The file problem, solved.
Today we’re introducing the Shape Library: a template part builder, live now in Stella Source storefronts and in the Quote Builder.
Selling parts online has always come with one catch: the buyer needs a file.
If they have a DXF ready to upload, self-serve quoting works beautifully. But plenty of buyers don’t. Their dimensions live on a notepad. Their drawing is on paper. They’ve never opened CAD in their life.
And some buyers could make a file but shouldn’t have to. A flat plate with four bolt holes takes longer to draw than to cut. Nobody wants to fire up CAD for that.
Until now, all of those buyers had one option: call you. And someone on your side had to turn a description into a quotable part.
Not anymore.
Pick a shape. Set the dimensions. Order the part.
Buyers choose from a library of ready-made shapes, including plates with bolt patterns, rectangles, rings, discs, gussets, slotted plates, and more. They enter their dimensions and toggle features like bolt holes and center holes on or off.
A live preview redraws the part in real time as they type, so they see exactly what they’re building before they commit.
From there, Stella Source generates the DXF automatically and the part flows through quoting like any customer-supplied file. Pick the cutting process, pick the material and grade, add to cart.
A buyer with nothing but dimensions can price and order a part in minutes, any hour of the day.
Shape builders like this are one of the most effective tools in online selling, because they turn browsers into buyers. This one runs on your storefront, under your brand, with your pricing.
Your reps get it too.
The Shape Library isn’t for buyers alone. It lives in your Quote Builder, right alongside file upload, so your team can use it on every “can you cut me a...” request that comes in with no file attached.
Customer calls with dimensions? Your rep builds the part from a template, sees the same live preview, and sends the quote while they’re still on the phone.
No chasing drawings. No back-and-forth. And nobody on your team ever has to draft a throwaway file for a simple part again.
The bar for selling processing just dropped.
For service centers especially, this removes the biggest hesitation about offering processing online: what if our customers don’t have the right files?
Now it doesn’t matter. Buyer has a file? They upload it. Buyer doesn’t? The Shape Library creates one.
Either way, the part gets quoted and the order gets captured. If the file problem was your reason to hold off on selling value-added processing through your storefront, that reason is gone.
Sell to every buyer. Business email or not.
Here’s the second update, and it pairs perfectly with the first: Stella Source storefronts now accept personal email addresses like Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook at sign-up.
Think about who buys metal. Not every buyer is a purchasing agent with a company address. Small shops. Farm and ranch operations. One-person businesses running off a personal Gmail. Hobbyists with money to spend.
Your storefront can now sell to all of them, on your terms:
- You choose which locations are open to new buyers, and which stay limited to the customers you’ve set up
- New buyers see your default pricing only. Your existing accounts keep their assigned pricing, and nobody ever sees anyone else’s rates
- Require cash in advance for buyers you don’t know, so there’s never credit risk on a new account
Put the two together and the math is simple. The Shape Library removes the file barrier. Personal emails remove the sign-up barrier. Cash in advance removes the risk.
More buyers in the door, more orders captured, and your team never touches the routine ones.
The bigger picture.
If you’ve been watching our releases this year, you might notice they all point the same direction. The latest ones make it hard to miss.
Catalog items now have images, so buyers can shop your inventory the way they shop everywhere else. Storefronts now accept personal emails, so buyers without a business address can create an account. And the Shape Library means buyers without a file can still order a part.
Different features. Same goal: a storefront that can sell to buyers who couldn’t buy from you before.
The relationships, the service, the expertise: that’s still yours, and it’s still what wins in metals. What’s changing is how many buyers can reach it. Every barrier removed is another order your storefront captures that used to require a phone call, or worse, went somewhere else.
More on that soon.
Get started.
Already on Stella Source with a machine set up? The Shape Library is live for you today, in your Quote Builder and on your storefront. There’s nothing to enable and nothing to configure.
On Stella Source but not selling processing yet? The Shape Library shows up the moment you set up your first machine: laser, plasma, oxyfuel, waterjet, or saw. If the file problem was what held you back, this is the time. Reach out to your Stella Source team and get your first machine configured.
New to Stella Source? This is what a storefront built for metals looks like. Buyers who show up with a file, and buyers who don’t, both leaving with an order placed. Book a Demo and we’ll show you the Shape Library on your own products and processes.
