Perhaps the community can provide some suggestions for improving the Parts section of the 3DPrinting web site.
I am a fairly new customer and was looking for an upgrade kit for the PETF on an Ender-3(v2).
The drop down list of all parts has too many things in it.
The Parts category filter has too few choices. I would suggest adding categories:
a) Replacement parts
b) Upgrades
Moving the Printer filter closer to the category filter would make it easier to understand how to select an upgrade of the PETF for a CR Ender-3 (v2)
Since the filters:
a) Color
b) Diameter
c) Location
all have only 1 filter choice, they could be disabled until they actually have choices. This would simplify the filter selection.
Since some of the parts are not specific for a particular brand, it seems that a Printer filter for “All Printers” might also be appropriate for parts like brass inserts or other parts that can be used with any printer.
This will also fix the bug in the filters wherein if you have selected a printer in the printer filter, there does not seem to be any way to clear it. If you have selected a printer and then try to select the enclosure category, you get nothing and you have no way to widen the search to “All printers”.
These are just a beginners view of the problem. I am sure that others will have suggestions.
We are actively exploring methods to manage over 2000 SKU’s in our store with additional filters/categories. It will take time but we will get there.
I will keep this thread open in the Site Feedback category so I have it on file for when we start implementing the changes.
Actually, I like the way Amazon and some other companies do it. On the left they put lists with categories and check boxes. A category might be something like “Manufacturer” and the check boxes would be something like “Creality” or “Prusa”.
The ability to drill down and limit the displayed search results is enormously helpful.
Another useful thing would be to optionally exclude items that are not in stock.
Speaking of not-in-stock items, it would be empowering for customers to see an estimated restocking time. Case in point - I’m waiting for a particular colour of PLA to become available. Do I jump ship and order it from a manufacturer in the States? But that could take a week to arrive. What if you expect a deliver on Tuesday? In that case I should wait. That’s what I mean by empowering: I can’t make informed decisions without information. In my case I’ve ordered it from the States, but that, of course, is a loss for you. And for all I know the PLA actually will arrive on Tuesday but I’ve had to weight the more expensive route vs. the indefinite delays to my project.
I agree but currently the selection of printers is pretty good except for the ability to select “no specific Printer” to cancel a previous selection or to find parts such as brass inserts or tools that are not printer-specific.
There is a difference between “Manufacturer” and “Printer Model”. It is possible that a 3rd party manufacturer makes an upgrade or replacement part for a “Creality or Prusa”.
I was thinking about making a section on the Forum, a quick list if you want to call it. on the top of each printer listed in the tech support section I was going to create a list of parts available for that specific machine. maybe a Spec section as well kind of hot end and voltage of machine.
It would be helpful for people who follow the forum.
Also need sections for parts that are not printer specific. - Forum sections for “Supplies” and “Tools” ?
If you can provide a link on the website to the forum pages, that might get the attention of the people who do not follow the forum.
I think that it does not completely remove the need to upgrade the parts section of the web site. New customers will probably not visit the Forum.
On the website, you might also want to separate “supplies” and “tools” from “parts”.
Just to add I’ve found it hard to find items that i know you carry and who it’s made by but still have trouble searching for it.
I was looking for the Wham Bam PEI build sheet for the ender 3. Searching Wham Bam PEI and going through the list didnt find it till page 4. So much before unrelated other than Wham Bam.
Not sure how you go about cleaning that up but just putting it out there.
I know exactly what you are saying, the back end for shopify doesn’t search much better.
@chris has been working on updating and elaborating on the descriptions. He has been working on the filaments right now (you should be able to see the improvements of late)
Bear with us there are close to 10,000 individual Skus in the shop takes some time to work through them all. We are working on it.
I have a pretty large project going on right now when it’s done I’m going to start working on it as well.
You recently sent out requests for reviews for products people have purchased. I answered a few of them. If you need help with descriptions, perhaps you could add fields like:
Was the product description adequate?
If the answer is “No”, then ask:
How would you better describe the product?
That would allow you to focus on products where people have an actual concern. This would also allow descriptions to include terms that are more meaningful to the customers rather than falling into the trap of using industry jargon. There’s another thread somewhere where on the description of rollers which, if I recall correctly, were described as V-Grooved, vs. V-Slotted. To me, a groove and a slot are the same thing, but apparently they describe something different at a more technical level.