So this might be a dirty little secret. Perhaps 3D hubs has proved to be a dead end. Maybe it’s the rise of cheap printers and people who were interested in 3D printing via 3D hubs just bought machines. Maybe the profitable demand has moved beyond fdm or the size of commonly available printers. Maybe shapeways (and similar) has carved out a niche that overlaps the sweet spot of 3D hubs. I know this thread is only a couple data points. But if individual earnings have been dying out, you can bet 3D hubs doesn’t want to draw attention to it. I believe they have investors.
While it MAY be true individual earnings have fallen off, I bet overall earnings are up due to more users. If it’s true, they are making ever-increasing profit. But I wonder if people knew ahead of time that this path is only good for a few bucks, they might not be as interested.
There is another possibility. That 3D hubs will have a long life of satisfied users that make a few bucks, letting them be a part of the evolving distributed manufacturing.
If I were running the company, I’d look for opportunities to find new ways to engage users and customers. Maybe not a pivot, but ways to boost user numbers, even giving up profit to keep the train rolling and ahead of all newcomers. I’d also look for an exit to sell. Especially if growth curves start to dip with no plan in sight to recover.
-Brook
3d printing is as good as the person designing. Most don’t know how to. People will need to learn or someone need to make or facilitate it. That’s were I see the real growth, tools and processes will evolve with that. That’s why all like shapeways look for was to facilitate the convertion and thus grab a little of the whole market
I have more people find me via Facebook than 3d hubs 10x more about. And I get to keep all the profit.
@Michael_Scholtz agreed. More people through my personal website and just passing out business cards when the topic came up than 3D hubs specific orders. I did ask them to pay through the hub to get more reviews and become more credible on there, but now I would rather a simple PayPal payment and keep the 12.5% that 3D hubs takes.
Yes. Agreed, going direct and building your own business is the BEST idea! But it’s good to have knowledge of “the going rate”… I recommend developing your niche on the highest end, most expensive, most difficult… Differentiate your business from others as much as possible.
I thought to start out with 3D hubs but after being burned by a ‘outside’ customer, I now offer very few guarantees. That job was 40hrs of printing, 4 of assembly and 2 reels and I got zip.
@Samer_Najia I have had one person cancel. I hadn’t started the order yet which made it easier but my thought is that if I already set up and started printing I’m gonna send it.
@Brook_Drumm I’m trying to be extremely competitive with pricing at the moment in hopes that eventually I can build to needing those 3 or 4 or 20 printers printing at once. Right now like I said I just do it in passing. I get out of school and start printing while I study and do homework. No time for a full job right now so it’s my way to save for college needs… Hope to grow it and really enjoy working for myself. It’s great to own up to yourself and know that you can’t blame anyone else if you fail. That’s the most rewarding part to me.
@Griffin_Paquette It’s very good that you are thinking ahead and take it slow while still in school. Experience is one if not the most important thing in life. I would suggest, if you already don’t know, learn how to design in CAD and what I call organic design ( sculping)
@Ariel_Yahni_UniKpty thank you! I design in CAD almost daily. I mostly do industrial work (for example I designed all of my printers) and sometimes for others, but have done little organic work. I want to learn Blender soon, but it’s for a lack of time and really artistic ability that I haven’t done so already.
@Griffin_Paquette , not in my case. He sent me a model he later deemed incorrect after I had printed it, assembled and then applied a terrain decal that then conformed to the surface (it was a satellite image printed on decal paper and then placed on top of a 3D model of terrain). The SAT image had borders, river details, vegetation, etc. and was 6x8. He then decided, no, this one was no good, he needed a 12x10 and asked to rush it (and I did send it out the day before my vacation, but warned him I would miss his deadline, but that it would be in his hands 2 days after I sent it, and it was). After indicating how nice it was, and all that, he then when I billed him the not unreasonable amount of $300, he says: it wasn’t on time, not the quality he expected, heavier than expected (I had to use PLA since a 1/2" block of ABS is going to warp no matter what you do), he was going to send me back the models. I was so pissed off. At the time the model was to be the subject of an article and he had explicitly asked me to bill him. Again, I was pissed. Now I only take full payment in advance and caveat the hell out of everything.
@Samer_Najia I never even start a print before I have payment confirmation. If he knew the deadline wouldn’t be met then he should have made his judgement accordingly and timely. I don’t understand the weight comment from him as if it’s just a model I don’t see why it would matter all that much… Sorry you got burned like that.
Like everything else, you begin with trust. We had established a conversation, we discussed how I would proceed…it was an investment. In the end all trust was lost and I walked away mad. I should post an image of the model…hmmmmm
@Griffin_Paquette , ok, I posted it. What do you all think?
Been there. Even when things went south for me with customers in my last business, man I learned great lessons. Hang in there! And don’t be afraid to charge for great work. Don’t get in the race to the bottom. 
especially for services.
@Brook_Drumm onward and upward. Just more with a jaded eye.