Simonscans

What it is and what it costs

Simonscans is a paid archive site built around one photographer's work. Its join page describes it as online for over 20 years and as the "archive of just one photographer shooting the best models from all over Europe". That is the site's own claim, and it frames what you are buying: a members area of photosets and videos from a single photographer, not a network of producers. The front page repeats the scale in one line, saying the site has "over 1000 models in 6000 photosets and videos" waiting in the members area.

There is a free side. The menu calls it the Free Area, and the front page is a feed of teaser posts, each one pointing visitors toward the full series behind a login with a "Members can see the full series" prompt. Everything past those previews is the paid product.

On cost, the pages are short on detail. The join page says the site offers "a range of memberships from one month to a year" and that you can join using "a wide range of payment options". It prints no price and no trial term, so the plan ladder exists in words only, 1 month at the short end and a year at the long end, and the figures appear on the biller's checkout screen once a join button is pressed.

Paying and stopping

The join page offers 3 buttons, each labeled with the biller behind it. The first reads "Join by CCBill" with "Join using credit or debit card". The second reads "Join by Epoch" with "Join using Paypal, credit or debit card". The third is again CCBill, worded "Join by using your checking account". So 2 billers appear, and PayPal is offered only through the Epoch route. The button pressed decides which company holds the billing relationship, and with it which support desk handles a later cancellation.

How the charge reads on a bank or card statement is not stated anywhere on the site, and a biller's name on a button is not the same thing as the wording on a statement.

Renewal is recurring. The terms put it plainly in the cancellation section: "For your convenience, we bill recurring, so a member should state his wish to cancel his or her membership at least 72 hours before the membership expires." The terms also say members are free to cancel at any time. The 72 hours is the number to remember, and the terms do not say what happens when notice arrives later than that. The FAQ adds a small piece of billing detail when explaining a suspended login, listing "Your 60 day membership has just expired" and "Your credit card has been declined at rebill" among the possible reasons a password stops working. It does not tie the 60 day figure to any plan on the join page, so it is not a price list or a plan length to count on.

Cancellation is done at the biller. The Cancel Membership page says "Cancelling your membership is simple. You can do it yourself at the biller you joined by", with one link for CCBill billing support and one for Epoch billing support. The FAQ's first question, "How do I cancel?", simply points to that same page. The terms also give an email contact for customer service, with representatives available between 9-5 PST, Monday through Friday.

Refunds are possible on request. The terms state "We have a no charge back policy, and refunds are possible by writing our Customer Support representatives" at the support address, and ask the member to explain the reason for dissatisfaction as clearly and concisely as possible. There is no published refund window and no stated guarantee. A separate clause limits the site's liability so that a member's sole remedy for a breach is a refund of no more than 1 month's membership fee. The privacy policy adds that in October 2026 a request to access your data "may be subject to a fee of £10". Neither is a subscription price.

Account, data and the site's rules

The pages do not describe the sign-up form itself, but the FAQ refers to a username, an email address and a password, and the privacy policy says that data collected can include what you enter on registration or purchase forms, what you send when contacting the site, and visit details such as location, traffic data and weblogs. It describes cookies as aggregate statistical data and says no identifying personal information is shared through them. It also says the site does not reveal identifiable information to advertisers, though it may share statistical visitor information, and that data may be transferred outside the European Economic Area for storing and processing, including to complete a sale or provide support. Payment and transaction details are described as encrypted. The policy offers a way to decline consent on the site and points to the support address for questions. Every page also lets the visitor accept or deny storage in 4 groups, functional, preferences, statistics and marketing, with only the functional group always on.

The FAQ sets the account rules. Membership is individual and non-transferable, and the page warns that sharing a password will be picked up by tracking software that suspends the login, while using the account from several of your own machines is described as fine. It also says that, as a rule, logins routed through Tor or other services that hide the visitor's real address are not welcome, because to the site's systems they look like one account logging in from addresses all over the world, and a member for whom they do not work is told to cancel. Anyone who always browses that way should read that answer before paying.

On the legal side, the terms state "All models depicted on this Website were over 18 when the images were created" and require members to be at least 18 or 21 depending on local age of consent. A separate 18 U.S.C. 2257 record-keeping statement names Simon Hay with a London address and says every person depicted was over 18 at the time of production. The terms say the material is owned by Simon Hay and allow download for personal use only, without removing the watermark or altering images. Governing law is stated as that of the UK. Content complaints go to a named email address, and the terms promise a good-faith investigation within 7 business days, removal if content is found unlawful or nonconsensual, and arbitration at the site's expense if a dispute over consent cannot be resolved. A separate Anti-Modern Slavery Policy says models work voluntarily, know the job beforehand, are paid fairly and on time, and can stop a shoot at any time without penalty.

The Simonscans front page called on just 2 third-party domains in October 2026, cloudflare.com and gstatic.com, across 44 requests, with no ad network in the mix and no hop to another site on load.

What the membership holds

The members area is the archive itself: over 1000 models across 6000 photosets and videos, in the site's count. The offer on the join page is "every image and video from this amazing archive", and the posts on the front page, each with a model tag and a short title, show how the material is organized, by shoot and by model, with a model index that carries a count beside each name. The site lists monthly archives for August, September and October 2026. The pages state no update schedule, video resolution, app, streaming limit or download allowance.

The terms do allow downloading for personal use, with the watermark left in place. The FAQ also says the site is interested in buying work from other photographers. The join page still presents the archive as one photographer's work.

Support runs through a form on the contact page, and the FAQ promises a human reply within 24 hours, with replies usually coming within hours except overnight UK time. A newsletter signup exists as a separate optional step and is described as going out no more than once a week.

Who it suits

Simonscans fits a buyer who values a single, consistent source and wants to know exactly which payment company sits behind the charge, because the join page names it on the button itself. It also suits someone who prefers to cancel directly with the biller instead of writing to the site, since that route is stated and linked.

It is a weaker fit for anyone who wants prices, a trial, a refund guarantee or a statement descriptor in advance, because none is printed. The 72-hour notice before expiry is a real constraint for people who like to cancel at the last minute, and the rule against masked connections matters for anyone who browses that way by default. Video is part of the archive, but the pages give it no resolution and no app.

What it does well is clarity of ownership and long history: one named operator, one source of material, a 2257 statement and an anti-slavery policy on the site, and an archive of over 20 years that keeps adding posts.