Shapeways files for bankruptcy

[Woz]

To those who it may concern I've just found out that Shapeways has ceased operations and filed for bankruptcy.

[Kaczor]

That sucks. It's probably the new managment's fault. A few years ago, the boss changed, they raised prices, threw away some materials... Do you know any competitors printing in SLS, metal, etc.?

[Woz]

Yeah the management seem to be taking it down an industrial route and ignoring the modellers / hobbyists. There's plenty of sites that can print stuff but none that has a shop front for designers that'll let you print on demand.

If anyone has stuff ordered and it hasn't been shipped then you may need to get in touch with your credit card company. The money has been frozen so sellers won't be getting paid and unfulfilled orders won't be refunded. SW's hasn't notified the sellers (they sacked everyone so nobody to contact the sellers) and most of us are only finding out when customers contact us or they read it on the news. It's going to be a shock to a lot of people when they don't get paid on the 15th.

[ColemanCollector]

Well, that's too bad. There was some nice stuff on there, but yes, prices were getting steep.

I wonder if the popularity and affordability of 3d printers and plans on sites like Cults3D thingiverse, etc. was making it a tougher slog in the hobby parts market? Ugly way to let your customers and suppliers know you were going underbelly up...just ignore them.

I hope people are understanding, Warren. Your items were top shelf!

Mike.

[jarndice]

WOZ will you be selling direct or is there another site who would take on marketing your (Top Quality) products ?

[Woz]

I've been looking for another website since I found out but so far I haven't found any that do what SW's did.

I was thinking of putting some stuff up on cults (mainly full kits) but once the files are out I've no control of them and I've seen plenty of things for sale that I know have been downloaded from cults.

Double sucks now the SW's site has stopped working so I can't download my files. I have most of them but I lost some of the older ones when my backup HD died and. Guess I'm going to have try and get an old PC booted up to see if they're on an old HD.

[lmcq11]

Sad, I bought a lot of stuff from Shapeways over the years. Some designers on their marketplace were good and offering their products at reasonable prices, some other designers were selling at ripoff prices, while some other products were really badly designed and useless. There were no standards for the buyer, it was not Shapeways fault but there were always risks. After a couple of expensive bad experiences, I just kept ordering only the same small items that I knew were good, and looked at everything else with suspicion. I was likely not the only one.

Looks like the company did not survive going public in 2021, facing shareholder expectations. After bankruptcy, there are chances it could be reborn under a more realistic business model.

[50koruny]

I've been looking for another website since I found out but so far I haven't found any that do what SW's did.

I was thinking of putting some stuff up on cults (mainly full kits) but once the files are out I've no control of them and I've seen plenty of things for sale that I know have been downloaded from cults.

Double sucks now the SW's site has stopped working so I can't download my files. I have most of them but I lost some of the older ones when my backup HD died and. Guess I'm going to have try and get an old PC booted up to see if they're on an old HD.

You're right.As soon as you publish STLs you lose control of them.
A lot of people will abuse it.

Anyway, it's a pity what happened to shapeways.
Unexpected.At least for me.

[Kaczor]

The website is working again. Do you know anything more?

[50koruny]

Yes.Strange.
At least, Woz may be able to download his files.Maybe...

I did a little searching for it on Reddit.
I found this comment there:

They filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy meaning immediate stopping of everything. All employees were fired and everything is shut down. I would call your CC company and reverse the charges. I have 2 months of invoices that they owe me for production i did for them that I’ll have to write off. There will be a procedure for getting on their creditor list but tbh customers will be at the bottom of the list. I’ll be lucky to get anything myself.

I know that they technically had different companies and it was Shapeways Holdings that is gone. I dont know exactly what will happen to their other companies. Maybe a restart or something.

I do know that all employees in USA and Netherlands were fired all emails turned off so you won’t get your money back from them as there is no one to give it to you.