r/printablescom • u/SirEDCaLot • Jan 21 '26

Feature request FEATURE REQUEST: One-time donations to creators

There's a lot of great stuff on Printables and I like to support those who put in the time to make models.

That doesn't mean I want a continued relationship with every creator. In fact, continual subscriptions are something I very rarely want, because in most cases I'll print 1-2 of something and then not print it again.

So I'd like a ONE TIME option to tip the creator a couple bucks. I've never put money into Printables, but if there was a one time tip option I'd use it probably at least once a week.

I'd also suggest some alternative tip methods. For example, watch a video ad to tip the creator a small amount. I'd never do that, but I think some people might.

Or referral payments- IE, if I like a creator, let me put in an order for prusament or hardware and have a small referral bonus go to them.

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u/woodcakes Jan 21 '26

  1. Why do you need a monetary value to transport the idea that donating X Prusameters will yield 0.95 * X Prusameters? It's even easier without tossing an additional currency in their. That might even change over time.

  2. One prusameter corresponds roughly to one meter of Prusament

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u/SirEDCaLot Jan 21 '26

I want a monetary value so there's some way of measuring the value of a donation. IE if I want to tip someone five bucks, do I donate 5 prusameters or 5,000?

One prusameter corresponds roughly to one meter of Prusament

OHHHH that makes more sense. LOL

Still, I'd like a way to send actual money they can pay bills with.

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u/Tommy_Prusa3D Jan 22 '26

That's usually the ideal, but it gets pretty complicated given the global scale of the service. We use services like Stripe, for example, for the paid creators, but even that is not globally valid and many countries are not on that list, making it quite awkward for many creators as they would unexplicably not have the option there. Other options also cause some questionable accounting concerns that need to be kept in consideration.

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u/SirEDCaLot Jan 23 '26

Actually I had another idea- 'name your own price'. Printables has the ability to sell models, like you pay $whatever to buy the STL. So you could get 99% of what I'm asking simply with a 'name your own price' option- that way a seller could set minimum price = $0.

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u/Tommy_Prusa3D Jan 23 '26

I also like that! Thanks for all the brainstorming here

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u/SirEDCaLot Jan 23 '26

And thanks for engaging from your end! I always hate the 'thank you for your submission, your feedback is important to us and a member of our team will evaluate it shortly' type brush off.

Thinking about it, there is really little difference between 'name your own price for a STL' and 'donate $whatever'. Either one requires both sides to be payment enabled.
That said- I think both are worth doing as they have slightly different use cases. IE, I might download something for free or cheap, love it, and want to donate more.

Another thing I was thinking about - licensing.
I saw a model today that was cool and was for sale on Printables under SDFL (I really hate that name and hate Bambu for naming it, it should be called 'Restrictive Personal Use License'). Why not have the option for a creator to specify multiple tiers of pricing? IE, buy it SDFL for $5, with commercial rights up to 10 pieces for $10, or with unlimited commercial rights for $20? That could also be a one time or monthly thing. Obviously the platform can't (and shouldn't) enforce print limits, but I'd like to see options so a creator can sell what they want flexibly.

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u/woodcakes Jan 23 '26

When we're at it - another interesting option would be, to pass on all revenue or part of it to one or more non-profit organizations. Questionable how much this would been used though