Printer Ink Supplies: Making an Informed Buying Decision

If you are looking to start a printing company or you frequently use a printer in your office or home, it’s very important to understand all the dos and don’ts when purchasing a printer and printer ink supplies. While prices for printers keep getting lower as the technology for office and home printers advances, the ink cartridge is the real make or break item which keeps a stale price.

Printer manufacturers understand that once someone buys a printer, they will have to repeatedly buy printer ink supplies in order for the printer to work. Without ink the printer is useless, and an empty cartridge inside a printer can break it or damage it. Luckily, customers have a choice when it comes to buying ink for their printers. There are several types and manufacturers tend to sell them in packages. So it’s important to have the right knowledge of the types and how to buy them at affordable prices (discounts when buying more, etc.) in order to get the best deal possible.

When you buy a printer, you have the choice of choosing a colour model and a black and white model. All coloured models use a combination of the three primary colours – red (magneta), blue (cyan) and yellow plus black. For this reason colour printers note that they use CMYK colour cartridges. Some printers allow for colours to be replaced individually, while other models incorporate all colours in one unit. When the pages begin to show tint, this implies that they’ve ran out of colour and you should consider buying a new cartridge for that specific colour only because other cartridges may still have some in them, depending which colour you’ve used most frequently.

When it comes to black and white printers, they only use the black cartridge. However, they can only print on white, black or some shades of gray. You might find yourself replacing the black cartridge more often because the printer will use only black to print everything so it will naturally run out quicker.

You can choose between original printer ink supplies, compatible and refurbished. While compatible and refurbished ones are less expensive when compared to the original cartridges, I strongly advise against their use for various reasons. One of the main ones is the ink’s quality. You won’t always get the results you hoped for when using anything other than the inks made specifically for your printer by its manufacturer. Besides quality, they might damage or completely break your printer.

Bottom line is, shop for ink supplies from reputable retailers and understand the difference between single unit cartridges and individual colour cartridges. Conduct a thorough research about the types your printers uses and look for package deals that offer discounts. Buying online is a great idea as there you can certainly find what you need at more affordable prices.