I have another question, does enabling Instant Order automatically place you in Express Checkout if you are green in all metrics? (The way I do material pricing might make that interesting…)
No, it’s not supposed to automatically place you in express checkout unless you specifically apply for it.
1 Like
Hi guys,
Sorry for not jumping in quicker here to clarify.The Hubs in the Express checkout are still the “beta testers” and @MindFuLL was invited for that selection and has accepted it. This group will still be the ones representing the 3D Hubs Express until mid next week.
I think it’s good to clarify one misunderstanding: Express orders aren’t necessarily “instantly paid”. Most of the orders submitted through the Express Checkout will still go to the “Technical review” stage and will be handled as any other order. The only difference is that for FDM, the “Instant order” has to be enabled which will mean that some orders with strict requirements will be eligible to be paid immediately skipping the initial stage.
I hope this clarifies.
@ProtoCulture
You’re right. We still don’t have a dynamic “printing deadline”. We don’t take printing time or the amount of orders you have into account. We’re actually working on this problem at this moment, but I don’t have a solution for you yet. For now, you can always take your printer offline once you receive and order that would take more time or update your “order completion date” once you have received a larger order.
Hope this helps.
1 Like
So if MindFull is a beta tester how did he get in with such poor metrics?
10 Likes
Back then, it wasn’t based on these specific metrics. A wide offering of materials was a big factor in this case to make sure we offer all the materials in the Express.
Theres still materials not offered in it that I stock but never got asked. Guess we will see how the next round goes. So will hub thats dont meet the metrics be kicked out of it eventually? Another hub i saw in it had some poor ratings
10 Likes
Yes, We’re planning a quarterly review for this. If by the end of the quarter a Hub falls bellow in a red range - he/she won’t be eligible for express anymore. The final details aren’t fully worked out yet, and I imagine some exceptions might apply. All the participating Hubs in the new Express will be sent the full agreement/information on Monday.
I must admit that I didn’t realize express and instant were different things, and apologize for any confusion I may have caused as a result.
I used to be very involved in the 3d hubs community but lost interest due to hubs being ignored and repeatedly being told that things were getting fixed/improved and it never happened. It appeared that the hubs had no impact at all in the direction of things here, so I stopped following all the intricacies of this perpetual experiment called 3d hubs.
3d hubs has asked me to participate in several beta tests over the years. I didn’t realize that this express thing was a beta or that I was a part of it, especially since I have this menu on my dashboard telling me all the ways I DON’T qualify for it and emails telling me I need to apply for it if I want to participate.
Regardless, if it’s about nothing other than routing orders to your hub then obviously we would all love to be “express” hubs, but it very much contradicts the original concept. I’ve noticed that some of my recent customers are talking to me like I’m a 3d hubs employee and now I know why. They didn’t select my hub, it was selected for them, and only because I offer the rarest of the 6 FDM materials you promote.
Other than regular/repeat customers, I’ve been getting mostly orders for ULTEM lately. I offer over 30 materials and have many more, but I’ve stopped adding them to my hub because there’s no point. We’ve been promised an updated material selection (next quarter, next quarter,……) for about 2 years. Instead it keeps getting smaller and more ridged and more inaccurate.
I print 6 varieties of nylon. You only list “nylon” and it’s an SLS material unless you hit “advanced options”. Also, I see you’re now offering material data sheets as well, which I don’t appreciate. When a customer asks me for a MDS I give them the one from the actual manufacturer of my material. Where is yours from? You have no idea where I got my material.
I would also like to point out that 3d hubs is currently in a state where you have me terrified to ever send one of my clients/contacts here and I know other hub operators feel the same. I literally used to have my hub address on my business card but removed it over a year ago. At best, they would end up on my confusing hub page and forced to endlessly scroll through my materials; or at worst, end up getting routed (now express routed) to my competition.
-Jesse
1 Like
I agree with the sending people to 3dhubs. I typically browse reddit and would see people that just need a one time print of something and would send them to my hub. But now that repeat orders from customers is a metric in ranking I stopped doing that. Theres no benefit to lowering my ranking, now its just paypal for those situations.
11 Likes
I only get repeat customers now. 
1 Like
Zapaer
37
A 4.95 rating?!
How is that even possible, I have had 200 orders so far and I’m at 4.82 / 4.83.
All the other hubs who have more than 100 orders have ratings of 4.8/4.9.
1 Like
I’m at 82 orders, I expect a similar rating at and past 100 orders.
Its quite difficult. You hope that the post office never loses or damages the order. Or even screws up transit of it.
I had an order that the post office misdirected so it took longer than normal. They also damaged it. So for that order i got a quite poor review. The part was perfect but post office dropped the ball.
Once aware of issue I refunded part and reprinted but now I have a bad review that tanks my score until 50 new reviews can push it out.
11 Likes
I’m well past 100 orders and i have a 4.82…
i’m, happy with it… there are so many things you can’t control…
people that submit badly printable parts,. i tell them what the issue will be, they say oh that’s fine, go ahead, then ding me for bad quality…
if i just accept a straightforward order, print it ship it out within a day i get dinged for communication.
in the end, what I have seen is the only way to keep a high rating is to either spend hours of your time with each order and coach people through their order, or accept that you’ll get a lower rating from some people.
2 Likes
Zapaer
41
Yep, that has happened to me as well.
1 Like
Zapaer
42
Yes, but it seems they want hubs to have a 4.95 rating.
