Skip to Content

EBay Gets Into 3-D (Printing, That Is)

EBay dips its toes into the 3-D printing pool with an iPhone app that lets users customize accessories.
July 12, 2013

EBay announced Friday that it is getting into 3-D printing with a new iPhone app called eBay Exact that lets users customize jewelry and accessories that will then be 3-D printed and sent to them. Functionally, it’s not mind-blowing, yet it shows just how far 3-D printing has come in the past few years and gives a hint of where it could go next.

A 3-D printed necklace available through eBay Exact. Users can modify the shape and color.

The app is pretty simple: Once you open it up, you see several items from 3-D printing companies MakerBot, Sculpteo, and Hot Pop Factory: mostly jewelry and iPhone cases, plus a few other items. You pick an item (I chose the Platonix necklace, available through Hot Pop Factory), and then modify a few features like the pattern, material, shape, or color. (Some items can’t actually be modified at all.) Available items are mostly made from plastic and metal. Users pay via eBay-owned payment service PayPal, and the purchase arrives within a week or two.

Since eBay already offers a number of popular and trusted apps, consumers may be more likely to find out about this one than other 3-D offerings. They may be more willing to try it, too. Eventually, I could imagine 3-D printing becoming a part of eBay’s core business, with sellers of accessory products in particular (like smartphone cases) offering a slew of customizable options.

Keep Reading

Most Popular

This new data poisoning tool lets artists fight back against generative AI

The tool, called Nightshade, messes up training data in ways that could cause serious damage to image-generating AI models. 

The Biggest Questions: What is death?

New neuroscience is challenging our understanding of the dying process—bringing opportunities for the living.

Rogue superintelligence and merging with machines: Inside the mind of OpenAI’s chief scientist

An exclusive conversation with Ilya Sutskever on his fears for the future of AI and why they’ve made him change the focus of his life’s work.

How to fix the internet

If we want online discourse to improve, we need to move beyond the big platforms.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.