Buyers Name

Hello Shapeways,

Is there any update on this topic from 2009(!)?

I made my first sale (yippee!), but also to my surprise I found out there's no info about the buyer provided anywhere (or do I miss something somewhere?).

Best regards,
Robert

As far as I know, nothing has changed. There is no information that you have access to, related to the buyer.

Lincoln

Except for co-creator models...

I'm with Robert. I too just made my first sale (hooray) and it would be great to be able to get some feedback from customers. As it is, there is no mechanism to iterate and improve designs based on customer input. Hopefully Shapeways can figure out a way to facilitate this.

Hi,

I double checked with Shapeways:
"At the moment we are not looking to change the interaction between the seller and the buyer to send on the buyers information to the seller.
Shapeways differs from Etsy, Ebay and Amazon in that we are fabricating and providing the product to the buyer. Shapeways handles quality control and complaints.
In this way we can offer consistent customer service and user experience across multiple shops."

I stated as reasons why I would like to have customer information (as also mentioned in this thread already):

The first thing I would want to know about my customers is demographics.
Where are my customers coming from (country at least)?
I'm targetting certain markets, but in Google Analytics I see many hits from different markets...
but I can't map this back to the sales.

Also you would like to know if I have repeat customers or new ones mostly; this to steer the marketing efforts.

It might also be interesting to know, how they found the shop (but Shapeways doesn't know that currently either...so would have to ask I guess); again, to steer the marketing efforts.

Above info can be made available in an anonymous report form also, thus without revealing the actual (name) details of the customers (to e.g. protect privacy or maintain the "consistent user experience").

If I had many customers, you might want to consider a newsletter or so.
Or invite them for feedback / a poll related to new product development (new model examples).
I'm aware however above can be done via e.g. a Facebook group/page also.
But that requires additional action from the buyer again of course.

Cheers,
Robert

FWIW, I'm fine with how things are. I don't feel any entitlement to customer data from Shapeways.

For many customers a promise of confidentiality, that their data will not be shared with anyone, is a selling point. Maybe Shapeways likes to be able to say that; anyway it's their decision to make. This is their site, these are their customers. I can tell that because when packages don't arrive or there are issues with payment, it's Shapeways' problem and not mine. If I want a deeper relationship with customers, I can develop that on my own commerce site.

Bathsheba, I totally understand your point of view.

I don't feel entitled to any information, but I would still love to get any.

I had an order today, and I have no way of knowing if it was from someone I had promoted to using one of many different ways I am promoting my items, a friend, or someone that just happened upon the item while looking through shapeways.

Knowing what state they are from, a last name, or even initials, and what site they came from to order the item would not be enough to identify the person or contact them, but could help me in determining if I should continue the effort and money spent promoting my items here.

Lincoln
www.craftosterone.com