Hi all,

I just got an e-mail terminating me from Shutterstock and telling me that my earnings to this point are not going to be paid.

I think the problem with the image in question, it was just the one, was in error but that's not so much a concern now as I don't think I will be getting my account back.

I have been a member for over five years ish and never any problems until now so the abrupt response seems odd to me but again, probably not important now!

TBH I am just looking to hear from anyone who may have had a similar experience and what they did / what's possible to do in this situation.

I have other sites to go to but losing the payout for this month (earned during May) seems very harsh considering the image in question is a tiny fraction of the portfolio overall.

I will say also, when the reasons for the problem with the image were explained to me I went and did some general searching on the site and it seems that hundreds of thousands of images go against this also. Should I post on the Shutterstock forums and point this out, probably not ! XD

Any advice would be great. I'm not expecting a happy ending here, but I do intend to send SS a final message and point out what I see as the flaws in the decision.

copy cat?

yeah, let us see the image
account termination because 1 image problem is very sad

If  your account is terminated because you used someone elses material, and this seems to be the most common reason for terminating an account, then you have the sympathy of noone.

SS  doesnt terminate accounts nilly willy.

Unless they made a mistake but this can only be resolved between the contributor and SS nothing to be gained by airing on the forum I think

Without seeing your portfolio there's nothing to say. For all we know there could be problems with the whole thing. These anonymous threads are pointless.

I cought few copycats stealing my pictures and reported the to SS. Copycats' portfolios were removed in the matter of hours. Ss did really good job there. They take copyright infingement very seiously.
And those were not copycats, they were stealing my pictures, they were thiefs.

... I went and did some general searching on the site and it seems that hundreds of thousands of images go against this also....

I've never heard of account termination at SS except for use of other people's work (in whole or in part). I've been with SS since 2004 (with a break in the middle for IS exclusivity) and while there are many criticisms you can legitimately make of them, I don't think punitive account closures is on the list.

You really haven't given us much information, but this hint that other images "go against this" makes me wonder if this was copying successful work (not theft). I don't think pointing out to SS that "everyone does it" will help, if that's what you had been thinking of.

If I know how to get in touch with an artist, I contact them directly if I see some ripoff of their stuff. If you want to get more rigorous enforcement going, then contacting the injured parties (the originators) to have them tell SS to take down other copycats is much more useful.

If you sell elsewhere and have been borrowing ideas, you would do well to clean up your portfolio pronto before you find other accounts closed as well.

I think I have a pretty good idea why his/her account was terminated.

I don't think he was stealing from other contributors at all. I think he took public domain images and sold them on SS. My guess is that he took a NASA image(s) and tried to make money off of it. Yeah, a lot of people do it, but that doesn't make it right. Those contributors will eventually face the wrath of SS.

When you try to sell what doesn't belong to you, you're playing Russian roulette with your account.

I think I have a pretty good idea why his/her account was terminated.

I don't think he was stealing from other contributors at all. I think he took public domain images and sold them on SS. My guess is that he took a NASA image(s) and tried to make money off of it. Yeah, a lot of people do it, but that doesn't make it right. Those contributors will eventually face the wrath of SS.

When you try to sell what doesn't belong to you, you're playing Russian roulette with your account.

Maybe, but most of the images, you can find on the internet are not big enough, they don't have at least 3000px on the longest size....

I think I have a pretty good idea why his/her account was terminated.

I don't think he was stealing from other contributors at all. I think he took public domain images and sold them on SS. My guess is that he took a NASA image(s) and tried to make money off of it. Yeah, a lot of people do it, but that doesn't make it right. Those contributors will eventually face the wrath of SS.

When you try to sell what doesn't belong to you, you're playing Russian roulette with your account.

I think NASA images are allowed, just as long as you mention the origin. I had a quick look on SS and found this portfolio:http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-1284574p1.html Almost everything you see there has been copied from NASA, which I think is fine, as long as it's mentioned in the title.

Quote from: fotografer on June 03, 2016, 02:06

Quote from: etudiante_rapide on June 02, 2016, 19:07

the part i am not sure is that others say here, copying. i am not sure how copying can get anyone terminated. if so, many of those copycats of yuri,  would have been terminated a long time ago,

Has Yuri ever had an origianl idea'

You are a little bit harsh with Yuri.
Putting 20 Profoto strobs in Porsches Cayenne trunks, than making a compo of a jet fighter and cloudy sky, it was Yuri's genuine idea.

I was saying it a bit tongue in cheek but 95 % of his images are good generic stock photos.   Nobody is going to copy the ones that you mentioned

Please Sweetsixty, give us a general idea of what was the problem with your image so maybe we can give you some feedback...

Quote from: Mrblues101 on June 10, 2016, 11:14

Please Sweetsixty, give us a general idea of what was the problem with your image so maybe we can give you some feedback...

Why? This can only be resolved between him/her and Shutterstock

no...so we can flame him