iStockPhoto

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.

Extremely expensive auto renew if you forget to cancel the trial. Rather than going into a monthly renew, you are put into a yearly plan for $70/mo.

Image quality is medium to low. Current images are limited and seem like Getty outtakes. Billing is atrocious - HORRIBLE user interface, requires separate portal. VERY poor UI!

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.

I initially signed up for a free 30-day trial but unfortunately didn't have the chance to use it as much as i planned before forgetting about it. My subscription began on April 27,2023, and was scheduled to end on May 27. According to the agreement, I had the option to cancel at any time during the trial period, which meant I could have canceled on May 27. However, to my surprise, they charged my card on May 27 instead. When I brought up the issue and explained that I should still be in the trial until midnight on the 27th, they canceled my subscription but refused to provide a refund. They didn't even offer me any credits for the 93.50 AUD they had withdrawn from my account, so essentially, they took the money without providing any service. Additionally, I was disappointed that they didn't send a reminder email notifying me that my trial was ending.

UPDATE:
IStock reached out to me and offered a genuine explanation of what happened and also made a refund. So I cannot fault their customer services.

This site is not what is use to be and they care about one thing - Cheating People Out Of Money! Don't be fooled. This site is in the business of thievery and have no Respect or Value for their Customers! I have been using this site for nearly 2 years as a freelance designer for many clients. As a loyal customer, I had 3 photos to purchase recently and was forced into buying more credits than I needed so I called support to help me out and they they refuse to offer a refund on my remaining credits so that I can purchase the last photo a different way. The company changed their pricing/credit option recently with no notice to customers. They also impose a time limit to use the credits you pay for that you can't get a refund on. No big deal, Just More Money down the drain. I will not use this site again as they are NOT CUSTOMER Oriented and they need to stop taking advantage of people. One Customer Lost for Life Here! We do have a choice of who to do business with and there are plenty of other options in the marketplace for creative professionals who don't want to support Internet Crooks like iStock.

Be sure to carefully read all fine print before checking any box! I'm stuck in a year long subscription. Can't cancel unless I pay a large fee.

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.

Read the fine print, WORST online service EVER. If you do not cancel before the Free Trial ends, they will charge you for the FULL year (more than 700$) without any possibility to cancel. SCAM.

They designed their checkout with the 12 MONTH CONTRACT in a tiny font BELOW the fold of my 4k display! Who scrolls down past the checkout to read the fine print? There is no total listed in the checkout either.

Any other "annual subscription" will let you cancel at any time, so by habit most of us will assume you can cancel monthly. You can't. These ghouls will flat out refuse to cancel it and argue with you in customer support, sending you screenshots and justifying why they aren't predators. They are clearly using deceptive business practices. Customer service is bad and the signup process is predatory and uses bad UX design – likely on purpose – to lock you into 12 months ($1000+). Even Adobe refunds 50% to 80% of the year subscription. And in the past has let me cancel with no termination fee. Gettyimages are borderline scammers. I guess that is to be expected when Koch industries are one of your major investors. DON'T FALL FOR IT!

Don't believe me? Check out the screenshots I attached. I didn't see the fine print because I had to SCROLL DOWN TO READ IT CHRIS! I'm so angry.

Good range of various arts and templates to use but take care of your credits - those can be suspended without any notice after some time passes

Tricks you into a yearly subscription for $70 per month. You can't cancel Until after a year. Do not use!

I would not use this site again even if it was free. So many things wrong. Features are so limited its incredible they are a real business.

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

Took money for year for service that i dont use. Scammers! This is so bad idea to manipulate people. I hope someone close them,.

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.

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.

If you forget to cancel free trial, they will charge you $70 monthly for a year. They will not allow you to cancel subscription.

They charge 40 dollars and deliverd 2 photos, did the claim and their solution is to pay again. They are scammers. Should be closed.

Anyone who's been scammed by these companies, join our Facebook group named Getty images victims. We will fight this through together!

They have a huge variety of images and different, flexible plans for customers, with different kinds of subscriptions, credit packs, etc.

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

ISTOCKPHOTO IS A SCAM! Their customer service is sickeningly twisted. For the love of god stay away from this place and never NEVER sign up for their plans.