WHY GENUINE INK CARTRIDGES CAN BE TOO DEAR
If you think you are paying too much for your genuine ink cartridges, you might be justified, as expressed in the following report from 'The Recycler':
AUSTRALIAN PRESS JOINS DEBATE OVER OEM PRICING
Smarthouse suggests Australian authorities investigate OEMs over
inkjet price markups.
Following reports by British newspapers the Guardian and the
Daily Mail, Australian technology news site Smarthouse has
published a piece decrying the extortionate pricing of inkjet
cartridges and the shrinking of such consumables by the OEM.
Noting that in Australia “printer manufacturers are going out of
their way to make it difficult to reuse their cartridges”, the site adds
that “this has not gone unnoticed” by the Australian Competition
and Consumer Commission, which told Smarthouse such behaviour
could “constitute restrictive trading”.
The site contends that OEMs are “ripping [consumers] off blind”,
using the example of the Epson Expression Home XP-100 printer,
which costs AU$59 despite a complete replacement set
of cartridges will cost up to AU$247 . It adds that “a
single cartridge […] costs less than a dollar to manufacture”,
meaning that for a four millilitre cartridge people would be paying
an equivalent of AU$4,000 a litre.
Using the analogy that the barriers to third party ink are similar
to “Ford or General Motors designing cars to only take their
components or tyres”, Smarthouse also adds references to the
Daily Mail’s findings that the amount of ink has shrunk in inkjets
throughout the past few years, and quotes The Recycler’s David
Connett and UKCRA and Promax’s Chris Brooks, who were both
interviewed by the British newspapers for their own reports on the
situation.
1 Comment
Yes, there’s a huge difference in buying a genuine ink cartridge and re-manufactured ink cartridges. If we choose re-manufactured ink cartridges, we might save a good money but we have to compromise on printing quality. Also re-manufactured cartridges don’t come with any warranty, which always makes a risk of getting a damaged product.
Posted by InkforOffice on November 21, 2013