Hi everybody,
there seem to be some misunderstandings. Let me help top clear all issues:
Regarding the registration, there is following message on registration:
"If you wish to offer images in our stock agency, you need a free account with one of our payment partners, PayPal or Firstgate. You need this account for several reasons: 1)we transfer your remuneration from licence sales to this account, and 2)to verify your registration data (for legal and security reasons) The set-up fee for registration with PayPal is 0.35 euros (=35 cents ). If you register with Firstgate, the set-up is for free. " Please note that it is very important for us to verify every contributor. We have never had any legal problems with stolen or illegal images, and we want to continue with that quality of service to our customers.
Regarding the FAQs: Thanks for the hint. I have changed it already.
Regarding the cancellation and removal policy:
Once a contributor cancels the contract with PantherMedia, there is a 6-month cancellation period. Within this period, we still payout photographers, since open invoices will be paid by customers and we transfer the remuneration still after the cancellation. Within this 6 month period, we are removing the images from all partner sites. Usually, the removals happen every 3 months, so it should be faster than that. If you still see your images on partner sites, please contact us and we will check with the partner.
Regarding releases for editorial shots:
Sending images as editorial is not free from any obligation. If you shoot images from e.g. inside a historic building, you may not publish it without a PR as editorial, neither with iphones or the like. We are the last legal filter before the contributors get into trouble, and we take that very seriously.
Regarding sales after deletion: As mentioned above, many customers pay via invoice. The remuneration is transferred, once we receive the payment. Hence, it is possible that we well an image, you delete it, and 2 weeks later the customer pays. That is why you get a sale after you have deleted the image.
I hope I have cleared many of the problems.
Best regards,
Robert