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Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: liquidsnake on December 22, 2020, 11:22

Title: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: liquidsnake on December 22, 2020, 11:22
Hello fellow stockers,

I found a website called Promo.com that is selling footage from ShutterStock and iStock at extremely low prices and is so badly watermarking the content that you can practically download the videos in full quality without paying anything. I searched it and found most of my content there, I believe this concerns all of you and probably your footage is there as well.

Recently I was able to find a lot of my content in various online ads, even TV commercials, that were missing from the sales reports. Luckily I was able to get in contact with one marketing agency and gather more info about where they got my content from and that;s how I found out about this website. All of the clips they purchased from this site were never reported in any sales reports on SS or iStock.

Another big issue is how they are watermarking the content, as you can see in the attachment below you only have 1 stripe in the upper left corner of the video which makes our videos usable in full resolution for most of Instagram ads and similar content in 4:5 aspect ratio for free.

Reading the About section of the website I found info that they are partners with ShutterStock and Getty Images.

Can someone please tell me is there something we can do about this?

Thanks in advance
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: alijaber on December 22, 2020, 23:21
The preview is 1280x720, but it's really usable!
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: alijaber on December 22, 2020, 23:37
They have a monthly subscription with an unlimited video download! 99$ paid monthly or 69$ paid annually, from the FAQ:

Will videos have a watermark or Promo.com mention?
Videos you download are yours and do not have a watermark or Promo.com mention.

Can I use the video after my subscription is over?
Yes. The videos you download are yours forever.

Where can I use the videos I create?
You can post, publish, upload, and share your videos on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn or any other social networks, websites or blogs, as much as you want.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: alijaber on December 22, 2020, 23:42
From the FAQ:

What is the resolution and file type of the videos I can create with Promo.com?
Basic and Special Holiday Plans can download videos in HD quality (720p).
Standard and Pro Plan subscribers can download Full HD (1080p) videos.
All videos can be downlaoded in MP4 format.

Can I sell videos I make?
Yes, Pro and Agency Plan customers can resell or reassign videos to a different owner.
Please note that when you do this, your own rights (including the lifetime license) to use the video expires and passes along to the recipient.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Visualab on December 23, 2020, 10:07
does it means that this agency has a partnership  with istock and ss??
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Groucho on December 23, 2020, 10:47
I found some of my clips there too   >:(

And the only copyright is "Shutterstock"; they don't even indicate my name. Is this legal ?
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Groucho on December 23, 2020, 11:31
And they offer "free photo" too.
The FAQ it say "We provide over 1.4 Million photos in our FREE image library. There are no limits to how often you can use these images."
I found some of my bestselling there :'(. They come from iStock. I wonder if I get paid by iStock when  they are used by promo.com costumers.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Uncle Pete on December 23, 2020, 12:59
From the FAQ:

Can I sell videos I make?
Yes, Pro and Agency Plan customers can resell or reassign videos to a different owner.
Please note that when you do this, your own rights (including the lifetime license) to use the video expires and passes along to the recipient.

While that seems poorly worded, it means that someone who creates something for someone else, can reassign the rights they purchased. Not that someone can resell your video. It's just terribly worded though and people will misunderstand and try to resell videos as their own.

Partner site, now you know where those really lowball subs come from.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: liquidsnake on December 23, 2020, 13:37
This just couldn't be legal on so many different levels.

One of the biggest problems is that these sales through Promo.com don't get reported in your sales report and to make things even worse this site is extremely popular with marketing agencies for obvious reasons.

And even worse I believe this is just one out of many sites who operate like this.

Currently I have a proof that a marketing agency bought couple of my videos through Promo.com and used them for a commercial, none of which I can find in my reports, meaning I got 0% royalty from SS and iStock. I am trying to file a lawsuit at the moment, does anyone know any good lawyers who are familiar with copyright lawsuits? I would greatly appreciate any info
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: kall3bu on December 23, 2020, 21:54
@ liquidsnake:

I would wait with the lawsuit and find more contributor whos work also sold for free on that site and then build a group lawsuit - cheaper and has more weight = better chance to win.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: alexandersr on December 23, 2020, 22:09
Hello fellow stockers,

I found a website called Promo.com that is selling footage from ShutterStock and iStock at extremely low prices and is so badly watermarking the content that you can practically download the videos in full quality without paying anything. I searched it and found most of my content there, I believe this concerns all of you and probably your footage is there as well.

Recently I was able to find a lot of my content in various online ads, even TV commercials, that were missing from the sales reports. Luckily I was able to get in contact with one marketing agency and gather more info about where they got my content from and that;s how I found out about this website. All of the clips they purchased from this site were never reported in any sales reports on SS or iStock.

Another big issue is how they are watermarking the content, as you can see in the attachment below you only have 1 stripe in the upper left corner of the video which makes our videos usable in full resolution for most of Instagram ads and similar content in 4:5 aspect ratio for free.

Reading the About section of the website I found info that they are partners with ShutterStock and Getty Images.

Can someone please tell me is there something we can do about this?

Thanks in advance


Well, another robbery from scam companies. I also saw some of my images there and I see why they are no longer sold almost in other places. All this is very frustrating. >:( :(
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: chrisb on December 23, 2020, 22:28
Thanks for the heads up on this Liquidsnake.

I have asked both SS and iStock to remove my clips from Promo. No reply yet, will be interesting to see what they say. I sure they will claim its all in their T&C's.

Pls post this on the SS contributor forum as I'm sure no one over there has any idea about this.
 
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: kall3bu on December 23, 2020, 23:39
#I also saw some of my images there#

How were you able to see / search for them?
Any link?
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: kall3bu on December 24, 2020, 00:29
I just chatted with someone from the support team of Promo and found out following:

Free photos / videos / templates / and so on:

Only from Shutterstock and Getty

And only from their premium section.*

SS & G decide which they want to give for free.

# we get all of them from Shutterstock and Getty Images and have more than 23'000'000 clips in our library. #

* # Most of the videos are premium, but we have more than 150'000 non-premium videos as well. #

# We have now integrated with Unsplash to offer 1 500 000+ high-quality photos right inside your video. All photos are free for you!! #

If we want to search for our photos and videos, if they are offered for free, we have to sign in and purchase a monthly package, use a tool and then we can see / view / search for our photos and videos.
# I'm afraid there's no (other) way to check, #

# Reselling of the videos you create is Promo is only possible with our Pro plans. The rest of plans is designed for ads creating for 1 business only. #
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: kall3bu on December 24, 2020, 00:31
Getty! NOT iStock !!!!!
I asked explicit for it and he clarify: only Getty -  not iStock.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: kall3bu on December 24, 2020, 00:48
As we all could guess:

Because Getty also offers images from iStock to their customer, why not also to Promo?!

I just found nearly all of my Getty premium photos (via eyeEm) are offered

AND

many (all?) photos from iStock, offered from Getty!
That means: We can say, it is the same like iStock offers all our photos and videos also for free!

Interesting: The first images I found from my iStock portfolio were third selection (my own selection)  from my photos and that shot!
With other words: I guess Promo at least get all images from iStock for free.
Hey that bad photos from me: There were 6 sister shots - all to bad in my mind to upload to Adobe or other better agencies!

Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: chrisb on December 24, 2020, 00:56
I am an iStock not a getty contributor and both my photos and videos are available
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Groucho on December 24, 2020, 01:05
Hey that bad photos from me: There were 6 sister shots - all to bad in my mind to upload to Adobe or other better agencies!
I found some of my photos that are not "bad photos"; they sold over 100 time in the last 6 months.

It is unbelievable that Getty/iStock & SS can give my photos for free without a financial compensation. Adobe created a free library too but they claim they had pay the contributor for this.

I send a request to iStock to remove my photos from Promo.com.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: hellou on December 24, 2020, 01:19
someone contacted getty and SS? Are they allowed to share them for free. What iam missing here? Photos too? can not see a search form for photos, videos only.
If it`s true, wow! what !
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: chrisb on December 24, 2020, 01:28
contacted both, as yet no reply
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Tenebroso on December 24, 2020, 01:44
There is a possibility that the other thread below that talks about possible images sold in the agency and that the commission is not reported to the artist or their sale is notified, has something to do with this issue.

Agencies pay us less and less and do more and more business, more and more aggressive, to keep making money with our products. This is not going well. Nothing good.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: everest on December 24, 2020, 01:47
Now you all know where all those under 1$ 4k video sales come from in the Getty and Shutter reports. As Getty & Shutterstock sales commissions are not transparent by any means they could be earning 99% of the deal with this people. So much unethical actions going on with this two agencies that it is really amazing nobody has already filed an request for an official audit on their numbers. I would not be surprised at the scandal that will follow.
Everybody talks about the chinese scam stock companies making up their numbers and doing "creative accounting". Those two companies do the same thing.....
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Groucho on December 24, 2020, 02:02
I send an email request to PROMO.com to have some more information's:

I write you because I am a contributor to both iStock and Shutterstock. I saw some of my photos from iStock and some of videos from Shutterstock on your website.
My question is about the commissions for these videos and photos:
•   Will I receive a commission each time my videos are used by your costumers?
•   What about the “free photos library”; will I receive a commission each time one of my photos is used by your costumers?


Here is their response: "If you don't mind I will post a note to our Team regarding your request, and we will follow up with you on that via email."
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: kall3bu on December 24, 2020, 02:03
# I send a request to iStock to remove my photos from Promo.com. #

They will do?
I don´t think so!

The only way we have: Closing the portfolio totally!
But how can we prove the photos and videos will then also disappear on Promo?

I just signed in on Promo and there are free trails tools. So I will be able to check if they will disappear or not.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Groucho on December 24, 2020, 02:12
The only way we have: Closing the portfolio totally!
I am not sure ours photos will disappear from PROMO.com if we close our iStock portfolio. This depend on the terms of the contract between iStock and PROMO.com. Maybe iStock received a one time payment for an unlimited use of ours photos.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: panicAttack on December 24, 2020, 03:25
only laws can change this mess.

EU, US anyone... agencies will take multi million dollars deals, demand is still huge, but when copyright holder is last to find out what is happening with his copyrighted work this may not be legal anymore.

Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: kall3bu on December 24, 2020, 03:40
I just wrote in a chat with the support team of Promo as follows - Maybe to offence from me, but maybe also it could help to bring them thinking about what they do and which whom they are making business.

# Sorry for more questions: I plan to close my portfolios on Shutterstock, Getty and iStock ( I found nearly all my photos from iStock in your library, because Getty offers them to you!).. After closing my accounts there, my photos will be removed from your Promo website, too? Or did these agencies get one instant payment from Promo, so that Promo now owns my photos? On Forums it is discussed very much just now and many contributor will come together to make a lawsuit against that agencies - eventuelly also against Promo. Just to inform you how sensitive the theme is and what will go on soon. #
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Groucho on December 24, 2020, 03:43
Here is the final response of PROMO.com to my request for more information's: "Thanks for reaching out! To follow up on your questions I would suggest you reach out directly to Shutterstock / Istock . All content provided to our customers by Promo is licensed for use so best step would be to reach out to them on that content's use."

I tried to know if they reported images/videos uses to IS/SS so that we can get commissions. They refused to answer and send me back to SS and IS.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: kall3bu on December 24, 2020, 03:47
Promo:
# We would suggest you reach out directly to Shutterstock / Istock . All content provided to our customers by Promo is licensed for use so best step would be to reach out to them on that content's use. #
Me:
Of course, thats my second plan. But you might already be able to clarify, if the photos now owned forever by Promo or not. for a contract are two sides needed and both should know the answer to my question.


Looks like a copy of your text above. LOL
No wonder
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Evaristo tenscadisto on December 24, 2020, 03:58
I was trying to check but when i enter site i got a warning from firefox saying that more than 10 million accounts were compromised in 2020 from Promo site. And to check firefox monitor.  you guys receive that too?
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: kall3bu on December 24, 2020, 04:04
Just for background info:

Promo also said:

# From our side, we are not offering exclusive license for any footage, our customers can include the footage into the video, add their text, logo and music and download it. Download as stock footage with us is regarded as violation of terms of service #

So our photos/videos are for free on Promo, but used photos/videos are not allowed to sell as stock.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Evaristo tenscadisto on December 24, 2020, 04:45
This is so toxic platform for artists.
If i get it right... Basically: its a video editor online for marketing products for a low cost.
You don t need a camera, an editor, a motion graphics to marketing your products anymore. Promo made a platform so it can reduce post production costs and camouflage the license costs for Business or Commercial licenses for companies.

For me its a huge red flag to microstock companies that are associated with this stuff.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: alexandersr on December 24, 2020, 09:32
#I also saw some of my images there#

How were you able to see / search for them?
Any link?
I sing up using my Google account, so i go to the search and select image, all my image from Getty are there! >:( :( >:(
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Mrl on December 24, 2020, 10:30
I also found this site selling artist artworks (mine images as example) without permission
https://www.thezoombackgrounds.com/collections/background-videos-for-zoom (https://www.thezoombackgrounds.com/collections/background-videos-for-zoom)

Please take a look and maybe your videos/images are there
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: alexandersr on December 24, 2020, 10:37
I also found this site selling artist artworks (mine images as example) without permission
https://www.thezoombackgrounds.com/collections/background-videos-for-zoom (https://www.thezoombackgrounds.com/collections/background-videos-for-zoom)

Please take a look and maybe your videos/images are there
Oh my god! >:( :( >:(
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Uncle Pete on December 24, 2020, 13:52
I also found this site selling artist artworks (mine images as example) without permission
https://www.thezoombackgrounds.com/collections/background-videos-for-zoom (https://www.thezoombackgrounds.com/collections/background-videos-for-zoom)

Please take a look and maybe your videos/images are there
Oh my god! >:( :( >:(

I don't think they are selling them?  https://www.thezoombackgrounds.com/pages/terms-of-service (https://www.thezoombackgrounds.com/pages/terms-of-service)

This website contains pictures and videos that are owned by or licensed to us. Any copying is forbidden other than in line with the copyright notice.

Anyone who wants more could ask? I'm busy with my own business right now:  [email protected]

I'm not sure that they should be allowed to re-license our images and video, but who knows with the contracts and changes. Good luck anyone who wants to find the clear answer.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Diana Herrmann on December 24, 2020, 16:46
This just couldn't be legal on so many different levels.

One of the biggest problems is that these sales through Promo.com don't get reported in your sales report and to make things even worse this site is extremely popular with marketing agencies for obvious reasons.

And even worse I believe this is just one out of many sites who operate like this.

Currently I have a proof that a marketing agency bought couple of my videos through Promo.com and used them for a commercial, none of which I can find in my reports, meaning I got 0% royalty from SS and iStock. I am trying to file a lawsuit at the moment, does anyone know any good lawyers who are familiar with copyright lawsuits? I would greatly appreciate any info

Class action suit.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: selensergen on December 24, 2020, 19:00
My Shutterstock account has been closed since June. I have no jobs at Getty. I only have jobs in istock.

But I see my work on promo. This is a very bad situation.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Groucho on December 25, 2020, 07:10
On PROMO.com you can find some of your images by entering your iStock contributor name as a keywork in the search field.
If you only enter your contributor name you will only have a subset of the your images on PROMO.com. You need to had another keywork (for exemple "canada" or "paris") to see all your images on a subject.

With this method I saw PROMO.com got ALL my images on iStock  >:( >:(
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: kall3bu on December 25, 2020, 07:37
ALL either >:(

But I couldn´t find any of my Shitterstock portfolio.
Can I do it the same way: portfolio name+keyword like Bali?
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: kall3bu on December 25, 2020, 07:40
We contacted Promo.com already, but does anybody already contact Getty/iStock/Shitterstock about this? And what were their answers - also in case of a law suit? Any terms again that allows them to do it and we didn´t read or didn´t understand about the consequences for us?
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Groucho on December 25, 2020, 07:55
ALL either >:(

But I couldn´t find any of my Shitterstock portfolio.
Can I do it the same way: portfolio name+keyword like Bali?
This work for images only (not for footages). For me, all images from PROMO.com are coming frim iStock and all footages from Shutterstock.

We contacted Promo.com already, but does anybody already contact Getty/iStock/Shitterstock about this? And what were their answers - also in case of a law suit? Any terms again that allows them to do it and we didn´t read or didn´t understand about the consequences for us?

I sent a request to iStock to remove my images from PROMO.com. I guess it will take some time to get an answer; and I am not sure to get a positive response. We would have more strength if every contributor send such a request to iStock.
I also posted a message on iStock forum.

About SS, I only saw my footages on PROMO.com (all images come from iStock). And I understand we get some (very) small commissions from SS, for sales on PROMO.com. This is probably an explanation to the $1 commissions I receive from time to time on SS. So I guess all this is legal for footages. This is why I stopped publishing footages on SS (I am now Pond5 exclusive for my new footages). I will probably remove my footage from SS in the future to avoid this.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: alexandersr on December 25, 2020, 10:33
ALL either >:(

But I couldn´t find any of my Shitterstock portfolio.
Can I do it the same way: portfolio name+keyword like Bali?
This work for images only (not for footages). For me, all images from PROMO.com are coming frim iStock and all footages from Shutterstock.

We contacted Promo.com already, but does anybody already contact Getty/iStock/Shitterstock about this? And what were their answers - also in case of a law suit? Any terms again that allows them to do it and we didn´t read or didn´t understand about the consequences for us?

I sent a request to iStock to remove my images from PROMO.com. I guess it will take some time to get an answer; and I am not sure to get a positive response. We would have more strength if every contributor send such a request to iStock.
I also posted a message on iStock forum.

About SS, I only saw my footages on PROMO.com (all images come from iStock). And I understand we get some (very) small commissions from SS, for sales on PROMO.com. This is probably an explanation to the $1 commissions I receive from time to time on SS. So I guess all this is legal for footages. This is why I stopped publishing footages on SS (I am now Pond5 exclusive for my new footages). I will probably remove my footage from SS in the future to avoid this.

If i close my account on Getty/Istock the images on Promo.com will be remove?
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: kall3bu on December 25, 2020, 12:51
# If i close my account on Getty/Istock the images on Promo.com will be remove? #

That´s the point!
Before I close my account on iStock, I have to know it!
If not - what to do? Luckily I didn´t submit my best work to iStock.
But 32 images as Partner (Getty) photos via eyeEm are for free on Promo.com, too. I asked eyeEm already to take them from Getty & eyeEm market.
But also in that case, I do not know, if these 32 photos will get delete on Promo.com too.

First I did not think it has something to do with this, but now:
I just found out that i had 10 sales on iStock - ALL for 0,02. (With filename and dates and thumbs. They were sold in October.
And ONE SALE for 0,000000000 and 0% Even no filename.

But I did not get any information from iStock about that. Not on the app not in ESP, but I found them on Deepmeta.

Strange!
Might be these images got ´sold´ on Promo.com and at least paid??? Could be also just sub-sales as described on Deepmeta.

Shutterstock footage: I just two weeks ago deleted my only one footage on Shitterstock. I cannot find it on Promo.com. Seems like they deleted it on Promo.com too or it was never selected for Promo.com.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: alexandersr on December 25, 2020, 13:14
# If i close my account on Getty/Istock the images on Promo.com will be remove? #

That´s the point!
Before I close my account on iStock, I have to know it!
If not - what to do? Luckily I didn´t submit my best work to iStock.
But 32 images as Partner (Getty) photos via eyeEm are for free on Promo.com, too. I asked eyeEm already to take them from Getty & eyeEm market.
But also in that case, I do not know, if these 32 photos will get delete on Promo.com too.

First I did not think it has something to do with this, but now:
I just found out that i had 10 sales on iStock - ALL for 0,02. (With filename and dates and thumbs. They were sold in October.
And ONE SALE for 0,000000000 and 0% Even no filename.

But I did not get any information from iStock about that. Not on the app not in ESP, but I found them on Deepmeta.

Strange!
Might be these images got ´sold´ on Promo.com and at least paid??? Could be also just sub-sales as described on Deepmeta.

Shutterstock footage: I just two weeks ago deleted my only one footage on Shitterstock. I cannot find it on Promo.com. Seems like they deleted it on Promo.com too or it was never selected for Promo.com.
But in Getty/Istock you can't delete photos. They have all control on material.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: komikmiha on December 27, 2020, 11:39
Is it true that Shutterstock's Terms of Service give them the rights to do this?
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: kall3bu on January 08, 2021, 06:33
Any updates?

I wrote to iStock, but did not get any answer to this,. But they answered another request already. That alone is already interesting.

Very interesting: iStock seems react on my request about promo.com! I wrote them that many contributors proving now a law suit against them, if that is not legal offer all images for free on promo.com.
Yesterday I checked again my images there and it seems like all my iStock images disappeared now. That is for me a sign that it was illegal.

I know many other contributors here alos wrote a request to iStock and Getty. Any answeres yet or same experiences like me: images disappeared oon promo.com?
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Groucho on January 08, 2021, 06:48
Any updates?

I wrote to iStock, but did not get any answer to this,. But they answered another request already. That alone is already interesting.

Very interesting: iStock seems react on my request about promo.com! I wrote them that many contributors proving now a law suit against them, if that is not legal offer all images for free on promo.com.
Yesterday I checked again my images there and it seems like all my iStock images disappeared now. That is for me a sign that it was illegal.

I know many other contributors here alos wrote a request to iStock and Getty. Any answeres yet or same experiences like me: images disappeared oon promo.com?

I made a request to iStock the 23th of December to remove my images from PROMO.com. No response from iStock now till now and my images are still available on PROM.com.

I also posted a message on iStock forum. Here is the response of an iStock employee:
   Question: ... do you have the official 'spin' on this site? How does it benefit us, the content producers?
   Response: Not a site I was aware of but will ask

But no update from iStock on this site till now.


Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: kall3bu on January 08, 2021, 07:11
I tricked out myself LOL

On iStock I have a different name thatn on eyeem or getty ofcourse!
I checked again and indeed ALL my iStock photos still appear on promo.com
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Uncle Pete on January 08, 2021, 10:21
Hello fellow stockers,

I found a website called Promo.com that is selling footage from ShutterStock and iStock at extremely low prices and is so badly watermarking the content that you can practically download the videos in full quality without paying anything. I searched it and found most of my content there, I believe this concerns all of you and probably your footage is there as well.

Recently I was able to find a lot of my content in various online ads, even TV commercials, that were missing from the sales reports. Luckily I was able to get in contact with one marketing agency and gather more info about where they got my content from and that;s how I found out about this website. All of the clips they purchased from this site were never reported in any sales reports on SS or iStock.

Another big issue is how they are watermarking the content, as you can see in the attachment below you only have 1 stripe in the upper left corner of the video which makes our videos usable in full resolution for most of Instagram ads and similar content in 4:5 aspect ratio for free.

Reading the About section of the website I found info that they are partners with ShutterStock and Getty Images.

Can someone please tell me is there something we can do about this?

Thanks in advance


Has anyone downloaded an image to see if we get credit or how much?
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: alexandersr on January 08, 2021, 11:04
Can those of Istock / Getty Images give our content for free without paying us anything for it? This is not called theft?
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Diana Herrmann on January 09, 2021, 09:00
Any updates?

I wrote to iStock, but did not get any answer to this,. But they answered another request already. That alone is already interesting.

Very interesting: iStock seems react on my request about promo.com! I wrote them that many contributors proving now a law suit against them, if that is not legal offer all images for free on promo.com.
Yesterday I checked again my images there and it seems like all my iStock images disappeared now. That is for me a sign that it was illegal.

I know many other contributors here alos wrote a request to iStock and Getty. Any answeres yet or same experiences like me: images disappeared oon promo.com?

I made a request to iStock the 23th of December to remove my images from PROMO.com. No response from iStock now till now and my images are still available on PROM.com.

I also posted a message on iStock forum. Here is the response of an iStock employee:
   Question: ... do you have the official 'spin' on this site? How does it benefit us, the content producers?
   Response: Not a site I was aware of but will ask

But no update from iStock on this site till now.
This is illegal I never agreed to give away my pictures for free.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: zorba on January 09, 2021, 14:07
Any updates?

I wrote to iStock, but did not get any answer to this,. But they answered another request already. That alone is already interesting.

Very interesting: iStock seems react on my request about promo.com! I wrote them that many contributors proving now a law suit against them, if that is not legal offer all images for free on promo.com.
Yesterday I checked again my images there and it seems like all my iStock images disappeared now. That is for me a sign that it was illegal.

I know many other contributors here alos wrote a request to iStock and Getty. Any answeres yet or same experiences like me: images disappeared oon promo.com?

I made a request to iStock the 23th of December to remove my images from PROMO.com. No response from iStock now till now and my images are still available on PROM.com.

I also posted a message on iStock forum. Here is the response of an iStock employee:
   Question: ... do you have the official 'spin' on this site? How does it benefit us, the content producers?
   Response: Not a site I was aware of but will ask

But no update from iStock on this site till now.
This is illegal I never agreed to give away my pictures for free.

is there a PUBLIC interrogation place to work out these problems with SS *and* iStock ? different places? ok! but are there?
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Vectory on January 11, 2021, 08:24
Normally only as a guest on this site, but after stumbling on this thread, I made an account.
I searched for my images on Promo and to my horror my portfolio from SS, Getty and iStock can be found on their site. I have searched for the provider of the site. Turns out to be Godaddy. I have reported Promo on Godaddy and they will get back to me. You can find it here https://www.godaddy.com/help/reporting-abuse-27154 (https://www.godaddy.com/help/reporting-abuse-27154) Could be a step next to reporting to your stock sites of course.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Uncle Pete on January 11, 2021, 11:35
Any updates?

I wrote to iStock, but did not get any answer to this,. But they answered another request already. That alone is already interesting.

Very interesting: iStock seems react on my request about promo.com! I wrote them that many contributors proving now a law suit against them, if that is not legal offer all images for free on promo.com.
Yesterday I checked again my images there and it seems like all my iStock images disappeared now. That is for me a sign that it was illegal.

I know many other contributors here alos wrote a request to iStock and Getty. Any answeres yet or same experiences like me: images disappeared oon promo.com?

I made a request to iStock the 23th of December to remove my images from PROMO.com. No response from iStock now till now and my images are still available on PROM.com.

I also posted a message on iStock forum. Here is the response of an iStock employee:
   Question: ... do you have the official 'spin' on this site? How does it benefit us, the content producers?
   Response: Not a site I was aware of but will ask

But no update from iStock on this site till now.
This is illegal I never agreed to give away my pictures for free.

Has anyone here actually found out if this site is legal or not? We seem to be going off, attacking and accusing, when there haven't been answers from any agency or anyplace? I'd like to know?

I really don't want to open an account on some crappy site, just to see what images of mine might be there.

If the site is illegal we need to have a massive reporting action to the host, the agencies and anyone else, to get it shut down.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: kall3bu on January 11, 2021, 12:12
A friend of mine, also a photographer, contacted Getty/iStock and asked them about promo.com. He got an answer, me not yet.

Here a part of the answer from Getty/iStock:

#Your content is not being used for free.

Your Connect statement will provide the royalty information.#

Followed from two links. I read them carefully and understand now much more about it, but there was no example of promo.com. So I only can get an IDEA what we might get. But at least not for free, but might be for 0,0000000001 penny for each use.

And Getty/iStock wrote:

# Our contract with Promo.com is confidential.

We have not been receiving any other tickets from other Contributors regarding this same matter. #

no comment.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Uncle Pete on January 11, 2021, 12:52
A friend of mine, also a photographer, contacted Getty/iStock and asked them about promo.com. He got an answer, me not yet.

Here a part of the answer from Getty/iStock:

#Your content is not being used for free.

Your Connect statement will provide the royalty information.#

Followed from two links. I read them carefully and understand now much more about it, but there was no example of promo.com. So I only can get an IDEA what we might get. But at least not for free, but might be for 0,0000000001 penny for each use.

And Getty/iStock wrote:

# Our contract with Promo.com is confidential.

We have not been receiving any other tickets from other Contributors regarding this same matter. #

no comment.

Thanks, answer is, Partner Site. All this stolen images, reporting them to their host, anger, accusations, outrage and whatever, is without basis in fact or truth.

Yes wonderful denial, we haven't had other complaints, when we know that at minimum, a few people here have written, including myself.  ;)

Actually look at you connect sales, or maybe it's a partner sub? I can't make any sense of most of that Connect stuff. Where is Promo located? I get most of my connect credits from Australia and California, if I remember right. Many are in the $.004 range but I did have one for some $.0003 and we do get as low as 2 cents for the promised minimum for subs. If you have the location, then that will show on Connect sales.

Figuring out SS would be more amusing, but we know the minimum is 10˘ so that's the easy answer.

We are being sold for pennies and paid even less pennies and someone is getting the images for nearly nothing. Not a very happy situation.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Vectory on January 11, 2021, 14:41
Of course I’m not sure whether Promo is legit or not.
Remains that I find it quite odd I can’t, for instance, click on the links of SS or Getty on their site. The links are not linked apart from Instagram and another link they mentioned. Plus, my portfolio’s on Getty and SS are not the same, yet all my images from SS are from Getty according to them.
It’s not possible to download a file. I created an account, clicked on own of my images, but you can’t download the file. You’re redirected to another page to use your image in a video you can create.
They are located on the British Virgin Islands, as a Limited.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: alexandersr on January 11, 2021, 18:48
A friend of mine, also a photographer, contacted Getty/iStock and asked them about promo.com. He got an answer, me not yet.

Here a part of the answer from Getty/iStock:

#Your content is not being used for free.

Your Connect statement will provide the royalty information.#

Followed from two links. I read them carefully and understand now much more about it, but there was no example of promo.com. So I only can get an IDEA what we might get. But at least not for free, but might be for 0,0000000001 penny for each use.

And Getty/iStock wrote:

# Our contract with Promo.com is confidential.

We have not been receiving any other tickets from other Contributors regarding this same matter. #

no comment.
Oh my god! this the reason because our sales ar downhill! Getty/iStock hijos de puta! Me perdonan la grosería, pero es demasiado el abuso de esta gente!
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Uncle Pete on January 12, 2021, 12:25
Of course I’m not sure whether Promo is legit or not.
Remains that I find it quite odd I can’t, for instance, click on the links of SS or Getty on their site. The links are not linked apart from Instagram and another link they mentioned. Plus, my portfolio’s on Getty and SS are not the same, yet all my images from SS are from Getty according to them.
It’s not possible to download a file. I created an account, clicked on own of my images, but you can’t download the file. You’re redirected to another page to use your image in a video you can create.
They are located on the British Virgin Islands, as a Limited.

Well that looks and sounds pretty shaky and confusing. (on their part) I was trying to avoid opening an account. Now I'm head to "I've got to see this crazy place myself".  :)

Thanks for the more detailed information, I'm beginning to understand what they are doing. Not selling our work or licensing it as the thread started, but allowing it to be part of a project. This looks more and more like the Connect type of deal, but then I wonder how they are crediting us for each SS use. If that's true I need to send everyone I know to use my photos in projects, I can use those dimes.

This is confusing? YEs everything says, search Getty Images, that's not true.

Hello fellow stockers,

I found a website called Promo.com that is selling footage from ShutterStock and iStock at extremely low prices and is so badly watermarking the content that you can practically download the videos in full quality without paying anything. I searched it and found most of my content there, I believe this concerns all of you and probably your footage is there as well.

Thanks in advance


So is it selling or not selling?

https://promo.com/share/5ffde7647091080f3b595a87?utm_source=old_share_page_share_dialog
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Uncle Pete on January 15, 2021, 16:03
Of course I’m not sure whether Promo is legit or not.
Remains that I find it quite odd I can’t, for instance, click on the links of SS or Getty on their site. The links are not linked apart from Instagram and another link they mentioned. Plus, my portfolio’s on Getty and SS are not the same, yet all my images from SS are from Getty according to them.
It’s not possible to download a file. I created an account, clicked on own of my images, but you can’t download the file. You’re redirected to another page to use your image in a video you can create.
They are located on the British Virgin Islands, as a Limited.

Hi, this is a reasonable way to reply and not reply to myself?

"The Images come from our Content Provider Partners, Getty Images, Shutterstock and Unsplash. You are fully licensed to use them with any Promo.com subscription :)

This means you can share on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, websites, blogs and anywhere else on the Internet.

To download the images, simply add them to a video, click on Publish and choose the Export as Photo option. "

FAQ: Q: Once I make my videos, how and where do I post them?

A: Short answer⁠—everywhere. Long answer: Social media, paid ads, emails, your website, landing pages, and more.

Pricing plans are pretty simple. https://promo.com/pricing?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=desktop_draft_to_publish&utm_creative=faq_desktop

Various watermark, logo and tag options.

That's what I found out about the site. Monthly plans, I don't know what we get paid. Someone buy a plan and use my images please?  ;) OK someone buy a plan, make your three videos and use images from someone you know and tell them what images, so they can report back, how much credit they got. Use images that have never sold, might as well make sure you can pinpoint the actual commission. And if possible use some only on IS, standard 15% person please and some that are only on SS, so you can track the downloads.

I'll venture a guess that SS if anyone does take the time to find out, it's going to be a Sub of some sort from a partner site. On a really good day, it would be a low price OD. I have gotten as low as 31 cent ODs.

Oh and to answer, it's perfectly legit, whether anyone likes them or not. We don't know how much we get for one of these uses.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: OM on January 17, 2021, 11:01
Got this warning when I went to their site.


Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: kall3bu on January 17, 2021, 12:59
10.000.000 accounts on Promo and we are wondering that sales goes down everywhere?
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Groucho on January 27, 2021, 23:47
I finally got the official answer from the iStock support on this issue:

Thank you for your message and I sincerely apologize for the delay in my response. Regarding Promo.com, Getty Images makes a subset of iStock content available within their video editing tool. Any licenses of your content will appear on the Connect statement under the ‘Price Per Image’ Product Type (https://contributors.gettyimages.com/HelpArticle.aspx?article_id=5176)

It's important to note that you are receiving royalties for this use - your content is not being given away for free. Also note that the usage is restricted, it is not the same usage permitted on a standard RF license.

We work with these Partners to ensure that your content is right inside their End User’s workflow, exactly where and when they need it. In this way we can reach new, non-traditional customers at scale. For more information, visit: https://contributors.gettyimages.com/HelpArticle.aspx?article_id=6252


So, PROMO.com is legal and we get fabulous Connect royalties when our work is used on this website.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: nmcandre on February 11, 2021, 11:30
Hi!

I'm new here at this forum but I've been working as a contributor to several stock agencies since 2008. In the last years I saw that agencies are not ashamed and do everything they can to make an easy profit at the expense of artists slave work!

I think that the only solution could be the creation of an agency by the contributor community, with fair prices and commissions! If that happens, those sucker agencies will not have fresh content and will have to rethink their business model.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Andri on February 13, 2021, 17:09
Hello! That's very bad news. How to protect our rights? I don't know if my footage is there too, I suppose it can be, but unfortunately I can't check.
Title: Re: Found a site that sells our footage for dirt cheap and practically free
Post by: Diana Herrmann on February 16, 2021, 15:49
I finally got the official answer from the iStock support on this issue:

Thank you for your message and I sincerely apologize for the delay in my response. Regarding Promo.com, Getty Images makes a subset of iStock content available within their video editing tool. Any licenses of your content will appear on the Connect statement under the ‘Price Per Image’ Product Type (https://contributors.gettyimages.com/HelpArticle.aspx?article_id=5176)

It's important to note that you are receiving royalties for this use - your content is not being given away for free. Also note that the usage is restricted, it is not the same usage permitted on a standard RF license.

We work with these Partners to ensure that your content is right inside their End User’s workflow, exactly where and when they need it. In this way we can reach new, non-traditional customers at scale. For more information, visit: https://contributors.gettyimages.com/HelpArticle.aspx?article_id=6252


So, PROMO.com is legal and we get fabulous Connect royalties when our work is used on this website.

Promo is legal, connect is less then pennies.