Shipping Update

Discussion in 'Official Announcements' started by virginia_gordon, Aug 31, 2017.

  1. virginia_gordon
    virginia_gordon Shapeways Employee Community Team
    Hi Everyone!

    We’re writing to let you know that shipping prices from Shapeways may be changing in your area. Shipping costs via our third party carriers have changed over time, and we will be updating our prices to reflect this.

    Costs in some countries will drop, and in other countries will rise. We are happy that we are able to lower shipping costs for many countries, and we hope that this price reduction will help make your 3D printing creations more affordable.

    For Shapeways members in countries where shipping costs may be rising, we understand that having to pay higher shipping costs is disappointing, and can be a barrier in ordering. We want to work with you to find ways to make your shipping more affordable. Please feel free to share any feedback with us around this.
     
  2. mkroeker
    mkroeker Well-Known Member
    Is it just me, or wouldn't it be useful to have some indication of when and where and by how much ? Or do you expect the increase to be so painful for everyone except the Outer Mongolians that you'd rather not risk a rush of last minute orders with the current shipping rates ? This "happy we are able to lower costs for many ... but costs may be rising for others" marketing speak has not gone down too well when you repriced various materials lately.
     
  3. 3401_deleted
    3401_deleted Well-Known Member
    "Costs in some countries will drop" => U.S., a lot of free shipping coupons can be found on the net.

    "and in other countries will rise." => EU countries and ROW, as Shapeways seems unfortunately to be caring for the U.S. market only.
     
  4. Hi @mkroeker and @fx,

    Thank you for pointing out that the announcement was vague! Yes, we definitely understand these concerns.

    I'm sorry to hear that you feel that we are using marketing speak or that you feel that there has been a preference for the US market. That is not the tone of the message that we intended, nor is giving preference to any one place the purpose of these adjustments.

    Any changes that are taking place are dependent on changes with the costs of our third party carriers, as we have not reviewed these for a while. We are issuing adjustments for shipping to every country in the world. Some countries will be going up, others will be going down, and some countries will stay the same.

    Because we will be adjusting prices globally, these changes will take place in the coming weeks and months. If there will be an adjustment of shipping prices in your area, you will receive an email about this according to your location when these changes occur. Sorry for leaving that important information out of the initial announcement!

    We just wanted to make sure you were aware that there may be a change in your costs going forward, so that you will not be taken by surprise. You will be notified directly if these changes affect your area.

    Up-to-date information on shipping prices is available here: Shipping Information

    If you have any further questions around this, please let us know.
     
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2017
  5. mkroeker
    mkroeker Well-Known Member
    I suspect shop owners are likely to be affected by shipping price changes outside their home country... just a thought.
     
  6. EvieL
    EvieL Well-Known Member
    Did Shapeways started to use UPS mail innovation for standard shipping recently for U.S. customers? I recently placed an order and it took longer than what I was use to. Just wanted to know if this was a one off or should I expect a longer turnaround time going forward for standard shipping option?
     
  7. Ontogenie
    Ontogenie Well-Known Member
    I placed an order yesterday and my shipping dropped from 5.54 Euro to 4.22 Euro! Happiness here in Germany. :)
     
  8. Malwen
    Malwen Well-Known Member
    You're lucky! Postage to the UK is currently over double that. I'm sure I would order more frequently if postage was significantly cheaper.
     
    FerretDesigns likes this.
  9. stannum
    stannum Well-Known Member
    What rate then and now? Euro wasn't so high since ~2014. German exporters not happy.
    Last year for the pound hasn't been great.

    Info page still says 6.50/11.50 for Germany and 9.50 for UK. Dollars and without VAT (UK one is a bit higher than Germany's).
     
  10. Ontogenie
    Ontogenie Well-Known Member
    Ouch, sorry to hear that!
     
  11. Ontogenie
    Ontogenie Well-Known Member
    You're right, it doesn't make sense, but that's what I paid. Perhaps the shipping info page hasn't been updated yet?
     
  12. 104516_deleted
    104516_deleted Well-Known Member
    Hey Evie, yes we recently switched to UPS Mail Innovation but it should not create any impact on the delivery. So this experience should be a one-off. In case you do experience it again, please tell our Customer Service team via service@shapeways.com and we can advise.

    Cheers,
    Ruud
     
    EvieL likes this.
  13. fakebusker83
    fakebusker83 Member
    Residing in Asia, we have been paying $19.99 and haemorrhaging cash all this while since we place orders ever so often to restock our brick and mortar shop as well as for prototyping. Now that fees are raised to $26 for us, I think it's going to be untenable for me to continue printing with Shapeways. It has been a good journey this last bunch of years and I hate to see it end over something as inane as shipping costs.

    What strategies will Shapeways be providing to ease the pain? Coupon codes? Free shipping days? How often would these come by? And if everyone holds off on their orders for such opportunities, won't that defeat the purpose of a price hike in the first place? (Not that it's not happening already.)

    How far in advance will we be alerted to such events? I usually find myself either caught unawares and had to rush out an order, or sit around on a full cart for weeks not knowing when the next free shipping code will come by. And as an owner of a brick and mortar store requiring regular restock, I can't survive on this sort of unpredictability.

    * * * * *

    There was a period when UPS felt really good to use. Even though we are paying $20 each time, shipping times were prompt and rarely late, and we can see a box taking 2 days to circumvent half a globe to us.

    Nowadays we are seeing delivery timings of 4 - 6 days to Asia, and I had some deliveries stuck in shipping facility an extra day for no discernible reason. Timing is very important to me for my testing and restocking processes so this 'delay creep' feels very sinister. And now we have to pay even more for worse service? (This rant is directed toward UPS, not Shapeways.)

    I am not sure what's going on behind discussions between Shapeways and UPS but this is not healthy for everyone here in Asia. Surely after years of using UPS there are alternatives in shipping that we can consider? Alternative strategies?

    This is my last point, we were caught by surprise. The moment I received your email on shipping changes I went to my cart and saw that my rates have already shot up. We had no chance to anticipate.
     
  14. fvauz
    fvauz Member
    I have told Shapeways many moons ago that you should set up one printing hub in Malaysia / Singapore as there are significant growth and demand in this regions. This inrease in shipping cost is another good reason to set one up here in Asia.

    If you are too late, you might not be the biggest 3D printing services marketplace anymore.

    -fvauz-
     
    104516_deleted and robs_mw like this.
  15. CGD
    CGD Member
    Shipping is way too expensive for my area (Asia, Hong Kong) now. I hesitate to order before this because it was already high, sometimes higher than my products. Now, I'll only consider ordering when there is free shipping.
     
    FatimaMuhairi and robs_mw like this.
  16. mkroeker
    mkroeker Well-Known Member
    So for those who did not save the old shipping page in time, the only changes so far appear to be for Germany (DHL $1.50 cheaper, UPS $2 cheaper, new UPS Express option) and Asia (separate destination now, $26 instead of the $19.99 for "all other countries")
     
    Malwen likes this.
  17. FerretDesigns
    FerretDesigns Well-Known Member
    Yup, shipping is still painful for the UK, but sounds like we are not the worst off!
    Currently £8.82 to ship to the UK, which hurts! Don't think our postage changed at all in this
     
  18. crashtestdummy
    crashtestdummy Well-Known Member
    Given the shipping is on a flat rate, ordering twice as much halves the effective shipping cost per unit, assuming you have the working capital.
     
  19. fakebusker83
    fakebusker83 Member
    Yes, that's what we have been doing to lessen the impact of shipping fees.
    However, UPS has a policy of charging additional goods and service tax as well as a handling fee once the value of shipped items exceed a certain amount (i.e. $400SGD in Singapore)

    There's only so much we can squeeze into one order before we incur additional costs.
     
    robs_mw likes this.