Make sure you get you final payment requests in by 30th September 2023......payment 'should' be made by 31st December 2023.........before they disappear for good, apparently due to AI :-o

I'm sorry to see them go. Not many sales but they paid more for sales than the others I'm on

Where does it say they are shutting down? Or are they just being 'sold off'?

Quote from: SuperPhoto on September 02, 2023, 00:30
Where does it say they are shutting down? Or are they just being 'sold off'?

They sent an email to contributors saying that the are shutting down on Oct 1. The market has changed such that they can no longer stay afloat.

Can Stock Photo to Cease Operations

Unfortunately, due to a changing business landscape, Can Stock Photo will cease operations on October 1, 2023.

After nearly 20 years in business we have been forced to make this very difficult decision and would like to thank our many thousands of talented contributors and customers for making it possible. The industry has changed significantly over this time, with CanStock launched in 2004 during the early mass adoption of digital cameras, and before 'social media' was even a phrase. Today of course everyone has a capable digital camera in their pocket, and the advent of AI means amazing images can be created for free from programs with just a few keywords. Decreased business and increasing costs has made it no longer possible to keep operating, to our great disappointment.

Accordingly, notice is given that all membership agreements are terminated on October 1, 2023. Downloads and new orders will be disabled on October 1st. Active customer accounts may use their remaining credits and subscriptions up until then.

Credits in accounts that have not been active for one year prior to this notice are cancelled in accordance with the membership agreement, without refund or reimbursement.

Customers with unused credits or unfinished subscriptions purchased by credit card in the last 180 days or by check/wire, can request a prorated refund of $5 USD or more by logging into the site and filing a request here. The deadline to request a refund is on or before September 30, 2023. Please allow up to three weeks for refunds to be issued.

For contributors, to request a final payment, contributors must log on to their "Convert Earnings" page and enter their payment information. Payments of $5 USD or more will be processed for account balances as of October 1st, for eligible accounts, who have submitted a request. Payments may take several months, but we anticipate they will be sent by December 31, 2023. The deadline to submit your payment request is September 30th.

Thank you for everything,

The Can Stock Photo Team
www.canstockphoto.com

Gosh... I hope they remain. It still made me a good $20-$30 each month.

I got a feeling that 123rf, Dreamstime, DepositPhotos are going to succumb as well, but I hope not.

These smaller agencies, although not earning a lot, but remains good to contributors all along.

Sad to see them go. Just requested payout.

Thank you for the sales.

Wishing them all the best for their next projects.

That is unfortunate, but I don't get that arbitrary limit of $5. Since there is a lot of accounts there, this seems to a way for them to get hundreds of thousand of dollars for free (From their about page: "Today we are home to over 118,362 contributors, and over 1,182,315 members from around the world"). I understand that PayPal transfers costs something, but it's certainly much less than this amount.

BTW I guess some customers might be going to spend remaining money by buying images, so we may see an increase in sales

Quote from: Blackx on September 02, 2023, 05:42

BTW I guess some customers might be going to spend remaining money by buying images, so we may see an increase in sales

That is an interesting thought. Let's see what happens. CS was a low earner for me but the RPD was the highest of my 7 agencies.

Really sad to see them go. They were a good agency. Did really well for me up until the start of this year too. Hope the owners/ operators go on to succeed in something else.

Quote from: Blackx on September 02, 2023, 05:42

BTW I guess some customers might be going to spend remaining money by buying images, so we may see an increase in sales

Yes, I hope it'll add some more dolars to my balance before I request payment.

Quote from: Noedelhap on September 02, 2023, 12:40

Quote from: Blackx on September 02, 2023, 05:42

BTW I guess some customers might be going to spend remaining money by buying images, so we may see an increase in sales

Yes, I hope it'll add some more dolars to my balance before I request payment.

From the wording if you request now they will include all income up when the site closes.

Many more agencies will disappear during the next years, AI will eventually kill them all.

Quote from: ADH on September 02, 2023, 15:11
Many more agencies will disappear during the next years, AI will eventually kill them all.

That will include Adobe who ironically sell AI :-)

Quote from: ADH on September 02, 2023, 15:11
Many more agencies will disappear during the next years, AI will eventually kill them all.

I wonder too many people on here said " AI would be nice and it will help them with our stock business, it just another tool".

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on September 02, 2023, 13:47

Quote from: Noedelhap on September 02, 2023, 12:40

Quote from: Blackx on September 02, 2023, 05:42

BTW I guess some customers might be going to spend remaining money by buying images, so we may see an increase in sales

Yes, I hope it'll add some more dolars to my balance before I request payment.

From the wording if you request now they will include all income up when the site closes.

Is that so? Where can I find this information?

Too bad they shut down. Sad to see them go. They were the first agency I joined many years ago and we got along well. Steady sales until last March.
Does anyone know what happens to our portfolio?

Quote from: Espie on September 02, 2023, 21:57

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on September 02, 2023, 13:47
From the wording if you request now they will include all income up when the site closes.

Is that so? Where can I find this information?

On the cash out page it says:
"Use this page to request a final contributor payment. Payments will be processed for eligible accounts after all downloads are ceased on September 30th 2023"

And I believe once you cash out the confirmation message also confirms that they will include all money earned until 30th September. I think that is also where it says it could take several months to get the payment (if I recall December 31st is mentioned?). Don't take my word for it though, going on memory as I didn't screen cap the message or anything.

here's the screen shot of the pay out page

Thank you Justanotherphotographer and PhotoBomb

Today is the last day for withdrawing money from Canstock. Don't forget to do this.

Did anyone get a "confirmation" after requesting payout ?   After clicking the button, it just changed into a grayed out button "being processed", but no other confirmation or e-mail.

Strangely enough, I got one last video sale today Sept 30th, and managed to cash out 7 whole dollars. 

Bye canstock.

It says "We are processing your request", no e-mail received.

The final cashout process does not trigger an email confirmation, so it's normal to not get one. We won't start sending payments until the site is closed and sales are finished, to ensure everyone gets paid their final account balance - so no worries if a sale comes in after you submitted your payment request.

Also, thanks to everyone for their support over the years. It's been a fun ride for the last ~20 years!

Quote from: Duncan_CSP on September 30, 2023, 13:17
The final cashout process does not trigger an email confirmation, so it's normal to not get one. We won't start sending payments until the site is closed and sales are finished, to ensure everyone gets paid their final account balance - so no worries if a sale comes in after you submitted your payment request.

Also, thanks to everyone for their support over the years. It's been a fun ride for the last ~20 years!

Duncan,

Thanks for all you've done.  I think you are the only agency who has not chopped away at our royalties.  You've always been fair and I personally appreciate that.  While I don't make much at CanStockPhoto, it's an agency I've stuck with because of your fairness. 

Wishing you the best in your future endeavors.