Quote from: Bauman on March 04, 2026, 23:07

Quote from: YadaYadaYada on March 04, 2026, 20:40
When I go search on SS I only see the unlimited. I don't want the unlimited, but they are forcing the default to unlimited and our work is being hidden. But that's one reason so many of us are seeing less downloads. Our photos are hidden from the search.

I did a keyword search with the anonymous browser, and out of over 200,000 results, 12 of my images appeared in the first 100 photos.

Historically, I've always been at the top with this keyword and have always had between 8 and 15 images on the first page.

So I'm not seeing anything new. And I've opted out of the unlimited download program.

The drop in downloads is in line with the slow decline I've been experiencing on SS for the past four years (-10/15% each year). However, it doesn't seem like my photos are being hidden. I sell 30 to 50 of them every day.

The unlimited plan hurts video portfolios more than photo portfolios, which is probably why you're still seeing decent results, even if visibility has dropped.

I think video contributors who haven't joined the plan have had the biggest impact. Traditionally, videos ($79/clip) were much more expensive than photos, but now buyers can download up to 100 video assets per day. For video buyers, it's almost a no-brainer to pay $99/month. I know I would if I were a buyer.

Photos are already cheaper, so the value of the unlimited plan isn't as dramatic for photo buyers as it is for video buyers.

Quote from: YadaYadaYada on March 04, 2026, 20:40
Our photos are hidden from the search.

@danielvisuals YadaYadaYada wrote photos and I replied about the photos

Quote from: danielvisuals on March 05, 2026, 12:13

Quote from: Bauman on March 04, 2026, 23:07

Quote from: YadaYadaYada on March 04, 2026, 20:40
When I go search on SS I only see the unlimited. I don't want the unlimited, but they are forcing the default to unlimited and our work is being hidden. But that's one reason so many of us are seeing less downloads. Our photos are hidden from the search.

I did a keyword search with the anonymous browser, and out of over 200,000 results, 12 of my images appeared in the first 100 photos.

Historically, I've always been at the top with this keyword and have always had between 8 and 15 images on the first page.

So I'm not seeing anything new. And I've opted out of the unlimited download program.

The drop in downloads is in line with the slow decline I've been experiencing on SS for the past four years (-10/15% each year). However, it doesn't seem like my photos are being hidden. I sell 30 to 50 of them every day.

The unlimited plan hurts video portfolios more than photo portfolios, which is probably why you're still seeing decent results, even if visibility has dropped.

I think video contributors who haven't joined the plan have had the biggest impact. Traditionally, videos ($79/clip) were much more expensive than photos, but now buyers can download up to 100 video assets per day. For video buyers, it's almost a no-brainer to pay $99/month. I know I would if I were a buyer.

Photos are already cheaper, so the value of the unlimited plan isn't as dramatic for photo buyers as it is for video buyers.

Agree. Video was the bulk of my income and now that I'm not part of the unlimited program, it's practically gone. With one move they gave the middle finger to a huge part of their contributors and created an agency withing the agency. Congrats to those lucky few

This only happens on shutterstock.

Quote from: danielvisuals on March 12, 2026, 03:57
This only happens on shutterstock.

I'd take one of those.

Quote from: danielvisuals on March 12, 2026, 03:57
This only happens on shutterstock.

Congrats. Someone is getting sales

Nearly halfway through the month and only $5.00

I've never seen it so bad.

Quote from: stocker2011 on March 14, 2026, 20:54
Nearly halfway through the month and only $5.00

I've never seen it so bad.

I'm not as good at this as most of the people here, but you're 100% on. I'll just fall back to, I used to make in a day on SSTK, what I make in a month now. How big is the hole in the boat? Can many people bail water, upload new or create something that sells, faster than the water comes in? Or is the ship sinking irreparably, and it's time to abandon the ship. We are on that sinking ship and it's not our work that's the cause of the problems.

Looking for a day job.

Quote from: Uncle Pete on March 14, 2026, 23:58

Quote from: stocker2011 on March 14, 2026, 20:54
Nearly halfway through the month and only $5.00

I've never seen it so bad.

Looking for a day job.

Same here

Hello, dear stockers and forum users.
I'm new here, but I've been involved in photography and video for 20 years. I've been selling photos and videos on Shutterstock for 14 of those years.

Starting in January 2026, it became impossible to sell commercial photos on Shutterstock—the artificial intelligence rejects high-quality photos in literally a second and transfers them to the Data Marketplace. This means my photos will never be seen or offered for sale. My income has dropped eightfold and continues to decline. It's impossible to make money from editorial photos alone.

I've contacted the standard support form many times, but I always get the same standard response from the AI.
It's impossible to contact a live person!

How can you trust AI verification? Did Shutterstock fire all its human inspectors?

Why are we losing our income?

Furthermore, Shutterstock's owners and employees are losing income and wages because potential buyers can't buy what they need!

Furthermore, the AI ​​often rejects photos with the reason, "This photo has already been uploaded to the site by another account."
BUT! This can't happen! I don't have other accounts. My photos are unique.

I have trusted editorial content writer status on Shutterstock, but even this privilege doesn't allow me to upload editorial content—the AI ​​rejects photos related to various current events.

Dear photographers, how do you combat the AI? Are you able to upload commercial (non-editorial) photos?
If so, what should you do?

Quote from: Stern01 on March 24, 2026, 05:04
Hello, dear stockers and forum users.
I'm new here, but I've been involved in photography and video for 20 years. I've been selling photos and videos on Shutterstock for 14 of those years.

Starting in January 2026, it became impossible to sell commercial photos on Shutterstock—the artificial intelligence rejects high-quality photos in literally a second and transfers them to the Data Marketplace. This means my photos will never be seen or offered for sale. My income has dropped eightfold and continues to decline. It's impossible to make money from editorial photos alone.

I've contacted the standard support form many times, but I always get the same standard response from the AI.
It's impossible to contact a live person!

How can you trust AI verification? Did Shutterstock fire all its human inspectors?

Why are we losing our income?

Furthermore, Shutterstock's owners and employees are losing income and wages because potential buyers can't buy what they need!

Furthermore, the AI ​​often rejects photos with the reason, "This photo has already been uploaded to the site by another account."
BUT! This can't happen! I don't have other accounts. My photos are unique.

I have trusted editorial content writer status on Shutterstock, but even this privilege doesn't allow me to upload editorial content—the AI ​​rejects photos related to various current events.

Dear photographers, how do you combat the AI? Are you able to upload commercial (non-editorial) photos?
If so, what should you do?

Wellcome here,
It sounds really strange to me. I contribute since 2006 to SS (20 years). I upload regularly and have very near 100% acceptance, editorial, commercial, vectors and few videos.

Sometimes I'm asked to resubmit commercial photos as editorial content, so they aren't rejected. I find this approach respectful and rarely encountered (Dreamstime does it too).

I just regret seeing the very low (even humiliating) amount of most royalties, especially since many of my editorial images are published in the  travel agencies  and press (print media and web) in many countries.

Few people combat AI here, but I do, radically! (I am old school and I like human mind and spirit natural structure)
Here is my feedback.

Quote from: Stern01 on March 24, 2026, 05:04

Furthermore, the AI ​​often rejects photos with the reason, "This photo has already been uploaded to the site by another account."
BUT! This can't happen! I don't have other accounts. My photos are unique.

If so, what should you do?

Have you written to support and opened a ticket?  [email protected]

Do you share the camera? I can understand if it said similar, but AI claiming the image has already been uploaded to another account is a larger problem. What happens if they start to think that you are uploading copied or stolen images, because they are already on the system? Your account could be closed.

Shutterstock embarassment continues... and continues... .... .... and continues.

Quote from: Uncle Pete on March 26, 2026, 18:18

Quote from: Stern01 on March 24, 2026, 05:04

Furthermore, the AI ​​often rejects photos with the reason, "This photo has already been uploaded to the site by another account."
BUT! This can't happen! I don't have other accounts. My photos are unique.

If so, what should you do?

Have you written to support and opened a ticket?  [email protected]

Do you share the camera? I can understand if it said similar, but AI claiming the image has already been uploaded to another account is a larger problem. What happens if they start to think that you are uploading copied or stolen images, because they are already on the system? Your account could be closed.

I contacted tech support about this issue. But the response was a robot, telling me to only upload my own. Incidentally, this happens specifically after re-uploading the same image.

Yes. The situation with Shutterstock is getting worse and worse every day. The only alternative is Adobe. But that's not enough. It's a shame that someone else in our world can't create an alternative, fair stock.

Quote from: DiscreetDuck on March 25, 2026, 10:34

Quote from: Stern01 on March 24, 2026, 05:04
Hello, dear stockers and forum users.
I'm new here, but I've been involved in photography and video for 20 years. I've been selling photos and videos on Shutterstock for 14 of those years.

Starting in January 2026, it became impossible to sell commercial photos on Shutterstock—the artificial intelligence rejects high-quality photos in literally a second and transfers them to the Data Marketplace. This means my photos will never be seen or offered for sale. My income has dropped eightfold and continues to decline. It's impossible to make money from editorial photos alone.

I've contacted the standard support form many times, but I always get the same standard response from the AI.
It's impossible to contact a live person!

How can you trust AI verification? Did Shutterstock fire all its human inspectors?

Why are we losing our income?

Furthermore, Shutterstock's owners and employees are losing income and wages because potential buyers can't buy what they need!

Furthermore, the AI ​​often rejects photos with the reason, "This photo has already been uploaded to the site by another account."
BUT! This can't happen! I don't have other accounts. My photos are unique.

I have trusted editorial content writer status on Shutterstock, but even this privilege doesn't allow me to upload editorial content—the AI ​​rejects photos related to various current events.

Dear photographers, how do you combat the AI? Are you able to upload commercial (non-editorial) photos?
If so, what should you do?

Wellcome here,
It sounds really strange to me. I contribute since 2006 to SS (20 years). I upload regularly and have very near 100% acceptance, editorial, commercial, vectors and few videos.

Sometimes I'm asked to resubmit commercial photos as editorial content, so they aren't rejected. I find this approach respectful and rarely encountered (Dreamstime does it too).

I just regret seeing the very low (even humiliating) amount of most royalties, especially since many of my editorial images are published in the  travel agencies  and press (print media and web) in many countries.

Few people combat AI here, but I do, radically! (I am old school and I like human mind and spirit natural structure)
Here is my feedback.

You are combating AI by spamming the forum with your never ending rant?

Quote from: alan b traehern on March 27, 2026, 09:25

Quote from: DiscreetDuck on March 25, 2026, 10:34
Wellcome here,
It sounds really strange to me. I contribute since 2006 to SS (20 years). I upload regularly and have very near 100% acceptance, editorial, commercial, vectors and few videos.

Sometimes I'm asked to resubmit commercial photos as editorial content, so they aren't rejected. I find this approach respectful and rarely encountered (Dreamstime does it too).

I just regret seeing the very low (even humiliating) amount of most royalties, especially since many of my editorial images are published in the  travel agencies  and press (print media and web) in many countries.

Few people combat AI here, but I do, radically! (I am old school and I like human mind and spirit natural structure)
Here is my feedback.

You are combating AI by spamming the forum with your never ending rant?

I am politely responding here to a proposal to exchange experiences; I hope this is not a problem.

And you, other readers, do you agree or not?
You can "+1" my message, or "+1" his message as you want. Thanks.

Quote from: Stern01 on March 24, 2026, 05:04
Hello, dear stockers and forum users.
I'm new here, but I've been involved in photography and video for 20 years. I've been selling photos and videos on Shutterstock for 14 of those years.

Starting in January 2026, it became impossible to sell commercial photos on Shutterstock—the artificial intelligence rejects high-quality photos in literally a second and transfers them to the Data Marketplace. This means my photos will never be seen or offered for sale. My income has dropped eightfold and continues to decline. It's impossible to make money from editorial photos alone.

I've contacted the standard support form many times, but I always get the same standard response from the AI.
It's impossible to contact a live person!

How can you trust AI verification? Did Shutterstock fire all its human inspectors?

Why are we losing our income?

Furthermore, Shutterstock's owners and employees are losing income and wages because potential buyers can't buy what they need!

Furthermore, the AI ​​often rejects photos with the reason, "This photo has already been uploaded to the site by another account."
BUT! This can't happen! I don't have other accounts. My photos are unique.

I have trusted editorial content writer status on Shutterstock, but even this privilege doesn't allow me to upload editorial content—the AI ​​rejects photos related to various current events.

Dear photographers, how do you combat the AI? Are you able to upload commercial (non-editorial) photos?
If so, what should you do?

I'e seen the reviewing policies fluctuating the past years at Shutterstock. Some period of time they seem to accept just anything you throw at them. At other times they come across as very random and reject perfectly fine images for whatever reason that surely doesn't make any sense. Sometimes the review is fast, sometimes slow.

As it is for me currently: they accept everything, nothing to the data catalog, but reviewing is slow, it can take up to a week.
But it might be different for other users, I don't know.

Regarding A.I. reviewing: I've been suspecting them to do that yes, or at least use A.I. as a first filter to weed out real junk.
But on the other hand, if it's fully A.I., why would it take so long and why would it be so inconsistent?
A.I. is by no means perfect and for sure error prone, just as lazy humans would be.
But the technology really improved and I'm pretty confident that A.I. "can" do pretty consistent and good reviewing if they really wanted to. 
Only, any decent A.I. would suck up huge amounts of energy to process the millions of images that are fed to the beast on a daily basis, and I'm not sure that at this point it would be cheaper to use instead of hiring a clickfarm company that reviews images.

No unlimited plan = invisible for costumers
What do I have to do to be part of this masquerade, sorry I mean this "unlimited plan"?

Quote from: Roscoe on March 27, 2026, 13:37

Regarding A.I. reviewing: I've been suspecting them to do that yes, or at least use A.I. as a first filter to weed out real junk.

You don't have to suspect that, it was in the reports when they were going public that they used proprietary software for image intake. Later in the stockholders annual report. But in support of more recent trends, the rejections to Data that take seconds, are not done by live humans and the real reviews that take weeks are. Yes, they are using AI for intake.  Right now dark images are most hated by AI and a sky photo or night shot will get rejected in minutes, and sent off to data licensing. (and of course that takes time, so I always get to delete the images, before that happens.)

You are correct.

Quote from: Thomas-Luc on March 27, 2026, 18:18
No unlimited plan = invisible for costumers
What do I have to do to be part of this masquerade, sorry I mean this "unlimited plan"?

I don't think you are invisible, customers are just switching to unlimited plan. My downloads have dropped to 1/3 of what i had in the last two years. And unlimited earnings don't compensate for the loss.

Quote from: Thomas-Luc on March 27, 2026, 18:18
No unlimited plan = invisible for costumers
What do I have to do to be part of this masquerade, sorry I mean this "unlimited plan"?

I opted out of the unlimited downloads plan ...

In March 2026, compared to 2025, I lost 18% of my downloads, but gained 15%.

I think if you have high-quality images or videos, it's best to opt out. At least for now.

The unlimited plans have two major problems: the very low RPD and the risk of your images being downloaded everywhere.

I signed up for the unlimited plan only on Envato, but with a small portion of my portfolio (15-20%). I only upload my worst images to Envato.

The result is a RPD of 0.02/0.03, and I've found my images uploaded to Freepik and other similar sites three times already. Luckily, they removed them after I reported it. And they were ONLY the ones from Envato.

I appreciate your feedback regarding the unlimited plan.
During the 2020s I managed to make around $700/$800 by month (around 1000 downloads) on Shutterstock, after the 10 cent episode $400 (600 downloads) and now I can't even get past $100 (150/200 downloads)...
That's why I feel completely invisible.

This is very valuable feedback, thank you for sharing.

I'm not in the Unlimited program, but it's interesting to see how my sales have changed since it came in. I shoot mostly editorial and have found my sales are actually growing. That said, I have noticed video sales are down, despite doubling my video assets in 2025. With Pond5 dead in the water, I don't really have a good alternative for editorial footage now. I'm not sure the Unlimited Shutterstock would recoup those sales. I just don't like the lack of transparency in the sales figures. At least with iStock they tell you when you get pennies for a clip 

Quote from: Bauman on March 31, 2026, 14:17

Quote from: Thomas-Luc on March 27, 2026, 18:18
No unlimited plan = invisible for costumers
What do I have to do to be part of this masquerade, sorry I mean this "unlimited plan"?

I opted out of the unlimited downloads plan ...

In March 2026, compared to 2025, I lost 18% of my downloads, but gained 15%.

I think if you have high-quality images or videos, it's best to opt out. At least for now.

The unlimited plans have two major problems: the very low RPD and the risk of your images being downloaded everywhere.

I signed up for the unlimited plan only on Envato, but with a small portion of my portfolio (15-20%). I only upload my worst images to Envato.

The result is a RPD of 0.02/0.03, and I've found my images uploaded to Freepik and other similar sites three times already. Luckily, they removed them after I reported it. And they were ONLY the ones from Envato.

Quote from: DiscreetDuck on March 25, 2026, 10:34

Quote from: Stern01 on March 24, 2026, 05:04
Hello, dear stockers and forum users.
I'm new here, but I've been involved in photography and video for 20 years. I've been selling photos and videos on Shutterstock for 14 of those years.

Starting in January 2026, it became impossible to sell commercial photos on Shutterstock—the artificial intelligence rejects high-quality photos in literally a second and transfers them to the Data Marketplace. This means my photos will never be seen or offered for sale. My income has dropped eightfold and continues to decline. It's impossible to make money from editorial photos alone.

I've contacted the standard support form many times, but I always get the same standard response from the AI.
It's impossible to contact a live person!

How can you trust AI verification? Did Shutterstock fire all its human inspectors?

Why are we losing our income?

Furthermore, Shutterstock's owners and employees are losing income and wages because potential buyers can't buy what they need!

Furthermore, the AI ​​often rejects photos with the reason, "This photo has already been uploaded to the site by another account."
BUT! This can't happen! I don't have other accounts. My photos are unique.

I have trusted editorial content writer status on Shutterstock, but even this privilege doesn't allow me to upload editorial content—the AI ​​rejects photos related to various current events.

Dear photographers, how do you combat the AI? Are you able to upload commercial (non-editorial) photos?
If so, what should you do?

Wellcome here,
It sounds really strange to me. I contribute since 2006 to SS (20 years). I upload regularly and have very near 100% acceptance, editorial, commercial, vectors and few videos.

Sometimes I'm asked to resubmit commercial photos as editorial content, so they aren't rejected. I find this approach respectful and rarely encountered (Dreamstime does it too).

I just regret seeing the very low (even humiliating) amount of most royalties, especially since many of my editorial images are published in the  travel agencies  and press (print media and web) in many countries.

Few people combat AI here, but I do, radically! (I am old school and I like human mind and spirit natural structure)
Here is my feedback.

Due to their slow reviews ive had a few thousand images in the queue and very lately seen my first, and increasing "AI" rejections.  None are AI, ive never used AI.  Ive got no interest in using AI.

From yesterday some of my SOOC Editorial pictures in a public park got "AI" rejection.  Not even clone/remove tools used.  Nothing.

No point appealing this nonsense as you'll never hear from a real person.  Wonder if they block accounts for "AI" abuse, a lot of which will be false positives...

Quote from: gnirtS on April 01, 2026, 03:28

Quote from: DiscreetDuck on March 25, 2026, 10:34

Quote from: Stern01 on March 24, 2026, 05:04
Hello, dear stockers and forum users.
I'm new here, but I've been involved in photography and video for 20 years. I've been selling photos and videos on Shutterstock for 14 of those years.

Starting in January 2026, it became impossible to sell commercial photos on Shutterstock—the artificial intelligence rejects high-quality photos in literally a second and transfers them to the Data Marketplace. This means my photos will never be seen or offered for sale. My income has dropped eightfold and continues to decline. It's impossible to make money from editorial photos alone.

I've contacted the standard support form many times, but I always get the same standard response from the AI.
It's impossible to contact a live person!

How can you trust AI verification? Did Shutterstock fire all its human inspectors?

Why are we losing our income?

Furthermore, Shutterstock's owners and employees are losing income and wages because potential buyers can't buy what they need!

Furthermore, the AI ​​often rejects photos with the reason, "This photo has already been uploaded to the site by another account."
BUT! This can't happen! I don't have other accounts. My photos are unique.

I have trusted editorial content writer status on Shutterstock, but even this privilege doesn't allow me to upload editorial content—the AI ​​rejects photos related to various current events.

Dear photographers, how do you combat the AI? Are you able to upload commercial (non-editorial) photos?
If so, what should you do?

Wellcome here,
It sounds really strange to me. I contribute since 2006 to SS (20 years). I upload regularly and have very near 100% acceptance, editorial, commercial, vectors and few videos.

Sometimes I'm asked to resubmit commercial photos as editorial content, so they aren't rejected. I find this approach respectful and rarely encountered (Dreamstime does it too).

I just regret seeing the very low (even humiliating) amount of most royalties, especially since many of my editorial images are published in the  travel agencies  and press (print media and web) in many countries.

Few people combat AI here, but I do, radically! (I am old school and I like human mind and spirit natural structure)
Here is my feedback.

Due to their slow reviews ive had a few thousand images in the queue and very lately seen my first, and increasing "AI" rejections.  None are AI, ive never used AI.  Ive got no interest in using AI.

From yesterday some of my SOOC Editorial pictures in a public park got "AI" rejection.  Not even clone/remove tools used.  Nothing.

No point appealing this nonsense as you'll never hear from a real person.  Wonder if they block accounts for "AI" abuse, a lot of which will be false positives...

That's strange. Did you possibly use any kind of tool that includes AI in your editing process, like upscaling?

So far I never had any image rejected for AI on SS, but it happened to me recently with an image on Getty. No idea why. It was just a "boring" photo of a spring flower, it wasn't even edited at all. Since it's a nice enough photo, but nothing unique and probably wouldn't sell anyways, I just let it go, but I would still like to know why getty thought it was an AI image or edited with Ai just to prevent things like this from happening in the future.