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Why is it cheaper to buy a new printer than it is to buy ink refills?

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Wag

Wag

Member
My cheapie Epson XP-200's printheads just wen. I was looking for ink refills and the refills cost almost as much as the printer did new. I know about aftermarket refills but they hardly ever work right (I bought some over the years and most of them were a bust).

So I ended up buying a new Canon printer/scanner, complete with ink for less than it would have cost me for Epson refills.

I needed a new printer anyways, but I hate doing this because it's terrible for the environment. Still, at this price ($30) when my current ink goes I'll probably just buy a new printer again.
 
D

Dead Man

Member
Razor blade model. Also, buy a laser printer. You won't get colour for cheap, but they last much longer between replacements.
 
G

GameGuru59

Banned
Because the ingredients in the ink are actually pretty hard to acquire and are in high demand. Thus, the price for them is high.
 
Sinfamy

Sinfamy

Member
My printer was $240 and ink refills cost $70.
But I know a lot of printers that are in the $30-$80 range which this applies to.

Ink is where the money is, high profit margins.
 
O

Octavia

Unconfirmed Member
Usually the ink in new printers is just a trial cartridge, so it's less than a full refill you buy at a store.
 
D

Dead Man

Member
Wag said:
But the price difference is quite a bit. A color laser printer/scanner starts at $200, an inkjet is $30.
Click to expand...

Yeah, which is why I said you won't get colour for cheap. A black and white laser printer is much cheaper. I can get a Brother laser printer here in Australia for $50. It's not flash, but it works and is cheap.
 
S

Shadybiz

Member
Yeah, several years ago, we were in the market for a new printer. Decided that we rarely actually needed color, so we went with laser, and haven't looked back. On the rare occasion that color is needed, I figured I can go to Staples or something, which I haven't had to do yet.
 
Wag

Wag

Member
gcubed said:
Do you really need color? Most people don't
Click to expand...

Probably not, although I like to print out photos every so often. It would probably be cheaper just to buy a monochrome laser printer/scanner and sending my photos off to a service (although the big prints cost a mint).
 
D

dallow_bg

nods at old men
Picked up a Brother laser with scanning capability for $99 as I got tired of inkjet.
Nice to have proper Airprint support. That's almost the final nail in the laptop coffin for me. Printing shipping labels directly from iPhone/iPad is great.

And I like that I can scan on it and it uploads directly to my Google Drive or other cloud account. These things have come a long way.
 
KyanMehwulfe

KyanMehwulfe

Member
Print companies usually make it a pain to refill cartridges. It can take 15-30 minute labour, and sometimes you have to reset a chip in the cartridges. Some cartridges are difficult to reset (or require more than a generic $10 chip reset-er) or just cannot easily be reset. And even then, if they aren't refilled well they can rarely leak just because you're basically refilling a sponge with a needle and then using glue to re-seal it. So printer companies have done a lot to hinder refilling in order to force people to buy new cartridges, which I suppose are rather high profit margin items though I've never actually checked HP or Canon's accounting before.

Printers may be cheaper typically because the cartridges that come with them are smaller or less full, or are heavily discounted. It's probably a lot easier to find old Canon printers on sale or liquidation than bulk OEM cartridges... I guess lol. Easier to find basic Canon printers for $40 online which is probably close to what a big box electronics store would overprice a OEM HP cartridge at.
 
J

Jotaka

Member
Wag said:
Probably not, although I like to print out photos every so often. It would probably be cheaper just to buy a monochrome laser printer/scanner and sending my photos off to a service (although the big prints cost a mint).
Click to expand...

You will get more selective on what to sent to print. And because most stuff are in digital form today you wont lose much :p
 
ramuh

ramuh

Member
If you just going with Black and White please please invest in a Laser Printer. I got a Brother's one (basic laser printer, no wifi etc) and it costed 49 dollars.
 
R

RS4-

Member
Costco refills are like 12 bucks. This other place I go to, they charge between 10 and 30, but they also only take 5 mins to do 'em.
 
T

The Llama

Member
I have what as marketed as the "smallest color laser multifunction printer" (or something like that). Think it was like $400 a few years ago, and been worth every penny.

tl;dr: invest a good printer, it's worth it
 
Wag

Wag

Member
I didn't know new printers came with trial cartridges. Oh well, I guess I'm out another $30.

When I run out of ink I'll probably just buy a laser printer/scanner.
 
P

Piggus

Member
Get a good quality continuous ink system if your printer supports it. I design and print menus and menu covers for a local cabaret theater and had to use multiple $20 cartridges per print run (140+ full color full quality prints per show). Using a continuous ink system has cut ink cost by 90ish percent. It can be a little messy to set up (just use gloves) but it's worth the small issues considering how much money you save.
 
KyanMehwulfe

KyanMehwulfe

Member
It depends on the printer... Canon cartridges used to be the easiest and safest to refill, like a simple few minutes that was rather hard to screw up... Some other, Lexmark I think, were always an absolute pain to not only refill but also reset their chip.
 
N

neto

Member
Get a laser printer, you won't regret it, I bought one like 5 years ago and is the best printer I have ever had, I'm pretty sure that it payed itself, since I don't print very often, with the inkjet the cartridges dried, or the nozzles clogged so I had to waste ink in the cleaning process, and refills were worse with the clogging

With the laser, that is a thing of the past since toner doesn't dry so it doesn't matter if I don't print every day
 
M

Mortemis

Banned
dallow_bg said:
Picked up a Brother laser with scanning capability for $99 as I got tired of inkjet.
Nice to have proper Airprint support. That's almost the final nail in the laptop coffin for me. Printing shipping labels directly from iPhone/iPad is great.

And I like that I can scan on it and it uploads directly to my Google Drive or other cloud account. These things have come a long way.
Click to expand...

Which one is this? Sounds like everything I need (bw laser, airprint) for a decent enough price.
 
U

Ultratech

Member
Most of these printer companies make most of their money off the cartridges, so they'll stick it to ya pretty good.

Especially inkjet printers; since you'll usually have 4 Cartridges for a Printer (CMYK) and then the 2 Printheads.
(Most HP Inkjet Printers are like this.)

It adds up after a while.

Laser printers are much better, though color cartridges are hella expensive should you have the money to get a Color Laser Printer.

(Reminds me having to order parts for HP Color Laserjets; the transfer belts on those things can be just as expensive as an almost new printer.)

But yeah, if you're looking to buy a printer, definitely go laser.
Inkjet printers are pieces of shit that are bound to fail.

bigkrev said:
New printers don't come with full ink cartridges
Click to expand...

Unfortunately true.

Hell, a lot of the newer HP Deskjet/Officejet Printers I've installed lately don't even come with USB cables anymore.
 
D

danm999

Member
Having worked in retail a few years selling electronics, I can tell you the entire inkjet printer market is basically structured around making profit from the ink, not the printer.

The ink you get with a new printer are starter inks and don't have the full amount you'll get from a standalone ink you buy.

People have tried to get around this by using old ink cartridges and refilling them with aftermarket ink, but many companies now actually have their chips monitor your ink levels, and even disable the use of the cartridge unless the chip is removed.

If you print a lot, buy a laser printer. The initial cost is higher (especially if you want colour) but the cost per page is vastly cheaper.
 
S

saunderez

Member
danm999 said:
many companies now actually have their chips monitor your ink levels, and even disable the use of the cartridge unless the chip is removed.
Click to expand...

From what I've seen they don't monitor shit. They just put xxx pages on the chip and when the chip gets to that number its game over. The ink level indicator on most inkjet printers is a complete sham, its just an estimate based on the number of prints you've made.
 
D

dallow_bg

nods at old men
Mortemis said:
Which one is this? Sounds like everything I need (bw laser, airprint) for a decent enough price.
Click to expand...

Looks like it's 129.99 currently, which I still think is worth it:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/brother...lack/8161037.p?id=1219314439417&skuId=8161037

You can get an extra $20 off it if you add an extra toner cartridge to the order. Not bad at all.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/null/sa...er/pcmcat371300050001.c?id=pcmcat371300050001

The TN630 cartridge is 30.99. So it's like getting it for 10.99 when combined.
 
D

DBT85

Member
Same boat. The printer my GF had was about 3 years old and needed ink immediately. I went to the only option in the area, PC world. The ink was going to be £35. A new printer with a scanner built in all with WiFi was £40.

I bought the new printer.
 
HoodWinked

HoodWinked

Member
the printer is like the drug dealer giving the first hit for free.

just get a samsung laser black and white printer you rarely need to replace toner. you probably wont need color prints anyways and laser prints much cleaner and professionally than ink jets.
 
A

Arthr2ShdsJcksn

Banned
Buy a printer that lets you use generic ink cartridges. I have an old Brother 490CW. I can get ink from Amazon in bulk (10pks) for around a dollar per cartridge. It costs me $4 to do a full replacement! I print like crazy, and can't afford your fancy carts with microchips in them.
 
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