Are any premium link placements/paid links useful?

[KnutDSvendsen]

Paid links

[StalkerB]

Well, no more so than normal links, but certainly no less assuming that the search engines don't detect that they're paid for.

So if the link would be useful without being paid for then it'll be useful even if you have to pay for it, only difference is that paying for links is against the guidelines and getting caught would get you in trouble

[E-dreamz]

A link is a link is a link.

Throw the right anchor text in there and it will be more powerful.