Probably we have, unreasonably, come to expect everything for free ....
I would hardly call the current Photobucket environment "Free". You get hounded - and I do mean
hounded - with advertising when you are trying to do the simplest of things on their site.
As a classic example, when I tried to read the announcement about their updated terms and conditions, I had to clear 3 ads out of the way so I could read it all.
Some people will have so much invested in their image stock on Photobucket, they will
have to kowtow - at least in the short term. But such tactics by Photobucket are going to cause them grief on a scale they are going to regret.
I know an eBay seller who would have 3,000 - 4,000 images on Photobucket that are in active listings. If this switch drops out of the sky, they are going to be very unhappy. I can see them paying the fee to keep the images functional - for only as long as it takes to switch over to an alternate host, when they will clear out their PB account and send it into oblivion.
You also have to wonder about collusion. EBay have been pushing for sellers to host their images on eBay, so those images can become part of the eBay "catalogue", I believe.
Does anyone know if eBay and Photobucket have any connections?