QUOTING IS THE BOTTLENECK
Most shops quote by hand. A stranger emails a file, you open it in a slicer, work out grams and hours, and reply later that day. By then plenty of them have ordered elsewhere, and the ones who do come back start the whole exchange over again.
Instinctor prices the file the moment it lands, on your rates, and the order reaches you by email with the model and the filament the customer chose. No slicer, no reply to write, and no marketplace taking a cut of a customer you found yourself.
TRY IT
These are print files, not photographs. Drag to turn one, or pick a filament and watch the silk shift as it moves.
Spiral vase
Spiral tower
Twisted column
No quoting calculator to rent, no separate store, no shipping add-on, no four bills. Everything below is built into the site for $99, once, and runs on the license and hosting. Tap or hover any line to read what it does on a working day.
- Quoting from the file
- Customers upload an STL or an OBJ on your pageThey drop the file your slicer already takes. Nobody fills in a form or waits for an email first.
- A price on the screen while they are still thereThe file is measured as it arrives and the number comes back in seconds, instead of a quote request landing in your inbox.
- The price comes from the measured volumeThe enclosed volume of the mesh is calculated from the geometry, so a hollow vase is not priced as a solid block.
- A part bigger than your build plate is refusedThe model is checked against your build volume and the customer is told both sizes, instead of it failing at the printer.
- Your own rates behind every quoteFilament price per kilo, printer hourly rate, handling, infill and margin are your numbers, set once.
- The costs shown under the priceGrams, print hours, material, machine time and handling appear as their own lines, so the figure is not a mystery.
- What the customer chooses
- Filament colors offered on the quoteYou list the colors you stock and the customer picks one as a swatch, rather than describing it in a message.
- The chosen color travels onto the orderThe color is carried into the order line with the file name, so the job reaches your bench already specified.
- Quantity changed on the same screenThey set how many they want and the total updates against the unit price without the file being measured again.
- A minimum price on small partsYou set a floor, so a three gram keyring still covers the time it takes to print, finish and pack.
- Materials and finishes priced separatelyAn item you list can carry its own variants, each with its own price and its own stock count.
- Extras added when a part is orderedSanding, priming, assembly or a rush option attach to the item and add their own price to the total.
- The part shown in 3D
- A real 3D model turning on the pageThe model loads into a viewer on your own page, lit in a studio environment, instead of a photograph of a print.
- The model turns as the page scrollsRotation follows the reader down the page, so the part shows its profile and its rim without anyone dragging it.
- Filaments tried on the model itselfSwatches beside the viewer change the material on the part, so a customer sees the color on their own shape.
- A name, a price and an order button on the modelA model you sell carries its own title, price and button, so it can be ordered from where it is being looked at.
- A wall of models arranged in a gridEach model is its own card and the grid sets the columns and spacing, so a range reads as one body of work.
- Orders and posting them out
- Card payment on your own siteCustomers pay by card on your pages. The money goes to your account and you see what it was for.
- The file that was priced is the file you printThe measured geometry is held against the order, so the job on your plate is the one the price came from.
- A tracking number recorded against the orderYou enter the number and the carrier, and the order carries a working tracking link from then on.
- The customer told when it shipsAn email goes out with the carrier, the number and the link, so the parcel stops being a question.
- An order looked up with a number and an emailSomebody who never made an account can still find their order and its tracking on your site.
- Refunds recorded against the orderYou refund part of an order or all of it, and the record shows what went back and why.
- Customers reaching you
- Smart Chat answering at any hourA chat on your site answers the usual questions about materials, sizes and turnaround overnight and at weekends.
- A phone number asked for firstThe chat takes a number before anything else, so an enquiry at midnight is still somebody you can call back.
- Text messages from your own numberTexts to customers come from your business number, and their replies come back into the same thread.
- WhatsApp where a text will not reachThe same conversation runs over WhatsApp for customers who use it, so messages still arrive.
- You take over the conversationWhen a question needs you, you pick up the same chat. The customer does not start from the beginning.
- Running the shop
- A priced estimate for a job the calculator cannot priceMulti part assemblies and design work go out as an estimate with line items, which the customer approves from a link.
- A record for every customerEach customer has their past orders, what was printed and what they paid, so a repeat job starts with the history.
- Their orders and addresses in their own accountCustomers sign in to see what they ordered, where it went and the tracking, instead of emailing to ask.
- Stock counts on what you keep on the shelfFinished items and spools carry a count, with a warning when one runs low and a sold out state when it is gone.
- Invoices with a payment linkYou issue an invoice to a business customer, they pay from the link, and the site tracks whether it has been paid.
- Titles, descriptions and structure for searchEvery page ships with its title, description and heading structure written for search. Ongoing SEO work is a separate service.
- Hosting and the domain includedThe site is hosted and kept running as part of the build. There is no separate hosting bill to arrange or a server to keep an eye on.
- Built to be used on a phoneMost people look for a business on a phone, so every page, the booking and the checkout are laid out for that screen first.
COMPETING FOR YOUR OWN NAME
Search for a 3D printing service right now and a marketplace is probably sitting at the top, taking a commission on work the shops behind it actually do. We build your site fast, search-ready and tied to your Google profile, so it can compete for your own name, and whoever lands on it orders from you directly.
- Built to be foundFast, clean, search-ready pages tied to your Google profile, so your own site competes for your name instead of ceding it to the marketplaces.
- Ready for local searchYour materials, your build volume and your turnaround are readable to Google, so you have a real shot when somebody nearby needs a part.
- Keep the customerThey land on your site, get a price, order from you directly and join your list, so the next job skips the marketplace for good.
WHY SWITCH
Print marketplaces take a cut of every job and keep the customer as theirs. Quoting by hand loses the ones in a hurry. One system prices the file instantly, sends you the order, and leaves the relationship with you.
What changesInstinctorA print marketplace
- QuotingInstant, from the customer's own filePriced on their rates, not yours
- Product photographyNot needed, the print file is the productYour parts sit in their catalog
- Cut of each jobNone, the whole price is yoursA commission on every order
- Who owns the customerYou do, for goodThe marketplace does
- FilamentsYour list, at your pricesTheir catalog, at their prices
- Where the order landsYour inbox, with the model and the filamentTheir dashboard
The design and the build are $99, once. After launch you pay the software license, $29.90 a month, and hosting, $14.90 a month. No setup fee, no per-job cuts, and no percentage of your sales.
QUESTIONS
The questions a print shop asks before buying, answered. Tap or hover any line for the detail.
- How the price is reached
- The price is worked out on the server, not in the browserThe site measures the model it is sent and prices the weight, the printer hours and your handling against your own rates. A price worked out in the browser is one the customer can change.
- Infill is costed, supports sit in handlingA print is costed as a dense shell around a sparse core at your infill setting, not as a solid block. Supports are not weighed: they sit in handling with cleanup and packing.
- Filament, printer time, handling, your margin, your minimumFilament by weight at your cost per kilo, printer time at your hourly rate, handling for cleanup and packing. Your margin on top, and a minimum so a three gram keyring is not quoted at pennies.
- Files and the model
- STL, 3MF and OBJ acceptedThe formats every CAD tool and slicer already exports. The part is checked against your build volume, so nothing larger than your machine gets quoted.
- The model turns on the page in the filament they pickedColour chips restyle the model live as it rotates, so a silk filament shifts rather than sitting as a flat swatch. Their choice travels through to the order.
- No product photography neededThe print file is the product. Your slicer file becomes a web model that renders on the page and turns as they scroll, so one file replaces a photo shoot.
- Getting the order
- A price without signing up firstAsking who somebody is before telling them what something costs loses most of them at the first screen, so the quote is open to anyone.
- The order arrives with the model, filament, quantity and notesEverything needed to start printing lands with the order, so nothing has to be chased before the job begins.
- You take payment the way you already doThe quote flow does not set up a cart or payment rails of its own. The order reaches you and you invoice or charge however you do it now.
