Photo Sharing-Photobucket.com

As I became more serious about selling on ebay I discovered that I could be much more creative using HTML code and that I could have as many pictures as I wanted in an auction or store item if the pictures were hosted somewhere else (off of ebay). So I began to sign up with myspace, msn spaces (now spaces.live) and the like (this blog site) only to find out that you could not store pictures at these site-in fact these sites depended on an outside site to host pictures. Some of those sites have changed thier policies and do allow you to store pics, but usually the space is limited. I was stumped for a bit. Those that pay to host a website know how valuable the storage space is-usually about $100/yr for about 500mb.

Then a myspace user told me about photobucket. Photobucket is simply a site where you can upload pictures and then share them with others-either by using a blog or a myspace site to display the pictures or by offering someone an address to where your photo is on the Photobucket site. This is called photosharing and it has become VERY popular on the internet.

The advantage of using a photosharing site is that you can host pictures online for free-think of it as free storage, free space. And most of these sites offer quite a bit of space-a GB or more! Another advantage is that you can use a single location to organize your pictures. You can usually create folders or albums. And then of course you can share your photos with loved ones and friends. To meet my goal I signed up with Photobucket and was able to put the location of those pictures into my ebay code and the pictures showed up in auctions and store items without having to pay an additional ebay fee! SWEET. Others sign up with a myspace or a blog site (such as this one, blogspot) and can display pictures.

Photo sharing sites may have much in common but they are not all ceated equal. Most of the free photosharing sites offer their free photosharing services because they sell ads on their website. Selling ads on websites have been around for a long time and is continuing to be very big business. Photobucket is a heavy with ads-and that is why they can offer their service for free. Most offer an upgraded service for a small fee-then you can get rid of the adds. All photo sharing sites offer some sort of interface for you to select pictures from your computer and then upload them to the photo sharing site. And all photo sharing sites offer methods of sharing your photos. Some sites stop there and others offer many additional pay services-such as ordering prints, creating a bound photo album, creating pretty cool digital displays, and even ordering stuff with your pictures on it. Pay-as in these extra services cost money, and that is another way the sites can offer their services for free. And many of their services are at a really great price!

http://www.photobucket.com/
Photobucket offers image hosting, free photo sharing and video sharing. Upload your photos, host your videos, and share them with friends and family. It was founded in 2003 by Alex Welch and Darren Crystal and received funding from Trinity Ventures. It is free to sign up, you get 1GB of space and are allowed 25GB of monthly bandwidth. Photobucket has 36 million registered users and adds 85,000 new users per day.

Most of the free photosharing sites offer their free service because they sell ads on their website. Selling ads on websites have been around for a longt time and is continuing to be very big business. Photobucket is a heavy with ads-and that is why they can offer their service for free.

Photobucket is the first site that was recommended to me. They allow you to not only upload pictures but also upload videos and movies. I actually have more than one photobucket account. Photobucket also offers some simple but cool ways to display your pics. My picture to the left is an exmple of a Photobucket stamp. Below are pictures of my minivan after a deer kicked its butt (notice the Kung-Fu-HIY YAH!). In my previous posts I have used Photobucket Strips.

Stats at a glance for http://www.photobucket.com/:

• Cost: Free with lots of ads
• Upgrade: $25 a year (no ads, more space a few more services)
• Storage: 1GB of space
• Software: none
• What sets this site apart: Offers free video hosting

Next time I will talk about Shutterfly.com. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photo_sharing for more info on photo sharing.

-Durk-