Hi
Allow me to vent my frustration, and sorry if my english is bad.

I joined AS in 2020, a few years before that i was creating a collection of hand-drawn calligraphic names and words.
The volume reached 5k then filtered to 4k, not that impressive volume, but you can say it's somehow unique and rare.
I was planning to sell and create my own website, but i'm sure some of you know how hard and costly this is, especially the promoting, so i cancelled the idea and picked AS after reading some good reviews about it.

I begin to upload my work there, and honestly it wasn't painful with their clean UI, a direct EPS file upload without the JPG, and the CSV import to index the content at once.

Even the first month wasn't a zero earnings, which made me excited to continue uploading the whole work.
My humble target was only to hit the number $50 per month, which will cover my electric bill! it's like AS is paying your electric bill each month which is cool.

But then things got better, $100, then $200, the average was $250 which made me create new artworks.
2 years passed until Nov 8, 2022. I was checking my portfolio every morning to find that there was like a $300 extra earnings added to the last amount i checked before i sleep, and that amount was increasing like every 1-3 minutes until it stopped at around $640 and something within around 2-3 hours.
I felt happy in the beginning (this is good for me and for Adobe!) then a bit worried about whether Adobe provide protection for its contributor's work or not, in case someone decides to download and resell outside U.S., plus, my gut told me to report to them what happend to check if that's okay and normal, then they will thank you for the good work and for increasing their profits! (what a fool for thinking about both ideas!).

Anyways, i received a quick reply which thanks me for reporting this issue and our financial team will check suspicious sales. The next day my account received a nice block, and (You should contact us) was written on the page.
I sent them the normal and natural message which says why my account is blocked? and blah blah, then i received which seems like an automated response that says (Since your account has appeared in the context of highly irregular sales activities, the account will remain blocked until further notice).

I waited like 1 week, then sent them "Hi, wondering what happend and when you can remove this block, etc. and what this until "further notice" usually takes!" but i was like talking to a wall, then sent them another message 2 weeks later to remind them, then a 3rd final one that explains the nature of my designs and that someone could need a lot of files like a wedding cards service, necklaces with names on it, etc, created some scenarios for what could possibly have happened that time, a long message that will make that wall say something, but there was no response either.

Of course, I didn't expect the ugly feeling I went through to be this big! i had read a similar story that time for a guy on a Discord group who had suffered an extreme mental breakdown and didn't want to design anymore. I'm sure there are many others are feeling this way.

When I was waiting for any update from them like a beggar, I discovered two significant defects and some nonsense connected to what's called Adobe Artist Relations moderators and the rules they follow, as well as the admins in the Adobe Community.

What pushed me to post this is the word (Integrity) that i noticed today on Adobe website in their footer area, after I had almost forgotten the whole thing.

*Will continue the story if someone is interested! i'm really tired now! thx

~ Continuing..

AS disaster 1: When my issue was still unresolved, I sent about three messages without receiving a response. At that point, I began to lose hope.

A few months ago, a friend advised me to persevere and suggested that I direct my attention to the manager. Taking their advice, I sent a new message, and it seems to have worked! I received a reply stating, "I was able to talk to my moderator, and we were able to recover your files. Here's your new portfolio at this link. However, you can't withdraw your previous earnings, and if this issue repeats, your account will be automatically blocked again."

Although I didn't like the outcome, I replied with, "Okay, thanks a lot for your help. But why are my earnings being seized? I don't understand! If you can provide solid proof that I did something wrong, I will delete the account myself. Can you at least tell me how to avoid this 'suspicious sales' issue? Can I hide my portfolio when I notice something unusual or pause sales when I see someone downloading a lot of my files?

He replied "As for the suspicious sales; I don't think there's anything you can do to avoid these. As long as you comply with our Terms, you shouldn't be banned, Just let us know if you see any suspicious sales or activity in the account, so i can inform the correct department ahead of time."
*I've attached a screenshot, and I've hidden his name because he seems like a regular employee who follows orders.
Focus on the part (Just let us know if you see any suspicious sales or activity in the account) which i precisely did! Hello!

AS disaster 2: When it comes to the Adobe Community, the help from admins and experts is undeniable, but it appears that they consistently support Adobe's stance, even in the face of evidence and facts. This leads me to believe that their assistance is not entirely for free; there might be some form of compensation involved, at least a significant discount on Adobe products! I can't be certain, but it doesn't seem entirely free.

There were numerous replies between me and the experts! in Adobe Community, but in short, they were confident that Adobe Stock would not block anyone unless they deserved it, and it's easy for them to distinguish between fake sales and real sale, so, I will just gently say, 'They are not being honest with themselves.' I'm actually thinking about making a list for those whose accounts were unfairly blocked, because there are so many.
Imagining the daily loss of revenue and the effort in building the portfolio is very frustrating because of their stupid terms and rule, beside the psychological harm they caused for us.

Will update this if there's anything new, thanks for reading.

From what I know, their support is swamped with a massive backlog of emails, plus they have to investigate the irregular sales which takes time. They will reply to your emails eventually and you will get unblocked, but they have such a backlog that it will take maybe a couple of months. This is based on what I have heard from other contributors, not my personal experience as I have never had an account block.

my gut told me to report to them what happend to check if that's okay and normal, then they will thank you for the good work and for increasing their profits!

I never write to Adobe, there are a lot of inadequate people there who, instead of solving the problem, start looking for some problems or violations in your account, portfolio. And there are a lot of Russians working in Adobe.
Have you been unblocked?

You can put people on mute, then you don't see their comments.

Looks like you woke a sleeping dog by contacting them. (Not victim shaming you.)

Adobe's response is strange, apparently their financial team never got the memo that it was YOU who reported the suspicious (?) sales in the first place. Because what criminal would self-report his crime?

It reminds me of our tax revenue service in the Netherlands. In an attempt to fight fraud, unsuspecting parents who were receiving child support from the state were unjustly targeted (via racial profiling) and accused of fraud. Even though they did nothing wrong, they had to pay back the full amount of child support they'd received over the years, causing huge debts. When they tried contacting the tax authorities, they always received canned responses and accusations and nobody listened to their cries for help. It was like talking to a brick wall. Very kafkaesque.

Edit: corrected a word.

According to other contributors with similar issues, they will detect it when you press payout.

Have you been unblocked?

I Hope Adobe adapt to the new world of enhanced security measures and strong safeguards against frauds. Originally I've been on Fotolia, and Fotolia were doing the same things to contributors. it seems that Adobe has only re-branded the website without developing it's core!

I have experienced the same issue 5 times, 3 were in Fotolia's era.

Have you been unblocked?

No man, i don't want it, plus i sent them a final angry message, so i don't think it will be unblocked again anyway, unless they apologize and compensate! which seems impossible! (Adobe Integrity ~ LOL).
I forgot to mention that the investigation took around 10 months (I meant was on the shelf, there has been no serious investigation).
After around 10 days (from the first block) they unblocked me following a message I sent, even though my previous earnings had been seized. However, they blocked me again for the same reason, I assume, as someone seems to have downloaded multiple files in a short time.

I always get afraid when get batch sales. Like 5 sales for 1 dollar lol. One time I got maybe 10 sales in a couple minutes. But why someone would do that?

I get from time to time some series sales, ten or more for 3.30
Also last year I had one single image that for whatever reason (I could not find why) got hundreds of sales in few days, and never received warning.
I think that suspicious sales are something different, not linked to quantity

Is the legal system in the Netherlands that messed up, that they couldn't file a legal appeal through the courts? Or that they couldn't find an attorney to act on their behalf. Do you know these people, personally? Ask them why they only hammered on breaking a brick wall, instead of going around it.

Could be like the UK case of the hundreds of unjustly imprisoned/fined/blamed postmasters/mistresses who were accused of stealing money from the Post Office, when it was in fact a faulty Fujitsu computer system (Horizon). Despite several media, starting with an article in Computer Weekly in 2009, a BBC Panorama documentary in 2015 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67884743 and particularly the current affairs paper Private Eye who consistently reported on it for over a decade, it took a TV play last month to force the issue and only now is it high on the agenda. The inquiry is showing how little people can do when the Man, the Government and the legal system gang up to shut down all your avenues of appeal, especially when your money has been taken (to repay shortfalls which were the fault of the faulty system) and your means of earning have been cut off (because who is going to employ someone who has been convicted of stealing?), totally unjustly.
Here's the shortest of summaries:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56718036
and this is significant:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68079300
As you can imagine, it's all a much more tangled web than this, you'd just need to do your own searches, or follow the links.

So....you want us to believe that someone took or should we say steal someone's credit card, made a huge purchase in a short time  from your account and you have not anything to do with it ?

Maybe it is just me but common sense in me says one or two, maybe three or four....five things....

1) It is quite common case that those stolen credit cards in countries where you came from are hardly to use on ATM so you people use it online. Mainly because you wont be prosecuted by law if you don't commit crime on your territory, which internet surely isn't and there is no law in your third party countries that regulates internet fraudulent activities.
2 ) If someone buy your work, you can take money, and pay them a percentage if you are not the one who stole that credit card. Which is motif for them + you to do it. Simple as that. MONEY.
3) Did you really think that bank wouldn't report usage of a stolen card in order to retrieve money ?
4) Did you really think that Adobe wouldn't check if there was a suspicious purchase on some other account/accounts ? And it is obvious that there was NO usage of that card on some other account, otherwise they wouldn't block and ban you. Didi you really think that there is no SERIOUS people at Adobe which will check what is going on ? 
5) You want us to believe that stock agencies which live out of a selling ours and your work suddenly decide not to sale your work and not to take their percentage ? 

I strongly think that you are victim of YOUR OWN stupidity and GREED which leaded you to think that there will be some easy money and all whining here is just your vent of your frustration cause of your OWN deeds.   

I remember one expert at Adobe Community said a similar thing (but he was polite at least)
And i wonder what you will do when they block you (i hope soon).
First, what do you mean buy stealing credit cards? and how it could be stolen while i'm in Jordan and you are in USA!
Secondly, We people! use credit cards on ATM and online with almost zero fraud possibilities (all connected to your mobile number and a security code for each transaction) so, if you steal my card, you have to steal my phone with it and know the passwords for both).
Thirdly, regarding (Did you really think that there is no SERIOUS people at Adobe which will check what is going on?) NO, i don't think there are serious people to check what's going on scrupulously, (+9 months of invistigation with the same answer, and no soild proof).
Regarding point 5, that's the sad fact. We both lose due to their terms & rules, the system.
Many others got banned after contributing for many years (did you read about them or searched on google or just me!) Who will put a fixed income in danger? just answer this.

Read the story again, i create rare illustrations, calligraphic names and words, some may need a single download, some may need a large volume, like wedding cards shop, t-shirt store, name necklaces, etc. (I sold batches before i joind Adobe Stock) So, what seems to have happened is that when a subscriber downloads multiple files from my account, my account get blocked for irregular sales activity. There's not option in Adobe Stock to download a batch or a collection from contributors. There's no cautious investigation when an issue occures. There's no enough care and quick support for contributors.

You were supposed to say Adobe Stock is having a serious problem in handling it's contributors issues and they're out of control, the result is many suspended account not many fraudulent activities (Again, do some searching), because this it what you do when you're out of control, you panic and suspend accounts and freeze them until you find a way to solve this, not calling my stupid and whining, i'm just telling my experience and how it was injust.

Quote from: Madoo on January 29, 2024, 01:32

So....you want us to believe that someone took or should we say steal someone's credit card, made a huge purchase in a short time  from your account and you have not anything to do with it ?

Maybe it is just me but common sense in me says one or two, maybe three or four....five things....

1) It is quite common case that those stolen credit cards in countries where you came from are hardly to use on ATM so you people use it online. Mainly because you wont be prosecuted by law if you don't commit crime on your territory, which internet surely isn't and there is no law in your third party countries that regulates internet fraudulent activities.
2 ) If someone buy your work, you can take money, and pay them a percentage if you are not the one who stole that credit card. Which is motif for them + you to do it. Simple as that. MONEY.
3) Did you really think that bank wouldn't report usage of a stolen card in order to retrieve money ?
4) Did you really think that Adobe wouldn't check if there was a suspicious purchase on some other account/accounts ? And it is obvious that there was NO usage of that card on some other account, otherwise they wouldn't block and ban you. Didi you really think that there is no SERIOUS people at Adobe which will check what is going on ? 
5) You want us to believe that stock agencies which live out of a selling ours and your work suddenly decide not to sale your work and not to take their percentage ? 

I strongly think that you are victim of YOUR OWN stupidity and GREED which leaded you to think that there will be some easy money and all whining here is just your vent of your frustration cause of your OWN deeds.   

I remember one expert at Adobe Community said a similar thing (but he was polite at least)
And i wonder what you will do when they block you (i hope soon).
First, what do you mean buy stealing credit cards? and how it could be stolen while i'm in Jordan and you are in USA!
Secondly, We people! use credit cards on ATM and online with almost zero fraud possibilities (all connected to your mobile number and a security code for each transaction) so, if you steal my card, you have to steal my phone with it and know the passwords for both).
Thirdly, regarding (Did you really think that there is no SERIOUS people at Adobe which will check what is going on?) NO, i don't think there are serious people to check what's going on scrupulously, (+9 months of invistigation with the same answer, and no soild proof).
Regarding point 5, that's the sad fact. We both lose due to their terms & rules, the system.
Many others got banned after contributing for many years (did you read about them or searched on google or just me!) Who will put a fixed income in danger? just answer this.

Read the story again, i create rare illustrations, calligraphic names and words, some may need a single download, some may need a large volume, like wedding cards shop, t-shirt store, name necklaces, etc. (I sold batches before i joind Adobe Stock) So, what seems to have happened is that when a subscriber downloads multiple files from my account, my account get blocked for irregular sales activity. There's not option in Adobe Stock to download a batch or a collection from contributors. There's no cautious investigation when an issue occures. There's no enough care and quick support for contributors.

You were supposed to say Adobe Stock is having a serious problem in handling it's contributors issues and they're out of control, the result is many suspended account not many fraudulent activities (Again, do some searching), because this it what you do when you're out of control, you panic and suspend accounts and freeze them until you find a way to solve this, not calling my stupid and whining, i'm just telling my experience and how it was injust.

So...you want us all to believe in coincidence that someone used stolen credit card on your account & portfolio by mistake ? Among thousands and thousands contributors ?
Yeah, right, that is true. Also American wrestling is for real and Elvis is alive.

 

Quote from: cobalt on January 27, 2024, 14:49

What really gets me...all the agencies have a huge problem with fraud and criminals.

But only Adobe has implemented this invisible shadow court system that shoots first and blocks you from your income, then investigates weeks or months later, while you are cut off. Through no fault of your own.

Nobody else does this in the industry.

Even worse, we are all very faithful customers of Adobe, we all subscribe to their products and services.

So why are we treated like that??

And there is no compensation offered for the months of income lost and the punishment in rankings of your files.

Adobe is a gigantic software house.

Why can't they come up with a much better workflow and lead by example how to deal with criminals while treating producers and CUSTOMERS in a professional way?

I don't think the administrators there know about this, that's why we complain here and there, and contributors keep  contacting the same guys (Adobe Artist Relation).

They said blocked for a suspicious sales activity, some could do this lets be honest, but the disaster is that they can't detect that or distinguish between authentic sales and fake sales, check what they replied, i attached a screenshot earlier (There's nothing you can do to avoid these!!!)

They should prove it because suspicious does not mean guilty! but how to prove it's not really my problem.

I would say, bro, with respect to your decision, that you've made a mistake.

It is their website, and their marketplace, and we -contributors- need such websites to make PASSIVE income from our work. and Adobe is one of the big players, and many thinks that they're going to dominate the microstock market within 3-5 years.

If there is fraudulent activities on your account, which increases your revenues, and then there're charge back on the CC used to purchase your content; adobe has the right not pay you what's been charged back.

It is disturbing, and its frustrating, and disappointing that Adobe does not have strong anti fraudulent infrastructure.. but until they have, let's play with their rules and be patient.