Hi all,

I just got an e-mail terminating me from Shutterstock and telling me that my earnings to this point are not going to be paid.

I think the problem with the image in question, it was just the one, was in error but that's not so much a concern now as I don't think I will be getting my account back.

I have been a member for over five years ish and never any problems until now so the abrupt response seems odd to me but again, probably not important now!

TBH I am just looking to hear from anyone who may have had a similar experience and what they did / what's possible to do in this situation.

I have other sites to go to but losing the payout for this month (earned during May) seems very harsh considering the image in question is a tiny fraction of the portfolio overall.

I will say also, when the reasons for the problem with the image were explained to me I went and did some general searching on the site and it seems that hundreds of thousands of images go against this also. Should I post on the Shutterstock forums and point this out, probably not ! XD

Any advice would be great. I'm not expecting a happy ending here, but I do intend to send SS a final message and point out what I see as the flaws in the decision.

So, why did they terminate your account? What's wrong with that image?

copy cat?

can you share the image? and how much images you had in your portfolio.

yeah, let us see the image
account termination because 1 image problem is very sad

If  your account is terminated because you used someone elses material, and this seems to be the most common reason for terminating an account, then you have the sympathy of noone.

SS  doesnt terminate accounts nilly willy. 

Quote from: noodle on June 02, 2016, 12:06
If  your account is terminated because you used someone elses material, and this seems to be the most common reason for terminating an account, then you have the sympathy of noone.

SS  doesnt terminate accounts nilly willy.

Unless they made a mistake but this can only be resolved between the contributor and SS nothing to be gained by airing on the forum I think

Quote from: Pauws99 on June 02, 2016, 12:37

Quote from: noodle on June 02, 2016, 12:06
If  your account is terminated because you used someone elses material, and this seems to be the most common reason for terminating an account, then you have the sympathy of noone.

SS  doesnt terminate accounts nilly willy.

Unless they made a mistake but this can only be resolved between the contributor and SS nothing to be gained by airing on the forum I think

I agree with your point here.

But how do people contact with contributor unless they have mentioned links on the profile page. Also do shutterstock provide the name of person who is claiming the rights? I don't think so.

Without seeing your portfolio there's nothing to say. For all we know there could be problems with the whole thing. These anonymous threads are pointless.

Sorry, in reply to the similar situation. I had an account suspension many years ago, I posted links to my portfolio and evidence to SS, on the SS forum and here and had my account reactivated.

I cought few copycats stealing my pictures and reported the to SS. Copycats' portfolios were removed in the matter of hours. Ss did really good job there. They take copyright infingement very seiously.
And those were not copycats, they were stealing my pictures, they were thiefs.

Now, he never did say what the image was or the reason why.... for all we know he/she may be an axe murderer and it was an image of their latest victim.... this thread could be quite interesting!

Quote from: sweetsixty on June 02, 2016, 10:32
... I went and did some general searching on the site and it seems that hundreds of thousands of images go against this also....

I've never heard of account termination at SS except for use of other people's work (in whole or in part). I've been with SS since 2004 (with a break in the middle for IS exclusivity) and while there are many criticisms you can legitimately make of them, I don't think punitive account closures is on the list.

You really haven't given us much information, but this hint that other images "go against this" makes me wonder if this was copying successful work (not theft). I don't think pointing out to SS that "everyone does it" will help, if that's what you had been thinking of.

If I know how to get in touch with an artist, I contact them directly if I see some ripoff of their stuff. If you want to get more rigorous enforcement going, then contacting the injured parties (the originators) to have them tell SS to take down other copycats is much more useful.

If you sell elsewhere and have been borrowing ideas, you would do well to clean up your portfolio pronto before you find other accounts closed as well.

as already mentioned, ss does not terminate an account for no grave reason.
it is either that person is using someone else's work ie stealing another person's work, or taking part of a photo or illustration from someone else.
it can also be that the person is under age or giving false personal information.

the part i am not sure is that others say here, copying. i am not sure how copying can get anyone terminated. if so, many of those copycats of yuri, sjlocke,etc.. would have been terminated a long time ago.

my guess, without you showing the faulting image is that someone has reported you
taking their work.
whatever it is, telling us here is not going to be much help, as it is best you
contact ss directly to sort it out with them.

good luck.

I think I have a pretty good idea why his/her account was terminated.

I don't think he was stealing from other contributors at all. I think he took public domain images and sold them on SS. My guess is that he took a NASA image(s) and tried to make money off of it. Yeah, a lot of people do it, but that doesn't make it right. Those contributors will eventually face the wrath of SS.

When you try to sell what doesn't belong to you, you're playing Russian roulette with your account.

Quote from: etudiante_rapide on June 03, 2016, 01:07


the part i am not sure is that others say here, copying. i am not sure how copying can get anyone terminated. if so, many of those copycats of yuri,  would have been terminated a long time ago,

Has Yuri ever had an origianl idea'

Quote from: Minsc on June 03, 2016, 08:01
I think I have a pretty good idea why his/her account was terminated.

I don't think he was stealing from other contributors at all. I think he took public domain images and sold them on SS. My guess is that he took a NASA image(s) and tried to make money off of it. Yeah, a lot of people do it, but that doesn't make it right. Those contributors will eventually face the wrath of SS.

When you try to sell what doesn't belong to you, you're playing Russian roulette with your account.

Maybe, but most of the images, you can find on the internet are not big enough, they don't have at least 3000px on the longest size....

Quote from: fotografer on June 03, 2016, 08:06

Quote from: etudiante_rapide on June 03, 2016, 01:07


the part i am not sure is that others say here, copying. i am not sure how copying can get anyone terminated. if so, many of those copycats of yuri,  would have been terminated a long time ago,

Has Yuri ever had an origianl idea'

You are a little bit harsh with Yuri.
Putting 20 Profoto strobs in Porsches Cayenne trunks, than making a compo of a jet fighter and cloudy sky, it was Yuri's genuine idea.

Quote from: Minsc on June 03, 2016, 08:01
I think I have a pretty good idea why his/her account was terminated.

I don't think he was stealing from other contributors at all. I think he took public domain images and sold them on SS. My guess is that he took a NASA image(s) and tried to make money off of it. Yeah, a lot of people do it, but that doesn't make it right. Those contributors will eventually face the wrath of SS.

When you try to sell what doesn't belong to you, you're playing Russian roulette with your account.

I think NASA images are allowed, just as long as you mention the origin. I had a quick look on SS and found this portfolio:http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-1284574p1.html Almost everything you see there has been copied from NASA, which I think is fine, as long as it's mentioned in the title.

Quote from: Argus on June 03, 2016, 09:27
I think NASA images are allowed, just as long as you mention the origin.

Yes, but you can't just sell them as they are. You have to make something new with fairly substantial changes. You have to use them as an element.

Quote from: rene on June 03, 2016, 09:23

Quote from: fotografer on June 03, 2016, 08:06

Quote from: etudiante_rapide on June 03, 2016, 01:07


the part i am not sure is that others say here, copying. i am not sure how copying can get anyone terminated. if so, many of those copycats of yuri,  would have been terminated a long time ago,

Has Yuri ever had an origianl idea'

You are a little bit harsh with Yuri.
Putting 20 Profoto strobs in Porsches Cayenne trunks, than making a compo of a jet fighter and cloudy sky, it was Yuri's genuine idea.

I was saying it a bit tongue in cheek but 95 % of his images are good generic stock photos.   Nobody is going to copy the ones that you mentioned

Maybe he take a pic of somebody and fake model release form (fill by his self)...

Please Sweetsixty, give us a general idea of what was the problem with your image so maybe we can give you some feedback...

Quote from: Mrblues101 on June 10, 2016, 17:14
Please Sweetsixty, give us a general idea of what was the problem with your image so maybe we can give you some feedback...

Why? This can only be resolved between him/her and Shutterstock

Quote from: Pauws99 on June 10, 2016, 17:35

Quote from: Mrblues101 on June 10, 2016, 17:14
Please Sweetsixty, give us a general idea of what was the problem with your image so maybe we can give you some feedback...

Why? This can only be resolved between him/her and Shutterstock

no...so we can flame him