ShutterstockReviews 532

Total scam. They set you up for a billing agreement without you realizing it. You think you're just buying credits. In actuality, if you ever use up those credits, they will auto-charge you again. If you contact them about it, they will ignore it. If you chargeback, they will not return the money and close your account.

Do not deal with this scam "company".

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 I could give it a zero I would. It's a scam, once you sign up for a "free trail" they renew your subscription even AFTER you canceled. $150 later and I'm still getting charged. PayPal has been notified.

This company is Bull S^%$! Do not tack the free trial. It ties you into an annual commitment and if yo try and cancel they charge you another $40 early termination FEE! Even if you say do not renew. I got no where with customer service. Half the download would not let me edit. This site SUKS! DON'T DO IT

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.

I bought a 4K video that i already owned in HD in order to better my website. Upon downloading i realised there was no difference what's so ever between the two versions or barely... I called them up in order to get a credit so I could buy an other video instead and they were quite understanding of the situation.

I got my credit and the other video I bought is amazing

Really pleased

Plainly theft. They trick people into believing that's 34.51 euro per year when they actually bill this amount monthly. And then ABSOLUTELY no way to contact support - always something went wrong, the chat gets stuck or nobody answer the phone number. I want to cancel my plan but I can't. Also they somehow managed to obtain the details and charge my new card which I didn't inserted on their site without my consent. It s#cks!

I asked for a refund of my annual subscription, and it all worked out seamlessly after texting with a kind woman. Keep it up, shutterstock!

They charged you a monthly subscription after your trial period ended without your permission and without your knowledge. No receipt sent to your email every month so if you don't log in to shutterstock you wont even realise you're being charged monthly fees. When you realised about it and want to cancel your subscription, you will be charged a penalty. In my case, I was charged a penalty of USD120 to cancel plan early. I was charged USD30.74 every month.

Total scam - Beware- You will get your image but for 1 image it cost us in the end 400$ and they activated automatic renawals for 400$ per month.

If I could give this 0 stars I would. Like everyone else here I signed up for a free trial and, like an idiot, imputed my information without looking into it at all. Without asking or even letting me know they locked me into a year subscription plan. $31 (FOR 10 PHOTOS YOU CAN FIND ELSEWHERE! 10!) it sucked but I've made that mistake before. However due to memory issues I end up paying this for 3 months due to them defaulting to auto payments AND then when I reached out to cancel (less than 24 hours after the notification) they charged me an additional $43! I hadn't downloaded a single picture for months, since the free trial. This site is bull$#*!, over priced and unethical. Do yourself a favor and try literally anywhere else.

Needed and used only one graphic. Signed up to the minimum of 10. Certainly didn't see that I was signing up for 10 per month FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!

I got lock into auto renewal and a yearly plan after just a trial. I didn't notice until my card was charged. These people are evil crooks. I didn't signed up for an annual plan they did it automatically with my trial. Stay Away from them!

I bought what I thought was a monthly subscription but is actually a year long subscription with a monthly payment plan. This is not clear on the webpage unless you click on the right thing and reading the fine print. Completely stupid for a large company to be misleading these days. Nobody has time for this kind of crap. I had two projects that I needed photos for and their selection didn't even get me what I needed. So far I've paid $140 dollars for nothing and they are refusing to cancel my "subscription".

I bought a single lmage for a website and they charged me 30$ monthly without my consent. I just realized they had me subscribed (I did not subscribe!).

Absolute hijacking and unethical company. They should be closed. I hope they mess with the wrong person and get sued for their dark practices.

I had to nullify my card in order to get away from these thieves.

After 3 months of attempting to cancel my Shutterstock subscription. They automatically signed me up for the annual which requires a cancellation fee... inept customer service. Took 3 months and several calls to get it worked out.

The pricing plans are ridiculous and poorly structured. They don't care about small businesses and only out to price gouge consumers. About 50% of their content can be found on less expensive sites. When you ask for help or complain. They simply say "oh well" thanks for your feedback. Occasionally they may have the 1-2 photos or footage I need. Everytime I try to do business with them its a painful experience.

Go to Evanto Elements-$30 unlimited everything