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When is Good Good enough?

Bigstock_47367862OEM cartridges are the best in the world but they’re also the most expensive cartridges in the world and the prices keep rising.  Some people simply can’t afford them.  Others balk at paying the high price.  Still many, despite their aversion to the high cost of originals, hesitate to use aftermarket cartridges.  They’ve heard bad things about them or they’re afraid of having their printer warranty voided.  If you’re on the fence here’s some friendly advice to help you decide whether you should or shouldn’t.

You should use refilled, remanufactured, or compatible cartridges if:

  • You can’t afford new ones.
  • You can afford them but can find better things to do with your money.
  • What you’re printing doesn’t require the best and most expensive cartridges in the world.
  • You can handle the occasional bump in the road you run into using after market cartridges.

You should use OEM cartridges if:

  • Price is not an issue.
  • What you’re printing is absolutely mission critical and only the best cartridges in the world will due.
  • You charge for printing (you’re a commercial printer).
  • You have a very expensive printer (one costing hundreds or thousands of dollars).
  • The thought of using aftermarket cartridges fills you with dread and anxiety (you can’t handle a bump in the road).

Refilled, remanufactured, and compatible cartridges are pretty good, usually good enough for what most of us print.  High quality third party inks produce crisp text and vivid color, very similar to what OEMs produce.  In fact, most people will not be able to tell the difference.

But there are those pesky “bumps in the road.”  If you buy enough aftermarket cartridges sooner or later you’ll get one that doesn’t work.  It’s irritating, frustrating, and sometimes infuriating to buy a product that doesn’t work.  I understand why some people throw up their hands and say never again.  I understand why aftermarket cartridges get such bad word of mouth.

Part of the irritation and frustration comes from false expectations.  Some sellers of aftermarket cartridges market them as “just as good as new ones only cheaper.”  That’s total non-sense.  If they were just as good as new ones and half the price everyone would want to use them.  Aftermarket cartridges are only about 30% of the total cartridge market.

But for typical home printing and most business printing aftermarket cartridges are more than good enough.  For Johnny’s homework, grandma’s recipes, email, airline tickets, photos of the family cat, for all manner of back office business printing aftermarket cartridges will do just fine.

On the other hand, if you’re printing high end color documents that require 100% color matching and that are critical to projecting your corporate image or brand I’d suggest using OEM.  If you’re selling what you print and can price the cost of OEM cartridges into the end product why not use OEM.  If you have an expensive inkjet printer (one costing hundreds or thousands of dollars) intended for serious business or commercial printing you can’t go wrong with OEM.

Using refilled, remanufactured, and compatible cartridges is not an all or nothing proposition.  You can use aftermarket cartridges for some applications and originals for the most critical ones.  Save money where you can, spend it where you must.

But the most important point I hope you’ll take away from this post is that if you decide to use aftermarket cartridges go into it with your eyes wide open.  Understand that you will hit that bump in the road and be ready for it.  Develop a reasonable strategy for using aftermarket cartridges which should include having a spare on hand (but not too many spares) and buying cartridges from vendors who offer a solid guarantee.  Armed with a good strategy you can use aftermarket cartridges without sacrificing your peace of mind.

 

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Phone: 704-889-1452
Fax: 704-889-1453
Website: https://inkstopusa.com
Email: jconaway@inkstopusa.com