If you are certain the keywords are relevant just ignore it. I have had flags on images like a pink rose where the flagged keywords were pink and rose and Christmas on Christmas ornaments. Not sure if it just people trying to make trouble or pushing a wrong button.

If the keywords are wrong or borderline simply change them yourself for peace of mind.

Quote from: Lagereek on June 01, 2012, 21:18
Yeah, something weird is going on, I mean sales are really down and for me thats highly unusual. Dont like the look of this at all.

+1

Quote from: rene on May 31, 2012, 04:02

Quote from: Tomboy2290 on May 30, 2012, 22:59
         We regret to inform you that a refund has been issued for a purchase of your file ######:
         No Royalties Removed.

Maybe simply they didn't pay you so there was nothing to remove...

hmm now that sounds like it might be correct 

Quote from: Snufkin on May 30, 2012, 23:30
could be a bug

probably 

Wow what a surprise!
       
         Dear Sandra

         We regret to inform you that a refund has been issued for a purchase of your file ######:

         No Royalties Removed.

         This is in reference to the file downloaded on: Feb 1, 2012

         There are a number of reasons why a purchased file may be refunded: . . . .

You mean they actually didn't grab back the money? Am I reading it right? Anyone else get this?

Quote from: CD123 on March 28, 2012, 23:33

Quote from: Tomboy2290 on March 28, 2012, 22:03

Quote from: fotogal on March 28, 2012, 16:50
8 days and still waiting.....

same here

The according to my timetable at Fotolia, tomorrow will be a great day for you two 

yep got reviewed today . . . I'm excited!   

Quote from: fotogal on March 28, 2012, 16:50
8 days and still waiting.....

same here

Quote from: luissantos84 on February 27, 2012, 00:47

Quote from: Tomboy2290 on February 27, 2012, 00:42

Quote from: luissantos84 on February 27, 2012, 00:00

Quote from: Tomboy2290 on February 26, 2012, 23:19
So what's the story here? Anyone from outside the US got this sorted with Deposit Photos? Are they really keeping 30% of US sales if you don't have a tax ID number?

I've just applied to upload there (I'm in Australia, which has a treaty) but now that I see this crappy tax problem in view again I might change my mind

yep regular form like the one you upload to FT, I have 10% from USA

thanks for the reply   but I'm still not clear on this. Do I have to supply an ITIN or not to get the treaty rate applied to US sales?

sorry forgot it :/ I haven´t got/supply ITIN and I have the 10%

I see . . . thanks! 

Quote from: luissantos84 on February 27, 2012, 00:00

Quote from: Tomboy2290 on February 26, 2012, 23:19
So what's the story here? Anyone from outside the US got this sorted with Deposit Photos? Are they really keeping 30% of US sales if you don't have a tax ID number?

I've just applied to upload there (I'm in Australia, which has a treaty) but now that I see this crappy tax problem in view again I might change my mind

yep regular form like the one you upload to FT, I have 10% from USA

thanks for the reply  but I'm still not clear on this. Do I have to supply an ITIN or not to get the treaty rate applied to US sales?

So what's the story here? Anyone from outside the US got this sorted with Deposit Photos? Are they really keeping 30% of US sales if you don't have a tax ID number?

I've just applied to upload there (I'm in Australia, which has a treaty) but now that I see this crappy tax problem in view again I might change my mind

Quote from: Karimala on January 06, 2012, 01:18

Quote from: pancaketom on January 06, 2012, 00:44
The lower IS sales get the easier it will be for indies to just give up on them completely.

Very true!  And I'm one of those indies.  I've been slowing deactivating images, but at this point I might as well just drop IS altogether.  Used to be I had regular 20-sales days...now I have regular zero-sales days.   

+ 1
Exact same story here

I'm so disgusted at the unfairness of IS's system. I just missed out on staying at 17% but I guess I'm suppose to be feeling soothed that I'm getting cut to just 16% rather than the 15% I was expecting. Still trying to wrap my head around the fact that, by iStocks reasoning, my content is now worth less to me and more to them because they say so.

Yep all's good again. Only took 3 days 

I kinda feel like I was being punished for something. I hope they don't do that to any one else.

Quote from: bdspn on December 31, 2011, 03:41
I can't find your FOTOLIA porfolio either.

OMG NOT THEM TOO!

um no my forum settings weren't quite right, at least THAT was easy to fix . . . thanks for letting me know.


I have to say that Anthony Correia has been very helpful, professional and courteous with his communications. He's replied to my emails very quickly even though he is out of the office! He seems to think the reason I can't see my pictures is because the galleries are slow in "indexing". Pictures are selling and he has asked me to be patient in waiting for my gallery to re-appear!!!

Hmm patient indeed . . .

Quote from: cclapper on December 30, 2011, 21:28

Quote from: gostwyck on December 30, 2011, 20:32
Glad you had this sorted out quickly and disappointed that SS felt they needed to take your port offline without a reasonable period of grace to comply. Although we can't see your gallery, if you are still making sales then it must be that individual images are visible within searches.

Which doesn't make any sense at all. If individual images are available in searches, and SHE (lol) is still making sales, what is the point of pulling the gallery?

Thanks for verifying my gallery is not visible to anyone people!

When I emailed I was told my ID upload had been accepted two days ago and my photos were live and to clear my cache (which I had already done) and try again. I just don't get it. I have had 2 sales yesterday and 2 today which is probably as I would expect for this time of year, but I can't find my images in the searches at all. Pretty strange and frustrating. Probably have no chance of getting anything fixed now til after New Years but I will email again right now

Well I actually have had this sorted pretty quickly via email communications with Anthony Correia, who despite being out of the office til next week has replied to my email rants very politely

I am making sales but I still can't see my portfolio - "there are no images in this gallery"

I've cleared my cache and logged in and out a few times but I still can't see it.

Can any of you guys see my gallery? (Link below)

Quote from: jsnover on December 29, 2011, 04:38

Quote from: Tomboy2290 on December 29, 2011, 04:17
oh great, now my entire portfolio has been removed 

I would try to get them to do something before Friday (in New York)  though as it's a holiday here on Monday Jan 2nd, so the next business day is Tuesday Jan 3rd if you can't get them to have it back on line this week.

Yeah its a long weekend here too. Annoying.
I tried emailing Anthony Correia as was suggested in the emails if I had any questions but I got an automated response saying he was away until the 5th and giving me an alternative name to email which I have done.
The whole thing is weird indeed. As you say it is a quiet time but I'm still losing some and it's unnecessary. I just hope there's nothing funny going on.

oh great, now my entire portfolio has been removed 

Quote from: WarrenPrice on December 28, 2011, 21:52
Did they let you know WHY? 
Is this some random security procedure?
Should all contributors expect something like this?

they said in the first email that they are "performing a routine audit of our records. We would greatly appreciate
your help in updating your account."

The word "routine" would suggest that there's nothing dramatic going on here, as in they suspect me of copyright infringement or something, it is just really unfair to prevent me earning money for the best part of a week over it though, even if it is a very slow period I suspect because I haven't uploaded there in a long while that it might have set some sort of flag up against my account. Maybe they are really just checking to see if I'm still breathing lol.

Quote from: WarrenPrice on December 28, 2011, 21:11
Having been caught up in scams similar to this at PayPal, I was immediately suspicious.  Don't know what I would do.  Have you emailed support?

I browsed the forums but saw nothing about "re-verification."

It's genuine. I was careful don't worry! I logged into SS and got a page asking for the ID. I've uploaded a scan of my driver's license - I don't have a passport - and I can now access my account, but I can't upload or access my portfolio. It says my ID will be verified within 48 hours so I hope that's the extent of it.

Quote from: jsnover on December 28, 2011, 20:47

Quote from: wut on December 28, 2011, 20:32
I see your port, so your photos are on sale and that's what matters the most . It's really not big of a deal if it will actually take a few days to fix it, unless you have a big batch of photos to upload.

You can for now see the images in a search but if you click on one you get an image unavailable page - IOW no one can buy the images.

I don't understand why the port was pulled if the deadline (Jan 4th) hasn't yet arrived.

To answer your question, I haven't received anything from them, and if the audit were to get decent ID, I think I'd have been contacted. I've been with SS so long, my account was opened when there was no ID requirement. I have given them W9s so they have my social security number, address, etc., but perhaps they're handling US and other countries differently? Are you in the US or elsewhere?

Yeah I too have been with SS since before ID's were required but have supplied one at their request some years ago, so they have one on file. I'm in Australia. I think maybe it might be just a random audit? Or maybe because I haven't been active at SS for a year or so due to an extended illness. Supply of the ID is no problem it's the way they implemented this thing that's a little bit disappointing. I expect this rough treatment from some other agencies . . . not SS


Thanks everyone for the replies.

Quote from: Mantis on December 28, 2011, 20:08
I would call them to verify.  Never trust any email that says to provide personal info without first verifying with the agency for which the email refers.

This was my initial reaction but they aren't asking for login details just a re-upload of my ID. My account is now off-line and not accessible to me. All I get is a page for uploading my ID.

I'm pretty annoyed that they have done this. The first email specifically says "Please Note: Your account has a status of "Verifying Your Address," but it
remains active and accessible."
Then they take it off-line a few hours later! Even after I upload a new ID it will probably take them days to verify it !

Not happy.

Late yesterday I got this email:

"Dear Contributor,


This is an important message regarding your contributor account at
Shutterstock.


To ensure that we maintain a trusted environment for image buyers and sellers,
we are performing a routine audit of our records. We would greatly appreciate
your help in updating your account.


Please provide a copy of your government-issued identification documentation
(ID) before January 4th.  These may be the same document(s) that you provided
to Shutterstock when you first opened your contributor account, or updated
documents that verify your identity."

Okay, so that is all fine and dandy and I appreciate the need for SS to do this but even though the email states I have a week to do this this morning early I open my email and I have this:

"Dear Contributor,


Please Note: Once your ID is submitted, your account will be
accessible, however, your portfolio will be temporarily offline.
Please submit your ID to ensure that your portfolio will remain live
and active.

We apologize for any inconvenience.  If you have any questions, please contact
Director of Content Operations Anthony Correia at the following email address:
[email protected]."

I have been a contributor with SS for nearly 6 years and I think this is totally unnecessary. I fully intend to supply the requested document but to take my account off line until I do is plain rude.

Anyone else get this? 

Quote from: Noedelhap on December 01, 2011, 05:13

dcdp asks:
(...) Additionally, the buyers have been offered a 15% discount on credits purchased because of this outage as a short term apology for their difficulties. I suspect this will be worn by the contributors who have not only suffered from an ongoing inability to manage their own portfolio, upload images, and maintain their portfolio, but now have been unable to sell anything because, in the case of exclusive contributors, their sole distributor is off line. What will iStock do to recompense contributors?

JJRD replies:
Let's focus on clients at this stage, come on - the site just came back.

So no reassurance that we aren't going to pay for this AGAIN? Thus far I have been staying mute and biding my time over this IS circus routine. But this may just be the last straw for me.

what EL earnings? I haven't seen such a thing for months at IS