Do Cheap Discount Ink Cartridges Save You Money?
When most people buy a new inkjet printer they are impressed by what they get considering the low cost and high technology. Things are fine until you quickly run out of printer ink. This happens quite quickly as it is standard procedure for the printer manufacturer to only provide a small sample of ink with the purchased product. New printers only come with a small trial sample ink cartridge about one third the capacity of normal ink cartridges.
The natural inclination is to purchase replacement ink direct from the printer manufacturer. HP, Dell, Lexmark, Epson or Canon – take your pick. It is all expensive and it becomes clear why inkjet printer manufacturers only provided a small trial sample of ink in the cartridge that came with the new printer. You are in for a real shock when you come to replace the ink by buying new replacement original ink cartridges direct from the printer manufacturer. The manufacturers make large amounts of money from their ink cartridges and sales of related products, notably paper. These items can be extremely expensive and if you use a lot of ink, you start to realise that the total cost of ownership of your printer is going to be much more than you had first thought. Unfortunately you are now hooked into buying expensive ink since you already bought the printer. Or are you?
OEM or original inkjet cartridges should ensure quality but you are paying a very high premium for this option. There is a push towards “eco-friendly green” ink replacements and this may be one of your choices if you wish to find ink elsewhere. So what are your choices? Well you could stick with original inkjet cartridges but do you need to spend so much for ink? Perhaps you should look at three other sources of cheap inkjet cartridges.
Compatible Ink Cartridges
Compatible inkjet cartridges are new ink cartridges which are manufactured by a third party and not the original inkjet printer manufacturer. These cartridges are made using the third parties own design and manufacturing process and sold as compatible products to the original inkjet manufacturer’s products. In most cases you will find that the quality is fine but in some instances you may have problems. Always check that you are dealing with a reputable third party company. If you are then problems are usually sorted out quickly and to your benefit.
Re-manufactured Ink Cartridges
This is the predominant cheaper and “green” option. In this case the original manufacturer’s ink cartridges are reclaimed and then re-filled by a third party. They examine the cartridges and replace worn parts and then refill the ink cartridge with premium toner and put them back on the market for resale.
Inkjet Refill Kits
I don’t recommend this option as it can get messy and the results are not always good but you can buy refill kits and fill your own cartridges. This is certainly the cheapest option but you may not like the printing quality that results.
Discount Printer Ink Cartridges
Be careful when choosing your options. You want to strike a balance between cost and quality. The type of printing you require will determine your direction. For most printing jobs you can sacrifice a little quality in order to save some money. In the same light you can also save money when buying your next cheap laptop computer. You don’t have to pay retail prices for computers or computer accessories.
I recommend you forgo the option of new original inkjet cartridges and seek out high quality re-manufactured or compatible third party products from a reputable printer ink manufacturer.
If you would like our opinion on the best online printer ink refills available click link.
Good luck.
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