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First of all, 3D Hubs has changed their ordering system some time ago.

Ever since, I seem to be getting less orders for printing than before.

Today I discovered, my hub, which used to be on the first page of search list results, suddenly now is found on page 5.

As an example, I uploaded a STL-file on the start page.

Then I select the lowest price category (0$-100$)

Then I select basic prototyping plastic (PLA).

Next, I enter my home town (Rotterdam) to see what Hubs are on offer.

And then, surprisingly, the first Hub I see is 82 kilometers away.

Next on the list are a whole list of hubs that all are not in Rotterdam or even close or in the same region!

I finally find my own Hub on PAGE 5 !! Mixed in between two hubs that are 55 km and 42 km away.

In the ‘old’ 3D Hubs system, I first did not have to enter all kinds of details before I could search a Hub. I could just enter the town or area I would like to find a Hub and press enter and voilá, I would get only Hubs in the area I selected.

So, I am wondering, do other Hubs experience the same thing??

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Its the new changes implemented a while ago. Hubs with repeat customers get placed higher in the results while pushing out local hubs. I had the same issue in my area, hubs 100s of miles away were ranking higher than me and shoving me to the 2nd page.

I think the boost for repeats is a good thing but it is set too high.

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Thank you for the answer.

I did not know 3D Hubs implemented this change. If so, I agree they have set the boost reate too high.

I now see Hubs that have only a few reviews and which a very far away rate migh higher on the list.

I can understand 3D Hubs in their wish to have as many orders as possible (it’s the way they make their money), but they forgot one thing. If you are in business a bit longer, your repeat order percentage is going to drop.

If you have had only 5 orders over a period of one month from 5 different customers, and 3 of those customers will place a second or third order your retention rate would be 60%.

However, if you have been in business a bit longer and have processed 150 orders and of those, only 20 customers come back to you, your retention rate is now only 13%. And all of a sudden, your ‘level 4 Hub’ means nothing any more :frowning:

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Hi Keebie81,

Forgot to ask you.

How did you solve the low ranking of your Hub-problem?

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I’m unable to see any hubs at all today!

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I have sent an email to support. To inform them that no hubs are listed in the search results