diff --git a/backend/src/routes/imports.ts b/backend/src/routes/imports.ts
index e56b3e7..5c164d2 100644
--- a/backend/src/routes/imports.ts
+++ b/backend/src/routes/imports.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ import { normalizeImportUrl } from "../utils/urlUtils";
 import { parseBody } from "../utils/validate";
 import { asyncHandler } from "../utils/asyncHandler";
 import { downloadImportToTemp, importPrintFromUrl, inspectImportLink, type ImportRequestBody } from "../services/importService";
+import { resolveMakerworldCookie } from "../services/importResolvers";
+import { extractMakerworldBearerToken } from "../services/makerworldCloudApi";
 import {
   fetchMakerworldCollectionEntries,
   fetchMakerworldCollectionTitle,
@@ -98,10 +100,11 @@ router.post(
     const url = await normalizeImportUrl(body.url);
     const parsed = parseMakerworldCollectionUrl(url);
     if (!parsed) throw new HttpError(400, "Not a MakerWorld collection URL");
+    const bearerToken = extractMakerworldBearerToken(resolveMakerworldCookie(body));
 
     const [title, listing] = await Promise.all([
-      fetchMakerworldCollectionTitle(parsed.collectionId),
-      fetchMakerworldCollectionEntries(parsed.collectionId),
+      fetchMakerworldCollectionTitle(parsed.collectionId, bearerToken),
+      fetchMakerworldCollectionEntries(parsed.collectionId, bearerToken),
     ]);
     if (!listing.entries.length) throw new HttpError(400, "Could not load this collection's models");
 
diff --git a/backend/src/services/makerworldCollections.ts b/backend/src/services/makerworldCollections.ts
index 2060bc7..576cb5a 100644
--- a/backend/src/services/makerworldCollections.ts
+++ b/backend/src/services/makerworldCollections.ts
@@ -4,8 +4,11 @@ import { fetchViaFlaresolverr, isFlaresolverrEnabled, looksLikeCloudflareBlock }
 // MakerWorld's own /api/v1/design-service/favorites/* endpoints back the collection page's
 // "load more" pagination. Same host as the design/download endpoints we already call directly
 // (see makerworldCloudApi.ts) and, like those, not behind Cloudflare's bot-management challenge
-// even unauthenticated -- confirmed against live traffic. No bearer token needed: collection
-// listings are public the same way the collection page itself is.
+// even unauthenticated. Public collections work fine without a token, but a private one (e.g.
+// a user's own default/unshared collection) answers with a clean application-level 403
+// ("The client does not have access rights to the content.") unless the same bearer token
+// used for design/download resolution is sent -- confirmed against a live private collection.
+// So the token is sent whenever we have one, same as everywhere else MakerWorld is called.
 const COLLECTION_API_BASE = "https://makerworld.com/api/v1/design-service/favorites";
 const COLLECTION_PAGE_SIZE = 20;
 const COLLECTION_MAX_ENTRIES = 300;
@@ -20,22 +23,24 @@ function isRecord(value: unknown): value is Record<string, unknown> {
   return !!value && typeof value === "object" && !Array.isArray(value);
 }
 
-function collectionHeaders(): Record<string, string> {
-  return {
+function collectionHeaders(bearerToken: string | null): Record<string, string> {
+  const headers: Record<string, string> = {
     "User-Agent": IMPORT_BROWSER_USER_AGENT,
     Accept: "application/json",
     Referer: "https://makerworld.com/",
   };
+  if (bearerToken) headers.Authorization = `Bearer ${bearerToken}`;
+  return headers;
 }
 
 /** Same defensive fallback used elsewhere for MakerWorld's /api/v1/* paths: they haven't been
  * seen behind Cloudflare's challenge in practice, but if that ever changes, retry once through
  * FlareSolverr rather than failing outright. */
-async function fetchCollectionJson(url: string): Promise<unknown | null> {
+async function fetchCollectionJson(url: string, bearerToken: string | null): Promise<unknown | null> {
   const controller = new AbortController();
   const timeout = setTimeout(() => controller.abort(), IMPORT_TIMEOUT_SECONDS * 1000);
   try {
-    const res = await fetch(url, { headers: collectionHeaders(), redirect: "follow", signal: controller.signal });
+    const res = await fetch(url, { headers: collectionHeaders(bearerToken), redirect: "follow", signal: controller.signal });
     if (res.status === 403 && isFlaresolverrEnabled() && looksLikeCloudflareBlock(res.headers)) {
       const solved = await fetchViaFlaresolverr(url, null);
       if (!solved) return null;
@@ -72,8 +77,11 @@ export function parseMakerworldCollectionUrl(url: string): { collectionId: strin
   return match ? { collectionId: match[1] } : null;
 }
 
-export async function fetchMakerworldCollectionTitle(collectionId: string): Promise<string | null> {
-  const data = await fetchCollectionJson(`${COLLECTION_API_BASE}/${collectionId}`);
+export async function fetchMakerworldCollectionTitle(
+  collectionId: string,
+  bearerToken: string | null = null,
+): Promise<string | null> {
+  const data = await fetchCollectionJson(`${COLLECTION_API_BASE}/${collectionId}`, bearerToken);
   if (!isRecord(data)) return null;
   return typeof data.title === "string" && data.title.trim() ? data.title.trim() : null;
 }
@@ -84,6 +92,7 @@ export async function fetchMakerworldCollectionTitle(collectionId: string): Prom
  * turn this into an unbounded loop against a live upstream. */
 export async function fetchMakerworldCollectionEntries(
   collectionId: string,
+  bearerToken: string | null = null,
   maxItems: number = COLLECTION_MAX_ENTRIES,
 ): Promise<{ total: number; entries: MakerworldCollectionEntry[]; truncated: boolean }> {
   const entries: MakerworldCollectionEntry[] = [];
@@ -92,7 +101,7 @@ export async function fetchMakerworldCollectionEntries(
 
   for (;;) {
     const url = `${COLLECTION_API_BASE}/${collectionId}/designs?seed=0&collectionId=${collectionId}&limit=${COLLECTION_PAGE_SIZE}&offset=${offset}`;
-    const data = await fetchCollectionJson(url);
+    const data = await fetchCollectionJson(url, bearerToken);
     if (!isRecord(data) || !Array.isArray(data.hits) || !data.hits.length) break;
     if (typeof data.total === "number") total = data.total;