Hey Shapeways,
Firstly, I love the amount of communication we as Sellers and Buyers both receive. Uploaded, Processed, Confirmed, Sent to Printer, Shipped, etc. All very useful things to be aware of, and all very much appreciated.
But I was wondering if Shapeways could take it to the next level.
Firstly, there's some confusion (with myself and other sellers, I'm sure) as to what exactly happens in what order. As I understand it, things happen generally in this order:
A customer (or seller) orders a product
Shapeways checks the model for printability
If it passes, it is sent to printing facility
The model is checked again by the facility workers
If it passes, the model is queued for printing
The model is printed
The model is shipped
As it stands, we get useful but also somewhat vague emails, such as 'Your product has been sent to the factory'. I'm not exactly sure where that email falls in this order. It passed the first check, surely, but has the second check been performed? Am I wrong to believe there even IS a second check? I know I'd had models rejected AFTER being 'sent to the factory' so someone must be checking them again.
I would love to see a progress bar, or a checklist, or something similar on each of our orders, that indicates which step in the process the model is currently at. Obviously this would necessitate quite an overhaul of interior communication as well, so I'm certainly not asking for something like this overnight. But a more precise and definite indication of just exactly where our model is would be very much appreciated.