ShutterstockReviews 532

Shutterstock is very sneaky and unethical. They offer a "no-commitment" free trail period which magically become 12 month commitments without directly telling you. Then they charge $40 to cancel the membership. They ripped me off and will not hesitate to rip you off too. Just look at the other reviews and you'll see that they have a history of doing this to others. As a contributor, they encourage you to upload photos and make you feel as if you're part of this grand community when, in reality, you only make 10 cents for every download. Take a minute to process this. 10 CENTS! Shutterstock, your practices are unethical and this needs to come to light. You are doing a disservice to your members and contributors.

I signed up for the free trial then quickly found out that there's no way to manually cancel your subscription. You have to email customer support who is largely unresponsive. I ended up getting charged the monthly fee then got told that I would need to pay another $20 to cancel. I told them I would not pay that amount so they told me that "tier 2 customer support would be contacting me shortly, but they never did. A month later I got charged another monthly fee. I asked them to please remove my card information from their records and they told me they'd get back to me shortly, just like they said a month ago.

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)

Je suis contributeurs depuis des années et depuis le 1 juin, suite à un changement de politique tarifaire, nos commissions ont diminué de 66%!
Nous sommes desormais rémunérés 10 centimes la photo pendant que Shutterstock s'en met plein les poches sur notre dos. Une honte, un scandale!
Boycotez cette banque d'images escavagiste, svp achetez vos contenus ( photo et vidéo) sur Adobe Stock, Dreamstime ou Depositphoto. Ne cautionnez plus ces mafieux qui nous exploitent. Merci pour nous.
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I have been contributors for years and since June 1, following a change in pricing policy, our commissions have decreased by 66%!
We are now paid 10 cents a photo while Shutterstock is full of pockets on our back. A shame, a scandal!
Boycott this escavagiste image bank, please buy your content (photo and video) on Adobe Stock, Dreamstime or Depositphoto. Do not endorse these mobsters who exploit us. Thank you for us. I

As of June 1 2020 Shutterstock is offering contributor royalties that makes working in a sweatshop look good in comparison. "But they had to cut costs due to Covid-19!" you say? Well, people were buying images just fine in March-April-May... my sales actually went *up*, and none of SS's competitors (Adobe Stock, Dreamstime, Alamy and many others) have felt the need to introduce such mercenary, unethical payment systems. This is sheer greed, pure and simple.

The result? Photographers, videographers, and graphic artists are deactivating their accounts in droves. There is *no* reason why anyone with any talent or self-respect would contribute there when the pay is so laughable and the management is so bad. If you love supporting sleazy companies with rapacious CEOs... well, you'd better get in fast, because the pickings are going to be awfully slim in the next couple of months. Go elsewhere.

SEE THE INCLUDED PICTURES.
Avoid this company (with its current renewed policy, June 2nd, 2020) like the plague. It's for your own good, here's why:

- They disrespect their customers by trapping them into continuous buying schemes with no (free) way out.
- With only a one week notice, they sent an email explaining their new "Earnings structure", which entails a DRASTIC payment cut for its contributors, restarting every single year (See included snapshots). The earnings for a picture drops from $0.25-$0.38 cents to $0.10 and the earnings for a video from 30% to 15%. They grab 85% of the money.
- In order to climb back up to the old earnings level, contributors literally have to sell hundreds of pieces of content.
- This progress shall be obliterated every single year on January 1.
- What a blow, what an insult to all the faithful contributors through the years. To destroy their (alternative) income streams -during a pandemic!- with incomes already scarce.
- To all the buyers, step away from this poisonous place. Contributors don't put up with their sh*t anymore and and are moving en masse their work to other platforms, meaning the waves of fresh topical content will decrease immensely. If you want to remain ahead in the game, ABANDON THIS DYING PLATFORM NOW.

My background:
I had only started uploading for about half a year, working towards a hopeful future of building a passive income stream, with Shutterstock as the main upload agency. This dream was instantly crushed by the new earnings system, which sets both hobbyists as professionals way back. Only the top of the top uploaders might earn more than previously... at the end of the year at least.
I'm sorry, Shutterstock. I truly had faith in your reputation, that everybody is treated fairly and with respect. Your shortsighted idiotic strategy might work in favor for you for a couple of months, but on a long term... the souls are leaving behind you behind as an empty shell. Farewell.

#BoycottShutterstock, deactivate your account. Demand that they reverse this new robbery system to its former glory, at the very least.