Shapeways Bankrupt? Rescue bid rejected

[Lyndhurstman]

Hello
I thought this might be of interest. I’ve toyed with the idea of getting stuff from them, but the additional charges made it prohibitive. The rise of DIY printing…

Shapeways Bankrupt? $5M rescue bid rejected - 3D Printing Industry

3D printing service provider Shapeways (Nasdaq: SHPW) is facing potential bankruptcy. A $5 million rescue was rejected by Shapeways, according to a person familiar with the situation. UPDATE: Shapeways bankruptcy is confirmed, executive team resigns. See end of article for details. According to...

3dprintingindustry.com

Cheers

Jan

 

[Jordan]

Why am I not surprised? I often thought even the initial cost of components I looked at on Shapeways was excessive, never mind the delights of all the additional charges that seemed to crop up.
No customers = no sales = no income = no business......

 

[Herb Garden]

The quality of resins they use are also pretty poor to what can be done at home now which can't help the situation

 

[simond]

“…Moreover, financial disclosures revealed Shapeways’ Q3 2023 revenue of just $8.4 million, gross profit of $3.4 million, and a staggering net loss of $19.4 million, signaling a 198.5% increase from Q3 2022. …”

”staggering“ sums it up.

I'm struggling to imagine how such a transition is possible in any normal company.

 

[djparkins]

“…Moreover, financial disclosures revealed Shapeways’ Q3 2023 revenue of just $8.4 million, gross profit of $3.4 million, and a staggering net loss of $19.4 million, signaling a 198.5% increase from Q3 2022. …”

”staggering“ sums it up.

I'm struggling to imagine how such a transition is possible in any normal company.

Absolutely - the mind boggles. I continually I wonder how various companies conduct themselves to get into the messes they do.

From the smallest to the largest businesses there are enough analytics in the accounting packages we use [you gotta use them now to even submit your VAT return!] that you can see instantly if smoething is not as it should be. I've never understood the concept that if something is getting progessively worse quarter on quarter, it can improved if you just keep doing the same thing.

Mind you, even in our little business things can go wrong - usually if my wife and her daughters decide they are going on a shopping trip. Words that fill me with dread! That's when I know I'll have to buckle down and release another kit!!!

DJP/MMP et al

 

[DavidB]

Mind you, even in our little business things can go wrong - usually if my wife and her daughters decide they are going on a shopping trip. Words that fill me with dread! That's when I know I'll have to buckle down and release another kit!!!

I have never been in business but I sympathise. If I take my wife to the supermarket, it invariably costs more than if I go on my own. Electricity consumption is noticeably lower when she goes away for a few days.

 

[Hayfield1]

I have not used Shapeways now for years, as far as I am concerned they were far too expensive.

Like many things technology moves on, I can now print things myself quite inexpensively

 

[Richard Gawler]

Most of the prints I bought from Shapeways were unusable and upon enquiry I found one designer to be in denial of making any mistakes. Prints were not to scale, and either crumbled like eggshells or had a surface like coarse sandpaper. I stopped using Shapeways, they put me off 3D print technology for at least five years. I doubt I am alone.

The good thing is, individual modellers and small modelling companies do it better.

 

[DougT]

Interesting. I almost pressed the purchase button on a couple of wagons from BR Blue on Shapeways last night but something stopped me… must admit that I haven’t any bad experiences of shapeways printed products and the wagons from Simon at BR Blue are excellent.

 

[simond]

Shapeways did a lot more than the kind of 3DP than we do at home, eg laser sintered metals and other powder techniques, and they must have done a lot of it, if they were turning over $8.4M per quarter!

but it takes some particular magic to turn $3.4M profit into $19.4M loss - the article is not at all clear on the periods in question but it does appear that they were turning over $30+M per annum. It's a bit troubling if they were spending $50M to do it...

What was it Mr Mickawber said about money and end of the month?

 

[David Mylchreest]

I haven't bought anything off Shapeways for a good many years now, but I do wonder how people who have advertised their designs on the platform will sell their stuff following its demise

 

[Marc Dobson]

I stopped using them in 2020 as their prices went up and their quality went down. I kept getting complaints from the people who had ordered my designs from them. And it became more hassle than it was worth. I bought my own printers and not looked back.
Marc

 

[djparkins]

What was it Mr Mickawber said about money and end of the month?

There is somerthing to be said for running your business on this model.

It was said of the late Adrian Swain [ABS Models] that he was an adherent of this doctrine - £1.00 in, 99p out - result = Happiness!

DJP