Contributor accounts with unpaid earnings must first be paid out before the account is closed. We ask that you please contact us and we will assist you with issuing your final payment before closing the account. Please note that we cannot issue payments of less than $1, as our electronic payment service providers do not support this.
If you have no unpaid earnings, you can close your contributor account by clicking "Delete my account" at the bottom of the Account settings page. You will be asked to confirm the request by entering your password.
Then we will start deleting your information from our systems. If you have licensed content to Shutterstock, we will retain certain personal data necessary to fulfill our legal and compliance obligations to the extent required by applicable law. After the expiration of these legal obligations, we will automatically delete, destroy, and/or pseudonymize your data in compliance with our records management and destruction policy.
As an alternative to closing your account, you can simply make your content unavailable for licensing. This removes your work from our website but still keeps your account active and ensures that your earnings payment will be made when you reach the minimum payout level. Your referral earnings will also continue to accumulate. Electing in or out of licensing allows you to reinstate your previously approved content if you decide to allow your content to be licensed in the future.
To remove your content from licensing, log into your account and navigate to the Account settings page. Scroll down to the section “Licensing options” and select “No” for each licensing option.
If you have any questions about our data retention policies or procedures, wish to file a privacy request, or have inquiries about how your personal information is used, please fill out this Privacy Request Form and you will hear back from us within 30 days.