Do not purchase an Epson printer of any kind! One of their “Updates” modified my printer so that it would no longer work with re-fills or so-called “counterfeit” ink cassettes.
Yes, that is a result of the razor and blades business model , which if applied to automobiles would be like selling cars for about 6,000 and then charge about the same for each tire, and which only fits your model line, and are patented.
However, unlike tires, cartridges can be refreshed, refilled and reused once the ink runs out, and therefore the war is btwn ink sellers and cartridges refillers and the printer companies. In Lexmark Int'l v. Static Control Components the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that circumvention of Lexmark's ink cartridge lock does not violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. However, the printer companies may be able to require you to agree that you will not refill their carts or use 3rd party ones.