Ink & Toner Information Website

As a computer user for the last decade or so, over time I’ve noticed that printers become cheaper and cheaper each year. While this seems like a great deal, one thing hasn’t changed: the cost printer ink. Inkjet printer ink has not really gone down in price at all in the last decade. In fact, you’re probably spending more on printer ink now than ever before.

Here is the problem – ink is pure profit for printer manufacturers. Printer companies rely on the whole “razors and blades” model that the Gillette popularized. It works like this. To begin with the printer companies sell you the printer for cost or close to it and then they sell the ink at a significant markup. This works well for them because while they only sell you the printer once, they sell you ink over and over again. Thus, since they make lion’s share of profits on the thing that people run out of, the printer manufacturers make recurring sales and recurring profits without having to advertise to do so.

Even worse for the consumer, inkjet ink cartridges are not interchangeable between printers or manufacturers in most cases.. Epson cartridges don’t work with Cannon or HP or Lexmark, because that way the printer companies can all make money by being the only one to sell ink cartridges for their printers. It’s a pretty good racket for them.

The phenomenon of cheap printers only serves to further increase the problem of expensive ink. As of last Christmas, the average consumer was able to buy an all-in-one printer from HP for only thirty five dollars. That is actually less than the cost of the printer itself. My friend, we call that a tipping point. Think about that for a second. If you own that printer, every time you run out of ink, it will cost you more to buy an ink cartridge, than it than it did to buy the printer. Sure, that means the printer was cheap, but that also means that HP is making more money off of you right?

The other thing that is costing you more money on your cheap printer is this idea of home photo printing. Yes, home photo printers can in fact print nice four by six prints. While it’s very convenient, do you ever stop to consider how much money that is costing you? How much are you really paying per print?

Let’s say you get maybe a hundred and fifty prints out of your fifty dollar ink cartridges. In that case you are paying about thirty three cents a print. Now, compare those thirty three cents per print to an online printing service like HP’s Snapfish service.

Snapfish charges nine cents a print plus the cost of shipping. That works out to around fifteen cents per print depending on quantity. By printing at home you could be spending almost twenty cents more per print. Is the convenience of printing at home worth twenty extra cents a print?

I for one think the whole printer market is ridiculous. There is no reason that ink cartridges should be more expensive than the printer itself. I’m not saying that you should be spending more on a printer just to spend more, but don’t just look at the sticker price of the printer. Look at the cost of the ink as well.

With the various set of printer ink cartridges on the market, home offices and small businesses are grinning from ear to ear for having a wide choice of printer inks to choose from. With several high quality printer ink cartridge online stores and different review articles such as this one, consumers can make an informed decision on their choice quality printer inks based on their needs.

Bravo printer inks are part of a bigger conglomerate of Primera printer products. Primera specializes in their exceptional CD and DVD label writers and disc publishers. With Bravo series disc publishers, they allow companies to duplicate CD labels in no time.

The high quality printer inks made by Bravo is a hot sell for many new media hobbyist who wants a cool storage for their favorite TV shows, mp3 files, DVD movies, and pictures. Bravo printer inks have a set of color and black-and-white ink cartridges to handle label printing jobs from any design made. With Bravo inks, you can set your Photoshop creations into the CD label maker with great ease. Primera Bravo duplicators and printer ink cartridges could be the new creative outlet for budding artists who want to add spunk to the CD collection.

Bravo printer ink cartridges accompany Primera Bravo duplicators for their ease of use. CD and DVD publishers will find these products as a plug and play device that works right off the box.

For power users, there are several Bravo printer ink cartridges on the market. Bravo printer inks are made to FCC standards and engineered with automated facilities to ensure high quality and no-frills products. Its best feature is that even though Bravo printer inks are specially made for DVD and CD duplicators.

Bravo printer ink cartridges have gotten encouraging reviews from its consumer base. Bravo printer inks are highly praised by audio enthusiast, Mac users, video professionals, and different organizations. If you want to give your CD presentations and your company an edge, Primera Bravo’s ease of use and heavy community support will help you accomplish different CD printing tasks to utmost effectiveness.

Primera Bravo inkjet cartridges are sold at printer online stores such as PrintCountry.com. PrintCountry offers various perks and benefits such as fast shipping options, price matching, and convenient checkout for an enhances shopping experience. If you wish to apply for bulk orders for Bravo inkjet cartridges, you can avail of discounts and free shipping. If you are a company who specialize in CD duplication, PrintCountry can offer a reliable printer ink supply for your CD printers. With Primera Bravo inkjet cartridges, your new media storage is placed at a new high.

When you buy a printer for personal or business purposes, there’s much more to the cost than meets the eye. You must not only consider the price you originally pay for the printer itself, but also the expense of buying ink cartridges every time the printer’s ink runs out in the future. If you own a business that requires a lot of printing, ink cartridges can run out pretty often. You might have to replace your ink cartridges several times a year or more. This can add up in a hurry since ink cartridges are far from cheap. Luckily there are some ways you can save money on ink cartridges and make each one last just a little longer.

Only Print when Necessary
If there is information you can back up on disk instead of printing a hard copy, then use CD-ROMs or DVDs to back up your files. Reports should be printed only as you need them, not just for the sake of printing them. Also, store your printed reports where they will be safe from spills, or any activity that could damage your reports. This will prevent the unnecessary re-printing of papers. Avoid printing “just for fun” stuff in the office and let your employees know this isn’t allowed without permission.

Opt for Printer-Friendly Pages when Printing from the Web
You’d be surprised at how much ink is wasted by printing direct pages from a website. One Web page can have 10 or more pictures or graphics…not to mention several pages worth of printing for only one long Web page because these are typically much longer than a regular document. Opt for the printer-friendly option if you need to print something from the Web. This eliminates all the unnecessary images, and will save much ink in your ink cartridge as well as save your printing paper.

Keep the Printer Inkjet Cartridge Moving
If you don’t print very often, you can stretch the life of your inkjet cartridges or toner by keeping the printer moving. This means to print a page or two at least once a week using both your color and black ink cartridges. You can print something small (even a printer diagnostic test) to prevent the ink from drying up.

Use Print Preview
The print preview function should become your best friend when it comes to printing! This allows you to view documents before you print them. It helps eliminate errors and excessive re-prints by allowing you to proof how the document will look once it has been printed. Print preview allows you to preview the layout of the text and images, as well as proofread your text for any grammar errors. *Hint: If you print with errors, you will have to fix them and print again – wasting ink in your ink cartridge as well as paper.

Avoid Using Color when Possible
If you only need a black/white report with no colors, then opt for black ink only. You can set your color inkjet printer to monochrome to avoid using colors unnecessarily. You might also want to buy a black-ink-only laser printer if you do a whole lot of printing without color. You can also set your printer driver with a draft setting. The draft setting makes the printer operate faster and use less ink.

Buy Remanufactured Printer Ink Cartridges
Buying remanufactured (or refurbished) ink cartridges can greatly reduce your printing expenses. These are refurbished in factories and sold to be compatible with brand name printers. You’ll save money and help contribute to the environment because the ink cartridges are recycled instead of throwing them away. You can save big while still using reliable ink cartridges for your business or personal printer.

Another ink-saving tip is to power down your printer the right way after each use. Don’t merely switch it off or unplug it, but allow your printer to power down slowly and shut itself down. The print heads need to be in the right position while the printer is turned off to prevent the ink from drying up prematurely.

What are the options available for refilling my printer?
There are mainly two ways you can refill your printer – with printer cartridges or with ink refill kits. There are OEM cartridges, remanufactured or recycled cartridges and compatible cartridges. The cheapest option is, however, buying a printer ink refill kit and refill the empty cartridge.

Do remanufactured cartridges harm the machine?
Remanufactured cartridges do no harm to the printer. Remanufactured cartridges are nothing but recycled OEM cartridges. You only have to buy a remanufactured cartridge that is meant for your specific printer.

How many times I can refill a cartridge?
Many suggest refilling should not be done for more than 4-5 times. Printer cartridges come with printer heads and once these heads wear out, the cartridge needs to be changed. As long as you are satisfied with the print quality, you can go on refilling.

How to save printer ink?
Printer inks are very expensive and the best way to save money on printer ink is to use it economically. Plan and print. Often people take printouts simply to realize later that it is not required. Take printouts of only those documents, which are necessary.

Where to buy printer ink?
Printer inks can be brought from retail stores or from online stores. Buying from online stores will save you a lot of money – both on the product and on shipping and traveling expenses as well.

Does my printer warranty remain valid even if I use compatible or remanufactured cartridges?
Printer manufacturers like Hewlett Packard, Canon, Epson, Lexmark etc suggest that you use only OEM cartridges. Generally your printer warranty will be void if you use compatible or remanufactured cartridges. If you have ever used remanufactured or compatible cartridges, the printer manufacturer will not take responsibility for any damage done to the computer.

Buying printer ink in bulk is a great way to save money if you are 100% confident that such ink is going to work in your printer. You also need to be able to find the lowest prices possible.

Here’s how to do it:

Cartridges from the Manufacturer

Buying bulk quantities of manufacturer ink cartridges is usually more affordable than buying them individually. If you do a lot more black and white printing than color printing, buying black cartridges in bulk could be a good idea.

Though they are quite pricey, cartridges that come straight from the manufacturer produce the best printed pages.

Don’t forget, however, that ink cartridges can dry out over time; in fact, most boxes of cartridges have a date stamped on them saying when they should be used by for best results. The money you save by buying in bulk will be wasted if your ink cartridges dry up and become useless before you ever need them.

Cartridges that Have Been Refilled and Remanufactured

Refilled and remanufactured cartridges, sold by many companies, are usually just original manufacturer cartridges that have been refilled with generic ink. That means you are saved the stress of trying to refill them at home.

The cleaning and testing process performed by ink refilling companies is more in depth than you would be able to do at home by yourself, so you can trust that they will be of a higher quality.

Refilled and remanufactured cartridges are also susceptible to the drying effects that original manufacturer cartridges are. For that reason, it would not be wise to buy any more cartridges than you plan on using in the next few months.

Do-It-Yourself Ink Refill Kits

Printer ink refill kits are cheap and do not tend to dry out as quickly as the other options since ink is stored in bottles instead of a cartridge.

The actual act of refilling your printer’s ink cartridge with you new ink, however, is not very simple. It can potentially turn into a big mess if you don’t know what you are doing.

Counting the Cost

Think about the prices of each option:

For a V40 series HP printer, black ink cartridges cost about $30 brand new.

Bought in bulk, the same cartridges are sold in packs of four at $100, making their individual unit price $25.

The exact same cartridge only costs $21 if it has been refilled and refurbished. And bulk purchases of refurbished cartridges will drive the price even farther down.

A bottle of black refill ink that will completely refill your cartridge four times is sold for only $15. That means that each refill only costs you $3.75.