Why are printer inks so expensive?
I also know about those refill kits, but have never tried any. Are they worth trying and an equal quality ink?
They’re expensive because you’re replacing the cartridge, which has a certain amount of electronic components in it.
I’ve tried the refill. Didn’t work. HP cartridges have no refill hole. The refill people sent me a neat little drill to make the hole, but it was next to impossible to fill properly.
You may be able to save something by using a generic cartridge (Pelican brand). There are also generic cartridges with replaceable ink tanks. But I’ve found the manufacturer’s work the best and last the longest.
My sister in law works as a supervisor for a company that makes HP printers and ink cartridges. I called her and she said " to keep up the profit margins". More creeping socialism…
It’s a lot like razor blades. Did you ever wonder why you can get a new razor virtually for free? It’s because the manufacturers know that once they lock you into the “system” then you’ll have to come back to them for the renewable parts.
I’ve tried the refill kits. They work, but they can make a hell of a mess.
I understand all the words, they just don’t make sense together like that.
I work at a place that refills printer cartridges, and I heard they are so expensive because people will buy cheap printers without realising how much it is going to cost to run them.
In reply to RealityChuck, since HP quite often only half fill their cartridges, if you fill them yourself it should last longer. Also Epson cartridges have no electronics on them and they also cost an exorbitant amount.
And yes, you can get an equal quality ink, but make sure you get the right one - we had a lady come into work who put Lexmark ink in a Canon cartridge, which blocked the printhead. (BTW Canon cartridges are easy to fill - they have a vent hole which makes it easy to inject ink.)
My SO refills these things and it ain’t as easy as the kits make you believe. But the refilling business is growing everywhere, look around, I bet you’ll find one.
He uses the original inks, a digital scale (the exact amount of ink is key) and understands all the differences from cartridge to cartridge. Some require a vacuum, for instance, so once you attempt to refill they just get wrecked. But it can be done, just not by you in your office (some cartridges, not many, can be refilled by the kits), but by a guy who knows how it all works. He has like a zillion different printers, as he must test them all before returning them to customers. But you can save about 40% on the cost of new this way and it is recycling. It is important that you get it refilled before the sponges inside completely dry out.
He insists that the reason that printers are getting so cheap is that the real money for these companies is in the ink cartridges.
Oh yeah, and he comes home stained up to his elbows (practically) with different coloured inks. Yuck!
Wisdom is the boobie prize,they give you when you’ve been --unwise!
MagicalSilverKey, refills DO work if you have the right printer. Buy them from the net. Just search.
Lots of computer come with ‘free printer.’ What people dont know is they drink ink like a fish drinks water & that’s how the manf makes their money back on giving them out.
xploder,
I work for HP and I’m quite curious about your sister. I wonder which parts supplier she works for and why she feels that this qualifies her to comment on Hewlett-Packard’s pricing strategy.
I’m also curious to know how maintaining a margin can be called socialism. Charging a price for a real product that will return the highest profit margin that the market will bear seems like capitalism to me. I could be wrong, of course.
I have 2 Epson printer (both are the photo printers so they use 5 colors not just 3). I tried one refill kit and it was a mess. It made a mess when I filled it and then again when I tried to use it. My wife said she would rather pay the full price for new cartridges.
Then I found another company that has a system for Epson that is great. It makes almost no mess when you refill and no mess when you use it. The print quality is great.
HPs are a bit harder and I do not know much about the rest of the printers.
Jeffery
I have four HP ink jet printers and have tried refilling some of the cartridges with mixed success. Besides being messy (unless you read the instructions and are careful), the biggest problem is that the cartridges don’t last forever. I tried refilling one twice and got such poor quality output that I had to throw out the old cartridge full of brand new ink. I wouldn’t advise trying to refill more than once.
The best use of refills is probably for color cartridges. I find that I always run out of yellow first. I hate to throw away a cartridge that is still half full of cyan and magenta.