Printer Ink Costs More Than The Printer

[Hoofbite]

Pretty ridiculous. Guess I'm out of the loop. Haven't had to get refills in a long while because I usually just print stuff at work.

Anyway, went to the store to get the cartridges and left with a new printer.

Granted, I got the cheapest printer they had because I don't need it for anything other than printing documents but just to humor myself I checked the price on the refills for this cheap thing. Sure enough, 8 bucks more to get new cartridges.

Unbelievable.

 

[CowboysFan02]

You could try refill kits, it is not that hard I do for my printer, I got it from this place.

 

[Kevinicus]

You can try meritline.com too. That's where I've gone in the past. They have "generic" ink, which is much cheaper than the name brand stuff at stores. My printer takes 6 cartriges and I got about 6 sets for $30 a few years ago, and still have quite a few left of certain ones (black goes faster than the others).

 

[hairic]

Yeah, it's cheaper to go with a laser printer because of the ink.

Tip: Donate a pint of blood for every four ink tanks you buy and you'll come out close to even.

 

[Meat-O-Rama]

I've always bought my inks on eBay.

People buy expired inks in big lots and then sell them individually at much lower prices. In my experience with a couple of different printers, the inks have worked just like new cartridges bought in the stores.

 

[YosemiteSam]

We have a Dell 3130cn color laser printer. It takes four different color toner cartridges. Yesterday I purchased all new toner for it. $972.31. Granted I bought the 9,000 page toner rather than the 3,000 page toner, but that is still knee buckling expensive.

That said, the printer prints beautifully and is fast. The funny thing is, we paid $349 for the printer itself and it came with the 3,000 page toners which are $109 each. $109 * 4 = $436. So the printer itself was free and we even got the first toner at an $86 discount. Thats because they knew we were screwed once we needed more toner! :laugh2:

 

[Hoofbite]

We have a Dell 3130cn color laser printer. It takes four different color toner cartridges. Yesterday I purchased all new toner for it. $972.31. Granted I bought the 9,000 page toner rather than the 3,000 page toner, but that is still knee buckling expensive.

That said, the printer prints beautifully and is fast. The funny thing is, we paid $349 for the printer itself and it came with the 3,000 page toners which are $109 each. $109 * 4 = $436. So the printer itself was free and we even got the first toner at an $86 discount. Thats because they knew we were screwed once we needed more toner! :laugh2:

$1000 for ink?

**** that!

 

[YosemiteSam]

$1000 for ink?

**** that!

If you think about it, $972 / 9,000 = .10 a page. (almost .11) For high quality color that isn't that bad. Especially color laser.

We primarly print presentation booklets that we give out to potential customers. Kinkos I believe charges us closer to .30-.35 a page. Of course the .10 doesn't include paper cost and Kinkos does, but even with paper, it's around half the price.

 

[kmp77]

I just have a B&W laser printer I bought 6 years ago. I'm still using the toner from like 4 1/2 years ago. They're only $60 too. Printer is only like $100 too.

 

[trickblue]

We have a Dell 3130cn color laser printer. It takes four different color toner cartridges. Yesterday I purchased all new toner for it. $972.31. Granted I bought the 9,000 page toner rather than the 3,000 page toner, but that is still knee buckling expensive.

That said, the printer prints beautifully and is fast. The funny thing is, we paid $349 for the printer itself and it came with the 3,000 page toners which are $109 each. $109 * 4 = $436. So the printer itself was free and we even got the first toner at an $86 discount. Thats because they knew we were screwed once we needed more toner! :laugh2:

You may want to look elsewhere for your toners...

We have the 2130CN here and I pay a less than that for Genuine Dell on Amazon...

Look here...

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Doffice-products&field-keywords=3130cn+toner&x=0&y=0

and...

http://tonerstore.com/cgi-bin/toner/itemlist.html?mv_arg=Dell-Computer~Dell~3130cn

We are going to try some from the above link next. I've heard they have a decent product...

and I agree... good color lasers...

 

[trickblue]

Pretty ridiculous. Guess I'm out of the loop. Haven't had to get refills in a long while because I usually just print stuff at work.

Anyway, went to the store to get the cartridges and left with a new printer.

Granted, I got the cheapest printer they had because I don't need it for anything other than printing documents but just to humor myself I checked the price on the refills for this cheap thing. Sure enough, 8 bucks more to get new cartridges.

Unbelievable.

Kodak ink jets have OEM ink at $10.00 for black and $12.00 for color I think it is...

 

[Kangaroo]

Pretty ridiculous. Guess I'm out of the loop. Haven't had to get refills in a long while because I usually just print stuff at work.

Anyway, went to the store to get the cartridges and left with a new printer.

Granted, I got the cheapest printer they had because I don't need it for anything other than printing documents but just to humor myself I checked the price on the refills for this cheap thing. Sure enough, 8 bucks more to get new cartridges.

Unbelievable.

That is where HP and anyone else makes the money they barely break even on the hardware and with big companies even take a small lose sometimes because they make it back 10 fold in supplies

In fact most printer companies now give you a half filled cartridge when you buy a new printer because people where buying new printers instead of ink because it was cheaper

 

[Yeagermeister]

Pretty ridiculous. Guess I'm out of the loop. Haven't had to get refills in a long while because I usually just print stuff at work.

Anyway, went to the store to get the cartridges and left with a new printer.

Granted, I got the cheapest printer they had because I don't need it for anything other than printing documents but just to humor myself I checked the price on the refills for this cheap thing. Sure enough, 8 bucks more to get new cartridges.

Unbelievable.

That's why I hate inkjet type printers. I don't print much at home and the cartridges would dry out.

I just have a B&W laser printer I bought 6 years ago. I'm still using the toner from like 4 1/2 years ago. They're only $60 too. Printer is only like $100 too.

Same thing with me. I need to buy a new one because the toner is so low it only prints part of the job.

 

[YosemiteSam]

You may want to look elsewhere for your toners...

We have the 2130CN here and I pay a less than that for Genuine Dell on Amazon...

Look here...

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Doffice-products&field-keywords=3130cn+toner&x=0&y=0

and...

http://tonerstore.com/cgi-bin/toner/itemlist.html?mv_arg=Dell-Computer~Dell~3130cn

We are going to try some from the above link next. I've heard they have a decent product...

and I agree... good color lasers...

Thanks, I used to get very steep discounts at Dell. They said they do not offer discounts on toner anymore. We also have a Dell 1815dn monochrome laser. I only pay $60 for those toners. (InkSmile.com) They aren't offical Dell toner, but they easily last longer than the Dells toner ever did. The only issue they give me is the printer likes to tell me the cartridges is missing. Just pulling it out and pushing it back in fixes that.

I don't mess with non-Dell toner on the color laser because it has a lot more to it than the 1815dn MFP. Of course, the quality of the color prints are extremely important too!

As for prices at Dell, they are starting to over charge for a bunch of stuff. I just called them asking about Rapid/Versa Rails for PowerEdge 1950s and the guy quoted me $279!?!?! He said he could discount them to $200 with free shipping. I still wanted to throttle him. I used to pay $90 each! What the hell is this $279 crap?

I ended up buying them from Garland Computers (yep, Garland, TX) for $54 each. Dell is quickly trying to make its way out of my vendor list.

 

[Yeagermeister]

Thanks, I used to get very steep discounts at Dell. They said they do not offer discounts on toner anymore. We also have a Dell 1815dn monochrome laser. I only pay $60 for those toners. (InkSmile.com) They aren't offical Dell toner, but they easily last longer than the Dells toner ever did. The only issue they give me is the printer likes to tell me the cartridges is missing. Just pulling it out and pushing it back in fixes that.

I don't mess with non-Dell toner on the color laser because it has a lot more to it than the 1815dn MFP. Of course, the quality of the color prints are extremely important too!

As for prices at Dell, they are starting to over charge for a bunch of stuff. I just called them asking about Rapid/Versa Rails for PowerEdge 1950s and the guy quoted me $279!?!?! He said he could discount them to $200 with free shipping. I still wanted to throttle him. I used to pay $90 each! What the hell is this $279 crap?

I ended up buying them from Garland Computers (yep, Garland, TX) for $54 each. Dell is quickly trying to make its way out of my vendor list.

You can't buy Lexmark toners since they are Lexmark printers?

 

[iceberg]

I've always bought my inks on eBay.

People buy expired inks in big lots and then sell them individually at much lower prices. In my experience with a couple of different printers, the inks have worked just like new cartridges bought in the stores.

in my experience it gums up the heads of the printer and if you don't use it much, it gets even worse.

i have an epson wireless printer / all in one and so far i love it. about $100 for it and i just got all new epson inks for about $40.

but yea, any idea how much a good color laser goes for? pretty cheap. but then check the toner. many don't come with it and you gotta go buy it.

 

[YosemiteSam]

You can't buy Lexmark toners since they are Lexmark printers?

You mean for the 3130cn or the 1815dn? Dell printers maybe made by Lexmark, but they are custom I believe. The 3130cn has a lot to it and I don't want to mess with it because it's print quality is extremely important for what we use it for. (it goes in front of the potential customers)

It worth the extra money if it looks great every time. Plus, the warranty says if you use non-Dell toner, it voids the warranty on it. Not that I couldn't just buy another one for $350, but disposing of broken down large printers isn't something I enjoy! :laugh2: