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Jun 2016
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Jun 2016
Jul 2016
Brian3D Hubs Employees
Jun '16

Hi Pete,

Just wanted to let you know that we’re working on a fix that will allow you to choose between ‘Flat rate’ and ‘Price per Order’. We’ll try to get it built tomorrow, that should allow us to still launch this early July, and learn from customers and Hubs working with the new service. In this way customers can see what shipping services you offer, without you having to predict the price beforehand.

I would still like to chat with you tomorrow, if you’ve got time as I think we indeed have rushed this shipping feature with too little US focus and learning from your experiences will help us make it better.

Best,

Brian

ps. no harm done on my side, better to speak up and be heard than let a issue linger on… hope we’re on track to fixing it with the above change

Brian3D Hubs Employees
Jun '16

Hi Perry,

We’re going to add a 3rd option tomorrow that allow you to “Price per Order”, instead of the flat rate or free shipping. That basically allows all Hubs in the US to keep using the ‘legacy’ shipping but still provide more info about what shipping services/delivery times they offer.

Hope that is helpful, as this thread hopefully shows we do listen (although we should have consulted more US hubs upfront) and will make rapid iterations to the feature before it goes live.

Best,

Brian

keebie81
Jun '16

I would never mail a part in a padded envelope. I use small boxes from uline. Most fit in a 4x4x4 box. Part of my shipping cost is also to pay for the box, bubblewrap, and the label.

Most items can ship first class. But once in a while it needs to be priority or ups due to size of the parts or padding needed.

garthvh
Jun '16

Don’t be afraid of the padded envelope there is really no safety advantage to the box, in many automated facilities they are treated more harshly. I worked in logistics for almost 10 years and we tracked it, the only reason to use a box if you have a choice is to comply with insurance rules for dead space which a 4x4x4 is not going to meet anyways. Packing boxes is also much more labor intensive.

Perry_1
Jun '16

I have a hub close to me that sells only on price. The prints are not so good, but they sell on price alone. They also do not do the standard 20% infill.

This keeps my pricing low, because I have to be competitive. So I sometimes do parts where my margin is a buck or two.

If I have to eat a half a dollar or a dollar because of a flat rate shipping situation, that hurts. So yeah, I am really not interested in offering a flat price for shipping. It will hurt my profits.

Also, this competitor charges $2.50 for shipping on all items. My average shipping cost is over $3.00.

So with the new proposed model, I am now competing on shipping costs as well as price of the model, further eroding my margins. In countries where shipping is standard pricing, I see how it would work. Or if an API determines the pricing, then yea, it would work.

But, if a prospective customer looks at the price, and now the shipping, in the quote, I am now really getting squeezed. Not only by the bad competitor, but by 3dhubs shipping mechanism.

I just ran some simple tests on stamps.com, which is where I get postage quotes. A change in a few ounces and two zip codes over changes the price of a package sometimes pretty noticeably! Try it out.

twiesner
Jun '16

Would it be possible to update the customer’s shipping if they select the wrong option? I offer three shipping options listed on my hub page; Standard shipping if the order fits within a 5" x 3" x 3" dimension and under 13 oz, Priority Mail for orders under 13 oz and any dimension, and Priority Mail for orders over 14 oz and any dimension. So shipping prices can vary from $3.80 to $13.45 depending on weight.

Though what 3d Hubs is proposing for shipping profiles is fine by me as I only offer 3 options, my main concern would be updating shipping for the customer if needed. Is this going to be doable on my end or would I have to contact 3dhubs to update the order? Since there is no weight calculation on 3dhubs for the order, how is the customer suppose to know what shipping option of mine to select? What is to stop the customer from automatically choosing my $3.80 option no matter the size and weight for the order? After reviewing a order is when I know the exact weight of the to be printed design(s) as Simplify3d outputs a weight calculation when it slices the design(s). The software has been very accurate about weight of the final printed order and I this is what I use to determine best shipping for customers on and off 3dhubs before printing.

Brian3D Hubs Employees
Jun '16

Hey Perry,

Thanks for explaining your process and details of US shipping systems, in response we’ve just released another update to the shipping feature. Which allows you to continue to use the old ‘per order’ pricing in combination with the new options. So we’re no longer requiring you to set Flat Rate shipping.

Let me know what you think of the latest version.

Brian

Left
Jun '16

@Luuk For some reason, I can’t fill in the form. It doesn’t recognise the country

Luuk
Jun '16

Hey, what country are you trying to list? Some countries we unfortunately cannot ship to/do business with.

Left
Jun '16

Just Belgium,

Its weird, cause i would expect when i enter “B” the posibilities show up.

Luuk
Jun '16

Hey, i’ve set up a test shipping option that listed Belgium for you. Can you check if it shows for you?

Luuk
Jun '16

Hey, and what about any other country? Can you list those? Perhaps you could try using a different browser? I use Google Chrome. I also see the shipping I listed on your account. See attachment.

kubuz_0.png
kubuz_0.png969×364 25.9 KB

Left
Jun '16

@Luuk

Actually, I can’t see your entry, Also I cannot list other countries and nether in a different browser. Tested chrome,firefox and internet explorer. Weird. I do not have special settings of anything I am aware of that can cause any troubles

Luuk
Jun '16

Let’s take the discussion offline. I’ll email you.

JF43FR
Jun '16

I have the exact same problem with ‘France’ or ‘Europe’. I also tried to fill in with North-america and does not get listing either. The form does not allow me to save anything. Please Help!

Note: I tried with Chrome and Firefox and deactivated all adaware plugins.

8 days later
victoriarobox
Jul '16

I set up my shipping with the “per order” option, and I stopped showing shipping as an option. I switched it back to the legacy option, and I still don’t show as offering shipping.

victoriarobox
Jul '16

I just switched it back to legacy. Perhaps there was a propagation delay for the setting. Thank you for checking for me.

Previously I had set up the new style shipping as soon as we were notified. This morning it still wasn’t showing that I offered shipping.

Brian3D Hubs Employees
Jul '16

Hi Shaun,

We’ve seen this happen some times when the back-end call to save the options gets interrupted, it talks to the old part of our website so it takes a bit longer.

Glad to see you managed to figure it out, I just checked and you showed up for shipping.

Brian

Lembach3D
Jul '16

Hello everyone,

i think the new delivery options are great!

After my first few deliveries, i figured out a standard pricing system anyway, in order to quickly tell the customer what the total cost will be.

This way my customer will get this information right away in the order process.

In the end it always has to be some kind of estimate. If you aim to low, you wont make profit. If you aim too high the customer will feel tricked.

This way the customer knows up front what to expect. I think it makes things easier and especially faster. In this business time is Money.

best regards

Anreas

8 days later
PepCo_Parker
Jul '16

Just from experience, Canada post wanted 9$ for a particular part and box to be shipped to the US but it was just before the potential strike so my usual postal lady advised I go elsewhere. I ended up shopping UPS who wanted 96$ for next day shipping, 87$ for two day and 68$ for three day. The cheapest I got was 32$ for seven day. Mind you this was a 200g part in a 12CMx12CMx12CM box. Shipping rates are all over the place anymore. A flat rate in my opinion is an awful idea.

victoriarobox
Jul '16

A tip: I’ve read that padded envelopes are sometimes better to ship in than a small box, as they take less of a beating due to how they are handled.

Your box was on the larger end, but keep that in mind for the future.

Also: Purolator was a bit less than UPS, last I looked. Did you check them out?

PepCo_Parker
Jul '16

No that day purolator was closed and they were my only option. Also, that box was by no means large, it literally fit in the palm of your hands. I can understand if the box was like a foot by a foot and weighed 10lbs that they would charge that much. But something as small as that was outrageously priced

PepCo_Parker
Jul '16

The part was about 9cm tall, it was too much for a padded envelope. I’ve used them before for smaller prints, it’s a good alternative and depending on the part I normally won’t have to worry about it damaging as its naturally strong enough.