Shutterstock

In 2020 and last night (Easter Sunday) they have attempted to charge my card on file for a membership, which I have never authorized. They were not friendly on the phone in 2020. Actually made it hard to get this sorted. This time I blocked it on paypal. I will avoid using them from here on out. There are plenty of reliable resources out there not trying to scam you.

I contacted customer service today to look into cancelling my plan early (I'm 9 months into a year subscription - paying $29/month for 10 images). With 3 payments remaining, and not using the service - I thought I'd save a little, and pay a small fee. NOPE. Since their plan was "discounted" at the time of purchase, and normal price being $49/month - I'd have to pay the difference in the price for the amount of time I've had the subscription. Meaning - to cancel early, I'd owe $180 (9 months of saving that $20). In that theory - it's best to take the "Yearly" discounted rate for 1 month, and cancel - since the termination fee is only the discounted savings for time used. Pathetic customer service, pathetic policy, average content. (their vector content is mostly unusable)

I have been a contributor for years now and i have only made. 25 cents. They do not help you push images or even guid you. Its a joke for photographers to get no money for there work, yet shutterstock gets rich. Boycott this business. Heck they have so many rules so you cant even post anything.

BE CAREFUL, someone unauthorized ordered 2 Shutterstock subscriptions ($448.00) and charged them to my Visa. I have been a Shutterstock customer for at least 15 years, and when I contacted them about the unauthorized purchases I was told that they would get back to me in 24 hours. And they did, 18 hours later, to tell me to change my password! Fortunately I contacted Visa after my useless conversation with Shutterstock, they immediately changed my card number and replaced my Visa card. Today, 48 hours later, I got an email notifying me that they (Shutterstock) are looking into my request to refund the $448.00. Really? While I expect no less than a complete refund, they seem to be missing the point--Shutterstock doesn't have a secure website, the procedure to handle a mishap, or the customer service to reassure victims of fraud.

This company is an absolute disgrace. They are not transparent in their contract
Terms and pricing. You end up getting charged for something which is overpriced and then they make it close to impossible to get out of a plan. They keep renewing plans without your consent and you can't even turn off the auto renew feature in your account when you log on. When you ring to ask how you can cancel your account they say they will have to charge some massive fee to cancel your plan. The customer service is not much better. The customer service at this company DO NOT go out of their way to help. When you ask simply how to cancel a plan they just tell you it can't be done. If you don't want to be taken advantage of then DO NOT use this company. They are so dishonest.

Very dissatisfied with this company and service. I signed up for a free trial and then was charged $30 per month after the free trial ended. They claimed that they made me aware of all of their hidden fees in the terms of service. However, the pricing had hidden fees, and the website made it so you had to physically call or email someone to cancel or change billing. This was a website I used one time and was charged nearly $150 in total, and had to raise a stink when I requested to change and cancel it, they even tried to charge me an early cancellation fee! Now, I get it, we've all forgotten to cancel a free trial or forgotten to put a hold on a subscription or service before, but this company was by far the most difficult and sneaky when it comes to your plan and billing. Would caution everyone I know from using this service!

I wanted to be legit in placing images on my website and pay for them as I need them. I have/had 2 subscriptions on Shutterstock. The monthly plan is so misled when you sign-up that you believe that if you do not use your downloads in one month, they would be carried over to the following month. In fact, they are not carried over! A total rip-off if you ask me, do not use this company for your images, in the end, it would be cheaper to hire a photographer!

The appearance and general look is good (although heavy). The problem is not there.

The problems comes when you send these people any of your details, information and data.
If you want to have control on your data, access or remove it from their systems, the problem starts.
Even though they pretend their privacy policy, that you just need to write to them for access and removal, it is a fake, there is nobody behind the email address provided. You will get no answer and if you write directly to any member of this company, you will experiment a nightmare of cheap excuses, lies, incompetence and absolute arrogance.

Just went to use my remaining credits on day of expiry - I've had it in my diary and all organised. Turns out they go by UTC time and they expired a few hours ago even though it is todays date. Chat person was supremely unhelpful.

Ive been in digital marketing for almost 20 years. This is the worst way to conduct business that I have ever seen. A.) If you dont use your images in an allotted time period, you loose them. Which no one ever told us upfront. Second when we realized this, we started shopping around and realized we were getting screwed. There are other sites out there that dont do this, with great selections. B.)... When we tried to cancel our services after 6 months because A.) we were informed for the first time we are locked in, and to cancel its like $120 dollars... If this company doesnt change their ways unsuspecting people may start out with your services, but they sure as hell wont be coming back once they figure out how it works.

This company has extremely deceptive practices and should be held accountable. They advertise an "annual plan" for "$29" with a 10 image per month limit than charge you "$29" per month for a year and make you go through hell and high water to cancel the subscription. They charge a cancelation fee as if images is service consumers use regularly like a cell phone rather than project based.

I'm guessing somewhere in the fine print, it says the amount will be charged monthly but it's definitely not obvious in the offer itself. The offer implies that you pay $29 per year for 10 pics per month. I ended up paying $185 for about 10-12 images by the time I was allowed to cancel which included 5 monthly payments and a $40 "cancelation fee".

Companies like Shutterstock should be heald responsible for tricking consumers into these nonsensical contracts.

Like many here, I got scammed! They don't make it clear that they lock you into an annual contract after purchasing images! They also charge you $120 to end the contract early! I'm going through a rough time in life and that $29.99 per month is important. I'm so sick to my stomach and will have to deal with these jerks stealing from me every month! I want to cry! So pissed! Be careful of any company you sign up for online. All this subscription stuff is fraud!

My experience is the same as almost everyone else on here. Got roped into a subscription after a free trial and then they charged me to cancel it. Most of the downloads were not editable which makes no sense and their customer service is appalling. I don't know how they are getting away with what they are doing. It is blatant fraud. If you value your money... and your sanity... avoid SHUTTERSCAM at all costs!

I've basically had Shutterstock automatically deducting money from my account buying 5 images at a time. I noticed that I had paid for 8 images and went okay that's weird. Then I saw the reviews here and completely concur with the negative comments made about Shutterstock. These guys must have had loads of complaints and yet they fail to correct their system. Why? Because there is a lot of money in rorting customers. Bad news - find other stock image sites to buy from.

Shutterstock has no information on the actual quality of their videos. They refuse to quote resolution sizes, instead they say web quality is "pretty small" and HD quality are "larger files". The prices are inflated, the web support had 0 answers for me. They sent me to phone support, which they didn't even give me a number for. I've heard rumors of a sneaky subscription being snuck in to your transaction. I refuse to buy from them and despise their business model - cheaper for me find a location, hire actors, and shoot my own 5 clips in 4k than pay $600 or more. *Doesn't get any worse than this. Stay away!*