ShapewaysReviews 149

I spent a week with their support trying to get my N Scale designs ready for Shapeways to sell my designs. Everything was uploaded and the renders looked good and gave the green light to print. On the first order everything was taken down that my details were too thin and would not survive there manufacturing. Adding the thickness they wanted to the models would ruin the look of the model.

I was able to print these fine on my home resin printer and the details did not break during cleanup, painting or assembly. Apperatly a $150 home use resin printer and real person can outperform a larger international company on quality, durability and handling.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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

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.

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

The level of service provided by Shapeways is greatly appreciated. I spent 36 years in the Military and Civilian Fire Service and understand customer service. I shall continue to be a returning customer for Shapeways products and again the service exceeds expectations.

My experience with Shapeways has been really great. Amazingly friendly and helpful service. I ordered a special D20 to propose to my partner with, and they were in touch every step of the way to let me know how the order was progressing. When the delivery got lost (not due to Shapeways, but due to local delivery issues), they were incredibly helpful in sorting it out and I'm happy to say I got my item in the end. The item is lovely and just as described. Would definitely recommend this company - fantastic customer service!

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.

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.

When I realized a wrong delivery of one of the three items I ordered, I just wrote them an email and got back an answer in less then 3 minutes with a new order (with no charge) already placed.
Great job!

I have had only one issue in four years and Shapeways was very prompt and helpful in dealing with it.

I received the printed objects on time and sadly one got broken in the shipment. The others turned out super well. I got back to the service and the support team immediately got back to me and reordered it. Wow, super impressive service. Thanks

I bought 2 window shade brackets. They wouldn't hold the shade in place because the length of the clip was too short. The company said it wasn't their fault and that I should address the problem with the designer. They offered no help whatsoever. They just kept telling me it was a design problem.

I bought these parts right from the company website. They are shown as Shade Bracket 304 Louver drape Kirsch Levolor. Anyone purchasing these items would assume that they are going to get a bracket that fits the Kirsch Levolor manufactured shade. They don't. After multiple requests for help I finally realized I was never going to get support and I spent a couple hours on the parts filing down the clips so that the shades would snap into the brackets. The 2 parts cost me $62.10 so I took great care. I needed the parts.

If I'm purchasing a part # 304 Shade Bracket from the company that's what I should receive. Would they sell a 1/4 - 20 bolt that was out of spec?

I would tread lightly before using this company. Don't assume that you are going to receive the part that you think you are buying. And don't expect that you will receive any kind of customer support after the sale.

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!

I was really impressed by the quality of the service, the final product is sharp. Also I really like the way the website is designed, I can know in one clic the options and prices for the print of my design. Very cool. Thank you very much.