Business Profile

Stock Photos

Getty Images

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Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Getty Images's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see

Customer Complaints Summary

290 total complaints in the last 3 years.
91 complaints closed in the last 12 months.

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Submit a Complaint

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

Initial Complaint
Date:05/24/2025
Type:Billing Issues
Status:
ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
Resolved:
The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
Unresolved:
The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
Answered:
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
Unanswered:
The business failed to respond to the dispute.
Unpursuable:
BBB is unable to locate the business.
I signed up for an iStock Essentials 10 subscription on May 24, 2025, thinking it was a monthly plan I could cancel at any time. I was unaware that it was a 12-month non-cancellable agreement.I only downloaded 10 images total and used 8 of them. I do not need or use the service anymore and turned off auto-renewal as soon as I discovered the issue. I contacted iStock support requesting cancellation due to financial hardship, but they refused to cancel or stop the monthly charges.I believe the subscription terms were misleading and not clearly communicated. I am asking iStock to cancel the subscription and stop all future payments.
Business Response
Date: 06/04/2025
Ms. Chikobava actively enrolled in an annual subscription on April 24, 2025 and agreed to the subscription terms. She has actively downloaded 10 images since enrolling. However, we understand mistakes can be made and have cancelled Ms. *********** subscription and there will be no additional charges.
Customer Answer
Date: 06/11/2025
I accept the businesss response and am satisfied that my subscription has been canceled with no further charges. Please consider this complaint resolved.
Initial Complaint
Date:05/14/2025
Type:Billing Issues
Status:
ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
Resolved:
The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
Unresolved:
The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
Answered:
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
Unanswered:
The business failed to respond to the dispute.
Unpursuable:
BBB is unable to locate the business.
I am writing to dispute the subscription service offered through **************************, a website allowing users to view and download stock images. I signed up for their free trial; I read in the Terms and Conditions that the service is billed monthly and reasonably assumed I could cancel between months at any time.After my free trial period ended I was shocked to discover that canceling the service only stopped the annual rollover of fees and not the monthly rollover. They are trying to lock me into paying for the entire year. I cannot remove my credit card from the service or delete my account. I am absolutely appalled by how purposefully misleading their business practices are.I downloaded one image during the trial period and have not otherwise used the service for the three month period ******** aim in filing this complaint is that I do not have to pay any future monthly fees and my billing information be fully deleted from their system.
Business Response
Date: 05/29/2025
Mr. ***** actively opted for a Free Trial subscription and downloaded an image during the trial period. After the Free Trial period concluded on April 14th, we billed his credit card for the first month of the annual subscription. Its important to note that customers can cancel their free trial subscription using the self-service feature or by contacting **************** prior to the conversion to a paid subscription. A reminder email was also sent to Mr. ***** two days prior to their free trial ending. Mr. ****** subscription has been cancelled as requested and according to our cancellation policy. We are also processing a refund for the most recent charge. There will be no additional charges.
Customer Answer
Date: 05/31/2025

Better Business Bureau:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

Sincerely,

***** *****
Initial Complaint
Date:05/07/2025
Type:Product Issues
Status:
AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
Resolved:
The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
Unresolved:
The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
Answered:
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
Unanswered:
The business failed to respond to the dispute.
Unpursuable:
BBB is unable to locate the business.
I was charged a high auto-renewal subscription fee by iStock (Getty Images) without sufficient notice. I only used 10 photo downloads and had no intention to renew the subscription at the current rate. I also cancelled my subscription on September 28th, 2024. When I contacted customer support to request a refund, they declined on the grounds that it was a subscription, despite minimal use and no new downloads after the charge.I believe this is an unfair business practice, especially given the lack of clear renewal warnings and the disproportionate charge compared to my actual usage. I am requesting a partial refund of $420 and would like this complaint to be formally reviewed.
Business Response
Date: 05/20/2025
Ms. **** signed up for a Free Trial on September 17, 2024. She actively downloaded images both during the trial period and after it converted to a paid subscription. Customers can cancel their Free Trial at any time before conversion, either through self-service or by contacting ***************** Ms. ***** subscription was subsequently cancelled and appropriately refunded on May 8th, *****.
Initial Complaint
Date:04/25/2025
Type:Billing Issues
Status:
ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
Resolved:
The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
Unresolved:
The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
Answered:
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
Unanswered:
The business failed to respond to the dispute.
Unpursuable:
BBB is unable to locate the business.
They charged me $73 for a year subscription I did not want. I did sign up for trial but did not understand I'd be forced into a year subscription. I meddage customer service and got a **** response. Whoever responded cancelled my subscription but no refund. I used it to try during trial but no more after that. So I am out $73.00 and can't use the service even if I or wanted too.
Business Response
Date: 05/13/2025
Ms. ********** initiated a Free Trial subscription on February 24th, 2025. This annual subscription includes the first month free. During the trial, she downloaded three images. Customers can cancel their Free Trial through self-service or by contacting **************** before the trial converts. Ms. ********** was sent a reminder email 2 days prior to her Free Trial converting to a paid subscription. Ms. ********** emailed **************** on April ********. Her subscription was cancelled as requested and according to our cancellation policy, which can be found at **************************************************************************************; Because she downloaded images during the free trial, Ms. ********** does not qualify for a refund.
Customer Answer
Date: 05/13/2025

Complaint: 23252227

I am rejecting this response because:
I want to clarify that I NEVER requested the cancellation or closure of my account. This action was taken without my consent and is entirely inaccurate.
When I reached out to request a refund, I was shocked to learn that my account had been canceledespecially considering that payment had already been processed. I am now being denied access to a service Ive paid for, which is both unfair and unacceptable.
I signed up for the free trial with the intent to explore the servicesomething any user would reasonably do. At no point was it made clear that doing so could result in forfeiting my payment or having my account terminated without consultation. The process was either extremely misleading or entirely unclear.
I am formally requesting either a full refund or the immediate reinstatement of my paid account. Denying access to a service that has been paid for is not only unreasonable but borders on unethical.
I hope this matter can be resolved promptly.

Sincerely,

***** **********
Business Response
Date: 05/16/2025
Our offer is intended to be clear and transparent. At iStock, we clearly communicate that new customers are eligible for 10 free downloadable images during a one-month trial, which is connected to an annual subscription. These free images must be downloaded within the first month, which serves as the trial period. Our terms also state that it is the customers responsibility to cancel the subscription before the trial ends to avoid being charged. Cancellation can be done at any time during the trial via **************** or through our self-service options.
Ms. ********** was not billed for the full annual subscription. Customers are billed in monthly installments, and access to the service ends once the subscription is cancelled. In her April 24th email to ****************, Ms. ********** indicated that she did not want or intend to use the service. While our terms were communicated, we understand there may have been some confusion, and as a courtesy, we are processing a refund of the most recent charge.
Customer Answer
Date: 05/18/2025

Better Business Bureau:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is an acceptable resolution.

Sincerely,

***** **********
Initial Complaint
Date:04/19/2025
Type:Product Issues
Status:
ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
Resolved:
The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
Unresolved:
The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
Answered:
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
Unanswered:
The business failed to respond to the dispute.
Unpursuable:
BBB is unable to locate the business.
I am filing a complaint regarding the unauthorized licensing of my image without my consent. I was never notified, never signed a model release, and have now discovered my face has been sold and published globally for over 6 years.I submitted a formal takedown and compensation request on [insert date], and received no reply. I am seeking a $30,000 settlement and removal of the image from their platform. Their refusal to engage is unethical and violates basic consumer and privacy rights.
Business Response
Date: 04/29/2025
Mr. ******** concern has been referred to the appropriate team for review. We appreciate his patience as we work to address the issue
Customer Answer
Date: 04/29/2025

Better Business Bureau:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and Im still waiting for a satisfactory resolution from them.

Sincerely,

**** ********* ******* *****
Initial Complaint
Date:04/10/2025
Type:Product Issues
Status:
AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
Resolved:
The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
Unresolved:
The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
Answered:
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
Unanswered:
The business failed to respond to the dispute.
Unpursuable:
BBB is unable to locate the business.
I am a contracted creative contributor under Getty Images/iStocks contributor agreement, regularly uploading royalty-free and editorial content in line with their submission standards. My portfolio has consistently received daily downloads across both image and video content, demonstrating marketplace value.Recently, an entire batch of videos was rejected with a message citing vague quality concerns and claiming the company had been lenient up to this point. This was done without prior warning, constructive feedback, or any internal recourse for discussion or clarification. This lack of transparency and sudden shift in tone is deeply discouraging and inconsistent with the spirit of a contributor-driven platform.I believe Getty Images may be failing to provide basic standards of notice, fair dealing, and contractual clarity expected in marketplace relationships. There appears to be no proper appeal process or formal channel to dispute such mass rejections something that should be available to contracted users of their platform.I respectfully request a re-review of my submissions or, at minimum, a clear and fair feedback/escalation process to be made accessible. This complaint is not about special treatment, but rather a call for accountability, procedural fairness, and clear standards for contributors working in good faith.
Business Response
Date: 04/16/2025
We understand Ms. ******* concern and have forwarded it to the appropriate department for review and follow-up. We appreciate the time and effort that goes into creating and submitting content as a contributor. We will ensure that Ms. ******* concerns are reviewed in detail.
Initial Complaint
Date:03/28/2025
Type:Service or Repair Issues
Status:
ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
Resolved:
The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
Unresolved:
The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
Answered:
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
Unanswered:
The business failed to respond to the dispute.
Unpursuable:
BBB is unable to locate the business.
I subscribed to istock, because they advertised their model to be a monthly payment, however the whole time it was supposed to be an annual plan. I tried to cancel my subscription but they are still charging me for the rest of the annual plan which I am not even using - Ive only used two images (with 18 images remaining of this month, apparently). They do not have a way to manually cancel a subscription on their website, you have to contact them and they make the entire process a very unpleasant experience. I contacted them asking them to cancel my subscription but they refuse to do so unless I pay the rest of the annual plan (they are charging me an extra 195$ CAD along with $40 they charged me for this month). I contacted them back saying I cannot afford such a thing especially because I was lead to misunderstand their plan and pricing, I offered to amicably pay a reduced fee but they still refused and doubled down saying they wish to treat all their customers fairly. At this point, because of their unwillingness to run their business in an ethical manner, I refuse to pay any fee whatsoever. I cannot be led to believe I am at fault when they purposely mislead customers to believe they are subscribing to a monthly service when in reality they are subscribing to an annual one. They keep saying they are fairly abiding to their terms and conditions but I cant help but feel like its colourful language to intimidate me into agreeing to their scummy policies.
Business Response
Date: 04/07/2025
Ms. ***** signed up for annual subscription on November 12th,2024. She actively downloaded 2 images after signing up. She agreed to the terms and conditions of the subscription. However, we understand that circumstances change, and customers may need to make decisions that were not anticipated at the beginning of their subscription purchase. We have cancelled Ms. *****s iStock subscription as requested and there will be no additional charges
Customer Answer
Date: 04/07/2025

Better Business Bureau:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

Sincerely,

******* Cvilo
Initial Complaint
Date:03/21/2025
Type:Product Issues
Status:
AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
Resolved:
The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
Unresolved:
The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
Answered:
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
Unanswered:
The business failed to respond to the dispute.
Unpursuable:
BBB is unable to locate the business.
They charged me $70 for a year subscription but if i canceled i dont get to use the service. So i paid $70 for literally nothing.
Business Response
Date: 04/03/2025
*** ****** actively opted for a Free Trial subscription on February 14th, 2025. After the free trial period concluded, we billed her credit card for the first month of the annual subscription. Its important to note that customers can cancel their free trial subscription using the self-service feature or by contacting **************** prior to the conversion to a paid subscription. A reminder email was also sent to *** ****** two days prior to her free trial ending. As a courtesy to *** ******,and because of her limited use, we have refunded the one month she was charged.
Initial Complaint
Date:03/20/2025
Type:Service or Repair Issues
Status:
AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
Resolved:
The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
Unresolved:
The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
Answered:
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
Unanswered:
The business failed to respond to the dispute.
Unpursuable:
BBB is unable to locate the business.
I was attempting to use iStock for a project that I am working on. I subscribed for a month-to-month Basic plan that was advertised as $49/month with 10 image downloads per month. I sucessfully applied a 20% off coupon that reduced this cost to $39.20/month. But then, when I attempted to download images, I discovered that this 'Basic' plan did not cover the 'Signature' images that I had wanted to download.Upon discovering this, I IMMEDIATELY contacted customer support via their chat system. I asked that my plan be upgraded to the Premium plan, which was advertised as $65/month for new users, and that I wanted to apply the same coupon that I'd just used.They informed me "The price of the Premium month-to-month plan is $99, so you will only pay the difference of $59.80"... effectively meaning they intended to charge me ***** DOUBLE the expected cost (compare to $65 * 0.8 = $52).Their reasoning? That the "coupon could only be applied once" and, since I now had an account, I was "no longer a new customer," despite having signed up only MINUTES EARLIER.I refused to accept those terms and asked for a refund. Instead, they only turned off auto-renewal... meaning my original payment--for a service I effectively can't use to download the desired images--still applies.I can't overemphasize how insulting this is. I am (or rather was) a customer willing to pay for a service. I had attempted to faithfully purchase the right plan to do what I needed to do. When I discovered that I had signed up for the 'wrong' plan, I attempted to correct it immediately. But rather than simply honoring the new user price and the coupon, they tried to charge twice as much money, basically on a technicality.I have attached both my order confirmation and the transcript of the chat (which, after adjusting for the timezone difference to UTC, occurred just 3-4 minutes after the purchase).Since I can not use this service as intended, I want a refund.
Business Response
Date: 03/31/2025
To clarify, the coupon was applied to the initial subscription, and we were unable to apply it again to the upgraded plan. However, We understand the confusion surrounding the coupon and plan differences. Weve reviewed the situation and as a courtesy to Mr. ******* have issued a refund for the one-time charge.
Initial Complaint
Date:03/16/2025
Type:Service or Repair Issues
Status:
AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
Resolved:
The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
Unresolved:
The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
Answered:
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
Unanswered:
The business failed to respond to the dispute.
Unpursuable:
BBB is unable to locate the business.
My complaint actually relates to the online company iStock (*****************************************), which is owned by Getty Images.I previously subscribed to iStock's monthly subscription. However, in January and February 2025, iStock (Getty Images) terminated my subscription early for both months.I contacted customer service at ********************************************* during the first occurrence of the issue, and they told me to resubscribe and that they'd give me credit. That's unfair because they owe me and not the other way around, but I did what they suggested anyway. During the February subscription, iStock (Getty Images) did it AGAIN cutting short my subscription. I contacted them to let them know that they cut short my subscription again. But this time, iStock (Getty Images) didn't care whatsoever. They just said that they'd look into it. That was it! They blew me off, and I've never heard from them.I've attached a screenshot to prove that iStock (Getty Images) shortchanged me during the February subscription. The screenshot shows the time of the screen capture (on the right side of the screenshot) to prove that my subscription shouldn't have been cut off at that specific moment in time. Anyway, iStock (Getty Images) is very shady; their business practices are not cool and unethical.
Business Response
Date: 03/26/2025
To clarify, Mr. *** subscription did not expire early. The expiration date was clearly stated as March 1, 2025, at 1:20:36 AM UTC. It seems there may have been some confusion due to the time zone difference, as Mr. *** screenshot shows 11:07 PM EST. Since UTC is four hours ahead of EST, the subscription actually expired at 9:20:36 PM EST. This information was also shared with Mr. ** when he contacted ***************** We apologize if the explanation provided at that time was unclear.
Customer Answer
Date: 04/02/2025

Complaint: 23074070

I am REJECTING this response because:

Their expiration policy is UNCOMMON, if not UNHEARD OF in the **** I understand that iStock is a GettyImages (an **************************** and hence should subject their American customers to the laws and customs of the ****

Eastern Standard Time (EST) should be the default/honored time in the ****

By default interpretation, the phrase "ends on March 1st" is commonly understood to mean the subscription service remains active until 11:59:59 PM on March 1st. This interpretation aligns with consumer protection standards, allowing subscribers access for the entire stated day.

Industry Norms: many digital services follow the "end of the day" approach to avoid customer frustration. For example, streaming services and **** products usually allow access until the end of the stated date.

iStock should show some ***** (which it CLEARLY doesn't have any) to their customers to make an exception and ask for their acceptance to their policies going fwd. I was NEVER given the courtesy. I'm merely asking for the time that I PAID FOR and DESERVED. Let me be clear: no charity being demanded from iStock here.

Sincerely,
***** **

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