The woman checking out in front of me at Staples had fistfuls of ink cartridges. I asked her if she was a graphic designer. It opened the conversation, and she shook her head as her sales tally ran to the hundreds of dollars.
“Have you ever tried refilling your cartridges yourself?” I asked, ever the cost-conscious entrepreneur.
She hadn’t and got curious about my experience. I’ve been refilling my inkjet cartridges for years very happily and saving bundles in the process. I told her how I did it. I checked out the cashier’s expression as I was sensitive to taking sales away from the office supply chain. “I’m sorry,” I offered. “I don’t want to hurt your business.”
I had misread his look. He said, “No, I want to know for myself. How do you do it?” The customer ahead of me and I both laughed at his honesty. Hey, we’re all consumers, right?
Here’s the online company I order the refills from:
The ink bottles and syringes come with excellent step-by-step instructions. I know there are warning issued by the inkjet cartridge companies to only use their brands. But, it’s kind of like cutting the DO NOT REMOVE labels from mattresses. Who’s going to turn you in?
Jane:
Thanks for this tip. I’ve always wondered if these refills work and now that I know you have good luck with you, I’m going to give it a whirl.
@Karen
I’m sure someone else had to explain it and approve it for me before I tried myself. Glad to be your ‘dealer’!
An important heads-up…if you use refills you will void your printer’s warranty. I found this out the hard way when I my printer developed “issues” and I called customer service. They told me that use of even the cheaper Staples-brand refills, and certainly self-refilled cartridges, will render the waranty against defects null and void. And as anyone who has ever tried to have a printer serviced will tell you, repairs are so expensive as to make the purchase of an entirely new printer preferable. Planned obsolescence.
@Janice
Thanks for the information. I haven’t run into that problem and have been using the inks for years. I do occasionally have to buy the genuine HP products, but can then refill those for several more uses. My inkjet printers are all inexpensive. I’m sure they make their profits on the inks.