Shapeways Community:
This is an exciting time at Shapeways. We are committed to providing the community with the leading platform to design, make and sell with the most innovative technologies. This includes the recent announcement of the Fulfilled by Shapeways Shopify integration and the Stratasys J750 multi-material color 3D printing. And we are in the process of re-launching our entire “Design with Shapeways” platform and re-engaging designers in a better experience to support creators to make their ideas real.
In order to focus on this R&D and invest in developing new technologies and services, Shapeways has also been evaluating parts of our business model that are not profitable, sustainable, or competitive and require change. This includes price.
Below is a detailed explanation of what is changing and when. We also provide some context of how we approached it and why. If you have additional questions, please reach out to service@shapeways.com or your managed account team member. We are here to help.
What have we been doing so far?
Earlier this year we initiated testing of a new pricing algorithm on a subset of new accounts. We used this opportunity to test, adjust, change the new model without impacting the entire community. The new pricing algorithm calculates price in an average of 15 seconds vs the historic pricing model which averaged >20 minutes.
What are the variables in the new model?
The variables that are included in the new model are the same parameters that we have used in the past: material volume, machine volume, bounding box measurements, part count… and we are adding an additional variable: manufacturing speed. The new model also implements “minimum” pricing to cover the cost of the labor on small parts and new pricing on finishes to better reflect the cost structure required to process the finish.
How will this impact price?
Algorithm Change – The intent of the new algorithm is to recreate our existing model, in a more simple way to enable less processing and faster price generation. With this change, there are some differences. We have worked to minimize the variability between the old and new model, resulting in an average price variance of less than +/- 5% change.
Minimum Pricing – We have added minimum prices per part. Small parts require similar labor, processing, and handling as large parts and we need to adjust price to offset those costs.
Finish Pricing – We have evaluated the costs associated with finish services and have adjusted our price accordingly to align with the real cost structure.
Material Pricing – We have increased pricing on Cast Metals, Steels, and Sandstone to align with the cost increases we have received from our vendors. These increases vary per material.
Manufacturing Speed – Historically we have not differentiated prioritization in our manufacturing process, giving every part the same priority of production. With the new model we are offering varied manufacturing priority… starting with Standard & Economy options… and growing to additional offerings over time. The Standard offering will prioritize parts and ensure delivery within our current standard manufacturing time, while Economy will not be prioritized and will be manufactured when capacity is available allowing for a low cost option for parts that don’t require a specific delivery time frame. Please note: we will still be providing ranges for delivery dates. For the new economy option, the maximum time for production may be longer than you have historically experienced. This is because of the new capacity variable.
Shipping – We are also making adjustments to our shipping pricing to align with current cost rates with our vendors.
When will this roll out?
We will implement the new pricing October 22, 2018.
How will this affect the marketplace?
All models that are currently in the marketplace will be grandfathered into their existing pricing until 2019.
Thank you as always for your support, especially through this change.
Greg Kress
CEO of Shapeways
It would be very helpful to shop owners if Shapeways offered a way to easily preview and compare the costs of our store offerings before and after this change, so that we can see at a glance what’s changing and by how much. This would help us adjust our markups and better plan for this change.
Exactly what I was going to say.
My complaint and my customers complaint is the big price jump between white versatile plastic and smooth fine detail plastics also professional plastics is the big price jump you charge. There any where from 2.50 to 4.50 price difference. Between your basic plastics markups.
Before my mark up price. Which make it impossible for me to compete against commercial companies or drive my away customers from buying a model. Because of the scales I work with it not cost effective. Plus white versatile plastic make my models turn out to cartoonish if I meet the standards or turn them into a solid. Because there size . Also the lost of detail. In white versatile plastic.
So many others designers have complain about this also. If those two plastic or if versatile plastic have the same standards as smooth fine. My sell would go up and your production would be like through the roof trying to keep up. Sorry most people will pay a dollar. But 2.50 to 4.50 then they just pass. If you can fix that problem. Just think of the mark up you would collect then. I’m old school retailer and reason I’m one few hobby shops still operational. I make more money in selling more of 1 item. Then selling that 1 item at much higher cost.
I bet you if you put this up to vote with your designers they would agree with me.
But that the problem I have.
Thanks
Mike.