iStockPhotoReviews 196

My sister paid for an image using her phone. She wanted to download it onto her computer so she opened the email on her laptop. She downloaded the file, it was a zip file. When she went to open it, it tried to release a virus! Thankfully her laptop security (McAfee) caught it right away! Who knows what would of happened! The file then disappeared. This is unacceptable! There needs to be an online company to oversee all websites. So criminal charges can start being placed on online criminals! Shame on you iStock.

The WORST! As a marketing professional, who has worked with many programs like this, I can honestly say, they are the absolute worst. After years of paying into the subscription, the large corporation I work for decided to take a different direction. Switched off Auto-Renew and somehow it was turned back on and it renewed for another year. We aren't using the images and pay $199/month. Called customer service, asked to speak with someone who could help. Was told, he was chatting with the person. I then requested that person (won't mention the name) contact me so this current person I was speaking to doesn't have to be a middle man. I was told (Monday) the request was submitted. I was also told if we cancelled our subscription we would have to pay a penalty which is the difference between a month to month monthly rate and yearly plan monthly rate ($30). I would have to pay this for the months used since the "renewal" that no one did. Fine. Thursday came, still no word from other guy so I called back. Finally Friday I hear from someone who now said I had to speak with someone who deals with corporate accounts - fine! Was also told could cancel but would have to pay penalty -fine! Please have the person contact me.
Oh, forgot to mention, when we first inquired, received an email using a yoga studio in Calgary as a comparison - completely irrelevant.
Today- now over a week later I get an email that they won't cancel our account. I've asked why and the answer is we can't cancel annual subscriptions because they are at discounted rates. Fair, that's why we are happy to pay the difference ($30). I have now asked for a copy of our annual contract and the legal documents (terms) that lay out the cancellation (or lack of) policy.
What I am getting is, if you want to try something out and choose to capitalize on the discount by signing up for a year, you are stuck - even if you agree to pay a penalty.
BRUTAL- Try Adobe stock images or any other - we also use that, which is far superior. Do not expect to get any help, unless you want a gym comparison.

I was a contributing photographer from 2013 to 2016. I resigned in 2016 after iStockPhoto (bought by Getty images) changed the contract and lowered the minimum commission to 1.5 cent. (The lowest commission prior to that was 28 cent). They also gave away images - no commission was paid at all. My portfolio is supposedly no longer on iStockPhoto servers, but I still see my images on Google search with the iStock watermark advertising their free image program. Some of these images are being sold at other agencies.
I have demanded iStock stop advertising my images as "free" but thus far, they continue to ignore me.

I purchased a photo which istock said would be in my account the next day by noon. Eight days later and here I am with no photo in my account. I call customer service and the barely English speaking customer service says I have to go in my browser and find the photo I purchased eight days ago and click on it. What? I looked at hundreds of photos for a book cover. I canceled the order. 4 to 5 days for the refund to appear on my card (yet the charge when I purchased was instantaneous!). Terrible customer service. I have read negative reviews on this company post-purchase. Shame on me, but never again will I waste time and money on these hacks.

The quality of the images is great, but the purchasing of said images is a good window into who this company is.

To buy images you buy credits. What you don't know, is that those credits expire.

Why? I can't figure out a reason myself outside of more money for iStock and that is a gross business model that shouldn't be rewarded. There certainly is no customer advantage here, and I avoid companies who look for ways to scalp their paying customers. You certainly have to be questioning the ethics of the management and ownership there when policies like this are discussed.

Good luck getting in touch with them as well. I've reached out twice to discuss this, as I think every company deserves a rebuttal. No response so far, and the reviews I see elsewhere tell me that I'm not going to be seeing a friendlier face to this company.

This is the kind of unethical company that I avoid when I see them. If you're like me, look elsewhere. Also read their Glass Door reviews to get a window into the kind of management that makes decisions like this. This is a rotten company.

I am first time and last time customer. I will never purchase from them again. Their packages and wording are all miss leading. When I phoned their South African branch asking why I can't download anymore items they tell me it has expired even though I have only ever downloaded twice after paying 75$ and only getting two essential images. I asked if I could please download the remaining 20 images and they refused. Their response to me is that it is what it is and nothing they can do. They make their money by people not understanding how their package/credits/bundles/subscription works. Their is always some catch. A terrible way to try keep loyal customers or repeat customer.

Access to the Getty Library has always been a dream; this may be the most affordable means to get your feet wet. The iStock collection is a cross-section of the famed Getty Library and modeled after the subscription micro-stock sites... except... it costs a little more! But the quality of the photography stands out! This is a luxury for me, maybe not so much for a larger business, but I cannot say anything but good things regarding my subscriptions.

I have been buying images from Getty Images for years. (I have used GettyImages.com, 123rf.com and istockphoto.com which are all Getty Image owned sites) I have spent thousands of dollars over the many years I have been a customer. I decided to use istockphoto as a monthly subscription service for $149./month and started my subscription on the 22nd of August. I used all my images for the month looking forward to starting again in September. To my surprise my subscription would not renew until the end of the month. I tried to contact customer service to change my billing date. Sounds easy right? WRONG. I was told that the ONLY way to do this would be to cancel the subscription and start again OCTOBER 1st. If I were to tell my clients... so sorry you will need to wait a month and a half before I can accommodate your needs I would be FIRED. Since when did customer service become a cut and paste no answer job. SIGN ME UP I want to tell people I can't help them when they want to spend money too.

Don't buy from iStockPhoto!
I didn't purchase anything from their site after 2015, but recently they started charging me every month. Charged me 3 times $40.4x3= $121.2 USD during last 3 month. They doing it silently, without any invoice or any email.
I contacted them in 3 ways, contact form, phone, email.
I talked with a person named Deepak Tyagi, who told me (at 20 Aug 2017) that they will take care of it within 2 business day and the money will be refunded. But till now they didn't done it. And yesterday they charged my card again.
Also, looks like they don't have any customer support person.

I signed up for a monthly subscription with the 'renewal' date listed on the invoice. Since this was the only date written there I assumed it was the date which my credits expire so I write down this date to make sure I use all the credits for that month.

Come that day I find that the credits expire the day before (actually at 3am on the 'renewal' day). I send them an email to see if I can still download the images and I get the auto-reply saying I will get a response within 24 hours. One week later, no response, so I email again. Another week and still no reply, so I decide to call them.

I was informed that they can't do anything because of the 'system' but if I pay for another subscription the remaining downloads rollover to the next month if I re-subscribe within the week. Of course 2 weeks had passed since they don't reply to emails so it ended up just being a big waste of money.

This was just the latest incident with iStock, previously they had billed me for 2 months of additional subscriptions even though I had the 'auto-renew' option disabled.

Bought 12 credits and because I only needed a few didn't log in for a year so they just took my money and and can't use any more credits. When I complained they said oh it's mentioned in FAQ's and everyone else uses them immediately. Sounds like a con to me!
Why not tell customers that that is the deal that they need to log in, why not send a reminder email that it's due to expire, oh yes that's right because it'll make them more money!