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I get this from students all the time. They don’t have much money do they so it’s understandable. That said, it is misleading that when you select a material and you’ve uploaded a model to the site, you’ve picked a Hub and chosen the material (again) there’s a ‘order quote’ value that appears. That’s fine, but please add the text next to that, ‘subject to the HUB’s evaluation’, alternatively, do what I advise my clients to do (I’m a project manager by the way and have been in software for 10 years) rename it ‘estimate’ because the Hub issues the quote after we’ve evaluated the printability. It’s starting to wear a little thin, having to say every time, ‘yes, the prince has in creased because it’s not printable without supports!’.

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Hi @TheGrove

This is a fair point, and understandably frustrating.

We’re currently working on a feature in the checkout that will calculate the supports dependent on technology/ partgeometry to give a fairer estimate of price. With the aim of reducing price changes after an order has been accepted.

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@TheGrove’s question was specifically about changing the word “quote” to “estimate”. We call it an estimate, you call it an estimate, so why are we telling customers it’s a quote?

Getting the estimate more accurate is great but it’s still going to be an estimate. In a business context, the word “quote” is usually a binding bid submitted only after ALL details are known. This would be the amount right before we click accept, no?

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Hi @MindFull

Understood, we’ve tested quote vs estimate in the past and it lead to a significant decrease in orders to hubs which we don’t want. I appreciate that means at times conversations will be had around price changes on the order page but in the end this means more orders for more hubs.

We hope that working on the price calculation thoroughly and providing far more accurate pricing will mitigate such conversations or at least go a long way in removing the need for long back and forth for steep price changes which we’ve seen tend to be around support material costs.

Thanks,

George

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Thank your for the reply George, it’s thoughtful and appropriate. However, @Mindful is right, we’re trying to be professional services and it’s not professional to use language inappropriately. Changing the wording to estimate is the right thing to do, as it’s misleading however you decide to ‘pre calculate’. From a project perspective, the scope is always the most sensitive part, it’s make or break, but if you overlook it, or make it up, The Hubs will be lumbered with 3D Hubs decision to purposefully mislead customers. It’s clear the intention is to tackle to issue with a better upfront cost. Do that, you’ll get no argument from us, but the wording is still wrong, and inappropriate.

Thanks

TheGrove

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George, you use the word “mitigate”, which is appropriate because you will not eliminate price changes. I currently use 5 different support materials and often design the support myself. Whatever software process you use for the estimate, it will not be capable of reading minds. I probably make price adjustments on over 90% of orders. If you got that down to 1%, it would still need to be called an estimate. But all that depends on whether 3d hubs actually cares about being factual/accurate/ethical.

George, I appreciate the response but at this point I could have written it for you. “we appreciate your concerns…we did a test…conversion rates… this is better for you…have a nice day”. I get it. I’m sorry to say that every interaction I have with 3d hub staff lowers my confidence and feels more like I’m dealing with the cable company.
-Jesse

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No. Just put it as “estimate”. I don’t want 3D hubs coming up with some random figure for support material because inevitably it will result in poor at best figures and I’ll have to take the time to adjust them and cheese off the customer. Just do what they suggested. Far far far quicker and easier to put in the site surely.

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