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."

[Russian Sage]

That isn't the point. The point is that the printer companies have us by the short and curlies...

What I'm looking for, and I just mean this as an interesting economics problem, is an understanding of why the printer companies can do what the razor blade companies can't.  There seems to be a corrective force with razor blade economics that doesn't work with printer ink.

[Russian Sage]

You obviously don't do most of your reading on the Lazyboy.

You obviously don't own a laptop computer. ;-)

Had one; tried that; no good. Maybe if I ever learned to use them stupid finger pads...

[zip]

ping

[Dan(9698)]

>>>...Has anybody else here ever tried the ink injection kits?

I have refilled Hp, Cannon, and Lexmark successfully for about 3 years. All together more than a dozen times.

Most of the time it worked very well. A couple of times I could not do it and had to replace a cartrige.

You need to get kits that have a jig in them that allows you to use a syringe to suck bubbles out.

If you refill before they are completely empty they do not get bubbles. Bubbles "plug" them up.

When you put the cartrige back in the printer tell the printer it is new and it resets the indicators.

It really decreased my costs.

[chachacha]

Some hints.
Refill kits will not do the job. Needle must go to the very bottom where the screen is located.
Get the proper length kneedles for the color. 4" long.
after the chambers are filled Blow air through the cartridge till ink flows out the bottom. Use boiled alcohol and water also if needed to open/clean cartridge screen. Clean cartridge in printer. Let cartridge set for a few days. Repeat the process till the cartridge prints correctly. At times you may need to print in best quality mode after the refill. Even in that mode the cost savings is tremendous.


Black cartridge is simple. This cartridge does not have a sponge filler in the chqamber like like the color. It's a reservoir. Simply knock out the plug on the botton fill it to the top. While filling squeeze the cartridge till the ink overtflows out the hole. At that point put in the screw. The black runs under a negative/vacumn pressure.

[chachacha]

Unless you tell them they won't know.

[chachacha]

OOPS! Never put more than 14 ml in the color chambers. Start the refills after your new cartridge says it's low. After the refill it will no longer tell you it's running low so your remaining refills will be a judgment call.

[Dan(9698)]

>>>...Anybody know if those Lexmark refill-the-cartridge kits really work?

If you get the right kind they work great.

I have a Z22 I bought at walmart for $28.00.

[TankerKC]

Why Do Ink Cartridges Cost So Much?

The cartridges don't cost one penny more that we are willing to pay.

[Dan(9698)]

>>>...After the refill it will no longer tell you it's running low so your remaining refills will be a judgment call.

If you tell the printer it is a new cartrige, the indicators work fine.

[chachacha]

I didn't know you could that?
Would you mind sharing the no how?

[cornelis]

I have tried in vain to refill the color HP 23 (c1823d). Three times and each time the yellow is the culprit. I am convinced there is a smart chip in the cartridge. Black has never been a problem.

[cornelis]

Amazing. You deserve an award.

[Politicalmom]

I bought my Lexmark three-in-one almost two years ago, and am still using the original cartridges. Have refilled the black about 4 times, and the color about 3. I love them.

[cornelis]

Somebody goofed, somewhere. They should've made color pixel use chargeable. More than $21 billion there. And then you could download pixels from Morpheus and Kaaza for free.

[hemogoblin]

I bought my Lexmark three-in-one almost two years ago, and am still using the original

do you know the brand name of the kit? sounds like a winner ... thanks!

[July 4th]

Hewlett-Packard still makes a good LaserJet, provided you stay away from their low-end models. (The ones that look like inkjet printers.) I have a version of the LJ4 that's got to be close to 35,000 pages without a hiccup. Before that, I had a used LaserJet III with 125,000 pages on it. It still ran perfectly. That III-series mechanism was indestructible...the printer weighed close to 70 lbs.

[Nataku X]

The problem is that the companies provide terrible instructions.

I eventually had to chuck out my instructions, get a saw, a hammer, a nail. Luckily the syringe they provided had a good needle.

Basically, what I did was saw the top of the cart open, take a hammer and nail to the top, and injected the ink, then taped the top back on tightly. Then, I let the cartridge set for 3 days. VERY VERY important. Gravity will take care of much of the bubbles and the blobs.

And, as another poster said, do NOT wait to refill it when it's completely empty. After the initial set up you can just take the tape off, refill it, put it back in. Only 5 minutes to refill it once you've got the hang of it... 'course, you do have to let the ink settle for a while, so it's best to keep 2 pairs of cartridges on hhand (or wait for weekend) if you have to print stuff out every day.

It works perfectly for me.

[Theo]

That's exactly what I do. I just throw away the old printer. I've gone through an Epson Something60 and a C80. It's cheaper that way.

[Politicalmom]

I get my refills at www.inksell.com