I recently decided to deactivate everything I had on Dreamstime (poor performance, low rates). I asked them by email to pay out the remainder of my account (about $65). They told me that they wont pay my royalties unless there is $100 in the account (this is in their T&Cs). I explained that I had deactivated all my files, and asked how they expected the amount to increase when I was no longer selling files. I was told to join their affiliate program (!)

Is there any recourse I can now take? If not, let this be a warning to others.
You have to wonder how much of our money they pocket this way.

This is a good warning.  Really they should pay you, but their TOS say they don't have to.  Best idea is to read the TOS before doing a mass deactivation.

This is a good warning.  Really they should pay you, but their TOS say they don't have to.  Best idea is to read the TOS before doing a mass deactivation.

Better Idea (to the OP) - Read them before you sign up!

they really don't have to pay you just because you delete your account. read the agreement .
this is how agencies rip you off , if you do not reach payout. you can actually get rich if you have a million contributors owing you one dollar each.

some are honest. i know istock did. perharps, it was just plain courtesy and decency .i know fotolia, istock, would pay you when you close your account because i did and they paid me without me asking.
but really, if you ask me, or ask even your grand dad or any common decent person,
they will say, whether it's 1 dollar or 10,000, you pay back what you owe. it's just plain common
decency.

but then, who is common decent these days???

I always read the TOS, and I was fully aware that their usual payment limit is $100. I just assumed that they might have the decency to pay me what I'd earned when I decided to leave. Apparently not. So be warned.

Quote from: etudiante_rapide on November 13, 2015, 17:29

i know .... istock, would pay you when you close your account

No they wouldn't. Read my previous post.
iStock is Getty and after closing my account, Getty still owes me about 45 bucks.



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maybe u r right. it must have been one of those which i wrote, "and you can kept my xx bucks that you owe me; use it to st*ck it up you know where"... or something like that.
all i remember was i was mad at one of these sites and i did write a nasty email.
it must have this istock   thx 4 correcting me.

Quote from: etudiante_rapide on November 13, 2015, 17:29

i know .... istock, would pay you when you close your account

No they wouldn't. Read my previous post.
iStock is Getty and after closing my account, Getty still owes me about 45 bucks.

I closed my istock account in 2011 and they paid my balance. I closed accounts at Cutcaster and Crestock and they didn't pay the balance.

Quote from: etudiante_rapide on November 13, 2015, 17:29

i know .... istock, would pay you when you close your account

No they wouldn't. Read my previous post.
iStock is Getty and after closing my account, Getty still owes me about 45 bucks.

I've read reasonably recently that iStock did pay out on an account closure.
Getty is 'the same, but different'.
Did you contact them? Did you get an answer?

Always request payout first, get confirm of the transfer, then dump them.

True.

Always request payout first, get confirm of the transfer, then dump them.

Getty pays you on a fixed date, like iStock began doing this year.

So, you can be forced to dump the unpaid sales, accumulated from the 1st of the last month, until the moment the last payment notification is received.
In case the minimum threshold has not been reached, during the last 3 weeks, you have to forfeit those residual sales.

Quote from: Mantis on November 13, 2015, 17:58

Always request payout first, get confirm of the transfer, then dump them.

Amen. It is simple as 2x2. No worries, no complaints. Case closed.

No, it's not as simple, for agencies paying automatically, once a month.
See the previous post.
Even if you close the account as soon as you get what you want to be your "last payment", you might still leave sales behind.

Quote from: Zero Talent on November 15, 2015, 19:59

Quote from: 4seasons on November 15, 2015, 19:42

Quote from: Mantis on November 13, 2015, 17:58

Always request payout first, get confirm of the transfer, then dump them.

Amen. It is simple as 2x2. No worries, no complaints. Case closed.

No, it's not as simple, for agencies paying automatically, once a month.
See the previous post.
Even if you close the account as soon as you get what you want to be your "last payment", you might still leave sales behind.

Yea, that is an issue with some agencies.  On Dissolve, they would not answer any of my emails. Luckily I could delete files individually before they sold more. I spent about an hour on the site and killed my entire port. Not on Getty so I don't know if you can delete your images manually, but if you have a couple of thousand it could be a bitch.

Getty doesn't allow deactivation of individual photos. It is either all in, or all out. Deactivation is only possible for the entire port, through a ticket.

Quote from: 4seasons on November 15, 2015, 19:42

Quote from: Mantis on November 13, 2015, 17:58

Always request payout first, get confirm of the transfer, then dump them.

Amen. It is simple as 2x2. No worries, no complaints. Case closed.

No, it's not as simple, for agencies paying automatically, once a month.
See the previous post.
Even if you close the account as soon as you get what you want to be your "last payment", you might still leave sales behind.

Mantis again told my words: you have to take care of your portfolio before finally close- get your earnings, then delete your photos. If they ask to leave your registration for a time, leave one worst image and... go on. We must know before entering that there will be some issues in the future with our money and/or images, so we should prepare for some losses. Of course, in the perfect world, in the perfect agency there could not be any losses but we live in a real, nonperfect world, so we must be very careful about all our property.

In fact, I know nothing about agencies where photog can't delete his photos, but I think that there is also wise decision not to run without earned money. I himself already finished with several agencies without any big losses, except a couple, where I left about $20 because I saw that I could not reach my payout minimum in my next 20 years. So no complains.

I assumed they'd pay me...

It is our common mistake: "we assumed". We should contact agency before, to read TOS, to take care of our money and images and when we're sure we did everything from our side, then click the "I'm leaving you, you f#@%in selfish agency!" button.