Printer ink going waaaaay up

[tallyho8]

I use my Epson printer for a lot of printing. Usually about a cartridge every two weeks. I see that Epson won a lawsuit to prevent others from selling replacement ink cartridges. I have been paying about $1.40 per cartridge and the Epson brand sells for $24. I disagree that the Epson cartridges made in Mexico are any better than most of the generic brands made in China and certainly are not worth 20 times as much. When anything sells for 20 times what its true worth is there will be many counterfeiters out to make a killing. If Epson had priced the cartridges more fairly, then there would not be so many knockoffs. Some of the largest ink sellers on ebay have already quit selling the generics and I believe the others are rushing to sell what they already have in stock and will not be getting more. I placed a big order today but I hate to stock it for over a year for fear of it going bad even though most of them say they have a shelf life of over 2 years.

STORY HERE

[thatguy]

I didnt know about the Epson lawsuit, and that really hits the pocket hard. Ink in general is quite expensive and its no wonder they can afford to give you a new printer if you buy anything, they make it up on ink sales..

We have a fax machine that came from my wifes old office that we havent used since July, it just sat in the office. By october the ink had dried up (new cartridges put in around June/July) and the machine wont work unless it has ink.. It was almost $50 for ink, but we decided it wasnt worth it since we dont use the fax..

Brian

[RobJ]

If you have to have color that's one thing, B/W lasers are dirt cheap these days.

[Bird]

Well, I wish my HP printer ink cartridges were that cheap. The last time I paid $59.29 for two cartridges; one black and one tri-color. However, I don't do enough printing any more to worry about it. Looks like the last time I bought any was in January.

[MossRoad]

You have to admit that Epson holds the patents on their ink cartridges. Therefore, anyone that makes exact duplicates is infringing on their patents. I see nothing wrong with Epson protecting their bread and butter. The market for their printers will decide how much people will be willing to spend on them VS other brands.

[tractorErnie]

You guys should buy them on ebay, theres some real bargains there on ink

I get them for our fax, copier, printer, photo printer ect...

[coffeeman]

We have a fax machine that came from my wifes old office that we havent used since July, it just sat in the office. By october the ink had dried up (new cartridges put in around June/July) and the machine wont work unless it has ink.. It was almost $50 for ink, but we decided it wasnt worth it since we dont use the fax..
Brian

I grow so weary of being skinned alive by so many of these computer suppliers.

Cheers..Coffeeman

[Tig]

I switched to a bw laser. I don't miss the ink at all.

[woodchuckie]

The cannon head will cost you 50 dollars but the offical cannon black ink has always been around 7 dollars at wal-mart and 1 to 2 dollars for the generic type. I did pay a couple of hundred for the printer,copier,fax combo about 15 years ago.

[RoyJackson]

Even color laser printers aren't that expensive anymore, but if you do that much printing, it might be cheaper to send the work to a printing shop.

I just bought a Brother color laser (replacing a Brother B&W laser). The price was less then $400. Does a nice job too. I just looked at the website...it's gone up $100!!!!! I must have seen it during a sale.
Well, watch TigerDirect.com Super Deals - Computer Parts, PC Components, Computers & Electronics for their sales. Here's the one I bought. It was $389 less then a month ago.