FORUM

I have just replaced the ink cartridges in our Hewlett Packard 5520 all in one, wireless printer.
I got a big shock when I looked at prices for a spare HP 364 XL combo-pack (Large Black + 4 larger than normal colours.)
In February, Amazon UK supplied them for £39.99 and they were delivered with a couple of books so the postage cost was reduced. The pack is now £48.22 + delivery and Amazon France want 66,65€ inc. delivery!
A NEW printer is only £69.85 + delivery. It's crazy.
I'm thinking of buying independent brand cartridges. Does anyone have experience of a particular brand they can recommend?

I use Inkclub.fr and have always found their make OK and certainly much cheaper. I have received cartridges that havent worked too, so they're not perfect, but a quick email and they resend, no questions asked.

I bought refills off ebay uk earlier this year and have had no problems whatsoever.

Sue wrote:I bought refills off ebay uk earlier this year and have had no problems whatsoever.

Sue, were they originals from the printer manufacturer or independent?

…and we even bought genuine HP 364 black cartridge from Intermarché St André which didn't work. Didn't even take it back as no proof it was the actual cartridge we had just bought. The printer then bust, so now have an Epson. Will be same old story no doubt

i have only ever bought Epson printers as their 'copy' ink Cartridges were always cheap and easy to find. (in fact my last Epson was £20 from a Charity Shop and lasted me 3 years!!)....
i have just replaced it with a '3 in 1' (XP-415)
which cost 80€ delivered (even came the next day!!) i have already got a set of Colour +2 Black (copy) Cartridges for +/- 10€, in stock.

I use these guys - http://www.cheapprinterink.co.uk

I buy their refillable cartridges and refill myself - it is sometimes a bit messy but the savings are huge.
If you do a lot of printing then their continuous feed system is even more economical

works out equivalent to @50p / cart

Max

I have found it cheapest to use a black-and-white laser printer for most purposes - and also more reliable: the print-heads on inkjets dry out on me if I leave them for a few months, as I tend to do. The cost of replacement cartridges is still silly (though cheaper per copy): but it is usually possible to refill them or get decent "compatible" cartridges much cheaper. It's a point worth researching if you are thinking of buying a new one (which of course you can do very cheaply, with a "starter" cartridge which is three-quarters empty).

Today's Daily Mail confirms what a lucrative scam printing ink is. Ordinary black ink for a printer is 51 pence per millilitre. Dom Perignon champagne is 15 pence per milliitre. All the big companies are at it; Epson is perhaps the least greedy, but HP and Canon practise a 600% markup. I came across this information online and have never believed anything else published by the Daily Mail, I hasten to add.

jethro wrote:Today's Daily Mail confirms what a lucrative scam printing ink is. Ordinary black ink for a printer is 51 pence per millilitre. Dom Perignon champagne is 15 pence per milliitre. All the big companies are at it; Epson is perhaps the least greedy, but HP and Canon practise a 600% markup. I came across this information online and have never believed anything else published by the Daily Mail, I hasten to add.

I will be a bit more outraged when Moët et Chandon start selling very cheap printers. The business model - sell the apparatus cheap and the consumables expensive - has been around at least since the days of King Gillette, and is as much of a scam as you care to let them get away with.