Shutterstock

My boss set me on the task to download some images for our new website with shutterstock and I got a serious dose of how horrible this company it. First off as a person that has worked with many stock image companies before their selection is really weak - a handful good images then sets of bad quality virtual duplicates that i've never seen with other stock companies i've used - it's like they pay crap and get the bad photographers images just to boost their library numbers... either way we already had a big account with them so I found enough acceptable enough images but I kept getting error and server down messages from the site when trying to download images. I lost several credits to duplicate download erroers and plain failure to download and ultimately I failed to use all my credits in time thanks to all the errors... When I contacted their customer service I was told they didn't have server errors and the problem was on my end "we're so sorry" thats cute - server error in nyc time warner apparently comes with custom shutterstock logo error messages? Do they think we're stupid? I asked to speak to manager to simply get a 60min extension period to get the last 12 images i'd wanted but failed to download but was told I couldn't and that the rep would alert a manager and email me back... then two days later my boss tells me they responded saying the problem was on our end, time ran out on us and there's just nothing they can do... in addition I was not my boss so we were violating single user agreement and must upgrade to that for future use!

Shaking my head... Insane horrible company - if you plan to have an assistant click download for you make sure you use their name to your account and be prepared to waste a lot of time due to random server errors if you want to use this company - or spend a dime more and go with a company that understand quality stock imager and service

DO not trust them, they scam you in to a an anual subscription and do not let you cancel your account.!

SEE THE INCLUDED PICTURES.
Avoid this company (with its current renewed policy, June 2nd, 2020) like the plague. It's for your own good, here's why:

- They disrespect their customers by trapping them into continuous buying schemes with no (free) way out.
- With only a one week notice, they sent an email explaining their new "Earnings structure", which entails a DRASTIC payment cut for its contributors, restarting every single year (See included snapshots). The earnings for a picture drops from $0.25-$0.38 cents to $0.10 and the earnings for a video from 30% to 15%. They grab 85% of the money.
- In order to climb back up to the old earnings level, contributors literally have to sell hundreds of pieces of content.
- This progress shall be obliterated every single year on January 1.
- What a blow, what an insult to all the faithful contributors through the years. To destroy their (alternative) income streams -during a pandemic!- with incomes already scarce.
- To all the buyers, step away from this poisonous place. Contributors don't put up with their sh*t anymore and and are moving en masse their work to other platforms, meaning the waves of fresh topical content will decrease immensely. If you want to remain ahead in the game, ABANDON THIS DYING PLATFORM NOW.

My background:
I had only started uploading for about half a year, working towards a hopeful future of building a passive income stream, with Shutterstock as the main upload agency. This dream was instantly crushed by the new earnings system, which sets both hobbyists as professionals way back. Only the top of the top uploaders might earn more than previously... at the end of the year at least.
I'm sorry, Shutterstock. I truly had faith in your reputation, that everybody is treated fairly and with respect. Your shortsighted idiotic strategy might work in favor for you for a couple of months, but on a long term... the souls are leaving behind you behind as an empty shell. Farewell.

#BoycottShutterstock, deactivate your account. Demand that they reverse this new robbery system to its former glory, at the very least.

Most people only need a few images and then don't need to use shutterstock for a year or more, as most of the content can be found elsewhere. So, this company does the opposite of what makes sense. They charge high prices for their single images and try to rope you into a free trial that leads to an annual commitment with cancelation fee. They could just sell image bundles at reasonable prices.

I signed up and got the trial and half way through it they "disabled" my account, for no reason. I couldn't even log in to cancel my subscription. There was no notice, no explanation or anything. I emailed their customer support and they said the following:

"After thorough review of the activity surrounding your account, we have determined that your account cannot be activated. Please do not attempt to create a new account since it will result in disabling the account again. Unfortunately, the determination to keep your account deactivated cannot be overturned. We thank you for your understanding."

I got this message even though my free trial was still active. I couldn't log into my account. I wondered if they were going to charge me even though they'd canceled my account. So I called, instead of emailing, and asked 1) why my account was canceled and 2) if I was still going to be charged. The representative told me that she was able to cancel my free trial to keep me from getting charged. She also told me a different department handled cancellations and they didn't have a reason for the cancelation.

Honestly, I wasn't going to keep shutterstock because I only needed a few images. Kinda weird how they treat you though, like you are some kind of scammer or something.

If you sign up for a subscription and try to cancel your subscription because you realize they don't have enough images of what you want and need you will be CHARGED by the company. First of all, you CANNOT CANCEL unless you call them. It is highly inconvenient to have to sit on the phone to wait for a rep in the technology age. This practice is like from the 1990's when you have to use the phone to make a cancellation. They do this so they can get your feedback and I'm sure it is so they can change your mind. Felt like a telemarketer type of approach. Also, did you know that if you sign up for the lowest package $29 / month and you want to cancel you will be billed $20 / month x # of months you have had the subscription. Basically, with the lower end subscription, you are stuck in a contract. You have to purchase the $49 / month to have the right to cancel without penalty. This is not good business practice. Also, they are not explicit about the cancellation policy. So in order to get out of my contract, I had to pay $40 = $20 x 2 months I had the subscription to get out. This is like negative billing. Absolutely appalled at this company. I will never again sign up or promote this and I'm a marketing consulting agency. This was the worst experience. Shutterstock - you should take lessons from other image bank companies who retain their customers and have customers who keep coming back. Make it convenient for people to use your service. Don't try to tie them down through negative billing practices. Don't make us call your reps to turn off auto renew or cancel. AND BY THE WAY. THE REP I TALKED TO TOLD ME THERE ARE LOTS OF PEOPLE COMPLAINING ABOUT THIS SITUATION. SO DEAL WITH IT AS SOON AS YOU CAN to save your reputation.

I started a free trial on June 22nd (currently writing this on July 20th) and downloaded only a couple of images I ended up not using. Since I wasn't using the service, I completely forgot about it. Comes July 20th, I get a charge on my CC for $29 and the only description was "FREE TRIAL ENDED" so, since I had forgotten about this subscription, I didn't know what the charge was for. I even called up my bank, they didn't help at all. I ended up going back to my browser history to see what the subscription could have been for. I found shutterstock.
First I was very upset because they charged me on the 20th instead of the 22nd. I was having none of it. I singed in, looked for the plans tab and there it was. So I clicked on cancel plan, which took me to their support page and I found that in order to cancel the plan I had to talk to a rep (which might not be a big deal for some, but some people would rather just pay every month instead of being "confronted" by a rep while trying to cancel a membership, so, not so 5-star on this part, but just keep reading).
I opened up the chat and was greeted by Caleb and I told him I wanted to cancell my plan. I prepared all my best arguments of how my trial month wasn't actually over and how I souldn't be charged a fee for cancelling my plan early, since the actual plan hadn't technically started yet. But instead of trying to pull a fast one on me the rep just informed me that he issued me a refund for the first month (which I hadn't asked for yet) and that he cancelled my plan for me. He then explained that the system makes the charge 2 days prior to ensure the card is good. So, I'm actually quite happy with my overall experience.

I have the premium experience and I love it, The best option to download photos, vectors, video and PSD