We just wanted to go over a few of the most requested questions we have been asked since releasing our newest version of our Etsy Plugin. Please reach out if there are any questions we did not cover!
What is new with the version 3?
Version 3 doesn't look entirely different from version two; it's just been cleaned up and refined a lot. The guys did a lot of work under the hood as well as a lot of work above the hood of this whole app. The whole front end was completely redone and revamped in order to make it look cleaner, provide better information, and offer a happier experience, as well as better feedback as you're interacting with the app. But underneath the hood, we improved everything from the matching process to the billing process, of which we had a couple of critical bugs that required drastic action due to some development issues we encountered. We made sure to clean those all up so they cannot possibly happen again and ensure that the system was really stable by expanding our testing on all of that. So everything under the hood got revamped and improved.
We also improved the interaction with Etsy, which turned out to be more challenging because Etsy ended up creating a lot of weirdness with interaction with their API, especially regarding updating and pulling some parts of the orders. It was a very odd situation, but we managed to get through it, and now it is way cleaner and way better than it ever was, being able to update your listings much more accurately than before so that you don't have to transfer any sort of information from the app to Etsy; everything is contained right there and automatically transferred through, so as soon as an order ships, your customer is getting immediate feedback.
We also upgraded it to version 2.2 of our main API, which allows anybody to access our print farms. The 2.2 API is a lot faster and more reliable, and we've continued to iterate on that over the last several months. So that's kind of the general things that are new: just a lot of refinement, a lot of hardening, and a lot more focus on core things that came up from the first beta that we did.
Do We Ship Internationally?
At this moment, we don't recommend having your items shipped internationally through us. The Etsy app is focused on the continental United States. We will expand it internationally just as soon as we can, but there's not a lot of value to that if you're running an Etsy store. Having something shipped from the US internationally doesn't do a lot for you. While items that come through will be able to be processed for international shipping, if you're a US-based store trying to ship out, it's not something that we focus on.
However, we do expect a lot of European stores to plug into our Etsy app so that they can get shipping to the United States without having to ship across an ocean. Now they get access to the whole market without having a $20 to $30 shipping bill pushed off to the customer. So it should give a lot of Etsy apps a lot more access to this market, allowing really good designers over in Europe or South America to get access to the US without just selling the models and trying to make money that way. They're actually able to make money from the prints now, which we think is really exciting because it opens up the world to a lot more people since they can now access this market with basically no cost whatsoever.
Can Multiple STL’s Be Added to 1 Listing?
We are not currently supporting multiple files for a single product. If you have a listing, you have one file that you can match to that listing. If you have multiple parts for your project, you need to pull them into a single STL file and then upload them so that they fit on the bed. Of course, the bed is a 220 x 220 by 310 size; that's the maximum size you can have, and that may vary over time as our new generations of machines come online, and we want to continue upgrading the app to the new generations of machines. But for now, make sure that anything in an order fits on a single build plate.
However, we do not recommend large batch prints. If you put, for example, 100 parts on the bed, it's really tough to track if all 100 parts actually end up in the box, because if one misprints or goes sideways, there's no way to know the quantity that's available. Also, it's very difficult to then print it. So the best types of parts are big, chunky single-part prints. You want to do single-part prints or maybe two to three at the most, just for good process management; otherwise, you could run into issues.
How is Pricing Determined?
Pricing is dependent on a bunch of things; every part is different, every situation is different, and it may have to adjust and evolve as people use this for different types of applications. Because we're going to find out something that we didn't realize before, that is either overcharging or undercharging for whatever the item might be. But all that being said, every part has a baseline price on it.
This is effectively the picking fee; it's the fixed cost of taking something from a machine and putting it in a box, that's how much effort it takes for things like the cost of the box and the cost of that process. But then from there, we add on, of course, material and print time, and then we will also do an evaluation of the part for how complex it is, is it tough to build, is it easy to build, and then if you have support, the part is more expensive. So design your parts without it, because then you eliminate that post-processing step, and we have this entire YouTube channel full of resources showing how to make your parts both more reliable and more cost-effective by eliminating things like supports, which we linked a video below to.
What is the Quality of Prints?
Every part that is moved through the app is printed at a 0.2 resolution with a 20% infill out of PLA, and you have some color selection there which will expand in the future, but that is the baseline measure of quality. Now, we use our own internal SLA/DLP machines for their reliability and their maintainability over time, and they produce very good quality parts. But it is dependent upon the design of the part; it is not going to print the same as some other brand of machine; it's going to print a little bit differently. In order to verify quality, it's best if you order a part from yourself to see what your part will look like, as well as to get a feel for the process in general, or you can take a look at our YouTube channel, Slant 3D to see some of our products in action.
Will Additional Colors Be Added?
Yes, there will be other colors and other materials added to the app as time goes by. Right now, though, we are focusing on core functionality for a core group so we can continue to print reliably and support all of the customers that are signed up and the existing demand that is there. As soon as we hit stability with the minimum viable product, then we will start adding in things like PETG and more color options on any given.
Can Samples Be Ordered?
The easiest way to order a sample is to match a product and then order the product from yourself. If you just want to do that sample, you can unmatch it so that we don't ever get any subsequent orders while you're receiving your sample. We've done our best to present the types of parts that we make and what they look like, as well as how to design well for them, but ultimately, your part is your own unique part. We do encourage that you order it from yourself to purchase a sample from yourself and see it shipped and delivered to you through the standard.
How Are Shipping Costs Calculated?
Shipping is not calculated at the time of quoting, and this sometimes confuses folks. When you upload a file, you get the cost for the print of that file. That is the baseline cost for making the 3D print. Shipping is built separately at the time of order because shipping is dependent upon the order. Is it shipping 10 miles, or is it shipping a thousand miles to the other side of the country? That will change what the shipping cost is. Is the part this big, or is the part this big? All of those things impact the cost of shipping, so we can't really quote it to you right up front.
How are our items Shipped?
All of our items are shipped via USPS and automatically default to the most cost-effective shipping option available. If your item is under 1lb., then it will generally ship via first class, which generally costs about $3 to $5. If you're producing something that will weigh over one pound, then it will generally be shipped via priority mail so that it'll arrive in 2 to 3 days and generally costs in the realm of $10 to $15 depending on where it's going.
As I said, all shipping automatically defaults to the cheapest method available directly through USPS, so you can use them as a resource for quoting shipping if you need to explore pricing options.
Do We Offer Overnight Shipping?
We do not currently offer Overnight Shipping. Again, kind of in the MVP model, we're shipping within 2 to 5 days, and we want to accelerate that and squeeze that down to a shorter and shorter timeframe. Expedition and overnighting add complications and unreliability, where we don't want to overextend ourselves before we're stable within the core thing that we're doing. We want to make sure that we're taking really good care of people with the core product that we have, and then from there, we can start expanding it and giving more options around materials and overnight shipping options and mixing and matching and all these other things that could be done.
Average ship time is generally between 2 to 5 days for arrival after the part has been produced, so the maximum lead time for a customer to receive an order is 10 days, and the minimum lead time is about 5 days.