There are at least two reasons that I need this feature.
1. I custom design certain products for customers and rather than having Shapeways ship the product to me and then I ship to the customer, it would be better if the customer order directly from Shapesways.
You might said customers can always order from Shapeways directly. But what if the customer only want the product for himself/herself, because him/her is paying for the development fee? Now, once I set the item to be public order-able, everyone can order.
2. I am going into joint venture with other partners. After I design something, the partner would add another part or service to my product before reselling. So again my partner should be able to order directly from Shapeways and the product should not be accessible to others during the process because it is not a finished product and also violates the secrecy of the product.
The above also leads to other copy right questions. If I custom design an item for a customer and because him/her is paying for the development, the final rights of the item will be transfered to him/her. Okay, if the customer then put the product up for sale in his/her own Shopways shop, will him/her get in trouble because Shapeways discovered that the same item is being ordered form my own shop before (during development and testing)?
And what is to stop me secretly uploading the same item to Shapways and order it to be sold somewhere else? (If I do not made the item public, the customer won't know, right?) Or Shapeways has already some measures to control such practices?
CGD