Printer Ink Cartridges

No one can blame consumers who irk about the underlying business mode of ink jet printers, when in fact, such practice though somewhat veiled in its early phase are so blatantly obvious in the receding stages. It is already a common business practice, which has been applied by most major multinational manufacturers. For citation purposes, Hewlett Packard was able to recoup production losses on their other printer models from profits made by their printer ink cartridges alone.

This practice, referred to as economic tying, might not be felt by a single consumable purchase, but the cost will become more and more obvious over time. Eventually, the maintenance will become greater than the price of the actual printer machine. In fact, that Hewlett Packard example should explain that the lucrative market wasn’t targeted on the machines themselves but on the steady incoming profits made by consumables.

Third party printer ink cartridge manufacturers had emerged to contend with the thriving market of printer ink cartridges*. And as a result of pricing differences due to OEM markups, original printer manufacturers can never compete with third party manufacturers. Legal disputes are being sent to court and some manufacturers embedded technologies that would disallow ink cartridges not authorized from the maker.

Today however, printer ink cartridges can be purchased or refilled without any legal issues. It was due to several circumvented legal rulings that ruled out economic tying as anti competitive and breaches trust. Such that printer ink cartridges can be bought anywhere from any manufacturer as long as it meet system requirements. Refilling is also an option. Manufacturers, now that printer ink cartridge market isn’t as lucrative, concentrated on quality parts and a more quality ink products. In effect as opposed in the past, there had been more “technologies” that have been introduced than in the past.

Over the internet are myriad vendors that sell refilled cartridge printer ink, do cartridge refills, and even sell printer inks by bulk (several gallons). Like Atlantic Inkjet at www.atlanticinkjet.com which sells printer cartridges by brand or printer model. Apollo, Brother, Canon, Compaq, Epson, Dell, HP, Lexmark and Xerox are included in the catalog. Atlantic Inkjet also sells recycled cartridges (for refilling purposes), classic refilled cartridges, or even original cartridges from the manufacturer themselves. Atlantic Inkjet also sells bulk ink and several refill accessories.

*this booming market began with the advent of bubble jet technology and still existed up to this date, even with the introduction of the cost effective laser printers and exceptional quality dye sublimation technique.