Why Do Ink Cartridges Cost So Much?

PCWorld.com ^ | 8/28/2003 | Tom Spring

[Born Conservative]

Consumers revolt over the cost of inkjet cartridges, even as printer prices plummet.

At $22 per quarter-ounce, a Hewlett-Packard color ink-jet cartridge is more expensive, by weight, than imported Russian caviar.

Observing such high prices, Connecticut research consultant Zel Dolinsky wants to know the reasons for them. "How come, with printer prices falling, ink prices are still so outrageous?" Dolinsky asks. "I'm appalled."

[sittnick]

Bulk printers that use HPs #45 cartridge allow the use of "bladders" (which look like the plastic bags used for blood or IV) to hold more ink.

Much of the technology we are paying for is the technology to make sure aftermarket products fail.

We went through this a long time ago in the car parts industry. I'm afraid that anti-trust rulings might be called for.

However, NOBODY has come forward, and made a $300 ink jet that takes $10 cartridges. This could be a big opportunity for a company like Brother, Sony or Casio that have the $$$ and clout to do it. It could well be that market research says that people won't buy it.

[ArrogantBustard]

Canon does not have embedded chips in the BCI-6xx series ink cartridges. No electrical connection exists between the ink cartridge and the printer. These cartridges are used in all of their 6-colour photo quality printers.

[ArrogantBustard]

However, NOBODY has come forward, and made a $300 ink jet that takes $10 cartridges. This could be a big opportunity for a company like Brother, Sony or Casio that have the $$$ and clout to do it. It could well be that market research says that people won't buy it.

Canon S820 cost = $250 (eighteen months ago)
Canon BCI-6xx series ink cartridges cost = $11.00

[Bob Eimiller]

www.printpal.com

I have an Epson 777 and the regular cartridges are around $30 I guess..I haven't bought one of theirs in years. The above web site 2 black for $6.95ea 1 color $7.95 total $21.85 less a 10% discount every time no shipping

Grand total $19.67

Epson cartridges are even chip controlled but these generic cartridges still work fine.

[FlyVet]

What model is your Epson? I'm using a 777 and have had good luck with aftermarket cartridges from this company:

http://www.nvo.com/marlco

If you have one of the newer printers, they may not have the ones you need. Once they sent me a bad cartridge. I called them toll-free, and they sent me a new one free.

[HitmanLV]

I bought a used laserjet 4 on ebay - clunky and ratty, but works fine. An ink cartrigde lasts forever on my printer, over a year usually. I buy the carts cheap at about $35 on ebay. If it lives to 5000 pages, that's 1/2 a cent of ink per page. Not bad.

[supercat]

However, NOBODY has come forward, and made a $300 ink jet that takes $10 cartridges.

No, but some of the more expensive printers do take LARGER cartridges. If a $40 cartridge for an expensive printer holds three times as much ink as a $40 cartridge for a cheaper printer, that suggests to me that perhaps the more expensive printer costs less per page?

[Recovering_Democrat]

Can we somehow blame President Bush for this? Or Microsoft? Please? <\sarcasm>

[supercat]

However, NOBODY has come forward, and made a $300 ink jet that takes $10 cartridges.

Actually, I have a different pricing strategy: printer manufacturers could sell two different quality grades of product: new virgin printheads with premium ink, and recycled printheads with lower-quality ink. Manufacturers should portray that people who are using refilled ink cartridges are obviously willing to sacrifice quality to save money, so if it offers a product designed to cater to such people they could put a severe dent in the refillers' business.

[BibChr]

Can we somehow blame President Bush for this? Or Microsoft? Please? < \sarcasm >

I'm thinking probably Schwarzenegger.

Dan

[azcap]

Rather than a $300 printer with $10 cartridges, I'd like to see one of these companies have the cojones to sell a printer with a built-in bulk ink system. Low on Cyan? - Just pour a little in and top it off. Right now you can take a $100 epson add a $150 bulk ink system and you have great printing system, but you have to fiddle with the setup and the bottles and tubes hang out. There is really no excuse for not marketing a built-in bulk system. It will happen sooner or later - gougers always get the rug pulled out from underneath them sooner or later.

[Jonx6]

"No Kidding! When it's time for a new cartridge, I just buy a new Mach 3 razor, it's cheaper that way."

I got a free one in the mail. I thought I'd use it till it was too dull and then trash it as I laughed at people who gave it away for free. Now I have one at home and one at work. Dang, but those things work nice.

[Redcloak]

It's the business model everone uses: Sell the printer cheap and make up for the loss in ink sales. The problem is that one can ofter find a new, and better, printer for a few dollars more than the new ink cartridge. So far, we've replaced two perfectly good printers simply because buying a new printer was a better deal than a new ink cartridge. (In fact, one was about $.50 cheaper than the ink cartridge!)

[Murtyo]

not exactly, the cartridges they include with new printers are not full.

[Buckwheats]

I get the "give away the razor, charge big-time for the blades" marketing thing. That's fine. If people don't like it, just don't buy into it. However, I will never buy anything again from HP as long as I live. They are an extremely consumer-unfriendly company in too many ways to explain. IOW, HP sucks big-time.

[Vladivostok]

ALMOST makes sense to replace the entire printer when the ink runs out,

Yes, I just bought a new HP for $89 rather than buy cartridges for the old one that was acting up on occasion - I figured with my luck it would die completely when I got home with $65 worth of ink that wouldn't fit the current models. But, I barely print anything anymore, so this ink cartridge racket is going to be solved within a decade (or less) as everyone says screw it I ain't printing it.

[Born Conservative]

I have an Epson Stylus CX5200; apparently no embedded chips in the ink cartridges.

[Born Conservative]

Thanks for the link; I use a C80 cartridge for my Epson Stylus CX5200. The prices at nvo.com are definitely cheaper.

[Jorge]

I tried the refills once.
The new ink leaked from the cartridges, printed uneven and left blobs of ink on the paper etc. etc.
A total mess when it came to trying to print photo quality graphics.
I finally just threw the refill kit in the trash.
Everyone else I've talked to had the same problems.
A real waste of money.

[PUGACHEV]

I use Carot Ink replacement cartridges, both color and B&W, in my Epson 1280 and they work fine at less than 1/3 the cost. I had to recalibrate the printer profile in Photoshop, but, once that was done, the results were indistinguishable from what I obtained with the manufacturer's cartridges. I use Carot Ink replacement cartridges in my Lexmark Z23 too with the same results. All of the functions, ink level monitor, and etc., they all work fine.