Go buy a tally printer, they used to do just that but not sure if they are still in business. Surely you would agree that the vendor has every right to make money on toner - particularly as you note that they sell hardware at a loss.
Do you use an electric shaver?
Third party ink is different from the original in formulation Most people come to realise āoriginalā does not fade or does not fade as quickly as third party and ink dependent can have better colour.
However, for colouration/saturation printer drivers all have colour adjustments, some easy and in your face, and others requiring some IT skills. My printer calls it colour management. Why? Because there is a variation from ink lots and printers and what you see on the screen vs what you see on paper, and the kind of paper.
However most people print things that will quickly find its way to the rubbish one way or another and using $100 ink instead of $5 ink is worse than putting 98 petrol in a 91 vehicle from an economic viewpoint.
I spent 40+ years in ICT from development and support through to senior management. I understand the business more than casually.
The overall PC industry is based on planned obsolescence. I bought a Canon scanner in XP days that did evrything I needed. Fast forward a few years and no drivers for Win7. Canon said I had to buy a new scanner as mine was no longer technologically compatible. Curious claim, that (actually pure BS). A bit of Dr Google and experimenting and I found the driver for a more expensive Canon scanner worked just fine, although one had to know how to force load it. I am still using that scanner on 10 and Canon never owned up to it working as a matter of their policy. It has been good value despite Canon casting us customers adrift.
Sheeple would have just bought a new scanner and tossed a perfectly good one into the bin just because Canon wanted to sell another one. Not good for the wallet or the environment, but good for Canon P/L.
A vendor has the right to make money, and they have a right to make money on the printer rather than selling printers at a loss to milk their customers on inks. It is their choice just as avoiding their business decisions are ours.
I would punt most people would be very happy to buy reasonably priced OEM ink. However most people do not accept OEM is reasonably priced.
In spite of claims, in 2016 ink is no longer high technology high science or black magic, it is a well known and understood commodity, and as with all commodities can be anything from cheap and nasty to excellent quality. With that, caveat emptor and use product from quality suppliers.
All that is correct with low quality inks. However the colour can be calibrated and often has to be calibrated even with OEM ink. Fading comes with inks but if you print something how many years do you need it? If essentially forever you are a prime candidate for OEM. If not? Smudging can be minimised and eliminated for duplex by setting the printer driver to pause longer between pages and most drivers support that although what they call it varies. Even OEM ink will smudge if there is enough ink on a heavily printed page and not enough drying time was allowed prior to going to the other side.
I happily trade yield on an $8 cart against a better yield on a $54 cart, and that is the actual difference in my cart costs between a high quality compatible and OEM.
Thanks GA_ACT - yes agree that a manufacturer can deign and produce products around hardware, refilling and market strategies.Itās up to the buyer to shop around.
My only concern is buying a printer and not being aware that hybrid brand ink canāt be used with that printer.
As long as itās fully disclosed all up-front, thereās no issue.
Sorry, I use cheapo shaving blades but your point is validā¦
vax20002
I only use original cartridges as I have my own business and can write them off for tax . Some generic brands seem to be better than others . It is a hard way to trial and error them when they nearly wreck your printer to find out which is the best generic . Often dearer ends up being cheaper in the long run .[quote=āGA_ACT, post:39, topic:11686, full:trueā]
There are reports out there, mainly commissioned by the printers vendors but run by 3rd party analysts. The global brands are tied to manufacturing standards and stringently tested against any claims - e.g. yields. Generally the most common issues with 3rd party inks are colour output mismatch, faded text, leaks, smudging - particuarly when duplex printing -leading to a higher requirement to reprint, lower than expected yields. 3rd party are much less accountable for their product than the vendor.
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I have used generic brands for my home printer but for my business printer I use OEM as I have had fade issues with generic . Also Iām naturally concerned about some quality control issues with generic brands .
except you are actually suggesting putting 91 petrol in a 98 vehicleā¦
If it works, it works. I have been using compatibles ever since they ācame of qualityā about a decade ago without any problem. To each their own.
Thatās what I like about my new Epson printer with refillable tanks instead of cartridges. Itās only $16 a bottle to fill each tank and one tank full lasts up to two years. With all the printing weāve done so far each tank is still on the full line. It doesnāt go through the clean-the-heads-with-excessive-ink process every time you fire it up either. The printer cost a lot up front, but the money saved on not having to purchase ink cartridges every couple of weeks more than makes up for it.
If the cook gave me the recipe, that makes me (who is cooking it) the chef - if I make an error of judgement over ingredient selection/substitution of course Iād blame myself (as the chef). Iāve used the genuine ingredients and on occasion had problems as well. I sincerely doubt HP is being altruistic about their ink quality - in fact it wouldnāt surprise me if they provide the cheapest and nastiest ink that will still satisfy minimum return rates, thatās what the shareholders want ā¦
Funny, you sound like an HP employee with many of your replies, yet if you think HP is still the company dedicated to R&D that it was twenty years ago you donāt know the HP of today very well (either of them) 
I worked in print for 16 years so Iāve seen it happen. Any vendor who makes the HW SW and Ink do so in balance and to a specified output. They all put R&D into it to make it work together and itās not just about adding a coloured liquid to make it all work. In my experience the genuine inks make the printer and software to perform more reliably and consistently on a wider variety of paper than the 3rd party stuff but itās the choice of the consumer and no-one is questioning the right to choose. Itās not just an HP thing, itās not just an inkjet thing, itās the same for any of the manufacturers of the hardware.
I thought I was becoming a paranoid conspiracy theorist but I am starting to wonder if Epsom havenāt programmed my printer to use more ink when I use a non-Epsom cartridge. I go through so-called XL Black very fast and I donāt really do much printing.
I am tempted to do a page count test between the Epsom cartridge and the cheaper brandsā¦
Epsom might have hired those VW engineers caught out gaming the emissions tests 
After printing close to 500 pages now on my Epson ET-2500 printer in both full colour and greyscale, all four ink tanks are still just about sitting on the full line. The printerās expensive to purchase initially but the savings on not having to purchase cartridge replacements more than makes up for it. At around $16 per bottle to refill each tank, once every two years, itās well worth the purchase price for the printer itself, which comes with a full bottle of ink for each tank in the box.
The business brain in me says that the prices are profitable for Epsom. It is just a matter of striking the right āwin/winā balance and more marketers need to understand that!
An interesting case is going down in the USA, where Lexmark is trying to stop customers from using third-party ārefillā printer toner cartridges.
Last time I wanted to buy a black inc, a single cartridge costed $26. I bought a new printer for $29 from Officeworks instead. For $3 I got a better printer (a new model), a new colour cartridge and a new black cartridge.
This is absurd
@dds.
Donāt think that buying a new printer over cartridges is cheaper. I recall reading something a few years ago that the cartridges supplied with new printers are very low capacity cartridges which wonāt last as long as new higher capacity cartridges. Then you buy new cartridges where the margins are for the manufacturers.
It is a false economy to buy a new printer thinking one is saving money. The manufacturers are one step ahead and it will cost more in the long term.
If I find the info, will update the post with the link.
