Anyone Have Luck Ordering New Printer Cartidge Online?

[John Galt III]

The color cartridge in my old Epson Stylus Color II is running out. Nobody has new or refills anywhere in stores. New printers aren't compatible with my old perfectly functioning Windows ME on my IBM desktop.

Cartridge World no longer does refills. Costco does but too far away. Walgreens does refills, but not Epson. etc, etc....

I've spent hours so far on this. Frustrating. I've found there are lots of vendors on EBay and Amazon selling "brand new, in the box, or in the plastic wrap" printer cartridges for my printer. Prices from $2 to $12, no or low shipping charge. These vendors all have the classic 99.4 % approval ratings.

At my wit's end, thinking of taking a chance and ordering online.

Anyone had any luck doing that?

I only need the printer once in a while. Less than one page a month, actually.

Thanks

[rbmrtn]

I've ordered from here...

Wholesale Printer Ink Cartridges and Toner | EnviroInks Brand Ink and Toner Outlet

[fritz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Galt III The color cartridge in my old Epson Stylus Color II is running out. Nobody has new or refills anywhere in stores. New printers aren't compatible with my old perfectly functioning Windows ME on my IBM desktop. Cartridge World no longer does refills. Costco does but too far away. Walgreens does refills, but not Epson. etc, etc.... I've spent hours so far on this. Frustrating. I've found there are lots of vendors on EBay and Amazon selling "brand new, in the box, or in the plastic wrap" printer cartridges for my printer. Prices from $2 to $12, no or low shipping charge. These vendors all have the classic 99.4 % approval ratings. At my wit's end, thinking of taking a chance and ordering online. Anyone had any luck doing that? I only need the printer once in a while. Less than one page a month, actually. Thanks

I recently ordered a 3-pack of black ink replacement cartridges from Amazon (vendor was Blake Printing Supply) for our Canon MX700 for $9.00 total. First time not using Cannon cartridges. Ordered some other stuff so shipping was free, but shipping is relatively cheap and usually quoted below the item if shipping separately.

Our Canon MX700 printer stops printing if "any" one the (4) cartridges indicates ink has run out and you have to buy "Canon" replacements or void Cannon's warranty (long out of warranty here). Refills not done for Canon cartridges at Walgreens either. Tried the refill kits once - never again.

The ones I ordered/received are identical to Canon's black ink cartridges. Dropped one in and printer works and prints perfectly. There are Amazon reviews (any choice of vendor - pick one) where people tell you they leak, and others say they work great, but I believe you'll get this scenario as a possibility with any cartridge Mfr. At (3) cartridges for $9.00 (a fraction of one cartridge cost) - worth the risk IMHO....

Amazon is a reliable vendor and will stand behind purchases. You also pay Amazon directly. I regularly purchase from Amazon and never had an order problem with them - even when I created one. I returned an item (my error) and they gave me a label to return the item UPS drop-off with the return authorization. Would have cost me more if I shipped it at my cost.

What Canon doesn't broadcast is that all you have to do is hit the reset button for 5 seconds and it overrides the ink stop printing signal for each cartridge reporting empty scenario. I've left the empty (dried out from lack of use) color cartridges in the machine (you have to) and just use it to print BW. I use to work from the home office full-time and bought this for business use (great printer), but now just use it occasionally - mostly for personal use (some part-time consulting work).

Hope this helps with your decision.

[MBAustin]

Am I the only one that finds the planned obsolescence of printer cartridges annoying?

[John Galt III]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MBAustin Am I the only one that finds the planned obsolescence of printer cartridges annoying?

Certainly not.

[homestead]

I got some good epson cartridges on ebay from ink.factory in canada.
Look in their store. They worked great and were low cost compared to
epson brand.

[Letj]

Yes, I order all mine from Amazon, both the ink and the drum, very inexpensive, less than $20. They work great. Buying from Office Max or one of those stores will be several timea more. I also order my computer power packs and batteries from Amazon for around the same cost.

[savory]

I've had good luck from meritline [url=http://www.meritline.com/]Blank Media, Ink & Toner, Flash Memory, Gadgets & More -

[powerplay]

I've also used Meritline to order generic cartridges with chips for my Canon printer. So far they have been just fine and all have worked.

[target2019]

I would trust MacMall for a replacement. Get one here.

Probably a good time to look for a replacement printer. I tossed an old epson 11x17 printer some time ago. I purchased an HP Color LaserJet, which is pricey, but the toner doesn't dry out.

Edit: I noticed only one at MacMall, so maybe this will work for you.

[samclem]

I'm happy to be free of inkjet printers right now. For 99% of the printing I do, a monochrome laser printer has proven to be ideal. We've got the Brother HL-2270DW printer and it has been trouble-free. It was about $95, the toner cartridge never dries out and prints thousands of pages (front and back if you want), I refill them myself when they need it. Cheap, fast, trouble-free.

But--DW wants a color inkjet printer. So, we'll probably be back in the market for one soon, just for the occasional art project.

[RunningBum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MBAustin Am I the only one that finds the planned obsolescence of printer cartridges annoying?

?? They aren't supposed to run out of ink ??

What I found annoying was that my cartridges would dry out from lack of use. But I blame that more on the technology rather than evil planning by the makers. So when I replaced my printer, I got a Brother that takes small cheap cartridges, and I can replace each color individually. My last 10 pack of cartridges was $8 including shipping, from Amazon. I don't think I replace them much more often than the old cartridges, but a heavy printer certainly would. I try to find a reason to print something every couple weeks to keep the heads from clogging, but if I forget, I don't cry when I replace cheap cartridges.

[rbmrtn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by samclem I'm happy to be free of inkjet printers right now. For 99% of the printing I do, a monochrome laser printer has proven to be ideal. We've got the Brother HL-2270DW printer and it has been trouble-free. It was about $95, the toner cartridge never dries out and prints thousands of pages (front and back if you want), I refill them myself when they need it. Cheap, fast, trouble-free. But--DW wants a color inkjet printer. So, we'll probably be back in the market for one soon, just for the occasional art project.

+1. You can get a personal laser now for around $60 on sale.

I print very little actual paper anymore, I print directly to a PDF file and store it on a flash drive. About the only thing I actually print is tax returns once a year.

[Onward]

I've always had a good experience ordering ink and toner from InkJet superstore.

[Midpack]

Unless things have changed, lasers are more expensive on total ownership cost than inkjets. As much as I dislike buying inkjet cartridges, the cartridges for my home laser printer were much more expensive - cost/frequency. I'd do some research before buying a laser. Here's a recent graph from a PC World article with a $400 Epson Inkjet vs 3 $400 Laser printers (Brother, Dell & HP).

Evidently the Epson was faster with better image quality too. I think Laser printers once had superior image quality?

[samclem]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midpack Unless things have changed, lasers are more expensive on total ownership cost than inkjets. As much as I dislike buying inkjet cartridges, the cartridges for my home laser printer were much more expensive - cost/frequency. I'd do some research before buying a laser. Here's a recent graph from a PC World article with a $400 Epson Inkjet vs 3 $400 Laser printers (Brother, Dell & HP).

It's important to compare apples to apples. Many monochrome lasers print for about 2 cents per page using the factory toner cartridges. There are a few inkjets that claim to have lower costs per page, but they are expensive models with big ink tanks. The per-page costs for the low-end ink jet printers in monochrome mode are about 5-6 cents per page, but it can be 7-8 cents per page for some printers if you don't take the time to select monochrome each time before you print (it's a hassle with some printers--they default to color mode and have to be manually re-set to monochrome each time).

Maybe others have had different experience, but I have seldom gotten the promised life out of the ink cartridges. They dry up, the jets get clogged, or the printer just tells me I can't use it anymore despite evidence of ink inside. Not so with toner: When I put in a toner cartridge I can count on getting about 2500 sheets of print (half a box of paper). And the printer is much more likely to do what I expect: no streaks, missing text due to clogged jets, etc.

Refilling: I've refilled both ink and toner, it can save a lot of money. But the toner is a tad easier and, the big issue, I only have to do it 1/10th as often (every 2500 pages instead of every 200-250 pages). That's a lot less trouble--the difference between once per year and once per month for us.

Now, I haven't done the math on color printing.

[MichaelB]

+1@samclem's analysis on laser printers. We have been able to extend the toner cartridge life by 1.5x using some easily found online fixes, so the real cost per page of laser is even lower and the overall cost of ownership is lower for the laser.

We use a monochrome laser for most printing and an inkjet for photos and a few color pages.

[rodi]

I only order ink online. Much more cost effective.

As far as cartridges etc... I have a family member who worked for Lexmark. The printer companies LOSE money on the sale of the printer, the revenue comes from the ink cartridges. He could get employee discounted (almost free) printers - but could not get discounts on the cartridges - because that was the real revenue stream for the company.

[FIREd]

It is getting harder to find cartridges for my 6-year old inkjet printer. Once it becomes obsolete, I won't replace it. I rarely print on paper anymore.

[travelover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIREd I rarely print on paper anymore.

What do you print on besides paper?