MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => Shutterstock.com => Topic started by: gborce on April 11, 2008, 16:14
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So what is the best way to contact SS about rejections? I wrote several times to their customer support through the 'contact us' link, but no reply whatsoever? Is posting to their forums better? Or is there another way?
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As a contributor you are not a customer, you are a supplier.
It is a good idea to post the picture in SS's forum for contributors and ask fellow members for advice.
And yes, everybody gets rejections from SS.
Their reviewers might be nitpicking at times, but usually they have a point (contrary e.g. to Fotolia). I recommend posting the rejected pictures and see what others will say.
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So what is the best way to contact SS about rejections? I wrote several times to their customer support through the 'contact us' link, but no reply whatsoever? Is posting to their forums better? Or is there another way?
If you do end up getting a response from SS suport on this topic it'll tell you to take it up with the critique forum. You won't get them to engage in a dialog over rejections - with a couple of exceptions. Recently there was a new reviewer or new policy that resulted in many unexpected rejections and that problem - via the forum - did get some attention.
The previous time a burst of high rejections was dealt with via a forum thread where you could post your rejected file number for a re-look by one of their reviewers. I think that thread is now gonzo.
In general, just move on and shoot some more. There is very little to be gained (except for learning what you're doing wrong when all/most of the sites reject your image) by fretting over a rejection by one site or another.
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I got one of those unexplained rejections and I did email support. Have not heard anything from them, as yet.
The rejection said "Titles may not contain camera name, web address or other unnecessary info." This was a first for me. Oh, by the way, one photo was named "Pierogies for Dinner" and the other was named "Plate of Pierogies." For those who may not know, pierogies (or pirogies, depending on who is spelling it) are like ravioli...Polish pasta with potato, sour cream and chives inside). Is there a Pierogi Camera I don't know about? Unless there is, this was a bogus rejection.
I don't think taking this to the forum would do much good. Oh wait, I just did take it to a forum.
I'll go look for that thread you are talking about, JoAnn.
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The rejection said "Titles may not contain camera name, web address or other unnecessary info." This was a first for me. Oh, by the way, one photo was named "Pierogies for Dinner" and the other was named "Plate of Pierogies."
This comes up from time to time. I think it is a glitch in the SS software. I got a rejection last month for naming a plate of food too, and was told not to put camera info in the title. ??? There was a short thread on the forums about a month ago too, complaining about these rejections.
That said, Shutterstock has great reviews generally. They tend to finish reviews within a day or two of uploading (iStock takes 6-8 days for independents, StockXpert seems to take longer and longer). And their acceptance/rejection decision is generally a pretty good predictor of image success. I've had rejections there which were accepted elsewhere, but rarely sold. Most of the images they accept from me, on the other hand, sell very well at SS and elsewhere.
I am a little biased though, since they make me so much more money than anyone else. ;)