The Ecstasy " I just bought a printer for only $99"

If you are like the average consumer, you purchased an inkjet printer at a terrific price. One inkjet printer is sold every four seconds in the United States.  You are thrilled with the print quality and spend the first few days printing beautiful inkjet color photos of your children, family pet, and summer vacation on expensive glossy paper. You design wonderful, witty and colorful greeting cards to send the photos off to admiring relatives and friends. You have no idea how the ink jet cartridge process works, you are just happy to have such a wonderful new printer. And, you are smiling.

The Agony "You learn the cost of Brand-Name Inkjet Cartridges"

You are still smiling when your new inkjet printer runs out of ink. You head for the nearest office supply store, scolding yourself that you didn’t pick up a few extra ink jet cartridges when you purchased the printer. You linger in the paper aisle, perhaps pick out some new print paper, and then begin searching for the replacement cartridges. You are surprised to find that they are locked behind a glass case. And, if you are still like the average consumer, you are no longer smiling by the time you are reaching for your wallet at the checkout counter. Suddenly, that inexpensive inkjet printer has become a bit more expensive than you thought. You put back the print paper.

The Options

Brand name cartridges sold in most office supply stores are the most expensive option for replacing empty cartridges. Most manufacturers’ manuals will recommend that you purchase their own brand name cartridge for best ink quality and maintenance of your inkjet printer. They count on the fact that bringing your empty cartridge to the store and replacing it with the same one is the “easiest” option. And, they count on the fear factor – fear that trying an alternative cartridge option such as a compatible inkjet cartridge, replacement cartridge service or inkjet refill kit, will not give you consistent print quality. Or, worse yet, that it may void your warranty, or cause damage not covered by your warranty.

While it is true that a small percent of ink jet cartridges (about 5 – 10%) cannot be refilled or do not have compatible or generic options due to patents, a vast majority of the millions of inkjet cartridges sold each year have compatible inkjet cartridges available or can be effectively recycled.