Shapeways

The product was not able to be used as delivered to me. The screw hole would not accept the designated screw and the hole for the nut similarly was undersized. The designated screw was too short for their product. After enlarging the holes and sourcing a longer screw the head of it ( which was smaller than the designated screw) would not fit in the recess of their product.
Good idea but terrible design/quality control. Unless you're handy and really want this STAY AWAY!

On December 15, I did Order #******* for the manufacture of a watch case consisting of five parts made of brass worth more than $ 300. Already on December 16th, I received an email saying that everything is fine with my order and it is in progress. But on the 18th, they sent me a message saying that they could not do one detail and offered to refund the money. Or redo the part. BUT the fact is that the order loses its meaning if one part is missing. And refinement in the case of one detail requires another. I asked for a refund and to cancel the order, but I was refused, citing internal rules. I asked how do I make an order so that all the parts are printed or nothing. I was told to attach one file with several parts inside. However, it doesn't work! To which they replied that they would look at why it didn't work for them, but the order would not be canceled and the money would not be refunded, but they would send me the order without one (very important) part. In this way, the SW team shifts its problems onto the shoulders of customers. I just threw $200 in the trash. ($100 refund) It's like if you ordered a car, and it came to you without an engine, but the seller honestly returned the money for the engine. Be careful with SW and don't trust like me. If you need to make several parts for one assembly, use another provider. For example, with craftcloud, there is never a problem with canceling if something went wrong. I wish the entire SW team to get the same skam from life as they provide to their clients.

I wish I can give this company half a star or even 0.1 star, but it's an option.

I have been an online business customers for 20+ years. 99.9% of the companies which I have encountered problems would resolve a problem I've had...even when it's an honest mistake such as ordered a wrong part they would gladly replace for the right one, even a custom part or hard to find part.

HOWEVER, not so with this company. I ordered a wrong part and they immediately say no, sorry, we cannot help you with that. Simply please place a new order for the new part again. WTF?

Just don't expect you'll ever get a new part or exchange or anything at all if anything goes wrong with your order!

Communication from Shapeways was poor, resulting in additional printing and additional costs. Their team put their profits as a priority over my company's satisfaction and project success.

Bought a lot of miniature pieces through shapeways. After receiving the products, they were heavily pitted and worn away large parts of the products. Customer support was terrible, refused to accept any problem, wouldn't reprint and check items or give refund. Why sell a product if you can't print to adequate standards? Shocking

Can't recommend Shapeways.
I've purchased several items over the years and found items are often under scale or over scale for scale modelers. This is no fault of Shapeways but the developers of which there's no way to monitor there work. Shame there's no way to rate designers so people can judge for themselves if they want to run the risk and to be guided by customers reviews. (I suspect there's a reason for this).
However on my last occasion a print received was clearly incorrect from advertised / pictured description as advertised. I contacted Shapeways who saw the issue and I was advised to use the Shapeways messenger system to contact the developer. They failed to respond. I contacted Shapeways again and they messaged the developer. Again I recived no answer. I sent another Email to Shapeways. They offered me a one-time only refund which I refused plus they wanted the item returned (I suspect at my cost).
I found Shapeways to be generally unhelpful in this matter and seem to have little power of the developers that use there platform. The item is still available to purchase for the next unsuspecting customer and for this reason alone, I would urge extreme caution if you wish to use Shapeways. The item shown and advertised on Shapeways may NOT be the item you receive. Developers are not held to account and don't have to respond to any issues.

Date of experience: 09 March 2023

The customer service representative, while nice, did little to solve the issue. I had problems with checking out items and ended up unintentionally ordering a previous item instead. I contacted customer support as soon as possible to ensure a response, but I suspected they would respond right as the item was in production, how convenient as my previous orders took at least 24-32 hours before they were produced.
When they did respond, they gave me a chance to refund the order, but I had to confirm my request for a cancellation a second time. However, after sending them my confirmation response, it was "too late". The only consolation I received was that I could order the item I actually wanted along with the wrong order without paying for shipping for the new item.

In the end, I wasted 20 bucks on a useless item and spent 11 dollars more than I had planned to. The people were nice but nothing was accomplished. So please keep in mind when ordering from Shapeways, remember to make sure you have the right item in your cart when in the last stages of the purchase. And remember that once an order has been placed, there are no refunds and changes.

Always a pleasure to work with Shapeways about my projects and 3D files. The customer service is great, quickly, and helpful with answers to one's questions.

I ordered a 3D printed stem cap mount for my gravel bike that was supposed to hold my GPS in place. Instead I received a mount that could barely hold my GPS, and the slightest bump on the road would send my GPS flying off my bike. I contacted their support; they told me to contact the designer. So I did. I didn't hear anything from the designer, so I contacted support once again. They told me they would contact the designer themselves, but I still haven't heard a thing.

I received some clear headlight that were to be used in a model with LED lights. One light showed up with a cloudy white mass that would not reflect light correctly. A major manufacturing error. They were extremely difficult in refunding a $12.99 part. It took numerous emails back-and-forth and over proving for them to respond to my refund request.

I had just bought an rc crawler, and needed some bumpers custom made, because no others would fit my body. I cad designed one up and got the perfect measurements. I didn't have a 3d printer, so I placed an order through this business, which was very simple and easy to use! After I placed my order, It shipped 12 days earlier than expected time, and had incredible print quality. I would highly recommend this site for others looking to print high quality materials, and I would also use It again!

Shapeways are good in parts - if you know what you want and can support the postage charges, you can get good quality prints at a sensible price and often in a good time, but they can let you down with poor quality (brass prints) and cancelling new designs with no comeback other than resubmitting, which when part of a larger order negates the savings on postage you had planned...

I´m working with Shapeways since now nearly 11 years for prototype modeling on scale models and it´s like the Amazon of 3-D print. There´s a big range of different materials and print methods, were you can choose the ideal solution for your product. Since over a year I´m using also the shop-section on Shapeways and it´s an easy way to sell your products to other model builder. Some improvements should be done on the shop section for the shop owner and also for the customer (mostly other language - German for example).

They messed up my gold purchase etching it all nasty on the inside. Wouldn't recommend them for jewelry as their polish job was trash too.

I try to refrain from writing negative reviews but the customer service was terrible. I realized I made a mistake in my order and submitted a cancellation request immediately after placing the order. They ignored it and began printing 24 hours later. When I contacted them to ask why it printed, they said that they saw the order first. Since it was already in the printing process, I asked if they could change the shipping terms to basic, that was the original mistake I made. They said they could but would not refund me the difference. I asked for a supervisor or a manager and was contacted by Lefteri, a senior customer service representative. Everyone in this process was beyond useless. I don't know why they have a customer service team at all. Decent printing though

I work for company focusing on R&D and I need a lot of non-standard parts that require specific attention. Shapeways so for delivered every single time. The parts come out great but their customer service is even better. My best experience was working with Will Magley. He always makes sure all of my non standard parts get the attention they need and is always willing to find a way to help when anything comes up. They have definitely earned our company's business for years to come.

Count on cleaning your own Parts 80% remain uninspected. Consistency is not likely. They will mail them anyway they feel like it

Order a semi trailer toy for my husband that was suppose to be a decent size and truck was suppose to be blue and trailer silver. I didn't care that it was suppose to be plastic. It arrived on time box seemed to be somewhat small but I figured they put it in two sections in box and you just had to put it together. Nope I opened it and here's a small 4inch plastic thing with no wheels. I paid sixty two dollars for a piece of nothing very mad the little guy is what I got and the blue and silver is what I ordered

I ordered a modification for a leatherman multitool. Less than 12 hours later I went to cancel my order and they refused, saying that it was already being made. The ship date is over a month away and I know for a fact the order hasn't even been confirmed. Pretty terrible customer service. I will never order from them again, so I hope that was worth the 40 bucks I spent.

Update:

I just received the parts replaced by Shapeways.
All is ok now.
Thank you.

I am glad to know that my problem was resolved after receiving a damaged kit and a re-print mistake of the damaged kit by the service agent. Happy that it got sorted out. When my parts arrive, if they arrive safe and sound I shall upgrade my reviews from one star to 3 stars, not any higher rating than that because I did have to invest a deal of time in sending emails to customer support to get my order corrected and I will post this comment on such reviews. I will still order again from you guys, but please check your packaging staff regularly and read carefully emails regarding damaged products so that you do send out the proper replacement. (This kit has many delicate parts and each part should be packaged individually and not like the first time that all of them were together in one plastic bag causing the items to move around during the shipping, hitting each other, causing these parts to break.) Should I have not caught the error in time I would have received the wrong items and I would have been contacting you guys again for another replacement. So in the end it will save your company money to be more careful in the future. Thank you for your attention. Happy holidays. Edgar Castillos

I sent in a cancellation order immediately after ordering a ring (within minutes, late into the night when I ordered). A day later, the ring was made and I receive a response that it was too late to cancel the order and refund my money as the ring was already in production. After a dozen emails back and forth with several reps and several alternatives offered to make this right, the company's several representatives would do nothing to remedy the situation. Why even offer cancellation of an order on your website if it's not possible to cancel an order even minutes after it was placed? Truly frustrating.

When ordering and item is canceled in the order
It will be adjusted once shipped
Just have to watch they dont charge you again in a second charge for the item cancelled
No good to talk with them they say you just dont understand
Have screen shots sent them but yeah its me thats stupid and do not understand the process
Going back and forth w them is a waste of time
Husband loves the prints
Credit union is alwasy aware of how placed holds on funds
So
Just watch your account
But the products are great but shapeway is the middle printing man

Sold a file of a ship that ended up on Shapeways. I asked to have it removed they refused even when the Mr Garry Stair admitted it was my work. Talking with them just seems like you're nothing they change their policies to whatever they want. So it's all about money to them not honor, respect and doing the right thing. This guy buys a files so called fixes it and steals it. So if you give a file to Shapeways don't be surprised if they steal it. Everyone we contacted Steve below I'll post his response - no surprise! Please stay away from Shapeways they will steal your work, files and not do the right things to fix problems. Originally I asked them to remove the files and they made me run through hoops so I did. Sat there and laughed at me the whole time - I'm posting those emails as well. Who this hurts? My family in this desperate time this project was for them, to feed them and now stolen by Shapeways.