Significant price reduction on dense models

June 23, 2010

From today there is a significant discount selected models on the site. Sean’s Oloid is not $95 but $66. Basically models with a density higher than 10% that are larger than 20cm3 get 50% discount on the cm3 that exceed the first 20cm3. The discount is over the material price not the mark up of the designer so there will be differences between models. Why & how are we doing this? Have we gone nuts?

We strive to make Shapeways as accessible as we can. We want to make it easier and more affordable all the time. Eventually it is our goal to let you make anything. The more you order the more we scale and the cheaper we can make it for you to order, this encourages you to order more etc.. This is a virtuous cycle that benefits us both. Up and until now our pricing model has been encouraging you to make thin tiny wispy things. Larger things and more dense things are comparatively cheaper for us to make however. There is simply less cleaning & handling involved per unit of size (and also per $1 in revenue).

Because of this we are able to, for a month and as a test, offer a discount on models that fit the following criteria:

• only valid for the materials White, Strong & Flexible; Black Strong & Flexible; Summer Blue; Summer Green & Summer Magenta
• They have to have a density that is higher than 10%.
• On a White, Strong & Flexible model you will then pay the regular $1.50 per cubic cm for any model that is less than 20 cubic cm as well as a start up fee of $1.50 per model.
• On White, Strong & Flexible model larger than this you will pay a start up fee of $1.50. You will also pay $1.50 per cubic cm for the first 20 cubic cms. Any additional cubic centimeters are only $0.75 per cubic cm.
• On a Black, Strong & Flexible model there is a $4 start-up cost + 1.78/cm3 for the first 20 cm3 + 0.89/cm3 for any consecutive cm3 over 20cm3
• On the summer colors there is a $4 start-up cost + 1.99/cm3 for the first 20 cm3 + 0.99/cm3 for any consecutive cm3 over 20cm3

You can check density in your 3D modeling application (or totally old school divide the bounding box by volume of your model).

The discount has been implemented on the site but it might take the site two hours to work through all the galleries. The discount is over the material price not over the mark up made by the designer so there will be differences in the discount between designers. This means that large White, Strong & Flexible models have become a lot cheaper on the site for this one month. We hope you guys have fun with this!