Printer Ink Scam

[Ancient Observer]

Printer Ink pricing issue.

I have an old Canon, and it works well with remanufactured ink cartridges. These are much cheaper than the branded ones. It also doesn't seem to want to update its software, so the scam has not applied to it, yet.
However, Daughter no 1 bought an HP printer. It was cheap - about UKP60ish. It will only accept "genuine" HP ink. At UKP35 a pop!!

Googling the issue shows that both Epson and HP pull this scam. Canon also try with "software updates" There are workarounds, but they are difficult and do not always work.

Does anyone know of a brand of inexpensive printer that does not pull this nasty trick? It seems to be very non-competitive, and the manufacturers say they have signed a voluntary agreement not to do it. Cough cough.

Thanks

AO

[Repos]

I had to trash an HP a couple of years ago and bought an Epsom XP445. It's been a bit temperamental with the WiFi and needs to run the cleaning program now and then but I can use cheap cartridges with no problem.
My experience with inkjets is that they need to be used regularly or they play up, and every head clean and calibration test uses more ink.
My frustration with inkjet printers led me to consider how necessary colour was so I also bought a Brother Laser printer and that's what I use most now.
It sits in sleep mode and jumps to life on the WiFi whenever I need it. Cartridges are more expensive but last for ages and don't give any problems in between prints.

Laser - Why doesn't this print the 'a' properly on Pprune?

[BirdmanBerry]

https://wirthconsulting.org/2019/12/...firmware-case/

Ee sell all brands of compatible inks and don't normally have issues. Which HP ink is it she uses?

[stevef]

I've had a Brother DCP-197C for years and it happily prints using non-branded ink cartridges. Never had a problem with it.

[Thrust Augmentation]

Originally Posted by Ancient Observer

Does anyone know of a brand of inexpensive printer that does not pull this nasty trick?

I've been out of the Ink jet thing since moving onto laser years ago, & the same may not be true of of ink jet, but typically with a cheap laser you pay through the nose for consumables, with a dearer laser you may pay less for the consumables.


I got that tired of shelling out for colour cartridges on ink jets (which either lasted the blink of any eye, dried or otherwise failed) that I tipped the home ink jet for a B&W laser - it's cost a fraction of what the ink jet did & nobody has moaned about the lack of colour.

It's all nonsense - wife recently needed 4 toner carts & an imaging unit for her about 1 year old printer at work & it was cheaper to buy the same printer new (with high capacity toners) - planned obsolescence / capitalism / craziness.......

[ShyTorque]

I have an Epson WF3520, which is a three in one type (not that anyone uses Fax these days, which is an indication of how long I’ve owned it). I’ve always used aftermarket cartridges with no trouble. It uses separate cartridges for each colour. Cheap as chips to run. The postal delivery service from the company I use is extremely quick.

If you looked up “Internet” and “Ink” you might find them.

[421dog]

Bite the bullet and upgrade to the ink bins. It costs a few more bucks up front, but makes an incredible difference downstream. I have two, and have spent maybe $30 in ink for thousands of prints. Both of mine are Epson 3600 series, And a couple years old, but I’m sure there’s something better.

[Loose rivets]

It was ten years ago I wrote up my woes on PPRuNe. Epson had been kind, or so it seemed, they told me to go and get my printer out of the canal (where I said I'd thrown it) and send it back. Yaaaay, I got a later model. Boooo, the cartridges were tiny. I think, three more printers arrived, and I ended up being up one machine. Didn't matter, none of them kept the ink going to the heads. I was squirting wind-shield washer fluid through the minute holes when Epson phoned.

I got my son's Kodak. He'd believed Donald Trump when he'd promoted the idea of Kodak's low ink costs. I remember the TV promotion. How funny. If we could glimpse the future, we'd think we'd gone insane.

Anyway, I ended up with 5 printers, left on the front porch with a letter of permission to take them. Craiglist's Free Stuff set up the deal in less than a minute from putting the ad in.

[jolihokistix]

I very rarely use my printer, but it usually is for something vital when I do.

By then the ink (more valuable than gold by weight, it is sometimes said) has dried out, so it takes time and energy and costs me the equivalent of around 50 USD to print off a sheet or two. The small print on the box of the after-market stuff will usually indicate compatibility for which printer though.

[ChrisJ800]

The price of printer ink is more than the expensive perfumes. Costs about 20 cents to produce a cartrdge they can sell for over $50.

[Beamr]

The thing is: the more the printer costs, the bigger the cartridges hence lower cost per page.

At home: Just go for a laser, as the laser toner will not dry up and with a reasonable printer you can get 5000-10000 pages out of a cartridge (not the initial cartridge, though). This is crucial: buy a model which has high yield toners available as only then it makes sense to buy a new toner instead of a printer. Cheap printer has low yield toners (500-1500 pages), as a better printer has more bang for the buck on the cartridges.

At business: way different story if you print a lot. Ink is the way to go.

[FlightDetent]

Brother, ideally one above the cheapest model.

Researching the original ink/cartridge prices for those reveals a lot, buy the original for the price of an equivalent is not your everyday scamming concept.

Not to mention most big-name cheap ink printers come with "starter" packages (half full) so already within a year of purchase the cash flow equals buying to a Brother. For those nobody bothers to produce off-brand ink.

[ATSA1]

I used to have HP Printer/Scanner/Copiers for years, but this year the price of the cartridges has shot up here in South Africa. Back in January this year, i got a XL cartridge for 670 rand..(about £33), but by Septemeber it was R900, and was told the next shipment would cost R1000!
A XL cartridge in my printer was good for about 300 pages...
So i bought a Canon G3010 Printer Scanner Copier and this had seperate ink tanks filled by bottles..the ones in the box has enough for about 7000pages!.. I bought some refills soon after (just in case!) and these cost R900, so I have about 14 000 pages worth of ink for the price of 2 HP XL carts...which would give me only 600 pages...a no brainer!

I see that most of the big printer manufacturers are going over to this "ink tank" technology now...a much cheaper option!

[Momoe]

BEAMR,

Ink is the way to go for volume printing? Got any statistics to back that up?

[Momoe]

You buy a cheap colour inkjet printer (and we're talking <£40) and replacement ink cartridges cost more than printer, ink heads dry up and require constant cleaning, cartridges require constantly replacing and print costs per sheet are astronomic.

You wouldn't buy a diesel to do short journeys or cheap trainers to run marathons, cost implications of cheap inkjet printers are well documented, so who is being scammed?

Buy cheap, buy twice or in the case of inkjet cartridges, multiple times. Caveat emptor.

[Wycombe]

Googling the issue shows that both Epson and HP pull this scam

It's not a scam (that naming implies something illegal). It may not be palatable to the consumer but it's a legitimate business practice designed to "lock in" the Customer.

The printers are deliberately sold at a loss, because the money will be made on the ink (a bit like Sky who provide their satellite dishes and boxes in similar circumstances).

[Asturias56]

It was, of course King Gillette, who had this brilliant idea way back - he gave the razors away at one point I believe

[AARON O'DICKYDIDO]

A few years ago I purchased an Epson EcoTank-4550 printer. Very expensive at the time (£320) but came with 9 bottles of ink (70ml each), 6 coloured and 3 black and 3 reams of paper To date I have printed 9497 pages. I have not bought any further ink and there is ink left in the tanks. It also provides me with duplex printing. I have been very pleased with the purchase. It may not be the best on the market but it satisfies all home uses so far.

Aaron.

[cattletruck]

The printers are deliberately sold at a loss

When your ink dries or runs out, it's often cheaper to purchase a new printer and throw the old one into landfill.
I got very tired of replacing ink cartridges for my HP all-in-one which cost about $50 for a b/w ink cartridge, $70 for a tri-colour ink cartridge, or $90 for a combo set.
So I bought a Brother laser printer for $55 that came with a token toner cartridge that had a smaller capacity than the normal replacement ones, and all the headaches with ink cartridges have gone away.

Agree that those ink cartridges cost next to nothing to make, and it's both a rip-off and environmentally irresponsible by the manufacturers.

[CHfour]

It's not just printers. I have a Panasonic camera and they announced a software upgrade to correct a colour tinge issue but the small print also stated that, after the "upgrade", the camera would no longer accept third party batteries. They say it's to protect the owners from faulty batteries so why do they charge 6 times the price for oem ones? They could halve their prices and still make a healthy profit but they are greedy like the printer manufacturers.