Photobucket's Latest Offer; is it real?

[BobPalma]

OK, all; we know Photobucket tried to get $399.99 per year for full access that would permit third-party hosting, like here. I never got around to pursuing another photo hosting site and let the matter fall off the radar.

Three times now, I've had an e-mail offer to "please come back" for only $99.95 per year with third-party hosting. The offer looks real; has anyone else received it and if so, taken them up on it?

Thanks. BP

[Stude Shoo-wop!]

I personally have never seen this offer but, knowing Photobucket, there is a catch involved...I'm gonna stay far away.

[fpstude]

I have not received the e-mail offer. I wonder if it would include the return of your photos to posts where you now get the ugly "Please update your account . . ." notice? I've become used to posting photos where you click to enlarge.

[8E45E]

Three times now, I've had an e-mail offer to "please come back" for only $99.95 per year with third-party hosting. The offer looks real; has anyone else received it and if so, taken them up on it?

I suspect once they lure you back in, it will be back up to $399.95 next year.

Don't the big-circulation magazines do the same thing to get one back? If there is no response with the first & second renewal letters, the third is usually a half-price or less deal.

Craig

[Gunslinger]

I've received several emails from Photobucket detailing their new options but I simply delete them. I've switched the imgbb which is free and pretty easy to use. Photobucket is yesterday as far as I'm concerned. There's always someone out there hungry for our business...willing to do it as good or better and cheaper. There's no need to show loyalty to a company that shows no loyalty to its customers.

The free market is a wonderful thing...it shakes out the greedy and inefficient.

[jclary]

Funny...after I cancelled my local newspaper, they have flooded me with discount offers. Mail, e mail, and telephone solicitations. Whenever they call, I try to engage them in conversation, to let them know my disdain for their amoral agenda that attempts to normalize bad behavior that degrades societal decorum. I let them know that I can do that myself without paying them money for assistance.

Seriously, like Photobucket, why should I pay them to provide a service others are offering for free!? Like newspapers, what can they give you (these days), that is not available (quicker) through electronic methods? Here, on this forum, the only section requiring an "online host," is the "stovehuggers" forum. As long as I can work around this without having to pay anyone, I am happy with that. When that is no longer an option, I will adapt.

[Chris Pile]

Right after they began this ill-fated extortion racket they are on, they offered me a year's subscription for $39. Since I have thousands of pictures there, I paid it. My intent is that now I have a year to move my photos, and after that - they can go to blazes.

[RadioRoy]

Remember the "free for life" checking accounts that banks and credit unions would offer occasionally? Turns out that the "life" was not the life of the customer, but rather the life of the offer. In other words, until the institution decided to rescind the offer.

[jclary]

Remember the "free for life" checking accounts that banks and credit unions would offer occasionally? Turns out that the "life" was not the life of the customer, but rather the life of the offer. In other words, until the institution decided to rescind the offer.

That reminds me, I had a GT Hawk that needed new mufflers. That was back in the early 1980's. A local muffler shop sold and installed new dual exhausts with a "Lifetime Guarantee." It was also a Texaco service station. Sure 'nuff, a few years later, my mufflers rusted and he honored the deal. Now, the Hawk is long gone, so is the business (and the owner). Instead, there is a Walgreens Drug store where the muffler shop/service station used to be.

I have a Tom Tom GPS unit. My wife bought it for me about ten years ago. It came with "Lifetime Free Map Updates." Last month, I got a notice that the "Life" of the old model had ended, and was no longer supported by the new technology. They offered a discount on a new GPS unit with "Lifetime Free Map Updates." So now, I understand that "Lifetime" has different meanings. Like printed newspapers, dedicated GPS units are not as important as they once were. My "smart phone" (iPhone) has several "apps" that exceed the performance of dedicated GPS units and therefore obviate the need for a separate gadget. Instead of buying another "Lifetime" Tom Tom...I merely killed them off my gadget list.

[rockne10]

... amoral liberal agenda ...

So much for keeping politics out of the forum.

[jclary]

So much for keeping politics out of the forum.

OOPS!...I'm sorry, I should have left out the word "Liberal." So, I edited it.

(Now...if I could just locate where I misplaced my "PC safe space")

[BobPalma]

OOPS!...I'm sorry, I should have left out the word "Liberal." So, I edited it.

(Now...if I could just locate where I misplaced my "PC safe space")

Good one, John. BP

[Studedude]

If a $39. deal is still available, I'd be tempted to sign up, just so I could recover my pictures that the thieves are holding hostage. OTOH, I'm more accustomed to arresting extortionists, rather than paying ransom.

[BobPalma]

If a $39. deal is still available, I'd be tempted to sign up, just so I could recover my pictures that the thieves are holding hostage. OTOH, I'm more accustomed to arresting extortionists, rather than paying ransom.

Oh, how I wish you could, Dave! BP

[DEEPNHOCK]

I never leave my pic's, as the 'only' pic's with a photo hoster.
Usually, buried somewhere in their EULA, there is a copyright or ownership detail that stinks.
After Webshots sold out, I was able to get my pic's back, but they were just copies of what is in my files.
Now... When Photobucket pulled their extortion, no pic's were lost, but the busting of all the links sucked.
When $400 in ransom hasn't worked, they will take $100 annually?
Screw that.. I go to Photobucket and kill off albums after they have been recreated over on Imgur (free and easy.....so far)...
Screw the old links. Most people don't really follow them anyways...
Make new links. Tell the same story all over again. It's the American way!

If a $39. deal is still available, I'd be tempted to sign up, just so I could recover my pictures that the thieves are holding hostage. OTOH, I'm more accustomed to arresting extortionists, rather than paying ransom.