Shutterstock Reviews

This company is a complete embarrassment. Their contract is not open and transparent. Pricing and terms. You end up paying for something that is exorbitant, and they then make it nearly tough to cancel your plan. They keep renewing your plans without your permission, and you can't even turn off auto-renew on your account when you log in. When you call to ask how you may terminate your account, they tell you that you would have to pay a large cost to do so. It doesn't get any better in terms of customer service. This company's customer care does not go out of its way to assist you. When you just inquire how to cancel a plan, they simply say it isn't possible. If you don't want to be taken advantage of, stay away from them.

Recently Sign up in the Shutterstock account, but it is not clear. Now, I am regretting this, I wish I had read the reviews before signing up. They charged me $29 for 10 downloads for the year. Now I have to pay this amount to get out of this contract. Bad experience, after being charged over $350, I never log in to my account. Stay alert guys, they will trap you in any way.

A one-time purchase is available on all stock sites. I bought one image for a poster I needed to make, and they instantly enrolled me in an auto-pay program. When I called to inquire about this, she informed me that they would be unable to issue a refund. Because this is not a one-time purchase, Shutterstock is a total fraud. Not recommended to anyone.

Shutterstock is a nice and simple stock site. You’ll get lots of cheap images and great usability. I recently subscribed to their premium plans and I am very much satisfied with it. The quality of the images is great, I didn’t found any issues with the quality of the photos. Definitely, it is recommended to all without having a single thought.

I have only written one other bad review before, so I'm cautious in doing it with this company, but honestly, I must. Their customer service is just terrible. With this company's photo services, there is an "auto-renewal" notice option, and customers must be aware of this in order to go into their account and turn Off the notification and save the $29.99 annual price. I had no idea, so after double-checking that I hadn't utilized the service in the previous 12 months, I had a "live chat" with a customer support representative who told me she couldn't help me. Then I called the customer service line, and she told me that even while they acknowledge that the auto-renewal feature is defaulted On, they do not provide refunds. Very poor and disgusting customer service.

I purchased a low-resolution version of a file, only for the link to be broken so that I couldn't get to the download file. I was desperate to meet a deadline so I purchased a standard version and this link was also broken. I submitted two help tickets and got zero responses. No follow-up, no email, no call, nothing. Now I call back 2 weeks later, clearly whatever server that was down is now back up and they won't refund me the money because they said it's been downloaded. What a big liar they are. Trust me, it wasn’t downloaded. And their customer service is useless, absolutely rubbish.

I really don’t understand who does the reviews of the photos, saying out of focus and camera shake, when the photos are clearly in focus. The photos are shot on a timed camera with a tripod stand and they deny to accept that it is their photos. This is really the worst site to use for photos. I never gonna recommend this. The same photos are passed by other sites but Shutterstock denied.

This is a total scam, even though I cancel my free month period I don’t know why still I am getting invoices. Apparently, if you cancel from the website doesn't have an effect, you need to send them separate emails as well and call them. I tried them reaching out at call but it doesn’t work. To register and to pay it's very easy but to cancel or dispute them it's almost impossible. These are very bad and illegal things. They are hiding a one-year subscription under one month free. So fraud they are.

The pricing of Shutterstock is very high and ridiculously expensive. There's only one option to purchase, you need to simply buy a pack, which costs more than and is reasonably affordable for anyone needing this content, or individually at a 100% mark up of the picture's actual value.

I got trapped into a yearly plan without an agreement, I don't recall signing up for it, and by the time I realized it, four months had passed, so they are now charging me $70 plus tax to cancel. Greedy, immoral robbery in broad daylight. This website should not be used, please stay away from such fraud people, they will simply charge you lots of money without your permission.      

I registered for a free trial. Later, I discovered that I had been signed up for an annual plan without my knowledge. To cancel, they try to deduct $50 from my account. Do not even consider visiting their website. They are such a fraud, never recommend to anyone. Totally waste of money.

Recently, I joined up for the Shutterstock service on a 40% off subscription in return for a full year of service. I found a few photographs interesting, but not enough to justify the monthly payment. When I emailed to cancel, they responded with a demand for the discount to be repaid. Not happy with their service, overpriced.

Shutterstock takes advantage of its contributors. There are no business ethics at all. They've now chosen to donate 15% of the revenue to their contributors!?!? Can you imagine your boss collecting 85 percent of the money you earn as a result of your hard work and creativity? "And 10% for his manager," what happened to that? If Shutterstock stabs its contributors in the back, I would be wary of doing business with them in the future.

Unauthorized payments that do not appear on your payment history on your profile but do appear on your bank statements. I fell for the free trial trap when I was billed for two separate annual subscriptions. You are mocked when you contact customer service. To resolve the situation, I filed a fraud claim with my bank, and my card was terminated for security concerns. Garbage, don’t choose Shutterstock

The pricing plans are simply disgusting and poorly structured. They don't care about small businesses and are only focused on making outpriced money. About 60% of their content can be found on other sites that are less expensive. When you ask them for help or complain. Their reply will leave you irritated they only say "oh well" thanks for your feedback. Occasionally they may have the 1-2 photos or footage I need not more than that. It's a very painful experience whenever I try to do business with them.

I bought one image from Shutterstock and was blown away by their pricing; I paid $39. It got worse when I sought to cancel the subscription plan. Then I got a warning that said, "Cancellation of a yearly plan early may result in a plan price adjustment." In other words, they not only locked me into an annual plan without my knowledge, but they also appear to be attempting to charge me an exit penalty. Shutterstock's blatant pricing gouging. If you don't want to fall into a trap or lose money, stay away from Shutterstock.

I downloaded a set of vectors from Shutterstock for my digital wood carving machine use. And, I was very excited about making these customized for people. But, guess what? when I opened the file the vectors were simply garbage. There was no way to get credit even though the file they were selling is garbage.

I told them this was my first and last purchase too many others that do what you do and my business does not have time for rip-offs. A $150 lesson for me.

I work as a social media manager for a company which highlights the best scenic beauties around the world. So I need the best High definition pictures to make my post attractive and eye catchy for the viewers. 

I got a great deal on selecting the plans that were relevant to my needs. Also got free images as a deal. Now after choosing shutterstock my work has become easy and attractive. Also the website is going well in terms of traffic engagement and also my posts are liked by the viewers. I recommend going with shutterstock to everyone who works on various social media platforms and wants to create attractive content.