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? 

Not me.

no

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.

Quote from: wut on December 28, 2011, 15:32

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.

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.

This is really confusing. I can't see why there is a reason to take your portfolio offline.

They could easily put payments on hold but leave your portfolio up. That should be plenty of motivation for you to upload a current ID.

That's hard to digest.

oh great, now my entire portfolio has been removed 

Quote from: Tomboy2290 on December 28, 2011, 23:17

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.

If this is "routine" then they need to change their proceedures. It's really not acceptable to switch off a contributor's account for no better reason than a "routine audit".

Agreed. What it means is someone was auditing for IDs and found an account that they lost it or never had one. Why not just ask and then see what comes in, instead of closing the account until they get it.

Unless it's some IRS agent doing the audit and has them by the short hairs. No account without credentials. New anti-terrorist laws are part of it too. Gotta watch those Aussie terrorists, they might steal all our women?

Had that at one of the tracks where I work. I was on the books, had been getting checks, even had all the data. They wanted my Social Security card. I haven't had a physical card since about 1965. I gave them passport, birth certificate and all the items that legally should suffice, but the bean counter said, "no we must have a photocopy of your card" So I had to go to SS and get a card.

Most of this is the result of 9-11 and the tighter regulations on employees and payments to identified people. 20 years ago you could make up a name and SS# and work for a year, maybe longer, no one knew any better. They didn't check, especially on working online for an agency. Checks got mailed, people worked, everyone was happy.

No.   

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)

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.

Quote from: gostwyck on December 30, 2011, 15:32

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