Just got this from ShutterStock:

Dear xxxx,

Last week, we had a display issue that affected your Contributor Dashboard. The issue caused your earnings for each download during a 12-hour time period to be doubled. That 12 hour period was from 9:45pm Eastern Time on Thursday, August 11th to 10:30am Eastern Time on Friday, August 12th.

We have fixed the issue, and, in the next day or so, you will see your earnings for August corrected. The correct amount you earned for August 11th and 12th during that 12-hour period is: $x.xx.

As you know, we are investing heavily in upgrading the technology that powers Shutterstock's infrastructure, website, and mobile apps, to deliver improved functionality and a better overall user experience.

Thank you for your understanding.

Shutterstock Contributor Support Team

It happens. Mostly when they're messing around with new things. Mostly to benefit the bottom line. 

I did have some strange double sales that night including and odd double SOD.

That's not a 'display issue' though.

when i got this email, all i could think of was "Office space"
You know when the 'efficiency experts' find out Milton has been collecting a pay check for the last few years even though he was laid off.. "we fixed the glitch."


Bob Slydell: Milton Waddams.
Dom Portwood: Who's he?
Bob Porter: You know, squirrely looking guy, mumbles a lot.
Dom Portwood: Oh, yeah.
Bob Slydell: Yeah, we can't actually find a record of him being a current employee here.
Bob Porter: I looked into it more deeply and I found that apparently what happened is that he was laid off five years ago and no one ever told him about it; but through some kind of glitch in the payroll department, he still gets a paycheck.
Bob Slydell: So we just went ahead and fixed the glitch.
Bill Lumbergh: Great.
Dom Portwood: So, uh, Milton has been let go?
Bob Slydell: Well, just a second there, professor. We, uh, we fixed the *glitch*. So he won't be receiving a paycheck anymore, so it'll just work itself out naturally.
Bob Porter: We always like to avoid confrontation, whenever possible. Problem is solved from your end.

I love it when they say they are investing heavily in upgrading the technology, but all the upgrading does is break stuff that was working just fine before the expensive upgrade. I also love it when they try to make us think it will be of some benefit to us, when all it is designed to do is make them billionaires instead of millionaires.   

And just like that 25% of August revenue is gone. It was too good to be true...

Have SS ever come out and said that they hadn't reported some of our sales due a technical issue or whatever? Have they explained why gallery views are down to 0? Have they explained why earnings from new content are near 0?

And have they explained why recently accepted images are not shown in the port?
I don't understand how the overall user experience is better now, my experience was definitely better before.

i was going to say what cathyslife said.

who comes up with such drivel in these emails? we *removed coarse language* up but please know that the  *removed coarse language* up was expensive

they start to look more and more like istock

Quote from: cathyslife on August 16, 2016, 00:22
I love it when they say they are investing heavily in upgrading the technology, but all the upgrading does is break stuff that was working just fine before the expensive upgrade. I also love it when they try to make us think it will be of some benefit to us, when all it is designed to do is make them billionaires instead of millionaires.   

well spoken, cathy
if i had a business that was f*#king up for the past 2 years and my suppliers have been losing money...
the last thing i would want to do damage control is to send a PR genius
to announce that " investing heavily in upgrading the technology" which is actually
double-speak for
ahem, cough , cough, the money you contributors have been losing has actually been
redirected to the IT experts, who are really f*cking up big-time bang-up job, i say !!!

What they don't say is how much they are clawing back. We cannot determine which images were sold during that 12 hour period, we only have what they say we should have been paid. They can take back what they like and not have to prove it is accurate with any sort of sales record provided to us.

Quote from: Me on August 16, 2016, 05:26
What they don't say is how much they are clawing back. We cannot determine which images were sold during that 12 hour period, we only have what they say we should have been paid. They can take back what they like and not have to prove it is accurate with any sort of sales record provided to us.

The email I got said exactly how much in $$ they were taking back - not the # of images though.

Quote from: Me on August 16, 2016, 05:26
What they don't say is how much they are clawing back. We cannot determine which images were sold during that 12 hour period, we only have what they say we should have been paid. They can take back what they like and not have to prove it is accurate with any sort of sales record provided to us.

If they double charged, then I assume you lost either exactly the same or less than what they say you should have been paid.

I had a couple so its not half of total....no email yet. I noticed the magic words "we apologize for our error" seem to be missing.

Quote from: Pauws99 on August 16, 2016, 07:02
I had a couple so its not half of total....no email yet. I noticed the magic words "we apologize for our error" seem to be missing.

They don't apologize anymore, but assume that it's all common knowledge.

Quote from: anathaya on August 16, 2016, 07:27

Quote from: Pauws99 on August 16, 2016, 07:02
I had a couple so its not half of total....no email yet. I noticed the magic words "we apologize for our error" seem to be missing.

They don't apologize anymore, but assume that it's all common knowledge.

Its a "corporate w**nkspeak" no mistake only issues that are somehow nobodies fault just random events that no one could have foreseen. The mail is a masterpiece of the art .....they are spending money on improving stuff so actually its a good thing really..........and they thank us my our understanding...no I don't understand how an organisation that says its IT driven can make such a basic mistake.

Quote from: PhotoBomb on August 16, 2016, 05:31

Quote from: Me on August 16, 2016, 05:26
What they don't say is how much they are clawing back. We cannot determine which images were sold during that 12 hour period, we only have what they say we should have been paid. They can take back what they like and not have to prove it is accurate with any sort of sales record provided to us.

The email I got said exactly how much in $$ they were taking back - not the # of images though.

You may want to check the email, what it says is how much you should have earned, not what they are taking back. SEE BELOW;

"Last week, we had a display issue that affected your Contributor Dashboard. The issue caused your earnings for each download during a 12-hour time period to be doubled. That 12 hour period was from 9:45pm Eastern Time on Thursday, August 11th to 10:30am Eastern Time on Friday, August 12th.

We have fixed the issue, and, in the next day or so, you will see your earnings for August corrected. The correct amount you earned for August 11th and 12th during that 12-hour period is: $XX.XX.

As you know, we are investing heavily in upgrading the technology that powers Shutterstock's infrastructure, website, and mobile apps, to deliver improved functionality and a better overall user experience.

Thank you for your understanding.

Shutterstock Contributor Support Team"

It only says what your earnings during this 12 hour period were, not how much they are clawing back. My earnings over the two days were over $150, which is a slightly better than average day but not unheard of, but they say my earnings for the 12 hour period was single digits.

shows the arrogance and nature of the beast, not even apologizing

guys the email says that all downloads were doubled so the amount in the email is the amount they take back

I don't understand you guys; with everything being buggy on SS, did you really expect that sales are reported correctly? From all agencies I upload to, SS is the only one that doesn't provide stats of our sales in a clear format: what was sold, how many times, size, price, how much taxes for each....?
The stat they provide is mere window dressing. Technology failure will always be a good excuse.

With all this, I never saw a thread with people demanding a detailed stat. I tried it once but nobody backed me up, so that is what we deserve.
They pay and take back what they want and we are afraid not to lose our pennies if we speak up.

Gonna have to start calling them iSS.

Quote from: Shelma1 on August 16, 2016, 11:18
Gonna have to start calling them iSS.

Don't you mean ISIS?

thats not funny

Quote from: Shelma1 on August 16, 2016, 11:18
Gonna have to start calling them iSS.

Quote from: w7lwi on August 17, 2016, 02:28

Quote from: Shelma1 on August 16, 2016, 11:18
Gonna have to start calling them iSS.

Don't you mean ISIS?

Quote from: Microstockphoto on August 17, 2016, 05:29
thats not funny

She's comparing them to iStock, combining the initials iS + SS = iSS.  Which is funny to me because it's so true. 

She is obviously not comparing them to a gang of terrorists, which would NOT be funny.