Discussion of the September 2017 update (OLD)

Awesome update!

I have some questions/suggestions.


Why are some of the designs in the app showing up as purchased in the Catalog and others not? For example, the Straight Shot Cable Ties showed up as purchased in the Catalog, but the Classic Airline Luggage Tag did not.


For the “Per Print” purchase option, what happens if something goes wrong with the print? Does the design disappear the second the print is over, or is it still there as long as you don’t go back to the dashboard in the app? For example: https://catalog.glowforge.com/products/weighted-6-sided-gaming-dice-d6. Would I be able to print 6 of these if I copy and pasted the “Per Print” design and just did 1 print?


Would it be possible to have a wishlist/favorites in the catalog? There are a few designs that I like, but probably won’t print right now. I don’t want to buy them until I’m ready to print them. Its not a huge issue at the moment, but as the Catalog gets bigger, I image it might be difficult to find the designs I like again.


Is it possible to add a comment section for each design, or would that be better handled in the forum? It would be nice to have an area for tips and tricks people use for assembling some of the designs.
I can also image modifying or enhancing some of the designs that I would like to share. For example, this awesome little monster: https://catalog.glowforge.com/products/desktop-sugar-monster-box.
I’m probably going to be getting this. I’m also probably going to make some accessories for different holidays (Santa hat for Christmas will happen).


Is it possible to separate out Catalog designs and Uploaded designs in the app? Having a folder structure or being able to group designs some other way would be great!

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Thanks for another great update!
Love the shipping status page, I think that is a good compromise of providing feedback on what the progress is.
Things are coming together!

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I can only hope they are custom painted blue and purple. A_night_at_the_roxbury

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…aaannnd it’s your birthday! Hope you have a terrific day and many happy returns! :balloon: :tada:

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This is all awesome news! Looking good and getting my positive again! (yet I won’t be telling anyone outside of here because of the looks and sighs I’ll get… again)

Hoping to see international shipping starting soon. It’s a little sad that I’m in the “before october 30th!” bracket. Ordered it october 1st but an international… Had hoped it’d be here earlier then orders that are done today. At least I got it for the pre-order price!

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Great update!
I’m excited to dig into the design catalog when that time comes for me. I noticed that you mentioned the two different prices for single use or “unlimited personal use.” I would possibly be interested in another level: Unlimited commercial use, meaning I could take this design, modify it or not, and sell it.

Really fantastic news about the “place in line,” so to speak. I think you all listened quite well to what a lot of people on the forum were mentioning.

Along those lines, the referral code update is really ingenious. Why not keep someone on the Glowforge site, using something that Glowforge sells? And what better want to do that than with a little extra monetary incentive.

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I said the same thing. I think there should be an unlimited licence that can be altered and sold for a profit.

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Awesome comment! Some of this is in the hopper and the rest we should srsly consider adding. Love the feedback, thanks!

One note about modifying - you can always click Add Artwork to add your own customizations to a design.

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Nice! Good update all round. Glad GF is clearly optimistic on the shipping front and thanks @dan for the increased transparency here. I’m sure that the increase in place now that day one orders are done will be heartening for everyone.

I’d like like some sort of update on international regulatory applications / approvals to give us an idea of any delay we should expect after the 31st Oct due to this gallery outside of GF’s control. I think that might sooth some international concerns.

Also, can glowforge clarify whether they can declare the Glowforge’s value as the amount we paid in local currency at the time we paid for it? I know this was asked a long while back but I don’t recall a definitive answer from Glowforge themselves.

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It’s an interesting product space. I’ve noticed that most people (on the forum, at least) seem to have purchased their Glowforge to use for a business in one way or another. Mine is a toy, I’m not going to make any money with it. At best I’ll make the occasional birthday or holiday gift.

The closest areas I’m familiar with are 3D printing and craft cutters. I find it interesting how they have two completely different communities around them. The vast majority of shared 3D models are on sites like Thingiverse where they’re all given away for free (with varying restrictions on redistribution). I find it very inspirational to browse through what people have made, download designs, sometimes reimplement or remix them to learn the tools better. I’ve even put a few up myself.

Whereas making things with my Silhouette Cameo 3 feels more like shopping at a card store in the mall. It’s a different world, with an app store where everything is $1.99. There are a small number of incredibly creative people who seem to dominate the design community for these things, and their temporary giveaways and SEO mean a search is likely to stumble on a design that was free for a week but isn’t any more. I don’t mind paying for designs, but the community just has a different feel when it consists mostly of words in script fonts on sale for 50 cents.

I’m not sure what point I’m going for here. Thingiverse has plenty of laser-cut projects as well. I guess I’m just hoping that as the Glowforge community evolves, it feels more like the 3D printer world and less like those vinyl cutters.

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We didn’t pay in local currency. We paid USD and our banks did the exchange, so GF probably never saw the amount the banks charged us.

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Great update, except the part where it means good luck for me as a day one purchaser getting anything done from now on except obsessively checking my email.

Now that I know it’s this close, I’m having a kind of “the darkest hour is just before dawn” moment, sub “most impatient” for “darkest” and “shipping notice” for “dawn.” :laughing:

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Are you asking for purposes of calculating Duties? If so, Duties are your responsibility and beyond Glowforge pervu. You need to calculate the exchange based on permitted methods of your government.

In Canada, this means: declaring either CAD calculated based on the USD at noon the day it shipped, or declaring USD at the day it shipped and making customs do the calculation for you. The amount you paid two years ago doesn’t enter into the calculation at all.

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What happens if you purchase something on the design catalog “1 time” and later decide you that you want the “forever” version after you get burn/assemble/ take a look at it. Do you pay “full price” for the “forever” version, or is the system smart enough to have you pay the difference. i.e. “1 time” is $5.00 and “forever” is $7.00, you pay the $5 the “first time” and pay an extra $2 for the “forever” version, or are you out the whole $12 ($5+$7)?

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Heres hoping for a strong Canadian dollar on shipping day! :stuck_out_tongue:

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Ha! Although I’d rather have had the strong dollar when I spent the $1990 to start with, and settled with a weak dollar when it came to sorting out the 5% taxes :grin:

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I admit the reason I bought when I did was because I was worried the dollar would go lower than what it was. It was falling fast around then.

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Yep, same here. I delayed my purchase while I was figuring out which way the trade winds were blowing.

As long as we get our shipping notification before a certain someone tears up NAFTA :stuck_out_tongue:

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Thanks for the great suggestions, Joe! I’m going to try and get the right folks to look at these, but for future reference, if each of these was a separate Problems & Support post, they’d each be guaranteed to get to the right home - something that doesn’t always happen to suggestions & questions buried in reply threads.

Great to know!

Unfortunately publishing compliance activity publicly is the sort of thing that makes our friendly neighborhood lawyer walk away laughing saying, “good one, you crack me up”. You’ll never guess how I know this.

We don’t have a way for you to convert from one-time to forever yet, if I remember correctly.

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