_GOTOBOTTOM
Armor/AFV
For discussions on tanks, artillery, jeeps, etc.
Photobucket Announces a New Deal
165thspc
#521
Visit this Community
Kentucky, United States
Joined: April 13, 2011
KitMaker: 9,465 posts
Armorama: 8,695 posts
Posted: Thursday, January 18, 2018 - 10:35 PM UTC
Just noticed last night; Photobucket is now offering a "Non-Commercial" customer classification. This new deal offers unlimited third party posting to not-for-profit customers for $8.33 a month. ($100 per year.)

I guess the Photobucket folks finally got tired of cleaning the rotten eggs off their office windows every morning.
165thspc
#521
Visit this Community
Kentucky, United States
Joined: April 13, 2011
KitMaker: 9,465 posts
Armorama: 8,695 posts
Posted: Thursday, January 18, 2018 - 11:49 PM UTC
It is called the "PLUS 100" plan.
ayovtshev
#490
Visit this Community
Sofiya, Bulgaria
Joined: September 22, 2016
KitMaker: 1,432 posts
Armorama: 1,390 posts
Posted: Friday, January 19, 2018 - 12:15 AM UTC
Meaning: their 400-USD-a-year-sales suck, they have an ebb of users, but plenty of bad PR.

We have a saying that stipulates "Take measurements seven times before you do a single cut".

They could have done that earlier.

They have had their data, could have analyzed it(share of cross-linking to non-commercial sites vs. cross-linking to commercial sites), could have zeroed it in down to individual users and could have come up with some tailor-made offerings.
Before they messed up.




GaryKato
Visit this Community
California, United States
Joined: December 06, 2004
KitMaker: 3,694 posts
Armorama: 2,693 posts
Posted: Friday, January 19, 2018 - 12:26 AM UTC
Sign up for a month or two, retrieve anything you didn't have backed up, then go elsewhere.
165thspc
#521
Visit this Community
Kentucky, United States
Joined: April 13, 2011
KitMaker: 9,465 posts
Armorama: 8,695 posts
Posted: Friday, January 19, 2018 - 12:31 AM UTC
Angel I agree totally. I make no defense for Photobucket's corporate marketing stupidity. Whoever is the author of such a foolish tactic should be voted out of the company. The amount of bad PR they have generated for themselves is beyond measure.

On the other hand to those of us who have been using Photobucket heavily for third party hosting over the past years this should come as good news. I know I take it as good news.
Neo
Visit this Community
North Carolina, United States
Joined: January 20, 2005
KitMaker: 916 posts
Armorama: 758 posts
Posted: Friday, January 19, 2018 - 12:39 AM UTC
Interesting...
That's pretty much an admission that whatever number of paying customers they wanted to keep, they didn't get. I would love to know how many users they lost.

I never ceases to amaze me how stupid that ppl. in business can be. What kind of internet genius thought you could take a free service to $400 yr. an one step ?
Poopbucket said they had 100 million users, so we know its about 1/3 of that. If they had started a hosting plan for 60 US dollars year (5 per month) who would have not gone for that? Who wants to spend 100's hours download and re-uploading their pics to new sites? And then re-linking ? Ppl are busy (lazy), they would have gone for it!
30 Million users at $60 would have been 1.8 billion year (that's about 3 times what they make now).

Q: Who's going to close their new free Imgur account and go back to The Bucket for $100 yr ?

165thspc
#521
Visit this Community
Kentucky, United States
Joined: April 13, 2011
KitMaker: 9,465 posts
Armorama: 8,695 posts
Posted: Friday, January 19, 2018 - 12:44 AM UTC
Gary the cloud storage of any photos you may have uploaded to Photobucket has always been free and remains so. If you currently have anything stored in Photobucket you can still download it back to your computer at no charge.

The topic of third party hosting has been the bone of contention not the free storage.
HeavyArty
Visit this Community
Florida, United States
Joined: May 16, 2002
KitMaker: 17,694 posts
Armorama: 13,742 posts
Posted: Friday, January 19, 2018 - 12:44 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Sign up for a month or two, retrieve anything you didn't have backed up, then go elsewhere.



Why?? You still have full access to all your pictures, they just don't allow linking them to other websites, like Armorama. If you need to copy or to back them up, you can still do that without paying a dime.

$8.33 a month doesn't sound like too bad a deal, esp. since I have been moving, buying a new house, setting up the new hobby room, etc. since they shut down the free linking and haven't started with a new photo hosting site. Might just have to give them the money and go the easy way.
ayovtshev
#490
Visit this Community
Sofiya, Bulgaria
Joined: September 22, 2016
KitMaker: 1,432 posts
Armorama: 1,390 posts
Posted: Friday, January 19, 2018 - 12:47 AM UTC
I agree totally with you,Mike!

I don't see you as PB defender, but as a user, who had the misfortune to be held hostage-by the shear size of his archive-till PB found out there are people that do not make money by cross-linking.

Reason prevails in PB-and that's really a good news!



retiredyank
Visit this Community
Arkansas, United States
Joined: June 29, 2009
KitMaker: 11,610 posts
Armorama: 7,843 posts
Posted: Friday, January 19, 2018 - 01:20 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Q: Who's going to close their new free Imgur account and go back to The Bucket for $100 yr ?




Exactly. Check PB out, now. It still takes 9 clicks to get through all the pop-ups.
RobinNilsson
Staff MemberTOS Moderator
KITMAKER NETWORK
Visit this Community
Stockholm, Sweden
Joined: November 29, 2006
KitMaker: 6,693 posts
Armorama: 5,562 posts
Posted: Friday, January 19, 2018 - 03:28 AM UTC
There is also the old proverb:
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

I deleted my PB-account and have started using another service instead. Don't think I feel inclined to spend money to get extra work again. If you kick your customers where the sun doesn't shine you should not be surprised if they go elsewhere.

They had some reason for blocking direct linking, maybe they were losing money, maybe they thought they had their customers well and truly locked up and could start cashing in. Surprise! Customers left (at least the majority).
Time for a new decision.
If their other sources of revenue had been sufficient (advertising and selling copies of Your phots and My photos) they would never have gone this route.
I think that their business model is flawed and I doubt that the drastically lowered price will be sufficient.
I think that PB is sinking ....

Maybe someone should have asked the decision makers at PB if they are sure they want to ride this train
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKWq-1reVGQ

/ Robin
165thspc
#521
Visit this Community
Kentucky, United States
Joined: April 13, 2011
KitMaker: 9,465 posts
Armorama: 8,695 posts
Posted: Friday, January 19, 2018 - 01:00 PM UTC
This new $100 non-commercial package includes foregoing the constant ad pop-ups!
cheyenne
Visit this Community
New Jersey, United States
Joined: January 05, 2005
KitMaker: 2,185 posts
Armorama: 1,813 posts
Posted: Friday, January 19, 2018 - 04:49 PM UTC
They can put on all the hundred dollar lipstick they want , they'll never screw me a second time ..............
120mmSniper
Visit this Community
Texas, United States
Joined: May 02, 2004
KitMaker: 157 posts
Armorama: 103 posts
Posted: Friday, January 19, 2018 - 07:38 PM UTC
Check out www.fotki.com I've had a paid account there for about 17 years. Never had a problem. It's also a lot less than $100/yr. Their main page has had an offer for "Photobucket victims" for several months.

barrowb98
Visit this Community
Alabama, United States
Joined: April 20, 2015
KitMaker: 119 posts
Armorama: 119 posts
Posted: Friday, January 19, 2018 - 07:48 PM UTC
I've never paid a dime for any photo storage. I had free Fotki but they pulled the same paid stunt years before PB. I can't even access those photos now. You can use Facebook for photohosting but their compression does a number on the quality. I've also used Flickr, Google Photos (used to be Picasa), now I use Imgur. All free, all work.
j76lr
Visit this Community
New Jersey, United States
Joined: September 22, 2006
KitMaker: 1,081 posts
Armorama: 1,066 posts
Posted: Friday, January 19, 2018 - 08:51 PM UTC
screw photo bucket !!!!
Klaus-Adler
Staff MemberCampaigns Administrator
MODELGEEK
Visit this Community
Scotland, United Kingdom
Joined: June 08, 2015
KitMaker: 1,505 posts
Armorama: 840 posts
Posted: Friday, January 19, 2018 - 09:35 PM UTC

Quoted Text



Q: Who's going to close their new free Imgur account and go back to The Bucket for $100 yr ?




Amen to that!

Well done PB for alienating your users, just wondering how much revenue they have lost through advertising with people not coming to their site to look other people's images that were hosted on sites like this?

Imgur all the way for me folks!
barkingdigger
Staff MemberAssociate Editor
ARMORAMA
#013
Visit this Community
England - East Anglia, United Kingdom
Joined: June 20, 2008
KitMaker: 3,981 posts
Armorama: 3,403 posts
Posted: Friday, January 19, 2018 - 09:43 PM UTC
All my PB images were reduced copies for easy illustration in forums, so losing the links wasn't painful enough to warrant spending money. I chose the "Go Away" deal, which is still more appealing than any ransom they can come up with!
Removed by original poster on 05/13/19 - 21:55:44 (GMT).
KurtLaughlin
Visit this Community
Pennsylvania, United States
Joined: January 18, 2003
KitMaker: 2,402 posts
Armorama: 2,377 posts
Posted: Saturday, January 20, 2018 - 12:00 AM UTC

Quoted Text

I've also used Flickr, Google Photos (used to be Picasa), now I use Imgur. All free, all work.



For now. I'm sure you'll be cursing them in due time.

KL
barrowb98
Visit this Community
Alabama, United States
Joined: April 20, 2015
KitMaker: 119 posts
Armorama: 119 posts
Posted: Saturday, January 20, 2018 - 12:48 AM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

I've also used Flickr, Google Photos (used to be Picasa), now I use Imgur. All free, all work.



For now. I'm sure you'll be cursing them in due time.

KL


I doubt it. Imgur is its own community, it's more like social media than a photo host. Flickr has Yahoo behind it. Google is, well, Google.
justsendit
Visit this Community
Colorado, United States
Joined: February 24, 2014
KitMaker: 3,033 posts
Armorama: 2,492 posts
Posted: Saturday, January 20, 2018 - 01:57 AM UTC
Dear Photobucket, Screw you guys!!!🤮
Neo
Visit this Community
North Carolina, United States
Joined: January 20, 2005
KitMaker: 916 posts
Armorama: 758 posts
Posted: Saturday, January 20, 2018 - 03:07 AM UTC

Quoted Text


I've also used Flickr, Google Photos (used to be Picasa), now I use Imgur. All free, all work.

For now. I'm sure you'll be cursing them in due time.

KL




Not if:
News Flash - June 2018
Imgur "Guys we need some cash. Server farms and bandwidth are not free and killing us.
It will be $5 - 6 month for a personal account and $12 - 20 for a commercial account that links to Amazon & EBay.
That starts Jan 1 , 2019. Hope you stay but you have six months to decide."

IF:
They are honest and upfront, they axe for a reasonable amount and they give user a reasonable amount of time (so they don't pull a PBucket ransom) who would not stay.
We all know some day the free stuff on the internet wont be. Only the giants can make enough money from add revenue.
It's been a nice ride but we will have to pay at some point...


barrowb98
Visit this Community
Alabama, United States
Joined: April 20, 2015
KitMaker: 119 posts
Armorama: 119 posts
Posted: Saturday, January 20, 2018 - 03:53 AM UTC
Imgur is one of the giants, they're the 11th most visited site in the world.
120mmSniper
Visit this Community
Texas, United States
Joined: May 02, 2004
KitMaker: 157 posts
Armorama: 103 posts
Posted: Saturday, January 20, 2018 - 04:39 AM UTC
The problem with many free hosting sites is that they have a very limited amount of storage. The user will replace photos since they can only store a limited number, then when you read the how-to article on weathering a tank, the pictures are of little Joey's 3rd birthday party, or "Image no longer available". That sucks. Paid hosting can be 18 bucks a year. That's 1/3 the price of one tank model.
 _GOTOTOP