Their Google Play apps are being flooded with 5Stars reviews from India:

�Amazing app�

�Beautiful app�

�Great app�.

They permanently lost my trust in them, amazing how they turned out.

Quote from: memakephoto on May 27, 2020, 08:13

Quote from: Daryl Ray on May 27, 2020, 07:29

What is most infuriating is the intentionally skewed logic. Contributors invest upfront in their equipment, expertise and time to create, do all the titling and keywording and are even asked to promote. Stock companies then get their product for free, 99% of the work done, and all they have to do is sell, calculate payments and take care of their contributors with minimal respect.  As insultingly low as we were already getting paid, it was at least based on SOME kind of logical system that rewards loyalty and past performance. But now, Shutterstock is punishing/rewarding contributors based on THEIR own performance, not ours. Once we submit a file, it's in their court and it's on them to sell the product. If your files start dropping in sales because they are favoring Euro/Russian/Employee stock warehouses, bury your files in search results through incompetent tinkering, SS wins and you lose. If the company fails in their job and everyone's sales go down, every single contributor loses and SS still wins.

We are being rated/punished/rewarded based on Shutterstock's performance and handling of our files. We have zero control over this, and that's the crux of the BS here, IMO. The timing is particularly shameless and proves they are incapable of pulling their heads out of their own greedy orifices for even a second.

However, it's great to FINALLY see more contributors speak up about forming unions, coalitions, any form of activism or coming together to fight for our future. PLEASE continue that and do not be swayed by the same naysayers that immediately and repeatedly argue against it. Remember that most of them are either directly employed by a stock company or are in bed deep with one in some way or another, so their motivations are personal and not in the larger group of contributors best interest. Also, don't be surprised how many will stay complacent and just drop their trousers and smile while the companies take more and give less. Hell, look how many lemmings STILL contribute to and defend iStock. THAT is at least partly WHY SS believes they can (and likely will) get away with what they are doing.

I agree with your first paragraph but not your third paragraph. People here don't argue against a union because they're shills for SS it's just that most sensible people understand it's logistically impossible.

If you wanted to get a job in construction and the company is unionized they won't let you pick up a hammer unless you're a member of the union. That's what gives them power. But this is microstock and it's crowd sourced. The criteria for entry is access to a camera and an internet connection. That only leaves it open to hundreds of millions of people around the world. How do you hope to make joining a union mandatory? Mandatory membership is why it's called a "union". Without it you're an activist group and SS will ignore you. The people that come to this site regularly represent maybe 1-3% of all contributors.

Anyone who joins SS after June 1st will probably not be aware of the earnings structure before and will simply sign on.

Having said that, good luck. All everyone else can do is decide for themselves if they'll "drop their trousers". I'll bite the bullet and opt out of all sales at the end of the month. It's been a good ride.

As is always misunderstood by the naysayers, we don't need a "union" specifically, not in the way you mention. It doesn't need to be "mandatory". What we need is some type of coalition, (definition: "a group formed when two or more people, factions, states, political parties, militaries etc. agree to work together temporarily in a partnership to achieve a common goal. The word coalition connotes a coming together to achieve a goal.")

It just needs to be a group with enough content represented that the stock companies are forced to negotiate or risk a real palatable backlash. It should involve information campaigns, social media blitzes, etc. Most importantly, it should introduce consequences to greedy actions by the companies. Will it work? Who * knows. But the continued refusal to even entertain the concept didn't stop Shutterstock from screwing us, did it?

Quote from: Steveball on November 07, 2019, 02:28

I was hoping they would forget to close FT as I don't like using the AS site. It's the most frustrating site of them all, why under 'my statistics' does it default to top sellers!! A simple remember last settings would save me 9 clicks every time I refresh the page. Also, is there a way to see what files have sold on a particular day because I've given up searching for it!

Bookmark this URL:

https://contributor.stock.adobe.com/en/insights/sales-earnings

And then you can see recent sales with one click
Even if the selection box at the top will say "Top Sellers" even when you open it this was, actually results "Activity" will be shown immediately

Quote from: thx9000 on June 24, 2019, 14:00

Just wanted to share that Dreamstime keeps the remaining balance at account closure. Really shifty policy considering their payout threshold is 100$.
Sales were so poor I wasn't going to get my money until next year anyway.

Odd because when I closed mine, I politely requested payment and account closing, they paid me after a few months. I was not at threshold. Times change so maybe that did too. But I wrote first and they sent the money, I didn't just delete everything and ask for money.