Is printer ink a complete rip-off?

You can buy a new printer complete with cartridges for only a few quid more than replacing a set of cartridges.Is printer ink a complete rip-off?
One word.. YES





When it is cheaper to BUY a new printer than replace the carts? Come on, just how bogus is that?








For example:


Canon Pixma i2500 **BRAND NEW** 拢30


Replacement carts 拢45





Go figureIs printer ink a complete rip-off?
Printer manufactures make ALL their profit on the Ink .. you don't have to pay Mfg's prices .. go look on ebay for Compatible carts (at lest for canon, it's easy to move the 'chip' from the original carts to the compatible)





NB. re: new printers costing less than Ink .. well yes, but watch out for some makers (HP, Lexmark/Dell) that ship some new printers with 'starter' (half sized) ink carts :-)
They are not complete cartridges., Actually currently no company (except Kodak) sells printer with complete cartridges.





What are are getting are ';trial cartridges'; they often have a letter code or barcode on them which lets us out here in the printer world know they are trials, however the average consumer is unaware of this. They are normally at most a quarter of the ink you would be getting than a cartridges off the shelf.
I'm glad, because the cost of the cartridges subsidised the cost of the printer. So before I used up the ink in my cartridges, I realised that I never really needed a printer.


So I got a printer for cheap and learned a valuable lesson.





Now if I want to print something, I'll print it at work or go to the public library. It works out better to buy a printer if your making money off it.
Yes printer ink cartridges are way over priced. But the cheap printers you buy with the cartridges are not that good of a buy because the ink cartridges that come with them have less ink in them than the new ones bought to replace them, So it is actually cheaper to just go ahead and buy the replacements.
No doubt, and now I have a dinosaur printer ( Cannon) which I can't even FIND ink for...and five ink cartridges at $14 each last I bought them...thats $70! You can get a whole new printer for that!
try ink toner.com
I agree with you. Having said that I have just bought a Kodak 5100 and the inks for that are dirt cheap. I used to have a Canon,and a Kodak Combi pack (color and black), is the same price as a Canon black on it's own. Some people say use cheap compatible inks but you have to be very careful with those. I bought some for a Canon and they buggered the printer up. lol
Yes I have moaned about his for over 10 years. It's a HUGE scam. They put a lot of effort into making sure you can only use their cartridges.





The printers themselves are heavily discounted , because they know the REAL money is made from the replacement cartridges.
as Ecky said.. they sell the printers at cost..





the real money is in the ink.. it was worth more than gold at one point per pound.





you just have to be wise buying a printer.





if it's mainly documents.. well laser is far cheaper.. I use that





if it's pics. I use the inkjet. BUT print the text on the laser =)
Not if you buy the equivalent inks mate these work out cheaper and still print good quality pictures. The originals are ripp off's because even they are not as full as they make out mate.
I agree with you......I think it is and that's the whole idea....spend a little more money and get a new printer.