New price structure

I have only just started at shapeways and have made about 5 orders, mostly single objects like rings, and to me it seems (though my calculations could be wrong) that for the ring that cost $40 to print in silver and deliver previously to Australia will now cost $90 (over 100% increase).. that does seem a little excessive of an increase, and this may be the end of shapeways for me is most of my designs.... though just now i am ordering another ring and in the checkout it still says $40 including delivery and it is the 1st october... have the new prices kicked in yet?

New pricing vomes into effect from 8am EST (roughly 5 hours from the time of this post)

If you're in Australia maybe give Ponoko a try. I think they do silver and shipping should be cheaper for you.

Glenn

I think I may need to try ponoko. They are more expensive listed on there price but cheaper to my door.

Shapeways is super expensive now.

1cc of silve: $50
shiping: $16.50($6.50 from shapeways another $10 from UPS direct)
thats $75.50 for 1cc. Now if they would just offer USPS from the states shipping would only cost me $10 or so. $4 if they gave me an option to just stick it in an envelope because it is not very fragile.

I totally agree with you mctrivia. It's Shapeways insistance on only using UPS that's killing me. I really think that I may have been priced out of buying from SW and then selling elsewhere online - at least to any appreciable amount of sales to make it worthwhile.

I think I'm going to look at what others have suggested here: Get a nice ring or pendant made up in one of the acrylics and take it to a jeweller to get their prices for making a mold and multiple copies in silver.

Glenn

there are places that will do your wax printing and casting. you don't have to get the plastic at shapeways either.

I did see mentioned in a blog comment that they are working on USPS shipping options.

I was of the understanding that the minimum order of $20 was to make it cost effective for Shapeways to ship smaller orders, so how about orders under $20 you must pay shipping, orders over $20 shipping is free like it used to be.

That way Shapeways will make enough to cover their shipping costs on orders under $20 and on orders over $20 it'll still be cost effective for Shapeways to provide the free shipping.

Or if Shapeways are after fewer but bigger orders then why not raise the free shipping cap to $30 or $40?

Would that not make more sense?

SERIOUS pricing error on Co-creators!!

Going through and editing my markups with the new price structure today. Too many bugs in the CSV tool for me too deal with so doing them manually. Then I realized this error. don't know if it was already reported but it needs to be fixed right away.

Currently shapeways is listing the price on all my co-creator models by figuring the price on the uploaded model and NOT the MAXIMUM VOLUME I entered in the co-creator template. Many of my designs are showing up cheaper when you look at the model or my store front, and then jump to the correct price only after one clicks on the model to purchase it. Basically they are being advertised at a false lower price and this will surely confused and upset new shoppers.

Guys.. I love the idea of Shapeways. Really I do. If you guys were to go private I'd love to by some stock in the company. But this level of serious bugs lately has really got me concerned like a lot of others lately.

You guys are talking about major changes and weekly updates in the future... Here's my question.... What is the rush? I know there's always going to be bugs from time to time and I am all for improvements and updates, but come on guys whats the big push? I think if you guys just slow down the changes these days and do a bit more testing it would make EVERYONE a lot happier.

i think you have it backwards. they were only making back their shipping on orders UNDER $25 (the minimum). I don't think it's unreasonable for us to pay for shipping. i think the problem here is with UPS, not with shapeways. UPS blows chunks.

yes, thankfully someone did say they are working on it.

USPS priority flat rate boxes and padded envelopes start cheaper than these UPS rates, and that's not remotely the cheapest option through them. for larger shipments UPS makes sense. for smaller ones, it doesn't. as long as we are given options, it will be fine.

Hopefully that will happen relatively soon. USPS is clearly a superior option w/i the states for smaller shipments. plus they're in danger of going out of business so lets support them.

Having dealt with UPS about 25 times in the last week i can say that they have the worst customer service i've ever dealt with-- which is saying a lot. even when you get through to a person they never seem to know anything about anything. it's incredible. and that's if you're lucky enough to get someone who is in the US-- half the time it's like talking to a door. though i like my local delivery guy, i'm on a mission to get them out of my life entirely. sorry to rang. it was really a miserable experience. worse than verizon and time warner combined.

@Bluelinegecko This bug with co-creators was already present in the old product inventory management (don't know if it has ever been fixed there). That's why I always try to upload the model that has the maximum volume (for instance a die without numbering).
Perhaps in the meantime you can upload a model with the appropriate volume (even if it is a cube). Just a workaround though, the bug has to be fixed.

Hear, hear. I have wasted two whole afternoons trying to update my pricing (I have no co-creator models). I have a batch of brand new models to upload, which I have promised to expectant customers, at a costly enough price.

On the very weekend we have a major pricing update, I find Product Inventory Management NOT WORKING. When I add new markups, the total price vanishes, and nothing uploads to the model page. So after two days, I abandon that, and just put flat markup figures directly onto the model page, which refuses to show me the final Euro price, just a useless price ex sales tax and VAT.

THEN I find that even THOSE markups are not saving, and when I log out and check, the earlier price is STILL there.

Shapeways, this is a load of nonsense. I love the service, and absolute kudos for the excellent customer service on the ground. But whoever is in charge of the web facilities needs a kick up the backside, because the whole thing, as far as I can see, is an unmitigated disaster. Every single thing that has been changed has not worked, or has been as flawed and inconvenient as it could be, and I have wasted whole days struggling to understand the new arrangements. If I cannot figure it out, then what hope in hell have occasional customers I might win?

Who decided to initiate a major pricing review the same week that the website and pricing facilities are in a complete state of flux and disrepair?

Shapeways priority right now is to draw a line under these ridiculous changes. Take five days, and guarantee us that in five days this will all be fixed permanently and securely, or if not, will revert to the original design, which at least worked, given it's own limitations. I want to advertise models for sale to customers, and I certainly do not want them coming back complaining that I am advertising one price and they are paying something else.

I'm actually excited about the silver prices. Most of my models went down in price and the ones that went up only did so by a few dollars. Yes, I have to add shipping costs to my total, but if I place a large order, the shipping cost will be spread out over all the pieces and become negligible. I think this will help people who want to resale elsewhere.

Obviously shapeways needs to add usps options for smaller orders and their international clients.

Ponoko does not offer silver (I couldn't find it) and SW is still cheaper than i.materialize. You could save money by having them cast at a foundry of course but for 3d printing I think the prices are still on target.

Edit - Of course I'm not happy with the stainless steel prices, for the quality I'll just forgo the material all together or shop elsewhere, that increase seemed a little steep.

Wow... I can't see why a bug like this isn't at the top of their priority list.

If my co-creator was different sized rings, etc., then I could.upload a max volume model. Unfortunately most of my co-creators (pet tags, pendants, etc) have engraved text. Therefore a blank tag has the most volume and a rendering of that I don't feel shows the item the way it needs to be presented.

I'm not about to waste that much time re-uploading a bunch of models that don't show the items to their potential when this should be a simple fix for shapeways to make sure the server is reading the appropriate volume, only to have to change them again once the bug is fixed.

Just another example of what I was saying about moving to quickly. Why are we getting updates on the way the forums and all look when these bugs haven't been fixed?

I made a small ring: old price was $ 3,40. With the new pricing system its $ 8,72. Also I have to add $ 9,50 for shipping!

...Now I get two small rings for $ 26,94.
...Yesterday I got 8 for nearly the same price.

If you are specialized in small objects like rings, this will certainly kill your business.

I understand that its sometimes necessary to increase pricing a little, but nearly 400% is not cool!

anyone at shapeways-

i'm still not clear on the steel "handling" aka startup fee. if i made a really complex and large steel model, wouldn't it have more sprues than a small one? wouldn't it require more complex cleaning and processing? if i put 2 rings in a file, therefore dividing the startup between the two, i realize i am doubling the work for you in theory, but is it really twice as hard to handle two small rings as it is to handle- say- one of bathsheba's large sculptures?

can someone explain this to me?

erica

Hi Erica,

You are right there are some parts of the Stainless Steel labor process that does increase with size, such as the stilts you mention. That is indeed baked into the /cm3 price. However, there are handling costs baked into processes like placing file optimally in tray, which is really size agnostic; sorting items after they come out of the tumbler, which is size agnostic as well. Like many simple models, it doesn't capture 100% of the use cases, but it does capture a good amount of them.

Second, there are bigger structures that require less stilts due to the nature of the model's geometry. From what I understand, the stilts to model ratio is not exactly a linear formula (ie 1 stilt/1 cm3).

Also with processes like depowdering, smaller structures tend to be more fragile, which means more time but also higher breakage rate. Breakage => reprinting => more printer time, more material => most cost.

I hope that clears up some of the mystery. Let me know if you have any more questions?

Thanks,
Nancy