Don’t loose you shirt paying for printer cartridges

Once you purchase a computer with a printer, you may think that you are done spending serious money... well not just yet.

More expenses can be expected soon. What happens when the ink cartridge in the printer run out of ink soon after you buy the printer?

Well, you have to go out and buy a replacement cartridge and find out that the Ink cartridge cost don’t come cheap and can often cost as much as 40 dollars or more.

Problems faced

The sticker price is definitely going hit you in the face each and every time you buy a replacement cartridge. Worse yet, is the reality for this price, which is, you will get about a few hundred pages before you have to do it all over again. You can spend more per year on ink cartridges itself than on buying the printer itself.

You can just visualize if you have a family with children who may need to use the printer for their school projects. It may not be difficult for them to spend around 100 dollars or more per month for the replacement cartridges. It could go even higher depending on the number of pages which are printed per month.

Alternatives to expensive printer ink cartridges

Buy a refill kit
You can simply purchase a refill kit which is accessible for his specific printer and this can be the most economical choice for him. The savings will vary depending on the type of printer that you own. The prices fluctuate depending on the manufacturer of the printer. Normally, a refill kit can cost anywhere from 10 dollars to 30 dollars. The benefit of this is that he can get about five times more ink than he would if you purchased a replacement cartridge. Usually you can refill his cartridge 2-3 times from the same kit. When you calculate the refill cost, it is a fraction of the general cost manufacturer cartridge.

Once you purchase a refill kit, the next best thing to do to circumvent the printer companies is to buy replacement ink in bulk. Since you have the tools that needed to perform the refill like the syringe and the air balance clip, all you need is the ink.

Pros: A bottle of black ink can be as cheap as 29 dollars and give him up to 70 refills. That allows him to save money and makes the average cost per refill about 41 cents.

Cons: The downside of using the refill kits is that it can take time and effort to do and it can be a chaotic process, especially if you spill some ink. As long as you cover the work surface with an old cloth and wear rubber gloves, you should be able to minimize the mess.

Of course one should know that the printer companies are not thrilled that the consumers have turned to using refill kits as an alternative to buying replacement cartridges. There is one simple truth which is that the printer companies make their money from selling ink jet cartridges. That’s why they work hard to convince people not to buy refill kits or any third party ink cartridges.

One can find no difference in the print quality from the ink in the refill kit against the ink from a cartridge. Nor will one see visibly and differentiate the performance of his printer. There is legislation in place to prevent manufacturers from voiding warranties too. So, you can use the refill kits as per his heart’s content.

Some positive points. There are specific companies which promises to repair the printer if it's damaged by one of its products. So they sell refill kits and also guarantee that if you damage your printer by installing a cartridge which contains their refill ink, you need not pay any for the damage. This can certainly add to the attractiveness of using refill kits. One thing he should note is that if you damage your printer by using another type of refill kit, the manufacturer of the printer has an authority to charge for the repair, but not for parts which are under warranty.

Generic Cartridges
Many companies can offer generic replacement cartridges. The generic replacement cartridges can cost considerably less than the branded cartridges often less than 20% of the cost of a regular brand name cartridge. Best of all, the replacement cartridge provides the same printing quality as the name brand cartridge does.

One thing that one needs to be aware of with the counterfeit cartridges is that although they may look real they can leak or explode and seriously cause damage to the printer. So how do one protect himself from the unscrupulously manufacturers? He can simply buy cartridges from well known retailers both on and off-line who offer both warranties and customer service.

Regardless of whether a person uses a name brand cartridge or a replacement cartridge, he can save fifty percent more ink by setting his printer to print in the “draft” mode. The quality is lessened but this is OK if he just needs the copies for filing or distributing informally. In addition to this, he can save ink by not printing any unnecessary graphic files. If he doesn’t need the graphic, he should not print it. Finally, if he can get away with printing in “gray scale” then he can do so. This will save him a great deal too.