Shutterstock

The free trial enrolls you into an annual membership which is $29 a month. In order to cancel, you have to reduce you annual membership to a monthly membership. The monthly is 49 dollars a month. In order to cancel, you have to pay an additional 20 to be monthly, in order to cancel the annual. Its a huge scam. They are ripping people off.

If you sign up for a month w/ 1 month free, the implied deal is that you get 2 months of access for $29. The fine print is that it's a yearly subscription THAT YOU CANNOT CANCEL. ($29/mo for another 11 months). The online account interface does not allow you to delete your credit card, and does not allow you to cancel -even if you agree to pay the "fee." You have to call during business hours and talk to a rep. If an hour on hold and 10 minutes of begging doesn't work, you have to cancel your credit card or contact your bank to dispute.

I paid $1,800 for an annual subscription of 25 film clips/month. There are 3-4 that I can't upload into any industry standard film editor such as imovie or VN editor. There is no way of knowing this BEFORE downloading and using up a credit. After 5-6 emails of me explaining this and receiving the same generic response "we will not give you credits bc you can currently view the files in VLC" which is a viewing device, not an editor, I am writing this angry review. They are either idiots and do not understand my complaint or they are predators and care much more about keeping film credits, and squabbling over a few dollars rather than standing behind their service and products and making sure you're happy when consuming from them.

Absolute terrible design programs. Way too convoluted for the average joe with not much time on their hands [or neurodivergent! EeeeK]
But the kicker is i signed up for monthly payments... from the trial. Went to cancel it later after being charged 3 different ways apparently i signed up to programs i didnt know werent included... & the monthly bill is actually classed as an annuaL so i cant cancel or i owe them the years payment! I am on the disability pension & this has absolutely Fd up my living expenses this year. Went to complain or ask to cancel... nope. Should of read the fine print.
If they were going to rip people off At leasT make it a user friendly interface... STAY CLEAR!

I noticed we were charged double after I downloaded the 2 images I paid for. Come to find out they have some little auto-renewal button that is AUTOMATICALLY turned on, and you are immediately charged for 2 more images if you don't turn it off. I never saw this button, and now we are stuck paying for something we will never use. And they claim they can't refund it. SLEAZY business practice. They should make it so if you want it, you turn it on, not the other way around.

I want to cancel my subscription. There are no terms and contiditions relating to cancellation fees.
1. There is no way to cancel your subscription with Shutterstock on line without contact help desk.
2. You are unable to remove your credit card.
3. Help desk doesnt cancel but suggests different plans.
4. A second email is required to start the cancellation process.
5. When you ask them to cancel they debit a penality fee, immediately, with no justification or reference to their terms and conditions.
6. When you ask them to provide justifcation they do not reply.
7. THIS IS unethical business practice and strong revommend to look at other picture stock companies

I purchased a low res version of a file, only for the link to be broken so that I couldn't get to the download file. I was desperate to meet a deadline so I purchased a standard def version and this link was also broken. I submitted two help tickets and go zero response. No follow-up, no email, no call, nothing. Now I call back 2 weeks later, clearly whatever server that was down is now back up and they won't refund me the money because they said it's been downloaded?!?! What a crock of bull! Trust me, IT WASN'T. And their customer service is useless, absolutely useless. What a crock. I ended up finding what I needed on iStockPhoto and I'm going that route from now on.

This Shutterstock is a scam.
I am a contributor and suddenly I cannot get into my account to upload photos, none of my login details have changed.
They don't even recognise my email address when I try to change my password and I have tried different email addresses, in case I have used the wrong one. The password is correct.
I have requested my earnings so far and to demand they remove my photos as I do not want them making money off my photos as I do not want to deal with them anymore as all I make is 19p (GBP) per photo sold.
All this by email and all I get, if I get anything back, is someone who gives me the usual 'have you gone to the correct site'.
Yes I am on the correct site.
I just wish I'd have checked their reviews before I signed with them.
I will expose these scammers and the people who defend them.

Be aware of signing up for a free trial or subscription without fully understanding what you are getting in to. After the free trial you will automatically be entered into an annual subscription which is quite deceiving. The way it was present was an annual fee including 10 downloads a month but the price is actually monthly. Canadian it was almost $40 a month for 10 download and when you realize you are paying this monthly and contact them you are reminded of the spot you can find this information on their website even though when you see it before hand it is presented as a one time fee. I continued my subscription as it stated it was annual and $40 for the year was okay. On my account it also states annual. But then you realize it's $40 a month and when you try to cancel you have to pay even more! My only regret is not reading reviews first. My advice is don't use them at all. I did not pay the extra fee to cancel I instead offered to file a credit report if they had an issue with cancelling and they agreed. Do not pay their outrageous hidden fees.

The photo I included shows the only information they give you on your account, stating an annual subscription. Also showing how their site makes it appear that you get to download 10 pictures a month for an annual plan of $29. It's easy to be convinced once more that it is a one time fee. The definition of annual is once a year, I don't know how they continue to operate. Be aware.

Hello, Today i buy US 299 Plan. But mistakenly i clicked wrong plan. Then i call some lady attend my call and she ask me to Early Cancellation Fee: $40.00 i said okay and she cancel my plan but then she said you use 1 image so refund policy is not applicable if is there not applicable then why you peoples Early Cancellation Fee: $40.00 charge. Why my US 299 not refund. Really its worst service if you not refund my money US 299 then i am going to lawyer... i am good but i am very bad for bad peoples. Peoples never ever buy there anyplan subscriptation plan here they cheating with you worst servise here

They are not transparent about pricing, so you will likely end up paying much more for those lovely images than you think you are paying. I accidently signed up for the monthly subscription. Unlike most monthly subscription plans though, you can't cancel easily. You can only turn off the auto renewal in the last bill of the year! You miss it, and you are stuck paying for years. Cancel the credit card you have on file, complain to the BBB, your police anti-fruad unit, or your comsumer complaints govenment department... Do whatever you have to get these guys to stop this.

The website is very slow to load and is build so you with one click accidentally can buy a stock clip. All clips are only shown in very low quality as a preview. I have experienced to try previews and when I brought the clip it turned out it was in too bad quality to use. Or even worse once I brought some clips that turned out to be 3d generated (which I couldn't see in the very low quality preview).
On top of this they have a very expensive product (compare it to enavato elements or artgrid or similar) bad customer service (i couldn't get a refund for clips that I accidentally brought - clips are very easy to buy since theres no check out counter just a "download" button). All in all a company that once was one of the leadring in the market but now they have lot of competition and will probably be out of business if they continue with this service and model. They dont focus on customer experience and service

Horrible scam. I went to cancel my account during my trial period. The Shutterstock said I did not have an account, so I couldn't cancel. I just got charged $29 and discovered this is the 2nd month they've done so! I went to cancel (via e-mail) and was told in order to cancel I must pay a $40 cancellation fee. Who does that?! Horrible, horrible, horrible. I went to delete my account and it wouldn't allow me to because I "have an active account" which I tried to cancel! I am beyond disgusted by this rip-off company. Never again!

They charged me $30 when I have never even used their product. Somehow I had a subscription that was charged through my PayPal which is just suspicious in its own right seeing as I NEVER use PayPal for anything except receiving payments. Then they refused to reimburse me and said that they sent me product but couldn't show me the proof of this.