iStockPhotoReviews 196

Free trials, right? Serves you well. Don't even go for it.

I asked for a cancellation and a possible refund only a couple of hours after I noticed they had charged me 35€. Kudos to support, which came back quite promptly, but shielded themselves behind T&C. I didn't use my credits, I don't plan to use them, and I'm out of my money and without a proper follow-up to my complaint.

Seriously? Amateurish at best. AVOID like the plague!

They will steal the money from you trust me, no matter how clever you are. Please dont waste your money on istock

Misleading about trial subscription! One month trial was not over even I asked in the actual date! Don't trust!

Used this service during the trial period. Bad quality images were offered. I canceled the service during the trial. But, money was still taken from my account stolen. Do not use this service.

Dear All,

I took 1 month free trial that i used it only on the first day and was not happy with it.
After a month i didnt receive any notification the free trial will end. They charged be for extra month and removed me all access. When i asked to give me access for the next month i was charged so i try to use, i was refused. I sent them several emails but as a fraud company they kept saying the same thing. I was shocked by they fraudulent actions.

They had a one month free trail period and on the first day I turned off auto-renew, but still get charged every month, trying to cancel my account since but no reply from anyone!

Same as Shutterstock, rope you into a "trial", then, it magically turns into a one year subscription, that you have to pay each month for! Worst part is, they "enrol" you into one where you only get full access to their "essential" package, meaning that you still have to pay if you want good photos, what they call their "Signature" series. Stay away from all of these long time big stock photography places. They are all learning from one another's tricks on how to empty your pockets!

I paid over $1100 for credits and received nothing because when your subscription expires they will not let you use your credits. I did not plan on spending a monthly subscription and they got my credit card info with a free trial and charged it over $1100 when I canceled my unapproved subscription they canceled all my credit with no refund of the $1100, I Stock said you lost your credits when canceled your subscription however I was welcome to spend additional money and buy the credits again.

BEWARE istockphoto.com webpage tricks you into a yearly subscription disguised as a monthly subscription. Seems like this company and group have a long history of bad reputation.

We requested quotes on a series of short videos we were including in a Book Trailer. We placed a call. The customer service guy said "A sales person will follow-up with you." A day later, after no one followed up with us, we made an email inquiry and included the image numbers for the respective videos for which we sought licensing quotes. We received an email that said: "A sales person will follow-up with you." A day after that...crickets. So, now four days after our original request, we followed-up one last time and pointed out the history of no follow-ups. Nothing. Why would any professional want to do business with these people? We moved on.

This website is way too expensive. $13~20 for a single image of flat ribbons or objects that aren't even cropped out of a background? Not only that, but they charge extra for certain images that are "in trend" (of course they better looking ones). This isn't an ethical way to do business. This isn't jewelry or stock market, they're just images that can be downloaded and copied multiple times by many people. It's not right to charge almost double for certain ones. I bought a subscription for a month for no reason because every time I search images, the good ones cost extra.

Then I went on another stock image website and their subscription is only $24 a month and you can download unlimited images. They had the same stock image. Unbelievable. Running businesses cost so much already, iStock isn't the best value.

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

They have horrible customer service, who literally disconnects in the middle of a conversation because they think the conversation is over. And they don't give the refund they promised.

I asked for a refund via email. They ignored my email. I used the chat system on their website, and I talked to two people to make sure the refund is processed. And yet they still charged me a month later. Be careful when you use this website. It's almost a scam. I'd never use their services again

IStock is a scam. After your subscription ends you will lose any unused downloads but they will still charge you for each one.

Isotck's customer service is horrible! I had a previous monthly subscription for over a year and thought that I could download images that I had previously purchased, I later found out I couldn't without first reactivating my account again, so frustrating, I will NEVER purchase a monthly subscription again. Horrible experience.

I spent over an hour pinning images to an image board, and went to Join and get the 30
Day Free Trial. The site would not allow me to go to a free trial, it directed me to plans and pricing. I did a chat with a customer service rep named Rebecca, and she first tried to keep asking questions about what I was asking. I asked point-blank is there a 30-day free trial or not. Rebecca stated No! The Company Does Not Offer Any Free Trials, but that is how iStock, advertises there brand in the online search.

Interested in signing up for iStockphoto's videos, photos or illustration subscriptions? Be careful! Their sign-up page is a classic example of "dark pattern" Web design.

I'm one of many, many angry customers who found themselves saddled with non-cancellable "annual plans" that they did not realize they were buying.

In my case, an imminent retirement means I have absolutely NO use for iStock's product after this month, and I would never have extended this subscription for nine useless months. Even in the face of this evidence of mistake, iStock played hardball.

I had to fight like a tiger to get any help at all--and most folks in this situation get screwed over with NO resolution. In my case, I had downloaded only 7 images--little cheap one-star $10 pieces of clip art--while iStock made off with $350 of my money.

So I'm out over $250 for... NOTHING. I call scam.

They'll argue that "you signed up for this" and claim contract. But their Web site obscures the information on the subscription sign-up page--and countless Internet reviewers are reporting similar issues.

Take a look at the screenshot below: the "annual plan" link is small, greyscale and not obvious. This kind of visual manipulation on a Web page--followed by the countless stories of user mistake on online review sites--is called "dark patterns".

Even worse? The rip-off doesn't filter down to the content creators: the photographers and artists who sell their work on the site. The ONLY one benefitting here is iStockphoto.

When you visit https://www.istockphoto.com/plans-and-pricing, you're being manipulated. Beware! If you're considering any of their digital image subscriptions, be prepared to be ripped off.

Not only nothing but stolen images so far in my search for ONE thing. But also things no one would want as stock. One account seems to also collect dead and bloody animal photos, for instance. No accountability for the site, no reporting page. Prices are high anyway.

1st the categorization of images are extremely poor, 2nd most of their images are corrupt. Many of using the files for presentation mode where the eps file needs to be transformed into EMF but the files are so corrupt that no one is able to convert to EMF.
I had written to them asking for a cleaner copy however waited nearly 20 days with no reply even after reminder. The worst customer service is where you at least acknowledge the problem without any resolution. These people are take the cake for being beyond worst in their customer service. I didnt renew my subscription and promptly took my business elsewhere.