PhotoWorks Shutting Down (Good Sales & A Good Lesson)

The photo-site PhotoWorks is closing down. After April 4, PhotoWorks customers will no longer be able to access their photo projects. As part of the shutdown, PhotoWorks is offering to transfer their customer’s photos to Shutterfly and give them a $30 certificate to buy Shutterfly merchandise. According to the site, images not transferred to Shutterfly will be deleted.  You can’t buy an DVD archive of your PhotoWorks photos, nor can you download them to your computer. But if you transfer them to Shutterfly, you can buy back your own images on a disc if you so choose.

While PhotoWorks unravels, they’re offering 25 percent off every photo product on the site. The offer is only good for PhotoWorks customers, however, since they’re not accepting new uploads.

The demise of PhotoWorks is instructive: if you were counting on them to store your photos for the long-term, you’d have been disappointed. That’s why you should not ultimately relay on an online service alone to secure your photographs.