Earlier today, I was searching through my spam inbox and noticed a particular email that appeared to be sent from Photobucket, notifying me that they no longer allow third-party links or embedding of any images on a free account. They offered a link to upgrade to a “Plus 500” account, and even included a section reading “Are my pictures still safe?” which reads much like a ransom note rather than a Terms of Service (ToS) update! What struck me as very odd is that they used the domain name of “PBDeals.com” which looks highly suspicious – especially at first glance. In my opinion, it’s a particularly poor choice for domain name, a few steps away from “GiveUsMoneyOrYourPicturesWillNeverSeeTheLightOfDayAgainLovePhotobucket.com” 😛 .

Photobucket third-party hosting notification email

Is this for real? Considering that Gmail has already flagged it as a spam email (as with other emails from that domain), I decided to do some investigation.

The verdict? It’s for real, alright. Their cheapest paid plan (Plan 50) costs $6/month or $60/year, but their Plan 500 costs a whopping $40/month or $400/year!

Despite their unprofessional-looking email, I understand where Photobucket is coming from. Hosting is not cheap, and if their statement that 75% of their operational costs comes from free account users is true, I can see why they want to receive recurring payments in order to keep their server drives spinning. (Granted, I can’t exactly say I’m innocent, considering that I’m still on WordPress’ free tier although I am paying for three domain names over two blogs.)

Despite my feelings of sympathy for Photobucket, what I cannot understand is why they would use a domain name that is shared with their online store for esoteric cheap-looking goods. If it weren’t for the Photobucket logo in the top left-hand corner, I’d have assumed this was a spam domain and exited the site immediately; I still did, but not before taking this screenshot:

PBDeals online front page

Pretend that the Photobucket logo isn’t there. Would you stay on that site? I know I wouldn’t.

In conclusion…

Photobucket, please write your Terms of Service notifications with a little more professionalism next time! Thanks for helping me make my decision – I think I’ll stick with the free plan for now.

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