At Tonik, we pride ourselves on providing the highest quality products along with superior customer service. We also believe than an informed customer is the foundation of our business. To that end, here’s some information from our in-house experts to help customers in the UK make informed purchasing decisions. This article will discuss printer ink cartridges.

If you own a printer that takes ink cartridges, you could be unaware of the different legalities, troubles, and profits associated with them. Printer ink cartridges are key instruments in UK life, as well as elsewhere. Here are a few interesting facts and figures about ink cartridges for printers.

Printer Ink Cartridges – Fact #1: Follow the money. Prior to purchasing a dirt cheap brand-name printer, check into the expense of getting ink cartridges. A lot of printer manufacturers put their printer on the market at a ridiculously low price to give them the appearance of easy affordability. The real profit for printer makers, however, lies in the sale of printer cartridges. Studies also indicate that the industry of making cartridges generates $21 billion (US) each year through sales.

Fact #2: Standards. Taking interest in the skyrocketing expense of printers ink cartridges, the ISO and the IEC have established testing standards for printers. These standards help manufacturers and consumers determine the yield (number of pages) of inkjet cartridges and toner cartridges. This data lets actual cost per page of printing to be figured up.

Printer Ink Cartridges – Fact #3: Legalities. Almost every major manufacturer has been sued over something surrounding the sale and manufacturing of remanufactured inkjet or laser printer ink cartridges. Epson was victorious in a case involving the blocking of the sale of remanufactured cartridges. Both Canon and HP have been stuck in legal disputes over both cartridges and alleged unfair competition.

Fact #4: The “single use” idea. . This means that anyone who refills a Lexmark cartridge for reuse could face charges and legal action.

Printer Ink Cartridges – Fact #5: The “prebate” idea. Not all Lexmark cartridges are labelled “single use only”. For these unlabelled items, Lexmark has a program that gives a 20% discount on ink cartridges if consumers return them to Lexmark after a single use. Anyone who doesn’t bring them back can be prosecuted if they refill it (or attempt to have a third party do so), or don’t bring the cartridge back.

Those purchasing printer ink cartridges in the UK and anywhere are advised to determine the local laws for them regarding using cartridges again before doing it.

There are several options or types of printer ink available in addition to OEM, including refurbished laser or inkjet printer ink cartridges, generic cartridges, refurbished cartridges and self-refill kits. In addition, companies like Hewlett-Packard have recycling programs that aim to reduce waste and pollution. Generic or non-branded cartridges are significantly cheaper and often work as well as OEM cartridges. If you’re concerned about environmental issues, opt for refurbished cartridges that reuse the existing shell and simply refill it.

Our printer ink cartridges perform flawlessly in virtually every brand of printer in the UK. Why not contact us today for more money-saving ideas?