Now that the options for express checkout are value or lead time it seems that pricing is now a race to the bottom.
Seems counter intuitive to the reasons we were given for express checkout happening. It just becomes a game of who can keep lowering their prices until you are printing at filament cost and wasting time.
Someone new to the site isnt going to select that button that says Manually select a service when right above it as a green button that says continue to checkout and has these three statements under the button.
- Fulfilled by top rated Manufacturing Partners:
- Registered businesses with pre-signed NDAs
- Industrial grade print quality
Disclaimer: My hub is in the express checkout program.
12 Likes
I am not in the Express Checkout program, and my order quantity seems to have normalized at 3 orders per week (which really isn’t much, clearly below the numbers pre-Express being implemented) as the current average since the start of September. Most are repeat customers (which I am now directing to my order widget), but I get at least 1 completely new customer per week that is using the “Manually Select” button. I even had a new customer select my very expensive “Supports Removed” resin option, and they stayed with it even after I tried to convince them otherwise!
How many orders per day/week are you getting through Express Checkout? I am possibly considering joining, but don’t want to be flooded with orders. Very few people seem to use these Talk forums for getting this type of feedback (especially considering the number of registered hubs went from ~30k to ~5k, and now magically back to ~30k, but if I look at the map of local hubs, none have active printers, how strange!)
1 Like
Hi @keebie81,
For 3D Hubs Express, there are more factors then the price taken into account as stated in the “Manufacturing partner Eligibility and review policy” on your dashboard. We definitely do not select the cheapest all the time. The race to the bottom is something we absolutely want to avoid and we’ll be monitoring the algorithm to not have the price being the absolute determining factor.
Best,
Arnoldas - 3D Hubs
2 Likes
It seems to fluctuate. Kinda like it did before. Some weeks you are swamped others you are twiddling your thumbs.
I also think the geographic range is quite large for the express checkout. So someone can drop prices and cast a very wide net of orders quickly.
An example is if I seach my city i get someone 300+km away because they are a 4$ less than me. Even though i can complete order in same time or less.
It seems 5-10 a week. I also have been Adjusting completion times for printers and materials depending on workload.
but there has also been a lot more orders where the customer doesnt ever respond back. Or asks to cancel before payment because the express checkout confuses them and they thought they were getting a local hub they have been talking to.
That has caused my reject rate to go high and now I get a warning every time at dashboard telling me to accept more orders. Support seems ambivalent to this issue and says its only a small drop. But it adds up quickly.
9 Likes
But now that you have added value or lead time. The result for value shows the lowest cost person 300km+ away from a larger hubs hometown
9 Likes
When the Prusa MK3 was announced, I had several orders at once and I ordered it based on need… It hasn’t even shipped yet and in the past 2 months, I’ve gotten 2 orders. Both orders were from previous clients. This has been a disastrous for my hub, which is highly rated and I keep my customers happy. Registering as a business in October is a dumb move and now adds all these expenses for me that I need to add to my cost for printing.
I understand and acknowledge that this can happen in some cases, because the price is still a big factor. It is not all that counts into the selection though. The regular Hub Ranking rules still apply. We keep monitoring these searches and results to optimise the selection overtime.
