DepositPhotosReviews 315

I have been a customer of shutterstock for years without issue and saw a lot of positive reviews for depositphoto online. I tried them and got the worst customer service ever. I needed one image and could not find a price for single download so I clicked 6 downloads and downloaded other images. The next day I noticed they came out 3 times to the tune of $150 and so I reached out to the customer service desk. They told me I had been mistaken it was 3 for$42 …. Of course the page you clicked on the day before is not a legal doc so you have no proof they sent 3 separate invoices not to my email for the photos. They offered nothing until I said I was posting about the issue and they offered 10 free photo's... I didn't need the 6 of the 7 I downloaded and never got the one I actually needed. So for customer service they get a -1 star from me.

I am a digital artist who creates art non commercially and I share my creations through various social media platforms. I currently pay for 30 images a month for $30 which is fair for my usage. I use multiple stocks to create a single image so that my ideas can come to life. I do not sell my work nor do I use it to market my skills for paid work. I create and I share my work among the digital art community. The only negative I have is someone constantly emailing me from depositphotos claiming I must get a business account. No I do not. I ignore them. Problem solved. I use multiple websites and pay for multiple subscriptions to ensure I have access to what I need. I have included an image I created using stock from depositphotos and another more famous stock website. Sometimes my regular job gets in the way of my free time to create art so I appreciate the unused downloads being carried over. I carefully read the licensing agreement and all of my usages fall under the standard license.

I have come to the conclusion that all of the complaints about being coerced into a business account are happening because that person has been caught using items in a commercial way as outlined in the agreement or the company spams every person who joins and downloads with a email to make them think it is required to get a business account. I can ignore this because I am an individual and not a business. It seems others potentially are shady in their claims and try to save a buck when they are using stock commercially. Depositphotos is wrong for attempting to make everyone think they need to pay more. Members need to actually read the licensing agreement as that is the legal fine print. Not a general claim on a website page for advertising purposes.

I was working on a lyric video for a client and needed a photo image. After a search I came on depositphotos and found one I liked. Before making a purchase I did a live chat to verify I could use an image from them without royalty issues in the future. The person I spoke to said it was not a problem and that only a standard licensed would be required for the project. I went head and made the purchase for the standard license as suggested (about $25.00 for 10 images). 45 days later I get an email from their "account manager" saying that in order to avoid future royalty issues with the images I downloaded from them. The cost of the business plan he expects me to purchase is over $800.00. I would welcome them to even attempt to do anything to me or my client as I did screen shot of the discussion with the original rep on live chat. I just wanted to warn people away from this company as in my mind this hinges on extortion.

Let me start by saying I'm a web designer, therefore, I am super familiar with the licensing for photos. Not only did I have to send screenshot to the SENIOR manager to show how it's falsely advertised, but you can receive better services for far less at istock, shutterstock, etc. with just a standard licensing.
Although it specifically says in both the licensing terms and pricing sheet for "individual standard licensing" that use for web and online marketing pieces are permitted use, I was informed after purchasing that is not true. Again, nowhere is that advertised. It is literally stated in multiple places on the site that that use is totally permitted. Screenshots from both pages are attached to view.
Listen to the negative reviews. This is not only shady business but you can seek other stock image sites for hundreds of dollars less and use them with standard licensing as opposed to this site's spit standard licensing that makes no sense.

Great content but I canceled my subscription within one day because someone from their marketing department said I needed to obtain a business account. I don't see how a so-called "personal" subscription can include rights to use images for 1) print or digital use (excluding items for resale), 2) use for marketing and advertising, and 3) printing rights - up to 500,000 copies. These licensing rights were copied directly from their website. How could an individual use images for these purposes, especially for marketing and advertising, without having them be for some kind of business use? It is not logical. Since their business subscriptions are at exorbitant price points, I had to cancel. Seems like a bait-and-switch scam to me!

As with many of the reviews here, this company is a con. They signed you up at a low rate, then shake you down by implying to your company that you are using their photos illegally.

On their site, the condition of use said you could use for "print or digital marketing and advertising" up to 500,000 copies by the Standard license. Once you signed up, an account manager will email you and tell you that the Standard license is for "personal" use; if you are using it for business, you need to switch it to a business account to "secure your right." $%#@%! What individual would need to do "print or digital marketing and advertising up to 500,000 copies"? Even if you are selling on eBay, you are a business.

Intellectual property rights should be governed by use, not by who you are, that is discrimination.

Bought On Demand package, and in the description it's written "use for marketing and advertising". Then after a few days, got an email from the company saying that "I've reached out to alert your attention that as the images are being used on behalf of your company/business, the license on your current plan does not cover your usage of them.

And the new business plan offering:
"50 On Demand images downloadable anytime within one year USD 250*
Annual Subscription, 30 im/mos USD 499*
Annual Subscription, 75 im/mos USD 819*

This is totally fraud, misleading and dishonest business practice.
I demand a total refund.

Both in terms of customer support and quality and quantity of images this site really stands out. While they are worth full price if you ever see their services on offer jump on that as fast as you can.

Signed up with DepositPhotos because they had good prices, but they are only cheap because they're trying to scam businesses. They know darn well that the majority of people buying stock images are doing so for commercial purposes, which is why just about every stock photo license allows for commercial purposes. If I wasn't going to use images for commercial purposes, I'd stick with creative commons. Read through their "standard license" and it never says anywhere that the images cannot be used for commercial purposes, but instead for "non-retail" purposes and even for retail purposes, they can be used as long is it is not a major component of the work.
I added these images on a few of the non-main pages on my site and not even as the lead images on these pages. Yet within a week of signing up, the company reached out trying to shake me down to sign up for their "business license," claiming that their standard license is only for non-commercial purposes. Of course the $29 package for a standard license is suddenly about $290 for a business license.
I went ahead and deleted all of their images from my site and cancelled my plan. I'll just pay a little more to use one of their competitors who have similar plans for just about the same price only without any commercial restrictions. I'm tempted to even download the same images from the competitor's websites because they're not even exclusive to DepositPhotos.

There is a free trial to download 10 images over the course of 7 days. It is not made blatantly clear that you must manually cancel your account before a $299 yearly charge is activated at the end of the trial; the receipt simply says $0.00 charged to your credit card. Thankfully, by negotiating with customer service, I was able to change it to a monthly account ($29). I believe the refund was honored, but I will check back in if it was not. I do not mind paying money for stock photos, but it was pretty shady how the license purchasing transpired.

It's very unclear when you purchase on this site but let's face it most people use it for marketing or selling of some sort. I think it's awful business practice then to come after users/subscribers and tell them they have to upgrade to in exorbitant amount to use them in marketing. Who is using these pics for anything else? You are not buying these to put them in a frame! They will not refund your package if you made a mistake. Found this out the hard way!