Shopping with quality
Shop and deliver with care to make your customer’s day.
Getting it right for your customer
Maintaining a high standard of quality ensures customers keep coming back, which creates more opportunities for shoppers. Providing quality care means selecting each item on the shopping list, checking items to make sure they’re in good condition and haven’t expired, and asking store associates for help when needed. It also means carefully selecting replacements if an item is unavailable.
After you’ve checked off your whole list and found quality items, take care especially with fragile items when bagging, packing, and delivering. To keep things fresh, separate meat from produce and use insulated bags for hot or cold items. By taking these steps, you can be confident that you’re delivering excellence.
I take insulated bags in the store just in case the checkout line is long so the frozen foods won’t defrost. Shop as if you were shopping for yourself!
Kristina
4264 deliveries
When shopping, ESPECIALLY for fruit and veggies pick the ones you'd pick for yourself. The better and more fresh the fruits and veggies the happier the customer.
Gloria
3602 deliveries
Be authentic and genuine in all dealings. Really good service comes from the heart and is obvious to your customers. Also, remember what your mama taught you about picking good produce. Good produce = 5-star ratings!
Serg
868 deliveries
Know how you’re doing
There are two ways to understand how well you shop and deliver for customers:
Shopping quality
The shopping quality score is based on actions you take and reflects the number and condition of items you shopped for customers in the last 90 days.Customer rating
The rating is provided by customers and reflects feedback on their overall experience with your service. Your average rating is based on your last 100 ratings.
How shopping quality works
Get clarity into the quality of your shopping
Every aspect of the shopping quality score is verified before it’s reflected in-app and accounts for factors outside your control, like item availability. You can see the number of items you found, replaced, and refunded and the condition of the items you selected.
Focusing on finding in-stock items and selecting quality items can improve your shopping quality.
Shopping quality is displayed on a range
The score ranges from “Needs work”, to “Standard”, to “Good” based on orders you completed in the last 90 days.
We have your back if items are out of stock
We adjust your score up if items were typically harder to find at the stores and times you shop.
What helps your score
Finding the customer’s original items has the biggest positive impact, followed by making replacements and requested refunds.
Filter learning videos by topic
Shop & Deliver 101
The essential skills to nail your first batch.
Finding the right items
Shop smart and track down every item on the list down.
Choosing quality items
Select high quality items and learn what to do if the store is out of stock.
Selecting great replacements
Follow helpful guidance when items are sold out.
Seamless checkout
Check out customers one at a time and follow in-app guidance.
Smart bagging & insulated bags
Level up your bagging game to keep items fresh and undamaged.
Safely packing your vehicle
Keep orders organized and secure for the drive to your customers.
Delivering the order
Finish strong with a smooth delivery to your customer's door.
More videos
Take your skills to the next level and learn how to handle more advanced shops and deliveries.
Handling frozen items
Learn top tips for keeping frozen items cold from store to door.
How shopping quality works
The score reflects the actions you take when shopping and provides objective information into the quality of your shopping, including order issues.
Organizing multi-orders
Stay organized when you shop for several customers' orders in one batch.
Safe alcohol delivery
Deliver age-restricted items to an adult who shows you proper ID.
Shopping florals
Learn the secrets to selecting and delivering picture-perfect flowers.
Frequently asked questions
What orders are included in my shopping quality?
All orders you've shopped in the last 90 days will be included, including those from shop & deliver and shop-only batches.
How often does my score update?
Your score is based on orders you’ve shopped in the last 90 days and will be updated each morning. You can see when your shopping quality was last updated at the bottom of the page.
What should I do if an item is sold out at the store?
If you are only able to find a few units of a customer’s item because it’s sold out, the item will count as found.
If an item is not available at the store where you’re shopping and your customer is not available, consider providing a replacement by following the recommendations in the app. When you follow our replacement recommendations, the item will count as replaced and we also protect your customer rating if a problem with the replacement is reported. If a refund needs to be made because replacement items are also sold out, we have your back! We adjust your shopping quality score up if items were typically harder to find at the store and times you shopped.
How does Instacart know when items are hard to find?
We determine the level of item availability by looking at how often items are found, replaced, or refunded by other shoppers at the same stores and times you shop.
What is the difference between an unrequested and requested refund?
If a customer's original item is unavailable and they don't want a replacement, or Instacart suggests a refund, this will count as a requested refund. If the customer didn't request a refund and Instacart recommends a replacement, making a refund will count as an unrequested refund.
We account for customer refund preferences and requests that are updated directly to your shopping list and those made in notes or in chat. If a customer is not available to confirm alternatives when their original item is sold out, consider following our replacement recommendations. You will have ratings protection and the item will count as a replaced item.
Is an unrequested refund going to have a significant negative impact on my shopping quality score?
Unrequested refunds negatively impact your score but not as much as verified order issues. Having a couple of unrequested refunds in your shopped orders, in the last 90 days will not have a significantly negative impact on your score.
How does Instacart verify issues?
For each customer reported damaged, wrong, and missing item issue, deep reviews of receipts and photos from customers are completed to verify the accuracy. Customers must provide unit-level details and submit real-time photo proof of issues as part of their report. Only verified issues will reflect in your shopping quality.
How long does it take to verify issues?
Verifying the accuracy of customer reported issues is our priority. Our verification process includes deep reviews of receipts and real-time photos provided by customers, therefore some order issues may take longer to reflect in your shopping quality. To ensure accuracy, it can take up to 7 days from the time you complete an order to when a verified issue is reflected in your shopping quality.
Why is my shopping quality "Standard" if I don't have any verified order issues?
Both verified order issues and unrequested refunds negatively impact your shopping quality. And verified order issues have the biggest negative impact. If you had many unrequested refunds in the last 90 days, this can hurt your score.
To make fewer unrequested refunds:
Double check the item’s location
Look nearby, or ask a store associate for help
Consider making a replacement by following recommendations in the app.
When is the shopping quality score available in my area?
The score is rolling out over the next two months. We will let you know when it is available in your app. To see when the shopping quality score will be available in your area, check the list here.
How do ratings work?
Shoppers who have a 4.7 or above rating are eligible to qualify for Cart Star. In addition to maintaining the minimum required shopping quality score, shoppers in Cart Star need to maintain a 4.7 or above rating for continued access to Cart Star priority access.
We drop ratings from customers who have given fewer than 4 stars on their last 5 orders. As part of a community built on best intent, it’s important that customers recognize the effort and care shoppers provide and assume the best of their shoppers.
We also drop a low rating if there is severe weather, low inventory at the store, or if we receive multiple reports of the customer giving consistently low ratings, or our systems detect customer fraud.
How is the customer rating different from shopping quality?
The customer rating is given by customers and provides information into their overall experience with your service. Based on the customer’s perspective, you can better understand certain aspects of your service like helpfulness of communication, smoothness of delivery, or selected produce being just-ripe for the customer’s needs.
The information from both your shopping quality and customer ratings give you a more holistic view on how you’re doing.
What happens if a customer gives me a low rating for something out of my control?
We automatically remove some ratings below 5 stars for reasons outside your control. This includes:
Severe weather events
Low stock availability
App outages
If we suspect customer fraud
If a customer routinely gives low ratings
If a customer reports issues on Instacart-recommended replacements.
We forgive the 2 lowest ratings out of every 100 rated orders and forgive 1 rating if you have fewer than 100 rated orders.
Where can I access more resources to improve my shopping quality?
Shoppers have access to Carrot Academy, a library of optional lessons that can help improve not only your shopping quality, but your shopping experience.
To access these optional lessons:
Open the Instacart shopper app
Tap the stats icon at the bottom of the screen to go to Your stats
Tap How to improve
Tap View all lessons
Shoppers also have access to the Help Center. You can search available articles with topics you’re interested in getting more information.
To access the Help Center:
Open the Instacart shopper app
Tap the ? icon in the top right-hand corner of any screen