Poll: Printer Manufacturer scam cartridges.

[Rigoletto]

I bought this printer for half price at a clearance in an ordinary high street superstore for £40 with two cartridges. I wandered around my PC shop looking at refills and like the black cartridge is £20! Ha ha you must be pulling my leg (or my dick).
The profit margins must be HUGE. And you get twice as much for half the price if you use the generic syringe method to squirt ink back in the cartridge.
It reminds me of the cheap canaries they sell in Petsmart. They make the money back on the cage kits.

Do you think printer manufacturers are scamming on the cost of cartridges?

*I should add that I'm talking about the ink/ bubblejet printers. If anyone feels different about laser toner or whatever please comment.

 

[urbantechie]

<< Ha ha you must be pulling my leg (or my dick). >>


LOL


Anyways, once you buy a couple cartridges you already payed the price of your printer :|

 

[Dave]

Its well known that printer manufacturers make huge profits on the cartridges, not the printer itself. Its kind of like Gillette giving away the shaver and selling your those (great) triple track blades for a fortune.

Those guys are smart! and rich!

I have taken to refilling my black cartridges. No ill effects after about 6 mo. Epson 800 Stylus Color + Epson Stylus Color 900

 

[noxipoo]

how the hell do you refill toner? i don't see magical money saving refill hole on my toner i got a cheap bubblejet.

 

[Rigoletto]

noxipoo, people do actually do it. It seems to be more fussy and unauthorised than inkjet refilling. You have to drill a hole in the toner cartridge.

 

[SSP]

I voted for Kiss my ass for not reason.

I have a canon printer, and a B&amp;W cartridge is about 20Bucks (CAN$). I don't buy it anymore cause I use the refills.

BTW, I like my Gillette Mach 3. Beats the old recyclable Bic's.

 

[Rigoletto]

Actually I prefer the old Gilette razor blades with the sprung set of two blades. I use ones that are a bit old for my face on my legs.
I am a man BTW.

 

[JellyBaby]

Yep, you must consider the overall cost of operating these nasty new inkjets. IBM Lexmark's are the most expensive, HP and Epson aren't as bad. And don't forget to get the best output you often need premium (priced) paper! For photographic quality output on HP printers, you must buy Premium Photo Paper at about $1 per page!

Now that you mention it, I think we all should return to impact printers.

 

[hans007]

i bought a xerox injket printer, for $60. It was 8ppm , had a black and color cartridge. I look up prices for replacements and its like $40 each. So i'm like screw it i'll just buy a new printer everytime.

 

[SSP]

Actually I prefer the old Gilette razor blades with the sprung set of two blades. I use ones that are a bit old for my face on my legs.

err... you shave your legs?

 

[Shazam]

Rigoletto, too much information!!

 

[ColdTech]

Refill You Cart if you want. But I can tell you that if the printer is damaged to to the cart than the manufactures warranty will not apply. I Will pay more for my cart seeing as how I have seen many cases where those refill kits can cause the cart. to leek &amp; in some cases even explode. Ounce Again I Paid 300 dollars for my printer &amp; I Want the full manufactures warranty on it, &amp; I am not going to risk the 300 dollars to save 20 bucks to refill a cart ralther than buying a new one with the new print head. Also Over time when using the refill's the print heads that would normally get replaced Do not &amp; can degrade print quality.

HP's drawer statement for Cart. Refills


As a Printer support technician for HP I can tell you that it is not a good ideal to use the refills unless you printer is worth less than the cart. Mine however is a 300 dollar inkjet so I Will pay full price for the cart.

 

[Specialist]

My Lexmark costs 125 $
And each cartrige 50!!
OH CRAP i already bought 5!

 

[Stealth1024]

you'll be taking a chance voiding the warranty and all with those refill kits...

 

[Susan]

Printer prices have fallen about 21% in the last few months, but the cost of ink cartridges has risen 21%. The manufacturers are making more money because of the repeat business from consumers buying the ink.

Lexmark even sells the Z22 that is a two cartidge system, but only the color cartridge comes with the unit. They're digging their own grave with the cost of their ink and reputation with stunts like this.

Ink is designed specifically for the printers, so when you refill a cartridge, it's may not be the same vicosity ink that's needed for the print heads. And, when you buy already refilled cartridges (Lexmark or HP type), they are refilled and previously used print heads.

 

[medic]

The part about the heads wearing over time is, in my case is so much B.S.
I have a Canon 4000 Inkjet and have filled the same black cartridge about 20 times or over 10,000+ pages. Did up my monthly invoices 2 nights ago and they are still flawless.
The 2 reasons it's still going strong are that I buy high quality bulk ink and every time I refill it I take it apart and wash out the sponge, clean the case, soak the head, dry it overnight then refill it.

 

[JellyBaby]

It bothers me there's little or no competition in ink cartridges. Back in the days of impact printers you could buy, say, an original Epson FX-yadayada printer ribbon for $15. But smart folks went to aftermarket resellers who had that same ribbon for $5-10. Where's the third-party market for HP inkjet cartridges????!! :|

 

[HD2GO]

Using cheaper refill solutions (if available) is fine for text and non-photo quality printouts. One may feel that ink cartridges are outrageously expensive. However, printer companies spend lots of $$$ in R&amp;D to formulate the right ink chemistry, optimize ink dispensing methods, match paper and ink to get the best photo-realistics printouts, etc. Obviously, if one doesn't print photos on their inkjet printers, one would not appreciate the high price of ink cartridges.

 

[Susan]

Very true, HD2.

If it weren't so, then the printer manufacturers would just go on using the same cartridges from the previous printers, old technology.