I just had another customer ask me today how they could place an order with me again. I really hope 3dhubs rethinks the decision of removing the ability for the customer to reorder. I get customers asking often how they can reorder.
I looked over my orders for just this year. Out of 432 I had 335 unique names. 54 customers placed multiple orders. Those 96 extra orders accounted for 1/3rd of my sales(ie 33% of income) . It seems customers will sometimes place small orders at multiple hubs and then place large orders at the one that had the best quality or service.
Even though all hubs agree to the same standards there is always going to be some variation. I could be printing my parts slightly under, but still within tolerance. Now the customer needs more parts to work with previous orders. So he gets a new hub, but that hub is printing parts over but still within tolerance. Now the customer could be stuck with a pile of useless prints they paid for. Or the color variation could be different and they cant sell the product.
Yes there is a lot of orders that the customer doesnt care who prints or if a different person does every time. But the ones that do care are the ones placing the larger orders in my experience.
3 Likes
I don’t know i this is allowed os not, but one way to work around this is to have some combination of material and colour that no one else on this site is offering and tell your repeat customers about that. That way they can at least be fairly sure that they are ordering from you.
But given the recent developments I guess there is something in the fine print preventing this.
cobnut
181
Hi @keebie81 I’m in a very similar position to you. I have a few customers who’ve repeatedly ordered from my Hub and are disturbed by no longer being able to do so. One in particular I’ve worked with for two years, have visited their premises several times, and we’ve built an understanding over that time; I know their needs, their objectives and what I (3D printing) can do for them. It makes zero sense for them to start ordering from random Hubs, losing all that experience and understanding. Needless to say, their orders will no longer be coming through 3DHubs…
I do have a theory on why 3DHubs have done this, one that makes business sense for them, but it really doesn’t fit well with customers that want that sort of trusted relationship with a particular Hub, especially where that relationship is important to the work they do.
2 Likes
I agree, as most of would. But 3DHubs already knows that hubs, including manufacturing partners, aren’t particularly excited about most of these changes. They need customer feedback. I think all we can do at this point is direct a customer’s concerns to customer service. I have also been contacted by former repeat customers voicing displeasure. I’ve apologized, and kindly encouraged them to voice their concerns with customer service, as they are responsible for any changes. I think all we can do at this point is let the customer give their feedback, as 3DHubs has already heard ours.
I suggest you move on. If you want for something to happen, you’d do better with your time joining everyone else looking for an alternative than come here wishing things were different.
Looks like the work around for manually choosing a hub has been removed today. At bottom of page it says get your 3d printed part in 2 - 4 days. I sure hope they dont expect all orders to be completed in that time frame. Large orders and certain materials take longer. Besides the fact that shipping tends to take 3days since most only want to pay first class shipping rates.
I wish I could print again for 3Dhubs.
You can always tell your customers that some prints will take longer.
That will not be possible in new system. Once fully moved 3dhubs will be telling you how long you have to print order. If you cant complete it in their estimate dont take it. Hopefully the times given are realistic.
cobnut
189
3DHubs will need to change the way they record Hubs’ printers to make any kind of guess at timings. At the moment they only know what models Hubs have, not how many of each and obviously someone with 20 UM3’s is probably going to be able to complete a large (many models/copies) order more quickly than someone with only 1. They’d also really need to know how many were free - the Hub may have 20 printers, but they won’t necessarily all be free at the time of the order, nor may there be the right filament available for all of them, etc. They should even probably take into account IDEX printers that could complete multiple prints of a model in half the time of a single or none independent extruder printer (again, assuming filament is available).
Hi all,
Now that 3D hubs are closing their platform to smaller print suppliers I thought there may be people out there who still want to cost up 3D prints but can’t access hubs tools to do so.
So I created a pricing tool for your prints, it has many categories and explanations on the default settings and if you want to change the settings you can. Hope this helps people out and let me know if you have any feedback.
3D prints cost calculator
Cheers
Andrew
1 Like
As a customer, I’m very disappointed by this decision. The best thing about 3D Hubs was that it connected providers and buyers directly and locally- I had a list of frequently used, trusted suppliers for various materials and needs, and used to be able to order a print and pick it up the next day or the day after. Best of all, I was supporting hobbyists who were working out of their kitchen. Also very annoying was the fact that the ‘Previous orders’ page on the website has now been redesigned, making it harder to 1) view what print corresponded to which order and 2) view which hub had fulfilled my order. Wish I that had known about the changes before they were enacted, and had made contingency plans.
1 Like
Since i have tried to join the community i can only confirm that this page is true
https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/14/3dhubs-once-a-community-3d-printing-service-is-now-sourcing-all-3d-prints-internally/
This means we should join forces and help each other build our own community or assist in finding in a new community.
If anyone are interested leave a comment.
Many thanks
Lucas
1 Like
It would interest me but there are many problems involved. I joined 3DHubs a while ago to get a large project printed and I had wanted to become a hub once I purchased my own DLP printer. I’ve been a seller on Shapeways for over 3 years but now I’m being pushed off there by their recent decisions. Now I have very few places to go and 3Dhubs was one of my last hopes which is now, obviously, ruined.
I have an idea for something… I don’t want to mention it here because it could be viewed as potentially conflicting with 3D Hubs. Albeit, conflicting with the old 3dHubs.
1 Like
MeraBol
196
This is a huge PITA- no offence to the other service providers, but as a business owner with an eye on expenses and (more importantly) product development times, once I’ve found a supplier that works well it’s not worth my time and energy to audition others. Is anyone in favor of this change?
Ended up here because the wheels have fallen off at Shapeways and Sculpteo hasn’t been great in terms of turnaround. Don’t know why companies insist on changing what works.
bhudson
197
Some of us that were providers have started our own websites or other ways to provide our service. See if the ones you want to work with are listed on the forum post or try to reach out to them. If you can’t find them I may be able to assist, though I may not be local.
MeraBol
198
Thanks for that. The alternative (which worked for me but is the worst possible approach for everyone involved) is provider roulette: re-submitting the order until your preferred provider is selected.
What are you looking for?
MeraBol
200
The ability to choose my preferred hub within the system.
MeraBol
201
Here’s what happened to the competition’s traffic after a major community-alienating revamp:
Just sayin’.
MeraBol
202
Should have looked at 3DHubs first 
