Shutterstock forum down

[OM]

Unable to access SS forum and get this:

[Dodie]

Same for me.
It was working fine earlier.

[Bad Robot]

Their certificate is out of date to access the forum you have to click on the "advanced" button and select "accept risk proceed to site anyway."

Their probably too busy counting their cash to fix simple problems like this 

[marthamarks]

Their probably too busy counting their cash to fix simple problems like this 

Just another day in Shitterstock Land

[Dodie]

Their certificate is out of date to access the forum you have to click on the "advanced" button and select "accept risk proceed to site anyway."

Their probably too busy counting their cash to fix simple problems like this 

Thanks.
In that case they don't deserve us to accept the smallest risk, there is not much to read there anyway, it's just a bad habit.

[Horizon]

The site is just going from bad to worse! nothing works, absolute nada!

[Horizon]

The site is just going from bad to worse! nothing works absolute nada!

[Firn]

Seriously who gives a flying duck about Shutterstock. I am surprised anyone still even gives them anything. Between the lottery of content acceptance and those pathetic low royalties my only question is why would anyone of sound mind even care about anything related to Shutterstock?

I assume that anyone who depends on their income from microstock for their living and makes enough money there for it to make a difference would care abou it.
I know and agree that the new royalities suck, but Shutterstock is still one of my 3 top earners.

[gnirtS]

Between the lottery of content acceptance and those pathetic low royalties my only question is why would anyone of sound mind even care about anything related to Shutterstock?

People that rely on or receive a large chunk of their income from Shutterstock might care?

[Justanotherphotographer]

And this is your public service reminder that any work uploaded to Shutterstock will be given away for less than 15% come January.

And that they have come up with a scheme that means they can cut your actual perentage even further whenever they want to whatever they want by simply changing the download limit to customers on large subs packages (as they don't use all their DLs anyway and Shutterstock is now basing what they pay us on this theoretical maximum number of downloads limit).

I hope everyone stopped uploading when the change was announced. I did and am in line to have one of my best years in over a decade thanks to increasing sales elsewhere (SS was my biggest earner).

[komikmiha]

Seriously who gives a flying duck about Shutterstock. I am surprised anyone still even gives them anything. Between the lottery of content acceptance and those pathetic low royalties my only question is why would anyone of sound mind even care about anything related to Shutterstock?

You know, some people are willing to sell their work for almost free. I have something that some people don't have: self esteem and principle. SS was never my biggest income but even if I did sell the most there, I would not be a part of this robbery. There is something more than money. As far as I see it, some people don't really mind if they sell video for a dollar or photo for 10 cents.

Look at this from a different perspective. If you bring food to the table, make the meal, serve it, and end up getting scraps from what others ate, on the scale from 1 to 10, how big of an idiot would you fell? Well thats exactly what "I need to put food on the table" people are doing. Getting a straight 10 on the idiocy scale.

But hey, to each their own right? Also I totally agree with you.

[Firn]

Seriously who gives a flying duck about Shutterstock. I am surprised anyone still even gives them anything. Between the lottery of content acceptance and those pathetic low royalties my only question is why would anyone of sound mind even care about anything related to Shutterstock?

You know, some people are willing to sell their work for almost free. I have something that some people don't have: self esteem and principle. SS was never my biggest income but even if I did sell the most there, I would not be a part of this robbery. There is something more than money. As far as I see it, some people don't really mind if they sell video for a dollar or photo for 10 cents.

Look at this from a different perspective. If you bring food to the table, make the meal, serve it, and end up getting scraps from what others ate, on the scale from 1 to 10, how big of an idiot would you fell? Well thats exactly what "I need to put food on the table" people are doing. Getting a straight 10 on the idiocy scale.

But hey, to each their own right? Also I totally agree with you.

First of all, yes, there is more than money, of course, but it does not change a single thing about the fact that I need to pay my rent and pay my food and that I simply need money.

Second, let's try a different metaphor than yours:

You are a cleaning lady in a big household. Each week you do some basic cleaning and you get paid 25$ per hour, regardless of what work you do and how time you take.
You get a list in which each task you perform, from dusting to vaccum cleaning, get's a value. You see that cleaning windows only earns you 0.10$ and are upset and quit your job, even though you still get $25 per hour you work, because you are upset that the task of cleaning a window is not valued enough. Instead you take on a new job. That one only pays you $5 per hour, but clenaing windowns is valued at $3, so you are content.

Does this make sens to you?

What good is it to me if another agency like Alamy "values" my work more? I can sell a photo  there for 30,40  or 150$, but sales are so rare for me, that, at the end of the month, I don't even reach minimum payouts in most months. On Shutterstock on the other hand I make several hundred $ each month.
And, here is the most important thing: Taking photos, keywording and submitting them - that's the exact same work for all agencies. But on alamy I get paid a couple of $ each month, while it's several hundred on Shuttrstock - FOR THE EXACT SAME TIME AND WORK.

[komikmiha]

Seriously who gives a flying duck about Shutterstock. I am surprised anyone still even gives them anything. Between the lottery of content acceptance and those pathetic low royalties my only question is why would anyone of sound mind even care about anything related to Shutterstock?

You know, some people are willing to sell their work for almost free. I have something that some people don't have: self esteem and principle. SS was never my biggest income but even if I did sell the most there, I would not be a part of this robbery. There is something more than money. As far as I see it, some people don't really mind if they sell video for a dollar or photo for 10 cents.

Look at this from a different perspective. If you bring food to the table, make the meal, serve it, and end up getting scraps from what others ate, on the scale from 1 to 10, how big of an idiot would you fell? Well thats exactly what "I need to put food on the table" people are doing. Getting a straight 10 on the idiocy scale.

But hey, to each their own right? Also I totally agree with you.

First of all, yes, there is more than money, of course, but it does not change a single thing about the fact that I need to pay my rent and pay my food and that I simply need money.

Second, let's try a different metaphor than yours:

You are a cleaning lady in a big household. Each week you do some basic cleaning and you get paid 25$ per hour, regardless of what work you do and how time you take.
You get a list in which each task you perform, from dusting to vaccum cleaning, get's a value. You see that cleaning windows only earns you 0.10$ and are upset and quit your job, even though you still get $25 per hour you work, because you are upset that the task of cleaning a window is not valued enough. Instead you take on a new job. That one only pays you $5 per hour, but clenaing windowns is valued at $3, so you are content.

Does this make sens to you?

What good is it to me if another agency like Alamy "values" my work more? I can sell a photo  there for 30,40  or 150$, but sales are so rare for me, that, at the end of the month, I don't even reach minimum payouts in most months. On Shutterstock on the other hand I make several hundred $ each month.
And, here is the most important thing: Taking photos, keywording and submitting them - that's the exact same work for all agencies. But on alamy I get paid a couple of $ each month, while it's several hundred on Shuttrstock - FOR THE EXACT SAME TIME AND WORK.

So, there is something more than money. It is called pride and principle. You can pay your rent even with selling your kidneys, right? Would you do that? Of course not. You need your money and if you can't find some other source of income, then it's ok to be a voluntarily slave to a very rich master.

Let's say YOU are a cleaning lady in a big household. Each week you do some basic cleaning and you get paid 25$ per hour, but suddenly, let's say on June 1st your boss said to you: now you gonna get $1 instead of 25. You will say: ok, I need to pay my rent, so I'm so thankful and I will work even more to make the rest of 24$.

Me, I would take another job. I would try to make more somewhere else. There is always a path and like I said: no money is worth become a voluntary slave who is working for a rich master. I simply will not let anyone make a fortune out of my hard work.

I rather sell one video on P5 and get over $30 once per month than 30 sales of $1 on SS. But hey, we are different. Somebody is a slave and someone else works smart and on end of the day brings more value, more time and eventually more pride.

But at the end of the day, I'm glad you and your kind of people exists. When I need something for my project I can buy photos and videos very cheap. Thank you! Also don't take this as an attack on yourself. You should have made contingency plans and diversify your income anyway since the trend in stock are constantly lower prices for work put in. The entry bar is getting lower, the quality is getting higher, the competition is getting bigger - and it's only downhill for creators. Buyers on the other hand will only profit from this situation.

And as I said I'm not judging anyone. But you trying to pay for food/rent will only come to bite you down the line. I do however understand the need to make money, just not by destroying your income.

[Justanotherphotographer]

Forget pride and ethics. You are destroying your own business if you keep uploading to Shutterstock.

They have a way of cutting our revenue as much as they like and still be able to claim they are paying the same percentage. They have been losing ground to other agencies for a while.

If you don�t realise what�s already happened and what�s to come I don�t know what to say. January will 2021 be devastating. It will look like heaven compared to 2022.

[marthamarks]

"SLAVES TO SHITTERSTOCK"

Has a ring to it! Maybe the next blockbuster horror movie?

[Rage]

Stopping uploads to SS seems to have benefited sales on other platforms. But its a long road and even for me SS continues to be in the top 3 earners.

The 15% will add insult to injury though, hope to get the others going well by then

[everest]

I think Justanotherphotographer gave you an excellent summary. Shutterstock is on decline. Whatever you do , if you stay with them or not prepare, adjust and plan ahead in this business as with any other one. Staying with sinking ships is never a good idea. Owners of the firm are abandoning the ship to and we all know what happens next........

Forget pride and ethics. You are destroying your own business if you keep uploading to Shutterstock.

They have a way of cutting our revenue as much as they like and still be able to claim they are paying the same percentage. They have been losing ground to other agencies for a while.

If you don�t realise what�s already happened and what�s to come I don�t know what to say. January will 2021 be devastating. It will look like heaven compared to 2022.

[Uncle Pete]

I think Justanotherphotographer gave you an excellent summary. Shutterstock is on decline. Whatever you do , if you stay with them or not prepare, adjust and plan ahead in this business as with any other one. Staying with sinking ships is never a good idea. Owners of the firm are abandoning the ship to and we all know what happens next........

Forget pride and ethics. You are destroying your own business if you keep uploading to Shutterstock.

They have a way of cutting our revenue as much as they like and still be able to claim they are paying the same percentage. They have been losing ground to other agencies for a while.

If you don�t realise what�s already happened and what�s to come I don�t know what to say. January will 2021 be devastating. It will look like heaven compared to 2022.

Interesting view that some have is they remove good images and stop uploading, then complain because sales are down.  Not that I'm happy with the new plan or the reset that's coming in 39 days. But when someone effectively disables and depletes their account and discovers they are earning less, I'm not very surprised. Remember how one of the unwritten principles of Microstock is, "You must upload or sales will go down." 

Is Shutterstock actually on the decline or is it just on the decline for contributors? In which case, yes you're right. Even bigger is, all of Microstock is on a decline. So much for a long term investment of time and effort for some residual income. Not playing out that way. I can understand the disappointment.

I loved your view of the situation, which I agree overall for Microstock, not just SS. I made this some years back.

[everest]

Well sometimes you have to make decisions that hurt you in the short term to gain in the long. You know loose a battle to win the war.It�s simple strategy. I have living full time from stock the last 12 years and I think I did not because I am specially talented. On the contrary to make the right decisions at the right time. Two years ago I decided to slowly shift to footage and not supply getty as I thought the under a dollar royalties and low commission percentage was not worth it. I felt the same with Shutter.

I knew I would loose an important part of my video income which is till very low compared to the photography one. But good things have happened. One I put all the editorial files at P5 as exclusives and get very high sales every month (none for less than 30$ and usually around 50$). I know that before leaving Shutter my net for video was usually 13-16$ with more and more sales for 5$. As it took a few months that they could still sale my content at SS I saw my latest 4 sales were 0.77$ for me , yes 0.77 not 7.77$ at 77.7$. So do you think I did the right decision.
My sales increase slowly and constantly at my other outlets . The went to 0 at SS but are recovering much faster than I thought.

Sales at SS were a tad higher than P5 not double (we are talking video) so the you will make it in volume does not apply here. But my sales net commission has increased by 50x times respect those 0.77 sales. I know those might be some kind of subs or whatever but I wonder what the average net will be in January with the new conditions if it was already very low at 16$ before the robbery. It is not only the lowering of contributor commissions but the total lack of respect to those in their communication department  that makes this one as many others bad agencies to work with.

In any case good luck to those that stay with Shutter. Maybe I am completely wrong but I would not bet on this horse on the medium long term.

I think Justanotherphotographer gave you an excellent summary. Shutterstock is on decline. Whatever you do , if you stay with them or not prepare, adjust and plan ahead in this business as with any other one. Staying with sinking ships is never a good idea. Owners of the firm are abandoning the ship to and we all know what happens next........

Forget pride and ethics. You are destroying your own business if you keep uploading to Shutterstock.

They have a way of cutting our revenue as much as they like and still be able to claim they are paying the same percentage. They have been losing ground to other agencies for a while.

If you don�t realise what�s already happened and what�s to come I don�t know what to say. January will 2021 be devastating. It will look like heaven compared to 2022.

Interesting view that some have is they remove good images and stop uploading, then complain because sales are down.  Not that I'm happy with the new plan or the reset that's coming in 39 days. But when someone effectively disables and depletes their account and discovers they are earning less, I'm not very surprised. Remember how one of the unwritten principles of Microstock is, "You must upload or sales will go down." 

Is Shutterstock actually on the decline or is it just on the decline for contributors? In which case, yes you're right. Even bigger is, all of Microstock is on a decline. So much for a long term investment of time and effort for some residual income. Not playing out that way. I can understand the disappointment.

I loved your view of the situation, which I agree overall for Microstock, not just SS. I made this some years back.

[Uncle Pete]

Well sometimes you have to make decisions that hurt you in the short term to gain in the long. You know loose a battle to win the war.It�s simple strategy. I have living full time from stock the last 12 years and I think I did not because I am specially talented. On the contrary to make the right decisions at the right time. Two years ago I decided to slowly shift to footage and not supply getty as I thought the under a dollar royalties and low commission percentage was not worth it. I felt the same with Shutter.

I knew I would loose an important part of my video income which is till very low compared to the photography one. But good things have happened. One I put all the editorial files at P5 as exclusives and get very high sales every month (none for less than 30$ and usually around 50$). I know that before leaving Shutter my net for video was usually 13-16$ with more and more sales for 5$. As it took a few months that they could still sale my content at SS I saw my latest 4 sales were 0.77$ for me , yes 0.77 not 7.77$ at 77.7$. So do you think I did the right decision.
My sales increase slowly and constantly at my other outlets . The went to 0 at SS but are recovering much faster than I thought.

Sales at SS were a tad higher than P5 not double (we are talking video) so the you will make it in volume does not apply here. But my sales net commission has increased by 50x times respect those 0.77 sales. I know those might be some kind of subs or whatever but I wonder what the average net will be in January with the new conditions if it was already very low at 16$ before the robbery. It is not only the lowering of contributor commissions but the total lack of respect to those in their communication department  that makes this one as many others bad agencies to work with.

In any case good luck to those that stay with Shutter. Maybe I am completely wrong but I would not bet on this horse on the medium long term.

Sounds like you made an excellent transition away from the sites that you don't like the way they work, and into better placement. 

Some people will stay because that works for them, they already devoted the time and effort, and the return is of value. Others will decide to move to other places and either stop uploading or remove their work.

Everyone has to decide for themselves what's best for their own plans.

[Firn]

So, there is something more than money. It is called pride and principle. You can pay your rent even with selling your kidneys, right? Would you do that? Of course not.

What I can't pay my rent with is pride and principle.

I can pay it with money. Money I earn from microstock where I put the same time and effort into every stock agency I submit images to and where Shuttrstock is one of the agencies giving me the most money for this time and work.

You only see "money paid per photo". But I vaue my time and effort more than a digital image and what I see is "money I get paid per hour of work".

Alamy might pay me $20 for one image sold, but if that's all I get in a whole month, while Shutterstock pays me several hundred bucks, Shuttertock might be the one that devalues my images, but Alamy is the one that devalues my time and effort.

And I can't follow your metapher with the cleaning lady, because I don't see the parallels to Shutterstock or  maybe you didn't understand mine. Shutterstock did not cut my monthly earnings by 95% like in your example. They changed what I earn per image, thus my metaphor with the cleaning lady getting the exact same wage but little money for individual tasks. My average monthly earning hasn't declined. It remains to be seen how that will look like with the reset, but till now I am not getting less money from them.

[Uncle Pete]

So, there is something more than money. It is called pride and principle. You can pay your rent even with selling your kidneys, right? Would you do that? Of course not.

What I can't pay my rent with is pride and principle.

I can pay it with money. Money I earn from microstock where I put the same time and effort into every stock agency I submit images to and where Shuttrstock is one of the agencies giving me the most money for this time and work.

Doesn't matter much how some people depend on this money, like you might. While others like me, don't need the money, so how much I get paid, isn't very important.

But there are people who I should compare to a jilted lover, who are angry as a nest of hornets, and will make every effort to discredit and attack ShutterStock and anyone who doesn't follow their never ending parade of disenchantment and hate. Six months now and some people can't read a post here about SS without tossing in a snarky comment, name calling or personally attacking and insulting, anyone else who isn't joining in their angry retaliation. Seems like some kind of obsession problem? Get over it!

Do your own thing for your own reasons.

No one else gets paid from my work. They can't tell me what to do or how I should proceed, and they should mind their own business.

[Justanotherphotographer]

It is always worth bringing up because Shutterstock have been very underhand here. It is far from clear what the scheme actually is.

They flat out say they are paying 15% minimum to contributors which is completely untrue. The reset is also completely bizarre.

We assume everyone knows this stuff but someone that doesn't come to the forums very often may well have read the email and believed Shutterstock regarding percentages.

I couldn�t believe that the January reset was real until I had them spell it out on the forum. It just seemed too cruel/ evil to be true.

[komikmiha]

So, there is something more than money. It is called pride and principle. You can pay your rent even with selling your kidneys, right? Would you do that? Of course not.

What I can't pay my rent with is pride and principle.

I can pay it with money. Money I earn from microstock where I put the same time and effort into every stock agency I submit images to and where Shuttrstock is one of the agencies giving me the most money for this time and work.

You only see "money paid per photo". But I vaue my time and effort more than a digital image and what I see is "money I get paid per hour of work".

Alamy might pay me $20 for one image sold, but if that's all I get in a whole month, while Shutterstock pays me several hundred bucks, Shuttertock might be the one that devalues my images, but Alamy is the one that devalues my time and effort.

And I can't follow your metapher with the cleaning lady, because I don't see the parallels to Shutterstock or  maybe you didn't understand mine. Shutterstock did not cut my monthly earnings by 95% like in your example. They changed what I earn per image, thus my metaphor with the cleaning lady getting the exact same wage but little money for individual tasks. My average monthly earning hasn't declined. It remains to be seen how that will look like with the reset, but till now I am not getting less money from them.

Do whatever the f**k you wanna do. I don't care.