Refilled cartridges are genuine cartridges that have been refilled by a third party company. Refilling cartridges is a cheaper option to buying originals; however they cost significantly more than compatibles or re-manufactured ink cartridges. Refilled cartridges are very similar to re-manufactured however re-manufactured cartridges usually go through a tougher quality control process including cleaning the old cartridge and replacing any parts that need replacing.
Not all ink cartridges are refillable; most Epson ink cartridges are design with a chip that estimates when the cartridge is empty by counting the amount of pages printed. Once “empty” the cartridge will not print (or though there could still be 10-20% in the cartridge), and if refilled the chip will need to be reprogrammed. Epson has started putting steps in place to make this reprogramming of the chip harder. Most refill companys do not refill Epson cartridges.
You have probably seen self refill kits on the market. There are many types but essentially you purchase small bottles of ink, a syringe and have to inject you cartridges with the ink. I don’t have to stress how potentially messy this can be, not to mention the possibility of this going wrong. Ink cartridges work on a microscopic level, you can imagine how easily the print head can become blocked from dried ink either from in the cartridges or your refill bottles.
There are a few companies that will refill cartridges for you, the biggest of these is cartridge-world with a large number of stores throughout New Zealand and all over the world. They guarantee their work and are competitively priced against other refilling companies. Inkpak offers a similar service without a physical store, you are required to post your cartridges to them and they will be return once refilled. Refilling a set of four cartridges at Cartridge-world will cost between $50 to $90 depending on type and size of the cartridge. A set of four using inkpak will is $65, potentially cheaper, if you don’t mind waiting for a bag to be sent to you, sending your empty cartridges to them, and then waiting for your refilled cartridges to be returned.