Frank’s ink cartridge, toner cartridge, printer & photo paper news!

Had a customer ring today looking for a cartridge for her HP Laserjet. She said she wasn’t interested in a genuine cartridge, but wanted a remanufactured one. I explained we only sold genuine cartridges, and asked if there was a particular reason why she specifically wanted a remanufactured cartridge. “Because they are cheaper” she replied. I asked her if I could give her a price for a new genuine HP cartridge anyway and she said OK. I gave her the price and she asked if I was kidding. Puzzled, I said no, why? She said she paid $15 more for a remanufactured one! This didn’t surprise me much. Since early 2005 genuine toner cartridge prices have dropped substantially, whereas remanufacturers costs just keep going up. Toner remanufacturers are in a squeeze, having to pay more for an ever shrinking worldwide supply of cores (empty toner cartridges), higher costs to match the technologically superior modern toners, plus higher labour costs. Take into account the number of warranty returns of remanufactured toner cartridges (with some remanufacturers having failure rates of around 15% on some cartridges) and it’s a hard business to stay successful in. When you need new toner for your printer, bear in mind that for a remanfactured toner cartridge to give the same quality as a genuine toner cartridge, it would need to cost the same or more!

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