I have had an image sitting in the review queue for over two weeks now...what are others seeing in terms of review time at SS?
Quote from: wds on December 19, 2025, 21:48
I have had an image sitting in the review queue for over two weeks now...what are others seeing in terms of review time at SS?
DEAD. I have 28 images sitting for a couple of weeks now. That was right after they accused me of uploading AI, so I just thought maybe it was my problem, not others. There's a note on WS and I don't know how long it's been there, Shutterstock is only accepting a limited amount of content until further notice.
Merger? I sure wish they would get that over with, or kill the deal. I'm tired of waiting for what's next.
(https://i.postimg.cc/QxNFsBSL/canofworms.gif)
Quick reviews (2, 3 days),
99.999% acceptance for years.
I never generated any AI image.
(If they filter "GREAT ARTISTS" generating fake Ai images: GOOD EXCITING NEWS!)
reviews have mostly been quick - but many are in limbo that will eventually(?) go to the dataset collection - confirmed by SS support
knowing they're headed for dataset catalog rather than rejection is fine by me
i've added 1600 images to my SS portfolio in last 4 months, despite being out of country in oct-nov - several thousand more mages in the queue needing minor post (rotation, cropping, isolation, etc)
plus canva has started to actually reviewing images rather than rejecting everything so i've added another several thousand there
the volume approach seems to be the way to go, despite doomsayers blaming AI
Some say "I flood with snapshots craps, and I'm very proud of it".
I think overall real camera content will become more valuable. It is authentic and very badly needed by agencies to train their ai generators.
The sad reality is, they love selling ai images created with their generators because they probably make a lot more from it then from direct creator image downloads. So it is not so much ai images coming in (and anyway only adobe really takes them) it is that the ai generator tools offered by agencies are our main competitor.
But editorial and video should be safe for quite a long time.
Quote from: cobalt on December 21, 2025, 18:08
I think overall real camera content will become more valuable. It is authentic and very badly needed by agencies to train their ai generators.
yes, and significant income can be had by optiing-in to agency dataset catalogs (often for images that haven't sold)
for ai training it's subject not quality that's important, since we're talking about millions of images used to create trillions of tokens. metadata becomes more important
Quote from: cobalt on December 21, 2025, 18:08
But editorial and video should be safe for quite a long time.
AI has the advantage in editorial with people , as they can produce similar pix w/o needing model releases - we're already seeing this in advertising -a 'good enough' image is fine for advertising
I have pending pictures for their crappy data market places for 3 months now,
shuttershock is become more ridiculous by the day
Most that were submitted 12/18 were reviewed 12/31. There are five more, that are longer and I suspect they are going to Marketplace, where I'll be deleting them from that. Aurora photos of the sky: "Date submitted: November 7, 2025", pending review, going to marketplace, but I have no idea why? I guess the sky and stars aren't suitable for SSTK? ::)
(https://as1.ftcdn.net/jpg/17/83/93/94/220_F_1783939494_mm4ROSFJrUupbD8kH2QYGqvOU1DVVaRV.jpg)
50% of submitted images going to the Data Market place where they are pending forever, seems like SS does not want any real photos from photographers anymore
Quote from: Uncle Pete on December 20, 2025, 15:34
Quote from: wds on December 19, 2025, 21:48
I have had an image sitting in the review queue for over two weeks now...what are others seeing in terms of review time at SS?
Merger? I sure wish they would get that over with, or kill the deal. I'm tired of waiting for what's next.
Anyone here keen on seeing a merger? I'm not because I'm certain that Shuttestock will completely wreck the new agency that comes from this.
Quote from: Pacesetter on January 10, 2026, 02:54
Quote from: Uncle Pete on December 20, 2025, 15:34
Quote from: wds on December 19, 2025, 21:48
I have had an image sitting in the review queue for over two weeks now...what are others seeing in terms of review time at SS?
Merger? I sure wish they would get that over with, or kill the deal. I'm tired of waiting for what's next.
Anyone here keen on seeing a merger? I'm not because I'm certain that Shuttestock will completely wreck the new agency that comes from this.
Yes, I am, because the people taking over will be Getty, not SSTK. This merger is a way to kill SSTK and it's business in NY. I'll easily predict the whole floor of the Empire State Building will be vacated. The Getty and iStock people will take over. There's no reason to have duplication of staff. Some people will get hired, but Getty will be cutting costs and waste. SSTK won't be in charge anymore. Getty Images, iStock and Unsplash.
Fancy name for a take over, is merger. :)
SSTK is hovering around $20 a share. Shutterstock Inc NYSE: SSTK $19.54
$125 in Nov of 2021, $50 in March of 2024, $30 in Feb 2025...
https://www.tikr.com/blog/should-you-buy-shutterstock-for-the-potential-getty-images-merger (https://www.tikr.com/blog/should-you-buy-shutterstock-for-the-potential-getty-images-merger)
SSTK is already doing strange things. The reviews are worse and worse. I just uploaded an image, that is original and got this. In minutes by the way, which makes me heavily suspect, computer review.
"Illustration
Rejection reasons (1)
Submitted to a Different Account: This content has already been submitted to Shutterstock. Submitting content you do not own or control violates Shutterstock's Contributor Terms of Service. Shutterstock reserves the right to disable or delete your account if it is found that you are submitting content that you do not own or control."
Last Nov. I got a rejection:
"Rejection reasons (1)
AI Generated Content: AI generated content is prohibited. Repeated submission of such content will result in account suspension and/or termination."
I wrote, no answer, of course.
I resent some computer intake review that threatens me, and then at the same time, there's no support or contact available. At least when IS accused me of uploading AI images, I got a human, eventually, and they looked at them and passed it on up to someone else, and I got a reasonable explanation and advice. No problems since then. Meanwhile SSTK is nutty.
(https://i.postimg.cc/8cBF5ZwY/hal-computer-reviews.jpg)