A charge from STK*SHUTTERSTOCK on your statement

STK*SHUTTERSTOCK is Shutterstock, the stock photo, video and music website. Shutterstock says so itself: the charge "did officially come from our billing department". The most common reason it surprises people, in Shutterstock’s own words, is that its plans "renew and rebill automatically" and its download packs "automatically refill".¹ STK*BIGSTOCKPHOTO.COM is Bigstock, a second stock photo site that Shutterstock owns.¹⁰

What it looks like on a real statement

Shutterstock’s help page writes the name as STK*Shutterstock. Banks print it in capitals or not, and many add a phone number and a state. These lines are copied from card statements that local governments publish:⁹

The number in the line, 866-663-3954, was the US customer service number in Shutterstock’s terms in 2016. Its terms effective 19 January 2026 give a different one: 1-866-475-3062 inside the US and +1-646-833-0452 outside it.⁴ A line with PAYPAL * in front means the plan was paid through PayPal; PayPal’s own records will show it, see PAYPAL * charges.

Why it came on the same day every month, or every year

Shutterstock: "For subscription plans, the charge will occur 12 hours before your active plan ends." Monthly plans are charged every month; yearly plans paid up front are charged again when the year renews. A pack refills the moment you download its last file: "your billing method on file is charged".³

Delaware publishes every purchase its employees make on state cards. Its Shutterstock lines show how long a renewal can run before anyone stops it. One office of the Department of State paid $169 a month 57 times, from 25 July 2019 to 26 March 2024. A transportation office paid $29 a month 31 times, from December 2018 to July 2021. A school district was charged once a year, every September or October from 2018 to 2025; in 2022 and in 2023 it was charged twice on the same day, and one of the two charges was refunded 18 days and one day later.⁸

Shutterstock also places a small temporary charge to check a card. It says this "is not an actual charge" and is usually released in 3 to 5 business days.³

How to find it and stop it

1. Find the account Search your email, including spam, for “Shutterstock” and for the amount. In the account, "Purchase History" under account details lists every purchase, receipt and invoice.¹ A designer, a former job, a school or a club may have used your card.
2. Stop the renewal Everything is on the Plans page of the account, under Cancel plan. A month-to-month plan can be cancelled at any time. A yearly plan paid up front can be cancelled at any time so that it does not renew. For a pack, switch off auto-refill.²
3. Know which yearly plan you have A yearly plan paid monthly has two choices. "Cancel at end of term" stops the renewal but "will continue automatic monthly billing until the plan expires". "Cancel early" stops the billing and charges "a fee equivalent to 50% of the remaining subscription cost"; you keep the plan for half of the months that were left. Switching to another plan instead waives the fee, but only through Shutterstock’s support.²
4. Ask for the money back, in writing Shutterstock’s help centre: "All purchases on Shutterstock are non-refundable." Customers in the United Kingdom and the European Union can get a refund within 14 days of the purchase if nothing on the plan was downloaded.³ Its terms add that if Shutterstock decides you are owed a refund it goes back to the card or account you paid with.⁴ Ask anyway, and keep the reply: the Delaware data has five Shutterstock and Bigstock refunds out of 368 lines.⁸
5. If nobody you know bought it, go to your bank If there is no Shutterstock or Bigstock account you or anyone near you can sign in to, treat it as fraud: ask your bank to cancel the card and dispute the charge, and ask what its deadline is. It depends on the bank, the card network and the reason.

The FTC case

On 13 May 2026 the Federal Trade Commission sued Shutterstock in federal court in New York (case 1:26-cv-03955) and announced a settlement the same day.⁵ The complaint says Shutterstock did not clearly tell people that plans renew and that ending a yearly plan early costs a fee; that packs advertised as "Best for a one-time project" with "no commitment" refilled and charged again when the last download was used; and that until 2024 a yearly plan paid monthly could not be cancelled early online at all.⁵ It quotes one customer’s complaint to the Better Business Bureau that Shutterstock "secretly billed my credit card $29/mo for 34 months without any email invoice or notification", and says that many people first learned of the fee on the seventh page of the online cancellation steps.⁵ These are the FTC’s allegations. Shutterstock neither admitted nor denied them.⁶

Judge Arun Subramanian signed the order on 14 May 2026. It enters a $35 million judgment, which the FTC may use for refunds to consumers, and requires Shutterstock to offer a way to cancel that is "at least as easy to use" as the way you signed up.⁶ When we checked on 2 October 2026, the FTC’s list of active refund programs did not include Shutterstock.⁷ The FTC says it never asks you to pay or transfer money to get a refund; anyone who does is not the FTC.⁷

Is this a scam?

The name is real: Shutterstock confirms STK*Shutterstock charges are its own, and the phone number in the line has been Shutterstock’s.¹⁴ That does not make every such charge one you agreed to. A stolen card can buy a pack as easily as anything else. If no account anyone you know can sign in to has the charge, it is not a renewal you forgot, and it belongs with your bank.

Why this page is on a site about held money

This site records payment companies that hold back money that belongs to someone else. Shutterstock is not in the incident record; this page is here so that people searching for a name on a statement find the answer. Another plan that renews on the same date every year is SMK*SURVEYMONKEY; a design plan that renews by itself is CANVA*, and a ChatGPT plan is OPENAI *CHATGPT SUBSCR; Creative Cloud and Acrobat are ADOBE *ADOBE or ADOBE INC; a newspaper that renews every month shows up as GAN*NEWSPAPER SUB or USAT; software sold for another company often shows up as PADDLE.NET or FS * or FSPRG. Other lines are in the table of statement names.

Sources

1. Shutterstock Help Center, "What’s this charge from STK*Shutterstock?": "Your Billing History", "Automated renewal and billing". shutterstock.com/help. Read on 2 October 2026 in the web archive’s copy; the live page refuses automated readers. Archived copy of 11 September 2026.
2. Shutterstock Help Center, "How do I cancel my Shutterstock plan?" (dated May 1, 2026) and "Does Shutterstock charge any cancellation fees?". shutterstock.com/help; shutterstock.com/help. Read on 2 October 2026. Archived copy of 23 September 2026; archived copy of 11 September 2026.
3. Shutterstock Help Center, "Can I get a refund if I cancel my plan?" (dated August 3, 2026), "When will I be charged if my plan automatically renews?" and "Why do I see a small charge on my billing statement?". shutterstock.com/help; shutterstock.com/help; shutterstock.com/help. Read on 2 October 2026. Archived copy of 23 September 2026; archived copy of 11 September 2026; archived copy of 11 September 2026.
4. Shutterstock, "Terms of Service", effective date January 19, 2026: Part VI, "Additional Terms", on refunds, the 50% fee and automatic renewal; customer service phone numbers. shutterstock.com/license. Read on 2 October 2026. Archived copy of 30 September 2026; the 2016 terms with the number 1-866-663-3954: archived copy of 31 December 2016.
5. Federal Trade Commission, "Shutterstock to Pay $35 Million to Settle FTC Allegations Over Illegal Subscription and Cancellation Practices", press release, 13 May 2026; and the complaint, FTC v. Shutterstock, Inc., No. 1:26-cv-03955 (S.D.N.Y.), paragraphs 43–44, 51, 58, 61 and 76. ftc.gov; complaint (PDF). Read on 2 October 2026. Archived copy of 4 September 2026; complaint, archived copy of 9 June 2026.
6. Stipulated order for permanent injunction, monetary judgment and other relief, signed by Judge Arun Subramanian on 14 May 2026, docket of FTC v. Shutterstock, Inc.; and the proposed order filed with it, paragraph 3 of the findings and sections IV, V and VI. CourtListener docket; proposed order (PDF). Read on 2 October 2026. Docket, archived copy of 1 August 2026.
7. Federal Trade Commission, "FTC Refund Programs", list of active refund programs. ftc.gov/enforcement/refunds. Read on 2 October 2026. Archived copy of 30 September 2026.
8. State of Delaware Open Data, State Employee Credit Card Transactions, fields "merchant", "trans_dt", "dept_name", "div_name" and "merchandise_amt". Shutterstock and Bigstock lines. Queried and counted on 2 October 2026. The data runs from March 2017; the first Shutterstock line is from September 2018. A refund is a negative line matched to an earlier charge in the same department and division.
9. Weber County, Utah, county card statement, closing date May 31, 2026; City of South Fulton, Georgia, Truist Visa transactions, statement period 11/01/2025 to 11/30/2025; City of Huntsville, Texas, card report listed as September 2014. webercountyutah.gov; cityofsouthfultonga.gov; huntsvilletx.gov. Read on 2 October 2026. South Fulton, archived copy of 2 October 2026; Huntsville, archived copy of 30 October 2020.
10. Shutterstock, Inc., annual report on Form 10-K for 2019, filed 13 February 2020: Bigstock among the company’s brands and registered trademarks. sec.gov. Read on 2 October 2026. Archived copy of 7 December 2025.