30% Drop in Earnings after Bambu's Last Point System "Upgrade"

MakerWorld
64

Not sure what you think the trump comment would have to do with it when i don’t live in america :stuck_out_tongue:

And i’m still waiting for the actual legit printer sales i asked you to link, because you’ve seen a scam and run with the narrative your head has concocted that bambu must be offloading their machines, which is definitely a new one to me but being a unique fantasy doesn’t really change that its not real

The truth is, the ONLY reason to buy BBL is because you need a machine that is made for inexperienced people that don’t have the IQ to use a 3D printer.

Show us on the prusa doll where the naughty bambu touched you, and yes thats part of it, but also not needing to waste time fixing it, i paid for a tool and i would like the tool to do its job, any time i have to spend fine tuning the tool or fixing the tool is time the tool isn’t doing its job, like i get it, some people want to spend hours and hours upgrading and tweaking their machines, and thats fine if they are happy, but you sound like a fanboy who realised someone makes better machines :slight_smile:

The printers for sale on eBay are all shipping from China so it is likely they are scams, that’s all that comes out of China.

Ok and which part of what bambu sells is scams exactly? because you’re letting your bigotry show through there buddy :slight_smile:

You can argue all you want - The facts and the forums clear it all up.

And what facts would those be? because so far all i see is you making false statements imagining them to be true

BBL printers are crap for advanced users.

Citation needed, because they aren’t, but you aren’t going to provide any evidence :slight_smile:

Are you agreeing with BBL business practices? Are you saying BBL is a good company that can be trusted. Of course you are, because dumocrats are clueless and not living in reality.

I assume you were trying to insult someones political leaning but i’m not american and we don’t have “democrats” here, and i trust bambu the same as i’ve trusted them since i got my first printer, they haven’t given me any reason to doubt them so far, unlike you i’m not a bigot labelling everything chinese as a scam because i don’t know any better

If you have a 3D printer, get the person that operates it for you to show you how to use eBay.

I have multiple printers and i know how to use them just fine, and i know how to use ebay, hence me knowing none of the “cheap” H2D’s you’re seeing are legit sales, maight want to brush up on those critical thinking skills buddy

1 Like
65

Man, that needs to be 30 cents cheaper, missed opportunity.

3 Likes
66

That misrepresents my position. I am not disapproving of Bambu for using cloud-enabled features. I am disapproving of Bambu for threatening legal action against an open-source developer for engaging in ordinary open-source developer activity.

My objection is that Bambu appears to be choosing legal pressure and ecosystem lock-down instead of doing the harder work of securing its systems while still supporting an open, interoperable, and extensible platform.

Also, I used the term “disapprove,” not “condemn.” I think Bambu should be free to lock down its products and ecosystem, whether I approve of that choice or not. I should likewise be free to consider that choice when deciding whether to buy its products.

I think that there are people that may appreciate an appliance that has a total product vertical of parts, materials and cloud based subscriptions. I also think there are people that enjoy a toy/hobby that they can hack and extend and tinker with. I think that Bambu could have both if they chose to do a little hard technical work to build security into their API’s and safeguards inside the walls of their garden instead of trying to block the creativity and hacking that people want to do outside of their garden.

Also, it is a little counter-productive for Bambu to cheap out on their own security systems and risk controls. They are not making them actually secure, just papering over and annoying a lot of legitimate hobbyists who like to tinker in the process.

1 Like
67

From my point of view Bambu has created a series of 3D printers that are a generation ahead of what anyone else was creating for the consumer market. Not only did they develop better printers but they also created an eco system that goes well beyond what existed before. They saw something like a 3000% increase in sales over the first couple of years, dominating the market. Users of 3D printers have been growing at a rate of around a million a quarter with a large number of those buying Bambu Lab printers. The newcomers are not hackers and tinkerers. They want to print things, not play with their printers.

The tinkerer crowd, as far as 3D printing goes, has been becoming exceedingly small. It is rather shortsighted to expect Bambu to cater to such a small segment of the market. Especially when what that very small segment wants, would diminish the experience for everyone else. If the open source, DIY, tinkerer crowd was all that, they would have developed a better printer by now. But they didn’t and won’t because excellence is never achieved in such a setting.

6 Likes
69

Not sure how/why this got so derailed…

But OP is 100% correct.

The reason it’s not been posted that much 3 weeks ago (when this was first posted) is because it took most people time to see the difference. Maybe the people doing it full time, and reliant on the income, it was easy to spot in once it started. But for the rest of us, it took some time.

I myself don’t post that much new models, but used to seeing occasional points coming in from my older models. Enough to occasionally order filaments or spare parts for my printer. However I’m seeing a constant drop in both Views, Downloads and points in the last few months.

I’m down from average of 180 Downloads a day for my models 2 months ago. To average of 60 downloads a day right now.

Looking historically: My numbers have been pretty consistent until April. When some gradual drop started. And the drop has become much more significant in the last month. I’m not really making money on this, and don’t rely on the income…

But I do agree with others - while up until now the perks from Bambu alone were enough. It makes much more sense for me to share my models in other stores, to get the perks from them as well…

2 Likes
70

What other stores are worth the effort? Genuine question… Printables is ok if you live where you can get reasonable shipping but not amazing…

71

The funny thing is that my views per model have been pretty consistent since the big change on March 19, and through the most recent change about a month ago. But the downloads per view are down significantly. I would think that whether someone who views a model chooses to print or download would be entirely out of Bambu’s hands. But that appears not to be the case. One thing I know is that the milestones are not consistent. For example, whereas in the past it may have taken 25 combined downloads to earn points, now for some models it takes 27 or more. I think BBL is simply not counting some of the downloads. That could explain reduced downloads per view.

72

It’s convoluted now and some parts of their formulas are not disclosed to us. But the points on models has gotten the algorithm treatment and points depend on various factors now like how much filament and if it’s “complex” or not.

The downloads vs views thing is curious though.

There’s multiple things affecting all this. Bambu’s customer numbers are increasing, the number of models available is increasing, and the number of people posting models is increasing.

The only thing driving increasing downloads is the increasing customer base of people looking for things to print. The increasing numbers of creators and models both make it harder to be seen.

And then there’s the whole question of what models are popular - what do these new people want to print and do you want to cater to that audience?

There are models getting lots of downloads and Bambu does feature various models which really explodes views and downloads.

It has gotten complex, obfuscated, and where there is lack of information, speculation and suspicion can flood in. It doesn’t help that it’s to Bambu’s advantage to cut back on rewards.

But if people look at their own models and the ones getting lots of action, at least in my case my stuff isn’t wide appeal, easier to print, or trendy. I think it’s not terribly far off but is just enough off the mark that it just doesn’t compete as well for the mass market.

That said, I do think Bambu has moved into “squeeze it” territory on points/perks. Long term it hobbles customer participation.

1 Like
73

My personal issue with Printables, is they count the downloads monthly. So most of the models I uploaded there, even though have hundreds/thousands lifetime downloads, but give me 0 points, as not enough people download them every month.

So only 1 of my models, the most popular one, gets 50 points once a month. That’s enough for 1-2 filament rolls per year. Not nearly as much as the perks from Bambu.

My experience is similar. My downloads decreased by 65% (points even worse), but my views have only decreased 10%-20%.

74

I can confirm a very similar experience.

I started uploading in March 2026 and recently reached 2.1K followers, so my account is still relatively new and growing.

Before the recent changes I was consistently earning around 450–500 points per day. Now I’m usually around 250–300 points per day despite continued growth, more downloads, more prints and regular boosts.

Some of my models with downloads, prints, likes and collections receive 0 points, while other models with similar visible metrics receive points.

Based on my own statistics, the reduction feels closer to 40–50% than 30%.

I’m not asking for more points, but I would appreciate more transparency regarding how the current system evaluates models.

1 Like