Not surprisingly we tend to look at Shapeways from the perspective of our own experience, i.e. detail bits for model boats. However that was only a small part of Shapeway's business, which was mainly aimed at industrial applications where they could provide high quality prints for short run components that it simply wasn't worth a small company investing in the high costs of the printing equipment required.
The biggest challenge Shapeways had was the very hit and miss quality control. They were supposed to have a filter in place that prevented components being printed that were not strong enough for the application but this didn't work very well. It was supposed to prevent components being printed in certain unsuitable plastics or in unsuitable scales but the filter wasn't very good. For instance I had some deck guns printed only to have them arrive with bent barrels. When I questioned it they told me it should not have been printed in 'X' type plastic but should have been printed in 'Y' type plastic. Usually much more expensive. I have had a number of arguments with them over unsuitable items.
In many cases significant price increases were as a result of not understanding the limitations of certain plastics and having to upgrade to a better quality, plastic to acheive the required surface detail. What a lot of people didn't seem to realise was that the base price was set by the designer, Shapeways simply took a percentage for the printing, shipping and handling. Another huge difference for the UK market though was Brexit. The parts were actually printed in Holland, so, after Brexit, had customs duty slapped on them as well. This made a very big difference to shipping costs, which for some small detail items, simply didn't make economical sense, particularly frustrating when it might have been designed in the UK. I'm annoyed with myself though as I was going to buy some of the really good sets of 1/48th scale RN Navy figures they had but didn't get around to it. Somewhere out there is a designer with some superb RN Royal Navy figure designs looking for a quality printing service!
Once you understood the limitations of the plastics and were prepared to pay the shipping Shapeways had a lot to offer that may never be replaced. I have had some superb items in the past that I could never have sourced anywhere else.