From this weekend I’ll be offering a group order service for anyone who wants to keep their shipping costs at a minimum.  This will be in addition to the usual method of ordering through the Shapeways shop.

From this weekend you can get in touch with your order and within the next five weeks, when we have a group order, I’ll place that order with Shapeways. If I have an order ready to go sooner, yours will be included, but whenever you order you’ll never have to wait longer than five weeks before your order is placed with Shapeways.

I’m offering this service as a result of the increased shipping costs from Shapeways due to the current global situation.  Many of the shipping companies have had to increase their charges and these have had to be passed on to the customers.  My service is also designed to help with the issue of Value Added Tax (VAT) and import charges now the UK has left the EU.  Customers who receive their 3D printed orders from the US print facility shouldn’t be affected by this.

These increased charges can be really frustrating when a part only costs about £9 and the shipping is more expensive than the cost of the part.  Because I order parts myself I can add any part you require to my order and bring your shipping costs down.  Then I can post your parts to you at a cheaper price with Royal Mail, I’ll explain how the VAT works in a moment.

Ordering any of my 3D printed parts has always been easy through Shapeways and their checkout page looks something like this.

The example above is for a set of my 3D printed long DCC conversion sleeves for Wrenn locomotives and you will notice that tax (VAT) has not been charged on the order.  This is because the parts are printed in Eindhoven in the Netherlands and Shapeways are currently not set up to collect VAT for the UK government. So the parcel will be stoped at the UK border and VAT will be charged on the contents and shipping cost.  The shipper may also charge a fee for doing this which makes the parts rather expensive.  If the destination is changed to an EU country you will see the tax is added on here.

So how will my new service work?  If, as per my example above, you would like the set of the four Wrenn long isolating sleeves, drop me an email or get in touch via the contact page with your request.  I can then quote for the parts plus the 20% VAT and the shipping cost from me to you using Royal Mail.  I will not charge VAT on the shipping cost and you will not have to pay any import charges.  So the total cost of the Wrenn parts including postage to a UK address will be £12.04.  I can send an invoice for the parts and your order will be added to my next Shapeways order.  My Shapeways orders will be placed at a maximum of every six weeks but some orders might be earlier depending on what I’m working on at the time.

This service also comes with a hidden bonus.  For example, let’s say you only needed three of the Wrenn long sleeves and one short sleeve.  Normally you would have to order two sets from Shapeways but I can order exactly what you need for the cost of one set.

There is also the chance I have some of the parts in stock and can send them out right away.

Of course, this service may not be to your benefit if, for example, you live in the USA as the Shapeways shipping is less, and so is the state tax, if any.

So by all means have a look and see what the price is to order from Shapeways direct, and if you’re in the UK don’t forget to factor in the VAT and import charges, then drop me a message and if I can help reduce the cost, I will.

As I said at the beginning of this post this service will be on a group basis, starting this weekend. When I have an order ready to go, yours will be included, but whenever you order you’ll never have to wait longer than five weeks before your order is placed with Shapeways.