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Author Topic: Shutterstock sales map bugged or?  (Read 36111 times)

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« on: April 23, 2015, 03:53 »
0
During the past couple of months ,or less, at shutterstock, it seems that almost all of my sales are showing in the same place on the map.

That is highly unlikely to be happening (same individual/company downloading my clips) because the content is totally random in nature,that never used to happen, and 3rd and the most intruiging part:

I am based in a country where i pay 30% tax for sales in usa.Most of these sales show from south africa where i dont pay tax.

Now,every time i have a sale from usa ground i deduct the tax so at the end of every month i know how much i am taxed before ss calculates the taxes,but during the past 2 months i had a lot deducted from tax,so i assume that some of them must have come from us source,but us source on the map showed only a couple of times and the rest were south africa and a few from europe and asia where i dont pay tax as well.

Has anyone experienced something similar lately?I might even mail to ss but i kind of know the (non)answer.


Semmick Photo

« Reply #1 on: April 23, 2015, 03:56 »
+4
Really, do not pay attention to the map, it has almost driven people into asylum admission. When you email SS they will tell you its all working fine. Just check your sales at the end of each month and thats it.

If it means anything, the map is working fine for me. Other than that, the map means zilch. Its based on IP location of the buyer, not the physical location. And if someone uses an IP blocker, it will put the thumbnail in the ocean next to Africa on the left.

« Reply #2 on: April 23, 2015, 04:06 »
+12
And if someone uses an IP blocker, it will put the thumbnail in the ocean next to Africa on the left.

I thought most of my files were downloaded from a pirate ship sailing around Cape Verde.  ;)

« Reply #3 on: April 23, 2015, 04:16 »
0
Thought so,but still this map thingy started very recently,it was,or appeared to be spot on for quite some time.
Normally i wouldn't care but us tax deduction pisses me off,and i would like to at least be able to calculate my taxes before "earnings summary" does.
Well, anyway.....

« Reply #4 on: April 23, 2015, 04:17 »
+1
And if someone uses an IP blocker, it will put the thumbnail in the ocean next to Africa on the left.

I thought most of my files were downloaded from a pirate ship sailing around Cape Verde.  ;)

If you sold empty glass bottles with a cork expect a sale reversal and a note.

« Reply #5 on: April 23, 2015, 04:20 »
0
And if someone uses an IP blocker, it will put the thumbnail in the ocean next to Africa on the left.

I thought most of my files were downloaded from a pirate ship sailing around Cape Verde.  ;)


Yes this weird ship  ;D ship does not sail on the sea, the ship is in port all year!

Semmick Photo

« Reply #6 on: April 23, 2015, 05:11 »
0
And if someone uses an IP blocker, it will put the thumbnail in the ocean next to Africa on the left.

I thought most of my files were downloaded from a pirate ship sailing around Cape Verde.  ;)
LOL !  ;D

Rinderart

« Reply #7 on: April 23, 2015, 11:10 »
-6
Personally, I think The Map is the silliest thing SS ever did.

« Reply #8 on: April 23, 2015, 13:08 »
-2
Most of these sales show from south africa where i dont pay tax.

so why is it unusual? there are businesses in south africa too. in fact many are british businesses .
i am not sure if i get what you are saying. why are you worrying when your earning is not taxed?
would you prefer that 100% comes from US?

there is life in south africa, it is not just full of lions and giraffe and black people and pirate ships like some silly implications here

« Reply #9 on: April 23, 2015, 13:24 »
+6
Most of these sales show from south africa where i dont pay tax.

so why is it unusual? there are businesses in south africa too. in fact many are british businesses .
i am not sure if i get what you are saying. why are you worrying when your earning is not taxed?
would you prefer that 100% comes from US?

there is life in south africa, it is not just full of lions and giraffe and black people and pirate ships like some silly implications here

You lost me there completely.No way did i even come close to implying that.
The south africa thing doesn't concern me at all,the sales could have come from alaska or from the middle of the pacific as far as i am concerned, i just mentioned the tag in the map to explain that even though almost all sales seem to come from a country where i dont pay tax some of them propably have been made from all over the map including usa,and it would be nice to know where i have made sales in the world especially if some of these places are in usa so i can know my tax deduction beforehand.

I thought i was very clear with my post and the answers from other contributors were clear as well, how in god's name did i imply that i consider africa as a place highly unlikely to purchase my footage?

« Last Edit: April 23, 2015, 13:27 by gcrook »

ultimagina

« Reply #10 on: April 23, 2015, 15:10 »
+4
Personally, I think The Map is the silliest thing SS ever did.

On the other hand Getty gives me a detailed sales report showing not only the country but also the buyer's name for each sale.

I find it rather informative. In this time and age, I believe that all agencies have the capabilities to do it, if they choose to.

It can definitely help in fighting piracy.

Rinderart

« Reply #11 on: April 23, 2015, 16:40 »
0
Personally, I think The Map is the silliest thing SS ever did.

On the other hand Getty gives me a detailed sales report showing not only the country but also the buyer's name for each sale.

I find it rather informative. In this time and age, I believe that all agencies have the capabilities to do it, if they choose to.

It can definitely help in fighting piracy.

Agree and thats great feature. SS wont do that. Cause we will find the buyers and sell direct, LOL

ultimagina

« Reply #12 on: April 23, 2015, 20:32 »
-3
Personally, I think The Map is the silliest thing SS ever did.

On the other hand Getty gives me a detailed sales report showing not only the country but also the buyer's name for each sale.

I find it rather informative. In this time and age, I believe that all agencies have the capabilities to do it, if they choose to.

It can definitely help in fighting piracy.

Agree and thats great feature. SS wont do that. Cause we will find the buyers and sell direct, LOL
Don't you think that the customers could do that even now, if only they would want to buy direct? They could send you a private forum message asking for the photo they like.  But that would be highly illegal.

Semmick Photo

« Reply #13 on: April 24, 2015, 03:18 »
+1
Personally, I think The Map is the silliest thing SS ever did.

On the other hand Getty gives me a detailed sales report showing not only the country but also the buyer's name for each sale.

I find it rather informative. In this time and age, I believe that all agencies have the capabilities to do it, if they choose to.

It can definitely help in fighting piracy.

Agree and thats great feature. SS wont do that. Cause we will find the buyers and sell direct, LOL

My contact information, my website and my social media are all in my SS profile. Buyers can contact anyone directly who has that information included in their SS profile. Thought you knew.

« Reply #14 on: April 24, 2015, 04:48 »
+1
Personally, I think The Map is the silliest thing SS ever did.

On the other hand Getty gives me a detailed sales report showing not only the country but also the buyer's name for each sale.

I find it rather informative. In this time and age, I believe that all agencies have the capabilities to do it, if they choose to.

It can definitely help in fighting piracy.

Agree and thats great feature. SS wont do that. Cause we will find the buyers and sell direct, LOL
Don't you think that the customers could do that even now, if only they would want to buy direct? They could send you a private forum message asking for the photo they like.  But that would be highly illegal.

Why is it illegal? No one is exclusive with them.

Semmick Photo

« Reply #15 on: April 24, 2015, 05:00 »
0
There is a forum section on SS for buyers to request photos.  :o

ultimagina

« Reply #16 on: April 24, 2015, 06:50 »
-1
Personally, I think The Map is the silliest thing SS ever did.

On the other hand Getty gives me a detailed sales report showing not only the country but also the buyer's name for each sale.

I find it rather informative. In this time and age, I believe that all agencies have the capabilities to do it, if they choose to.

It can definitely help in fighting piracy.

Agree and thats great feature. SS wont do that. Cause we will find the buyers and sell direct, LOL
Don't you think that the customers could do that even now, if only they would want to buy direct? They could send you a private forum message asking for the photo they like.  But that would be highly illegal.

Why is it illegal? No one is exclusive with them.
Hmmm, how do you interpret this clause:

 You may not use the Shutterstock service as a means of transferring your Content to a single customer or to a small number of customers nor may you download your own Content.

?


Semmick Photo

« Reply #17 on: April 24, 2015, 08:10 »
+1
You can't buy your own content. That's entirely different. Shutterstock gives us the option to link to our own site!

« Reply #18 on: April 24, 2015, 08:28 »
0
You can't buy your own content. That's entirely different. Shutterstock gives us the option to link to our own site!

And you cannot use your SS port to deliver your files to a selected person or a small group.

ultimagina

« Reply #19 on: April 24, 2015, 08:32 »
-2
You can't buy your own content. That's entirely different. Shutterstock gives us the option to link to our own site!

I'm not a lawyer, but here is the way I understand it: the forum is obviously a Shutterstock service. Using this service to sell directly, implies using it to transfer your content to a customer. This is explicitly forbidden as you can read above.

It makes sense since SS wants you to use their referral program when a potential SS customer wants one of your SS photos and contacts you using a SS service.



« Last Edit: April 24, 2015, 08:35 by ultimagaina »

Semmick Photo

« Reply #20 on: April 24, 2015, 08:42 »
0
I have no clue what you are on about. Honestly. Its not illegal to be directly contacted by a buyer. You are misunderstanding the part you quoted. If I buyer goes to my profile and clicks on my link, they will get to my site. They can contact me for whatever image they want. SS is just an agent. I have no exclusivity agreement with them. I own my content, I can sell it to whoever I want to.  Its also completely off topic. No more from me on this subject.

ultimagina

« Reply #21 on: April 24, 2015, 11:00 »
+1
I have no clue what you are on about. Honestly. Its not illegal to be directly contacted by a buyer. You are misunderstanding the part you quoted. If I buyer goes to my profile and clicks on my link, they will get to my site. They can contact me for whatever image they want. SS is just an agent. I have no exclusivity agreement with them. I own my content, I can sell it to whoever I want to.  Its also completely off topic. No more from me on this subject.

I'm not on anything, don't take it personally, come on!
I only offered an interpretation. I might be wrong, but I know that in a contract every word counts. Therefore, I would be grateful if someone could explain:
- why is the above interpretation wrong and how to read the clause in a different way. What is a "SS service" and what should be understood by "transferring content to a customer"?
- why is SS OK with competition from personal sites, but forbids spelled out names or links to other competitors in their forums.

About the off topic: Laurin said that the fear of potential direct sales to known customers prevents SS to share more sales details with us, Getty style (reason for only showing an IP dot on a map.)

Even if I'm wrong and you are right, or if SS doesn't have anything against direct sales through their forum, then Laurin's justification not valid. Fear of direct sales is not a reason for not sharing the sales details with us, beyond a dot on the map.
To stay on topic, I'm restating that knowing these details will help all of us to better understand our buyers and our thieves.
« Last Edit: April 24, 2015, 11:54 by ultimagaina »

« Reply #22 on: April 24, 2015, 13:36 »
0
Personally, I think The Map is the silliest thing SS ever did.

On the other hand Getty gives me a detailed sales report showing not only the country but also the buyer's name for each sale.

I find it rather informative. In this time and age, I believe that all agencies have the capabilities to do it, if they choose to.

It can definitely help in fighting piracy.

actually, fotolia used to do that at the beginning
but they said claimed they removed it because clients were pissed-off with being directly contacted by us.
comatosetime dreamstime actually stated once that contributors/clients are not permitted to contact each other for assignment or specific needs of clients.
some ppl there actually were contacted by clients to which dt warned them against it
i am not sure how it is these days. ok, got to squeegee this car at the beacon (toodledoo)


 

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