iStockPhoto

The Free Trial is a trap.

I thought cancelling auto-renew would disable it but it doesn't. There's no warning given to you of trial expiration date, and if you pass that deadline, according to the tiny letters you are not entitled to stop for a year.

Of course in the busy adult life such things are very easy to forget, and the vast majority of companies allow you to withdraw nonetheless, even after giving you warning.

These ones want to trick you out of your money.

Stay. Away.

Will change this review if I get prompt help on cancelling. Otherwise I'm blocking them from everything and will cancel any bank account that ends up being charged by their scammy policy.

Finally finished with this place. My last 10 credits were "restructured" "in my advantage" to 2 credits but every photo I've looked at is 3 credits. As a web developer, I don't have any need for sizes other than the small which used to cost a credit... now thanks to their "improved pricing" a small costs the same as a large.
I have steered all my clients away from this place. Thankfully, there are much better business models out there that don't cheat their clients.

I should mention that if the pricing structure had been improved to support the contributing photographers, it might not have been so distasteful. Also, had they properly grandfathered existing credits instead of reducing them... I look forward to the class action suit.

I signed up for a free trial but forgot to cancel before it ended, leading to a surprise 29 euros charge for the first month.

What's upsetting is that to cancel the plan, they hit me with a big 145 euro fee. This felt like too much.

I get rules, but I think there should be some understanding. I just wanted one photo during the trial, and now I paid way more than expected.

During the trial, I downloaded only one photo, and that was my intention.

I hope my story helps others know what they might face with iStock.

I feel that istock has ripped me off for $200 by their lack of clear disclosure on what the subscription included. I then tried to contact them by telephone and could not reach anyone. After three attempts I wrote and emailed... still nothing. I finally reached them a week and many calls later only to be told the refund policy precluded anything after ten days... I was then told "I'm sorry you are confused". Who would say that to a customer? Istock does not deserve anyone's business. Find another vendor... we are!

I was a customer since the beginning of iStock, but as several here have posted, since getty bought them, they've gone to $#*!. In particular, their practice of expiring your money. Yes you read it right. You deposit money into your iStock account. If you don't use your money within an allotted time, they take your money and you get nothing. That is theft, plain and simple. But that's standard practice in the business world these days, isn't it.

To hell with iStock. Why throw away money when there are so many good stock photo sites to choose from?

I had trouble signing up. I finished my sign-up on chat, and I was put on a yearly plan without my knowledge or consent. Now I stock is expecting that I pay them every month for something I did not agree. I think it's a scam because they're going out of business because of AI and they're trying to cheat people on the way out.

I signed up for a trial and forgot to cancel before it automatically renewed. After the trial expired, I was charged the first month for $75.78. I realized that I wasn't able to cancel and get a refund but I requested that I cancel the account from avoiding future monthly payments with the understanding that I could still use the service for the remainder of the time. I requested cancellation via chat and my account was cancelled. When I logged in to download a graphic, I didn't have a subscription. I called customer service and they told me that my account was cancelled, I would not receive a refund and that my subscription was cancelled and would not be able to download anything. This is an unfair business practice! I paid for a full month and I'm only 2 days in to that month subscription. I should be able to download the allowed amount of graphics (up to 10) for the remainder of the month I paid for. Basically, they are taking the money and running with it without delivering any service. Stay away from this company!

Total Scam! Do not subscribe! I paid $499 for a 1 month subscription to download 250 images. After two weeks of downloading about half my photos, I get a call from their sales rep telling me that in the fine print of the agreement I am required to use all the images I download in a professional publication before the end of the month or I must delete them. He then tries to pressure me into spending $1999 for a 1 year subscription. I spoke with the manager and they would not refund me and they cancelled my subscription so that I can't download the rest of the images I paid for. It's a total rip off!

They prey on human mistakes, charging ridiculous amounts of money to people who forgot they signed up for a "free trial" and probably can't afford it. That is literally their business model; counting on the human condition of forgetfulness. That, to me, is being a crook. You're basically just making money on peoples' mistakes and misery. For that, you should be put out of business. You're nothing but a drain on ethical business and on society as a whole. For those who spend all their efforts to run their businesses in a professional, respectful manner, you are a slap in the face.

As with many others I too am fed up with istock and their changes in pricing/credits.

Yet again they have devalued my investment and I can't see how it can be legal.

Example, invest £100 and get for ease of maths 100 credits. I used to get low res images for 1 credit but then they all went up to 2 credits. Over night the value of my investment halved.

Recently I had about 48 credits left so could buy 24 low res images. Then iStock changed the structure again so I could only buy a maximum of 10 photos. I am no maths expert but I think that works out that iStock reduced the value of my investment over night by 60%.

My advice do not touch iStock. Overpriced and it wont be long before they change their structure again and you get even less for your money.

Like the title sais, the overall service offered is poor, images are meh, website is oldfasioned and search is, well, bad.
Had the luxury to have to deal with their 'Customer Service', which resulted in multiple emails contradicting everything they mentioned in previous mails.
My advise, skip this and never look back for them

This company is just awful. I downloaded just ONE IMAGE and they charged me $70 for it! Who would ever pay that much for a picture? What's REALLY awful is that they said when you subscribe, "the DEFAULT PLAN is the $70 one", so if you're not paying attention, they automatically sign you for that one, even though they have a plan for $29...
Not to mention with ANY plan, you're supposed to get 10 images, but after charging me $70, they are giving me NO credit toward 9 more images (which I don't even need to begin with!)

IStock has got to be the worst company on the planet. They lure you in with a free 30 day trial. It's definitely NOT clear that you will be locked in for a year if you fail to cancel.

I am now locked in for $75/month for the next year. This sucks SO bad. I am a very small business owner, not a designer. I will never use this.

When you reach out to 'customer service', you are only repeatedly told, this is our policy and we won't cancel.

Basically they give you the middle finger and laugh all the way to the bank.

I will forever think of iStock in the worst negative way for as long as I live.

Title says it all. Signed up for a free trial (which actually counts as the first month of your annual subscription (you have to cancel during the first 14-days of the trial or you will automatically sign up for a full year subscription) and I was subsequently signed up for a $700 annual subscription.

I felt for the free trial option to check if their content is worth it for my projects but never downloaded anything, then I was charged without notice, and now after telling me I signed a sketchy contract they don't want to cancel my subscription. I can't delete my credit card from the site and cancel it by myself, fine if they don't want to refund me but are unwilling to cancel my subscription. This is a SCAM