ViewBug

Stay away, far, far away from Viewbug. Well unless you actually like deceitful emails a couple times a week, horrid customer service, and a complete lack of honesty about the site. Too bad you can't give 0 points as a rating because that is what they should get.

So I'm a pro+ and first I thought that the site was fun, and enjoyed participating in contests and challenges... Then I started noticing how most of the contests where just full of pictures that did not fit the contest description, and how you could have fantastic pictures, spot on at the description be lower than someones shaky phonepics that barely fit in the description.. So maybe the winner was handpicked but everything else is just random. I tried to make my own challenge, and thought that that would be nice boost for getting noticed... well the issue is, you can't find the non-sponsored challenges anywhere! So even after marketing it on the forum (I'll get back to that soon) I just had 10 pictures submitted. So, even though I'm paying a silly high amount of money for "exposure and extras" I get nothing for it.. Except for a "logo" that pretty much was my name in a circle... That's quite a expensive logo.. Then the forum, starting off, the forum was full of ideas, help and shoutouts about new challenges, and it was fun. Then the tones started changing, more and more negative comments about viewbug, and how people aren't getting what they've paid for, how customer service is non-existent and how unorganized the site has become. VB responded to these with shutting down the forum without notice, so now you have no possibility to actually connect with everyone else. So now we don't have the forum to connect, the challenges are impossible to get upped, contests winners/placements are randomized but mostly I feel discouraged by having the feeling that they made enough money to just let the site die.. Even here you can see that they still tried to answer peoples comments, but not anymore.. I recommend that if you are searcing for a photography contest site, go somewhere else, this site is taking its last breaths.

I have had a free account on Viewbug for a few years, now. I have no intention of ever "upgrading," as I know the site is all about making money, not about promoting my photos. My objectives in using Viewbug are probably very different from most of its users. I regard it as a free onliine portfolio of my best photos, and to that end, being limited to posting only 10 images per week has helped me to post only my best work by forcing me to be more selective about what I post. I use my Viewbug address on the cards I hand out to people I meet and, thus, it serves the function of an online portfolio on which anyone can see my work. I'm fairly certain that most of the views I get are coming from real people I either know personally, who know me, or from real people I have met, and most are not photographers, but that's fine because an audience of nothing but photographers will have a very different viewpoint than an audience composed of people from all walks of life. Anyway, as long as my cards are out there somewhere, I know that people are being exposed to my work and it is the exposure of my work to as broad an audience as possible that I am interested in, whether I ever hear from them or not. A "comment" like "Nice shot" or just a string of emojies is meaningless to me, but hearing genuine praise from people I have talked to face-to-face and can discuss my work with is far more edifying. As for Viewbug's focus upon contests, I couldn't care less. I know the lure of winning awards and so on is how they steer you toward buying a subscription and continuing to pay for it every year. I now have approaching 2,000 images on the site and I get spam from them daily aimed at getting me to subscribe. They have even resorted to giving me an additional 10 images for the week, as a bribe, an enticement to pay for a subscription. So, sure, I'll upload 10 more images, but I'm still not buying anything because there is nothing they are selling that is of any interest to me. I'm sure that, at some point, I'll reach some limit (I haven't heard of any, yet, though) on the maximum number of images I can have on my page, and if I do, that's fine. As long as it continues to be maintained, I'll continue sending traffic to my portfolio via my cards, email links, etc.

I have been a member of this photography website for several years now. The apparent purpose of the site is to facilitate photography contests wherein prizes can be won by photographers who take the most appealing image relevant to the subject matter as determined by a "voting process" (Viewbug asks site members, especially those who take part in the contest, to vote at their leisure, so it's a biased process to begin with). Viewbug caps the number of times a photographer can enter a contest and bars entries to certain contests entirely unless you agree to pay them a monthly membership fee, which I have done. However, all site members (whether they're already paying for a membership or not) are constantly bombarded with email after email "advertising" their membership, and there is no way to opt out of receiving these emails except to completely opt out of all emails. This website has options for opting into or out of contest-related emails, "special offers", photo stats, likes, comments, "community updates", etc - there are a total of FIFTEEN types of updates you can choose to receive or not receive including one called "personal invitations" (I'll get to that in a minute), and I have opted out of every single list EXCEPT the one about contest updates for contests I've entered (not new ones, it specifies that). But, I still receive emails about membership (which I already pay for) over and over again. I've even reported this problem to them and warned them that I would be reporting it to officials if it didn't stop, and they answered me by telling me their system is literally set up to send membership offers to everyone regardless of what emails they're subscribed to. The worst part is, these offers are frequently disguised in very misleading ways. Regularly, an email will have a subject line similar to "Attention! Your photograph has been handpicked for this contest" and a link inside the email supposedly meant to facilitate my approval of the contest actually just leads to the contest page. No photograph of mine has been "selected" and there's nothing special about the exchange, it was a trick to get me to look at a contest I had no interest in entering. Furthermore, they frequently advertise flat-out lies about sales. There was recently a Labor Day sale advertised as a $600 value which actually came out to $198 at the absolute most - I literally did the math and checked, and when I addressed this with them it was just ignored, I got no response at all. This website is malicious, it's a platform to trap photographers and creative individuals by luring them in with "prizes" I'm positive nobody actually receives (the only documentation I've ever seen of supposed winners is on Viewbug's own site, nobody has ever posted elsewhere about winning anything), and then tricks them into paying money for a service that isn't real, and then constantly reminds them that they have to pay by advertising fake sales even to people who are already paying them with no opportunity to stop the advertising. It's a huge attempt to coerce people into paying for nothing. In fact, all the prizes they supposedly offer? They're supposedly "partnering" with the companies that provide them, but I've never seen a trace of evidence from any of those companies even mentioning Viewbug, which, if the point is cross-promotion, you'd think there would be at least a Tweet or something right? Nothing. Viewbug is a fraudulent service and a spam advertiser.

I love ViewBug because as a photographer, I can share my work with the world. People can leave you feedback on your photo's, you can enter photo competitions and contests to get social exposure to your name and work, plus win cool prizes like tripods, gift cards, and cameras. It's really helped build up my clientele, plus people have the options of taking a picture and paying to get it put on a canvas or print, so you can make money from your work. A passive income. Plus, I don't have to pay to be part of the community. Overall, I give ViewBug a 5 star rating. Thank you for the exposure to my photography.

There are so many things that I like about ViewBug. I am a senior with a strong passion for photography ever since I was a kid. ViewBug provides me the opportunity to keep learning from my peers, communicate with my peers and take full advantage of the enormous amount of data that the organizers of the site provide. I especially like that hundreds of thousands of photographers at every level are volunteering their time to review and award photos they judge as good. It is especially impressive to see so many photographers with inspiration scores equal or higher than their own number of awards, given that the inspiration category is a good measure of how much effort they have put into awarding others. It is that effort that has a lot to do with the site's success. The continually updated stats on our photos is extremely useful in helping us photographers figure out how we are doing. One additional piece of data I would like to see included is the percentage of peer awards relative to the total number of views for each photo. Having 35 peer awards for one photo and 20 peer awards for another for example does not mean that the one with the higher number is doing better. If the one with 35 awards has received hundreds of views while the one with 20 awards has only had 20 views the one with the 20 awards is really much better in terms of how it is being perceived. It has been not quite two years since I joined ViewBug. When it comes to being awarded the ViewBug judges and volunteers have been very generous. It definitely has kept me highly motivated. It has been a bit of a struggle, but so far I have been able to stay in the top 10 percent category in terms of popularity week after week with very few exceptions. I have acquired over 11 k awards, won over 30 challenges or been a contest finalist, and accumulated over 500,000 points. The highlight was winning a Sony a3000 camera in a photo contest where the subject was Minimalism. It felt a bit like winning the lottery given that there were over 18,000 entries. A big thank you to all the ViewBug staff and your very dedicated army of volunteers. Paul J.

I joined viewbug usingtheir promotional offer of 1 months pro membership for £6.99 But have now discovered they took £74 out claiming i purchased a years membership.. Total theives best avoided if you want to keep your money.. Total scamming dishonest

When I finally found ViewBug, after joining a lot of other art/photography and other related sites, I felt I completely belonged to this one. ViewBug is a friendly and social site for photographers and the talent here is unbelievable !!! Ranging from amateur to professional. You can earn rewards and badges which escalate you to other fun contests and peer challenges to enter. It's an awesome rewarding experience just to belong. The winning is simply a bonus.

Awesome photography, fun contests and many challenges created by other photographers. I bought the membership to get unlimited uploads and access to videos to improve my photography, and I have to say I did get a lot more than only these two benefits. Received discounts for other products, I unlocked more contests and get more points which I'm still not sure how to use or redeem but will find out. Before buying the membership I had a question and reached out to support and within 1 day, they replied and resolved my inquiry. Overall, super happy, no complains and do recommend it!

IF you're just starting in photography its a great way to get to see what other's do and and then compare your work with others and get tips from them. IF you don't win contests no big deal, you can still show your work to the world.

Viewbug is an amazing site and user-friendly; you can import your photos from Facebook, Instagram, and Flickr easily. I was wondering if they'd have an app soon and was told by their customer service rep that the app is coming out this year which will be very convenient for us all. I can't wait. Oh, their customer service was very responsive and polite btw. Great place to meet others and discuss photography. I've been a member for over 8 months now and love it!!

I have been using the website for 3 years, it's funny but of really no much use to improve with photography. I decided to not renew the premium membership and unticked automatic renewal box on my account. I didn't realize it had to be deactivated also from Paypal (why?) so today I got an unwanted payment. I'm trying since hours to talk about the issue to get my money (which I badly need!) back, I have a Case open but have no idea if and when someone will answer. It's ridiculous they have nothing like a real time chat for urgent matters at least.

Watch your credit card charges. I upgraded my ViewBug subscription in late November to "Pro+" for $79. On January 1 an unauthorized charge from ViewBug for $79 showed up on another card that I had used once a year or two ago. I contacted their Customer Support. They claimed they did not make the charge and consequently would NOT reverse the charges. I had to file a dispute with my CC company. I have since deleted ALL my pictures, website and profile on ViewBug. I do no tolerate unethical companies and ViewBug is one!!

Nothing. Not a single win, not a single mention, nothing. I've even suggested regional competitions, so that you wouldn't necessarily always feel that it you against the entire world, but the competitions the way they are now? C'mon. I'm not going to base my exposure on how much money I spend on the site. It's a waste of time. and o yes, of money.

I joined this site 2 years ago when I first got into that art and I would like to say nowhere have I seen photographers that get on so well together. If you were a member of my facebook group you would know this is not the norm. I have also pushed myself as a result of the site directly and I have done well. I would def recommend to others.

I have so much to learn and only making slow progress am always surprised, delighted and encouraged by ViewBug members awarding my images. This is awesome! Can't tell you what a lift this gives when most of the time I even struggle to decide what is good and what isn't. This site is amazing, it not only encourages its members but provides every opportunity to learn from others images it also inspires us to try out so many options. I enter contests and challenges for wider exposure and points, never thinking I would come close to achieving more than that. Thank you ViewBug. Cheers Linda49

I joined Viewbug a year ago and i, and those that have watched my progress, can honestly say that Viewbug has had a huge influence on my photography! There are all skill levels from serious proffesionals who display some fantastic art, to complete novices that have some of the best snapshots on life and the world around us. Viewbug has helped me to push myself as a keen amature photographer and viewing such a wide range of styles, my skill level has come on in leaps and bounds! Thanks Viewbug!

I am a Lite Member and LOVE IT. Viewbug gives me the opportunity to see other's work and to gather inspiration the next time I use my camera. I'm not a pro by any means. Just a person who is enjoying a hobby. Yes, I enter contest and could careless if I win...the likes and small peer awards that I am receiving give me the courage to press on and hopefully one day capture the most amazing photo ever.

I've had an account for longer than I remember and the overall experience is great. Every site i've tried has its downs and so far, this is the one with the least. There's some ambiguity in their words, but everything is visible when searching for it. I was a paid member for a while and am thinking on paying again since I'm beginning to be active on photography once more.

I remember that when I first found this site, I was enthralled. There was so much to do and try out for a photographer! Since then, however, it really hasn't improved. I would actually argue the site has declined. The biggest pull of the websites is its photo contests. This is where you are made to believe you can receive big prizes for good photography. However, this has turned into another cash grab for them. Most contests are reserved for their memberships. Finding a contest that you like and can do for free is a chore. There used to be a way to sort out the free contests from the elite ones, but now there is no way to do that. Viewbug makes you go through all of the elite contests to find a free contest, which creates a feeling of fulfillment with your free membership: a ploy to make you buy pro. If you want to showcase your photography in any way, this is not the best site for you. The only thing you will get is a lot of spam and no prizes.