Compatible Ink

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Compatible ink cartridges are a great way to save a lot of money. Understandably there is hesitation around buying from some sites and rightly so, there is so much variation in regard to price and quality. Obviously you want the cheapest, and the best, however these two words very rarely go together. What you gain in price you may lose in quality not to mention customer service.

Compatible ink cartridges are manufactured by a third party company, completely separate from the printer manufacturer. They are designed to fit all the same printers as they’re original counter parts and in most cases work exactly the same.

Most printer manufactures have started integrating a small electronic chip onto their cartridges; these chips are used to tell the printer when the cartridge is becoming empty, and also to help ensure consumers buy original products. (The chip does not physically measure the amount of ink but estimates how much has been used per print.)  Good suppliers of compatible cartridges will have these chips built in however  the printer may not read this chip correctly and show an error message stating the cartridge is low on ink or empty.  You can usually accept this by clicking ‘OK’ and keep using the cartridge as usual.

Because compatible cartridges are made to the same specifications as the originals, they normally have as much, if not a little more ink. The quality of the cartridges is one thing that can vary a lot between suppliers and it is recommend that you find a company with good reviews and repeat customers. It is also a good idea to find a company with a good return policy, as compatibles do have a higher defect rate than genuine cartridges. It may also be smart to ring the supplier first to ensure you are dealing with a legitimate company and also to check they have the item you need in stock.

Overall compatible cartridges are a great way to save a lot of money while getting the quality printing you are used to. If you want to print glossy photos that you will have on display for years then you cannot beat using genuine cartridges and paper designed specifically for that brand of printer. But for most of your day to day printing compatibles are more than satisfactory at a significantly lower price.

Prices vary widely between suppliers of compatible ink cartridges with as much as $32 difference between them for a set of 4 cartridges. ‘ink-direct’ and ‘wholesaletoner’ are two worth avoiding with the highest prices we found and ‘wholesaletoner’ had the worst range of stock.

‘Affordable Ink’ And ‘Ink venus’ are the cheapest from the company’s we looked at with saving as high as 70% compared to genuine cartridges. ‘Affordable Ink’ really stood out with their fantastic customer reviews and after sale service,  easy to use website and great range of stock.