The Management Consulting Group

Who would have believed that replacement ink cartridges could cost you more than your printer did. The difficulty with the printer market is that the printer manufacturers don t sell their machines for what they are worth. Significant profits need to be made from ink to offset the reduced returns on printer sales. There are of course still ways to get low-cost printer ink. Of course most printer ink cartridges have cheaper copies available that are made by other firms.

It often looks that printer makers do everything possible to stop the compatible inks market. Most of the current printer manufacturers place microchips on their ink cartridges to monitor the ink use. A chip must be present for the printer to run. There are often patent issues related to the electronic chips. This makes it tough for producers of compatible cartridges. The difficulties of creating cartridges that incorporate chips does limit the number of copy cartridge manufacturers. Always check that compatible cartridges will run correctly with your printer, if your machine has a chip reader.

Printer manufacturers have often sought legal redress agianst the compatibles manufacturers. In North Carolina, Lexmark began litigation against compatibles maker Static Control Components. Customers of Lexmark can have their cartridges refilled directly by the manufacturer. Lexmark printers use a system that will stop their functioning when replenished by other business firms. The legal grounds for the court action was an alleged infringement of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (2001). The legal fight lasted for seven years with the result that the Lexmark toner loading program was pronounced not to be copyright-able, opening the doors for compatibles makers. After seven long years of legal wrangling and appeals, Lexmark lost the action.

Cartridge data chips are very controversial devices but what is their actual intent. Makers present a clear argument for the use of cartridge chips. According to the manufacturers, cartridge chips are applied to halt printing when the ink levels run low. Ink cartridges themselves do not contain parts that can monitor ink levels. The printer guesses usage and registers this on the chip.

There are lots of different ink producers including some firms that are becoming well known. Quality varies greatly between different compatible cartridges. Look for indications of quality before buying. If the compatible comes from a good store they are unlikely to risk their reputation on bad quality products. If you use a great deal of ink, switching to compatibles can save you a fortune. There is also cash to be saved inside the compatibles marketplace with some rather large price variations.

Always shop around to find the better deals. Supermarkets often have good deals on compatible inks as do price comparison websites. You can often make big savings by using these sites.