What is Shapeways?
Have you ever wanted to turn your designs into reality? Enter Shapeways! Just upload your design, we print it and ship it to you - it's easy. Between ten untill twenty-one working days depending on the material. You will hold your own product in your hands. There's more information about us in the
'About Us' section.
How is the price of a product calculated?
- ( See also:
general,
ordering,
3D designing,
materials and finishes )
The price of a product depends on the volume of material you use, calculated from the actual volume of your finished product, not the volume of its bounding box. The product detail page displays the pricing of each product. All prices include shipping and handling. Depending on your country, tax will be added.
The price per cubic centimeter differs for each material, and is listed on our
materials page. To see your model's final price, upload it to our website (you can keep it private to prevent others from seeing the model). Our software calculates the volume and price and provides that information for each material.
To reduce cost, you can
hollow out your model to reduce the volume of material used.
What payment methods do you support?
- ( See also:
general,
payments )
PayPal
We support payments through PayPal in USD and in Euro. If you don't have a PayPal account, you can also use your credit card for a one-time payment. To see if PayPal is supported in your country, check the overview on their site. To prevent fraud PayPal does not accept payments from unverified credit cards higher than the equivalent of 1000 Euro / $1,488 per individual payment. Pay Pal does not accept accumulated payments of 1300 Euro / $1,935 per year on one specific not verified credit card. To pay more than 1300 Euro / $1,935 per year through PayPal, you can open an account and get your credit card verified.
Bank transfer
We also support payments through bank transfer. You will receive an invoice by e-mail with your order when you check the ‘ payment by bank transfer’ box. Please transfer your payment to: Shapeways at:
International bank account number (IBAN): NL22RABO0102384711
Bank account holder name: Shapeways
Bank name: Rabobank Eindhoven-Veldhoven
Swift number: RaboNL2U
For payments within the Netherlands in Euro's
(use the rate of the European Bank)
Rabobank: 102384711
attn.: Shapeways
State your invoice number and account number with your payment.
Please be aware that when you pay via Bank transfer and you are not from the Netherlands. You have to pay a fee to the bank to make this international bank transfer. Within Europe everything is streamlined and costs are zero or really low (like 15 euro cents). However banks in other parts of the world might charge you with substantial transfer costs.
From the moment we receive your payment, your product will go into production and in 10 working days you will receive your plastic products by UPS. Stainless Steel based products take 14 working days to arrive, and Glass based products take 21 working days.
When you choose bank transfer you can also pay in Euro. The Euro amount will be on your invoice.
How long does it take before I get my product?
- ( See also:
general,
ordering,
shipping )
We try to get the product to you within 10 working days for plastics and sandstone. 14 working days for the metal products and 21 working days for the glass products. We count from the moment we receive your payment. This means within 10, 14 or 21 working days if you pay directly by credit card or Paypal. If you pay with an E-check on Paypal it takes 3-5 working days for your check to get cleared. You need to add these to the standard working days for the material that you order.
What is the gallery?
Here you find all products, which are uploaded by our users. For products to be visible here by others, you have to make them public, otherwise you are the only one that can see them. If you indicate that the products are not done yet, they will appear in "work in progress".
What is model state?
- ( See also:
general,
production,
3D designing )
The model state indicates whether you or the owner of the product thinks it is finished or work in progress. If the state is 'allow ordering' the product is shown in the gallery, otherwise it goes in the work in your progress area.
Do you have volume discounts?
- ( See also:
general,
ordering )
No, we do not.
Since it costs us exactly the same, per product, to produce one version of your product or a thousand versions of your product we are not able to give volume discounts.
I do not know how to 3D model, can you help me?
- ( See also:
general,
3D designing )
We have a dedicated
forum topic where you can ask Shapeways community members to model something for you.
If you would like to learn how to 3D model there are a lot of 3D modeling packages out there.
Depending on what you want to make or what type of person you are, one or more of these packages could be more suited for you.
We can recommend the following tools:
Blender, an open source free 3D animation package.
Rhino is a versatile commercial tool that exports directly to STL.
Maya is a powerful high end commercial modeling, animation and visual effects tool (think Hollywood). 3ds Max is a more accessible modeling tool made by Autodesk the same company that makes Maya. Solidworks is a 3D CAD tool that works well with Shapeways.
It will be quite an investment of time on your part before you can quickly and accurately 3D model with any of the above tools.
The ability to imagine anything, design it and then turn it into a physical product is a powerful and wonderful experience. If you can make the time and have the talent, we hope you invest it in 3D modeling!
My design looks strange in the gallery?
- ( See also:
general,
3D designing )
In our gallery we use a rendering to show you your product. This rendering has lighting effects and sometimes makes your product look quite smooth. If this is the case your product will look differently in Shapeways than it does look in your 3D modeling application.
We are working on improving our rendering technology. In the meantime however, no worries. We did not change your actual design, it is simply the rendering of your design that is different. It will print out and look as it has in your 3D modeling application.
Everything is in English?
Yes, even though we are based in the Netherlands all the information on our website is in English as we deliver orders world wide.
Our order process and our communication to you will also be in English.
I ordered a design but it can not be printed?
- ( See also:
general,
production,
ordering,
3D designing )
If a design can be uploaded successfully it is automatically checked on some critical issues, like obvious holes in the way, or if its bounding box is too big. If all is fine, the design is made available online.
When a product is ordered for the first time a manual check will be done to make sure the object is printable. Now, factors like wall thickness and detail thickness are tested, which sometimes leads to the rejection of the design. Sometimes products for sale (whether it is your own or not) can be uploaded but turn out not to be printable.
Unfortunately, we do not have an automated way of checking every single design rule, which is why we optimize and only do a thorough (manual) check for designs that are ordered, not just designs that are uploaded.
Are there prohibited products?
Explicit sexual content and weaponry look products are not accepted on Shapeways, neither private, nor public. Any file containing such content will be removed without further notice.
We are allowed to make an exception for miniature weaponry (maximum size 10cm).
How much duties or import tax do I have to pay on my Shapeways order?
If you're ordering products at Shapeways you may need to pay customs duty or import VAT/tax. What you pay and how much depends on the type of products and the country of origin and the destination. Shapeways is not responsible for these duties and VAT/tax. Be aware, there might be additional costs. To avoid surprises, please contact your
local UPS for more information regarding these duties and VAT/tax.
What are the minimum model dimensions?
- ( See also:
general,
production,
3D designing )
Each of the three dimensions (axes) of a model must be at least 2.5mm in order to upload.
For example, a model of 10 cm x 10cm x 2mm will be declined on our upload page since one of its axes fails to exceed the 2.5mm minimum.
Pieces smaller than 2.5mm x 2.5mm x 2.5mm cannot be found in our printer tray; they become lost amid the remaining powder. Nor can they be printed in metal, for similar reasons.
Does updating a model update my order?
- ( See also:
general,
ordering )
Updating a model takes a few minutes to be saved in our database. If you update one of your models with a newly uploaded file and immediately order it, you may receive the previous file. You should wait ten to fifteen minutes after updating a model before ordering it.
Further, if we have rejected an order (due to thin walls or another reason), you will have to place a new order. If you just update the file, it will not automatically update the file in the order.
Can I be assured that any project I run through your company will be treated as confidential
- ( See also:
general,
ordering,
3D designing )
Sure! You as a designer retain all your intellectual property rights in your 3D design. By uploading your 3D design, you warrant that it is your original creation and not copied from any third party and/or entity. You warrant that your User Generated Content will not infringe the intellectual property rights of third parties. Should your User Generated Content nevertheless be found to be infringing and/or in violation of any law, you will defend Shapeways against third party claims, and be held liable for all (direct and indirect) damages and costs incurred by Shapeways with respect to such claims For more information, please read: http://www.shapeways.com/terms_and_conditions
Can you sent me a quote?
- ( See also:
general,
ordering,
3D designing,
materials and finishes,
payments )
We can't give you a quote. We charge per cm3, thus per volume. The prices per cm3 varies per material. Here you can see our prices per material:
www.Shapeways.com/materials
Needless to say if you hollow out a model it will be cheaper:
http://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/creating-hollow-objects
We would like to advise you to upload the model (in private or public modus) to our website. Our software calculates the price per volume then. You will then get a price update immediately per material in your My Shapeways menu.
Holiday planning
- ( See also:
general,
ordering,
shipping )
It's never too early to prepare for the holiday season, or a fall snow storm for that matter! Here at Shapeways, we’ve been hard at work to make sure everyone receives their custom orders in time for the holidays. Please check this page to see when you need to place your order in order to have it on time for Christmas:
http://www.shapeways.com/holiday/planning
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