http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2497822#2497822

Negative amounts on footage sales are now appearing on the earnings page at Shutterstock. Some people were questioning these amounts. Since SS dont do refunds, it was quite surprising to see the answer from Shutterstock.

Hi,

I asked the billing department for clarification and they confirmed that these are in fact refunds.

If you have a refund for a download from a few months ago it is because of a delay in the processing of a claim between our bank and the bank of our customer. On average, this process takes approximately three months to complete, but it may take more time as well. To streamline all of these claims we often end up processing refunds in bulk. So, if you see footage refunds in your account it is very likely requested, processed and refunded to the customer months ago, but not taken out of your earnings until the day shown in your Earnings Summary.

Thanks,

Vincent Jansen

http://footage.shutterstock.com/faq.html#VIDEO_FAQ_Q_WHAT_IS_YOUR_REFUND_POLICY_

What is your refund policy?
We guarantee the quality of our content. Since we provide watermarked previews of all of our clips, we regret that we cannot provide refunds.

Thank you Poncke for posting it.

Well thats all great, but such contradicting information is not done. If someone goes by the FAQ he has every right to claim the money back from shutterstock.

I remember a topic here regarding this matter, even some footage contributors said they had refunds before

In the Shutterstock Submitter Terms of Service, it clearly spells this out:

7f
If you are credited with a download or downloads and Shutterstock thereafter issues a refund to the customer(s) / subscriber(s) that downloaded any or part of your Submitted Content, Shutterstock shall have the right to deduct royalties credited to your account and allocated to such refunded subscriptions. Credit card chargebacks will be treated in the same manner as refunded subscriptions. Shutterstock does NOT currently deduct chargebacks and refunds from submitters for Standard License downloads but reserves the right to change this policy at any time without notice. Shutterstock DOES deduct the amount credited to your account for refunds and chargebacks in respect of Enhanced Licenses and licenses issued for Shutterstock Footage. If Shutterstock makes an overpayment of royalties or other compensation to you for any reason, Shutterstock shall have the right to deduct the amount of such overpayment from your accrued royalties or to demand the immediate repayment of such overpaid royalties or other compensation.
http://submit.shutterstock.com/tostos.mhtml
So it shouldn't be a surprise.

Yes, thats doing an Istock

Thanks for the history update. I'll call it doing an Istock, as for me, thats how I first learned about refunds.

I am not blaming anything on anyone.