state you have not visited before.  If you are planning a short day trip, doing one shop would not take much time and would make your short adventure much more cost-effective. 

If you would like assistance in plotting a route of shops, please email [email protected]  Our team will be happy to add shops to your to-do list and may be able to suggest areas you would like to travel where we have even more opportunities. 

The services provided by Ellis Mystery Shoppers can help ensure that everyone gets a great leasing experience at an apartment community. Ellis Mystery Shoppers evaluate the customer service provided in the leasing presentation at selected apartment communities.  Shoppers give feedback that is priceless to our clients, as their perception of the experience reflects what would have been the experience of a real prospect under the same circumstances. 

If you live in the area and are interested in plotting out a road trip of multiple shops, we can help with that!  Please email [email protected] and our team will see what is available near you.

Regardless of your reason for visiting Florida, you will find lots of sunshine and happiness!  Burt Reynolds once said, “Florida is a very healing place!”  We could not agree more!  We wish you safe travels and happy memories in the Sunshine State!

The area roughly between Austin and San Antonio, TX is known as the Texas Hill Country. It is home to many state parks and outdoor recreation areas. In the summer, many Texans escape the heat by tubing in the Guadalupe or San Marcos River. Springtime in the Hill Country brings a world class show of our beloved Texas Bluebonnets and other native wildflowers. No matter the season, Texans will jump at any reason for a drive through this area.

Daytripping? How about doing some shops along the route?

If you are a fellow Texan, or are visiting our neck of the woods, why not take on a few shops to defray your travel costs? Picking up a shop or two in an area you’d like to visit will pay for the gasoline you’ll need for the adventure. Besides San Antonio and Austin, some of the surrounding towns include Schertz, New Braunfels, San Marcos, and Buda. Those towns usually have plenty of EPMS apartment mystery shops available.

When you need to refuel!

Refilling the gas tank is probably among your least favorite things to do these days. Unfortunately, it is still a required task. Texans have found a place that makes filling up a little less painful. Right between the cities of Austin and San Antonio on Interstate 35 in the town of New Braunfels, lies Buc-ees! Buc-ees is much more than a gas station and convenience store. It is a Texas sized travel stop that almost makes the road trip worthwhile on its own! Not only do they have the cleanest restrooms (and plenty of them!), but they also have some of the best food and treats in the Lone Star State! Their beautiful gift department is where many Texans begin their holiday shopping. There are now 35 Buc-ees locations in Texas (and 8 more in other states), but most Texans believe it is not a road trip until you stop at Buc-ees!

Why not make money while you travel?

With lots of shopping opportunities, great scenery and plenty to see along the way, the Texas Hill Country is a great place to shop. If you live in the San Antonio/Austin area or would like an excuse to visit, check out all the Ellis apartment mystery shops along the way.

• Do you enjoy it?  Side hustles are generally done on “personal time” outside of normal working hours.  If you are going to give up your precious time off, make sure it is something you will enjoy.  If you don’t enjoy an activity when you’re not being paid for it, you probably won’t enjoy it as a side hustle.
• What are the costs to set up your side hustle?  Does it require expensive equipment?  Advertising?  Registration fees?  How many jobs will it take you to recoup your start up fees?
• Will it stand the test of time?  Some side hustles may be tied to a specific season.  Holidays or the start of a school year may offer unique opportunities, but if you are looking for continuous income, you may want something you can do year-round.

For all these reasons, Apartment Mystery Shopping for EPMS an ideal side hustle!

• EPMS Apartment Mystery Shopping is enjoyable!  We all drive by apartment communities every day.  It is fun to peek inside at the amenities and see the floor plans and features of the apartments.  There may be a beautiful furnished model apartment offering ideas for your home décor.  Perhaps you’ll even find a community you shop to be a perfect fit for you.  Some of our shoppers have been paid to shop a community that becomes their new home.
  
• EPMS Apartment Shopping is free!  There are no registration costs to shop for EPMS.  You don’t have to make a purchase and await reimbursement.  You won’t be applying for an apartment, nor paying any fee onsite.  There is no out of pocket expense required to shop for EPMS.
  
• EPMS has been shopping apartment communities year-round for almost 40 years!  EPMS is a pioneer in the apartment mystery shopping industry.  We have been performing onsite shops for nearly 40 years.  We shop year-round!  If you find yourself with some extra free time, you may want to take on several shops.  As a shopper, you are free to accept shops that fit within your schedule.  Some shops must be done on specific dates or days of the week, but you will always know those requirements before you commit to the shop.  There is no pressure to accept a shop that won’t work for you!

Challenging economic times call for creative solutions!  Making a bit of extra money by developing a side hustle can be one of those solutions.  EPMS Apartment Mystery shopping is an enjoyable, affordable means of boosting your income in your free time. 

To apply as an EPMS shopper, please visit:

Become A Shopper

If you’re new to shopping (or even if you aren’t), we want to help you fine-tune your shopping game and maximize your income. We took some time to interview one of our veteran shoppers, Phillip, to get advice on how he makes the absolute most of the time he spends shopping to walk away with the biggest paycheck possible.

Phillip is a shopper who likes to travel and he makes sure to plan ahead. He’ll log in and look for shops that are available along his planned route and then pick up the ones he’s interested in. Once he’s decided on all of the shops he’s planning to complete on his trip, he checks to see which of them may be eligible for a route bonus. If you didn’t already know, EPMS will add an additional $5 bonus to shops when you’re choosing 3 or more and the following conditions are true:

1. All of the shops are at least 20 miles away from your home address.
2. There is not already an existing bonus of more than $15 on the shop.
3. You reach out to a scheduler to ask for the bonus before accepting the shop.

Next, Phillip says he decides what order the shops need to be completed in based on his travel plans. He begins making calls for target shops right away, even if he will need to plan the visit on another day so that he can plan the rest of the shops around those more difficult target shops. (Of course, you’ll want to check the specific instructions for your shops to make sure they do not require a visit on the same day as the call.)

Once the calls are made and the visits begin, Phillip told us he completes the onsite visit and when it’s finished, he leaves the community parking lot and pulls into a nearby parking lot (out of sight of the community, of course!) so that he can take out his laptop and type in some quick notes while the information is still fresh in his mind. He also take that time to upload his backup documentation so he can keep everything organized. At the end of the shopping day, Phillip will go back and, using the notes he made as well as any recordings that accompany the shop, complete the report and get it submitted ASAP.

Any shops completed and accepted by EPMS by the 7th of any month will be paid on that same month’s deposit on the 22nd (unless that date falls on a weekend or holiday – then it would be the next business day). Therefore, the more shops you can get completed by that date, the bigger your check will be for that month. Knowing this information will help you plan around your expected income and make the most of your time!

Nothing is more frustrating as a mystery shopper than working to complete a shop, only to find out you neglected to fulfill the terms of the contract and your shop will be cancelled without pay! In this blog, we’ll discuss 3 ways you can help ensure an acceptable shop completion to earn the maximum pay. Continue reading “Maximize Your Mystery Shopping Income”