MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => Shutterstock.com => Topic started by: stockastic on July 20, 2011, 11:49
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I just got an email from SS demanding a faxed-in W-9 form, which is just a way to give them my SSN. I think this might be the third time I've given it to them and I've already gotten 1099s from them in the past.
Are others getting this email and does anyone know why SS would suddenly, in July, be wanting my SSN again?
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I also received an email wanting another W9. I threw my fax machine away five years ago. Do we have to use 1990's technology? What's wrong with email?
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I got the email too. Highly suspicious. Plus, they want me to fax the info. I haven't faxed anything in 7 years. Everything is though email these days. They already have my info. I don't trust this. I contacted support but no answer yet,
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The email starts with "Congratulations! You've had a large number of your files downloaded from the Shutterstock site."
Ha. Ha ha ha ha. If only that were true.
I think maybe it means some threshold number was crossed and this request was triggered automatically. But it seems to be an error.
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Okay and they used you real name in the email...this is bad news.
is even more suspicious when you only have peanuts in your account.
the phone number in the email is not the same as the number on the shuttestock website.
shutterstock website fax number is this
http://submit.shutterstock.com/contact.mhtml (http://submit.shutterstock.com/contact.mhtml)
1-347-402-0710
contact shutterstock!
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I got this also, and they have indeed long had my information. The wording is bizarre.
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That’s the fax number listed in their Tax Center page: http://submit.shutterstock.com/tax_center.mhtml (http://submit.shutterstock.com/tax_center.mhtml)
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I can't see the number in the tax center page...
My eyes are going baaaad
In any case, there are a few threads about it on their own forums..I'm following there...Quite a few received...I don't know ..it could be something they sent in error, who knows....I have received incorrect 1099 in the past....It happens...
I'm gonna email shutterstock and ask. I get a lot of spam and I never trust emails anyway...I always go straight to the source to verify these things..
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That’s the fax number listed in their Tax Center page: [url]http://submit.shutterstock.com/tax_center.mhtml[/url] ([url]http://submit.shutterstock.com/tax_center.mhtml[/url])
Someone hit the panic button, (http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg840/scaled.php?server=840&filename=pbutton.jpg&res=medium) SS must be updating their tax files.
Yeah, I've already sent them things, already been paid, already got 1099s and they have all my data since the start.
Demand? stockastic ?
Congratulations! You've had a large number of your files downloaded from the Shutterstock site.
For compliance reasons, we're required to have a completed W-9 form from you on file so we can process a 1099 tax form at the end of the year and provide you with a copy for your own tax reporting. The 1099 form will indicate your total income from Shutterstock for the year and is also filed with the IRS. For this reason, we cannot process any payments to you until we have your completed W-9 on file.
Thank you for your cooperation and thank you for allowing us to represent your content.
Regards,
Shutterstock Support
DEMAND?
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The email starts with "Congratulations! You've had a large number of your files downloaded from the Shutterstock site."
Ha. Ha ha ha ha. If only that were true.
I think maybe it means some threshold number was crossed and this request was triggered automatically. But it seems to be an error.
LOL thats a very weird email.. are you all from the USA or outside too? I haven´t received anything
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All the fears and worries are pretty well covered in the SS forum. Mike Ledray has already spoken with support and verified the validity of the email. The question now is, "Why?" Expecting a post from SS Support in the forum threads ... as promised.
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I received the e-mail too and have used one of the free internet fax services to return the form to SS. Google them and you can find a bunch - there's an ad on the first page and you can only send 2 faxes a day up to 3 pages each (or similar restriction).
I used to have a fax modem on my older computers, but have used these free services the once or twice a year someone needs to get a piece of paper their end vs. e-mail. It's truly silly as I'm just scanning the paper I signed and it's no more or less secure to e-mail it than it is to fax it, however you can't explain squat to a bureaucracy, so, fax it is :)
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Apparently what they want is the signature. Since I have no way to 'write' on the PDF I guess I'd have to print it out, sign it, scan it to a TIFF and fax it using an online service.
A complete waste of everyone's time.
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I've gotten one too and I'm in the US. Actually a business is suppose to get a new signed W-9 every year to verify that the information has not changed. That's always been the rule. Payments go to a paypal account and not to a physical address and I'm sure they have had a lot of 1099 forms returned to them for not having updated information. Actually it's a good business practice although not every business follows these rules.
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Well, I am very relieved to hear it's legit. I have already faxed mine.
Like everyone else, they have had my info for a long time.
Wonder what's up?
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They have to verify the information. Nothing major
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It would be simpler and easier to snail-mail the signed form.
I won't even comment on the inanity of a requirement to re-submit, every year, a number which by law can never change.
And I doubt that they 'verify' anything. If they actually have a paper fax machine on their end, these forms just go in a file cabinet. Or is someone thinking they contact the Feds to 'verify' my SSN every time?
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I will wait until we move so I don't have to do this twice.
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Just posted on SS forum by Anthony:
Hello:
The W-9 email many of you received recently is legitimate.
As part of our record keeping, Shutterstock requests that you update your W-9 in the following instances:
1) Should your backup withholding status change or
2) If you change your name
We realize you may have received the W-9 email even if your W-9 form is up to date. So, if your W-9 is on file and you have no changes to file with us, there is no need to send in another form.
Sincerely,
Anthony Correia
Director, Content Operations
Shutterstock & Bigstock
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Oh. Good to know. Thanks for posting that letter. Looks like I didn't have to bother.
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Apparently what they want is the signature. Since I have no way to 'write' on the PDF I guess I'd have to print it out, sign it, scan it to a TIFF and fax it using an online service.
A complete waste of everyone's time.
Agree and Agree. Unnecessary and a waste of time. Someone sent that to everyone, when it should have said, only if your information changed.
I don't know why you can't scan it to a JPG and email it to them? They probably own a printer. ;D
It was easy for me because I have a full time fax line for the business. Some customers still fax in orders, instead of sending them via email.
Otherwise any old computer with a modem is a fax, isn't it? Talk about old technology. Do they still have dial-up lines? LOL (I know they do, Mom was still dialup until a few months ago. Email only kind of person.)
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There are ways to submit a signature electronically, and at least some federal agencies are already using them. As with just about everything else in microstock, the easy way for the agency is to make the contributor do it the hard way.
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Not a huge deal, but a fax is more secure than email. The fax goes through the telephone network and is sent directly from you to your recipient, where the bits of an email are transmitted through a number of intermediate networks. Unless you encrypt the contents of the email, which hardly anyone does, it would be possible for your information to be seen by a nefarious third party. Not likely, but not zero probability either.
So there are good reasons for people to keep using fax machines. I have one as part of my multifunction fax/scanner/printer. One of my better purchases.
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Just posted on SS forum by Anthony:
Hello:
The W-9 email many of you received recently is legitimate.
As part of our record keeping, Shutterstock requests that you update your W-9 in the following instances:
1) Should your backup withholding status change or
2) If you change your name
We realize you may have received the W-9 email even if your W-9 form is up to date. So, if your W-9 is on file and you have no changes to file with us, there is no need to send in another form.
Sincerely,
Anthony Correia
Director, Content Operations
Shutterstock & Bigstock
They are following in the footsteps of istock. Wouldn't it have saved everyone a lot of trouble if they just would have said that in their email? ::)
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Not a huge deal, but a fax is more secure than email. The fax goes through the telephone network and is sent directly from you to your recipient, where the bits of an email are transmitted through a number of intermediate networks. Unless you encrypt the contents of the email, which hardly anyone does, it would be possible for your information to be seen by a nefarious third party. Not likely, but not zero probability either.
So there are good reasons for people to keep using fax machines. I have one as part of my multifunction fax/scanner/printer. One of my better purchases.
I was wondering about this. So what about "online faxing"? Is this as safe as traditional faxes, or is it no safer than sending an email?
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I was wondering about this. So what about "online faxing"? Is this as safe as traditional faxes, or is it no safer than sending an email?
Depends on how the fax travels before it reaches a real fax machine. How do you send the image to the service? Email? Upload in a browser? If the former, it's unencrypted and therefore visible on the network. If the latter, do they use SSL/HTTPS to upload the image? If they do, it's pretty secure. If they don't, it's just like email.
Shorter answer: online faxing is only as secure as the online part.
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Wouldn't it be nice if they'd sent a followup email containing what 'Anthony' posted on the forum... because I'm sure a huge number of contributors are still scurrying around, needlessly printing/signing/scanning/faxing an unnecessary form.
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Technically, as requested by the IRS, no matter how tedious and unnecessary, libraries are supposed to obtain new tax forms, W-9s or W-8BENs every year. This is to make sure information is correct or updated.
Are they giving you a heads up and asking you to turn it in by January, or are they demanding it now?
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Technically, as requested by the IRS, no matter how tedious and unnecessary, libraries are supposed to obtain new tax forms, W-9s or W-8BENs every year. This is to make sure information is correct or updated.
Are they giving you a heads up and asking you to turn it in by January, or are they demanding it now?
Here's the email:
Congratulations! You've had a large number of your files downloaded from the Shutterstock site.
For compliance reasons, we're required to have a completed W-9 form from you on file so we can process a 1099 tax form at the end of the year and provide you with a copy for your own tax reporting. The 1099 form will indicate your total income from Shutterstock for the year and is also filed with the IRS. For this reason, we cannot process any payments to you until we have your completed W-9 on file.
To download the W-9 form, please go to
[url]http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf[/url] ([url]http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf[/url])
After filling out the form, please fax it to 347-626-2455. Make sure it is clearly labeled with your account ID (54905). Again, we will not be able to process any payments to you until we have received the completed W-9 form.
Thank you for your cooperation and thank you for allowing us to represent your content.
Regards,
Shutterstock Support
Here we go again...wouldn't it have been so much easier on everyone if THEY had explained that they needed updated W-9 info every year and that if nothing changed, we DIDN'T have to resend it?
The email above, to me, means that if I had not taken action in the next few days, I would NOT be getting my August royalty check. And they make it sound as though they have NOTHING on file from me, but they do.
If W-9s need to be filled out for each year, shouldn't we have gotten a notice, say the last week of December last year, for this year's payments? Maybe their tax year begins in August?
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Just got an updated email from SS:
The W-9 email you received yesterday is legitimate.
As part of our record keeping, Shutterstock requests that you update your W-9 in the following instances:
1) Should your backup withholding status change or
2) If you change your name
We realize you may have received the W-9 email even if your W-9 form is up to date. So, if your W-9 is on file and you have no changes to file with us, there is no need to send in another form. Simply disregard it.
Sincerely,
Vincent Jansen
Manager, Contributor Relations
Shutterstock
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I received that e-mail too - but I sent the W9 yesterday. I erroneously thought when I received it that it had something to do with my long gap when I didn't contribute ('cause I was exclusive).
I honestly think that there needs to be some sort of review process before mass mailings to contributors are sent out. It wouldn't have taken more than a few moments thought to realize that they should include a note about who needs to send one back.
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Sometimes procrastination is a winning strategy.
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Sometimes procrastination is a winning strategy.
I was going to say that, but never got around to it. ;D