Raw Deal On Printer Ink
from the price-gouging dept
Having just had a story about the various printer companies spreading FUD about how so many ink cartridges out there are counterfeit and may damage your printer, I thought this next article was interesting. One of the "warnings" the printer companies kept saying was that these counterfeit cartridges often came only half full. That does sound like a ripoff, until you realize that the printer companies themselves are effectively doing the same thing by having their printers tell you they're empty when there's still quite a bit of ink left. In one test, they found that an ink cartridge was still 38% full when the printer said it was empty. That's 38% of a tiny cartridge that (as the article points out): "costs more than vintage champagne". They also point out that the Epson printers (such as the one I use) are the worst - because they won't let you print if the printer says it's empty - so most people are simply throwing away nearly half of the ink they bought for insanely high prices. In tests the magazine ran the least amount of remaining ink was 17%. Meanwhile, the Lexmark case (where they sued another company for figuring out a way to allow non-Lexmark cartridges to work in their printers) continues to move forward with the EFF filing a brief against Lexmark. The anger over these printer company tactics and the FUD they're spreading suggests that a more formal investigation is coming. I wouldn't be surprised if the FTC gets involved at some point to investigate these practices. Already, in the UK the Office of Fair Trading is looking into the issue.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Epson cartridges
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Epson cartridges
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
You get a new print head, not just ink.
I understand that Epson cartridges contain only ink.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: You get a new print head, not just ink.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I support any company that support the paperless o
(that's a joke BTW)
But I do think there is something very special about making SOHO and home printers unaffordable to use... and if I had my way, the only printers that would be excluded from any "Ink Cartridge Tax" would be those that printed duplex.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Lexmark X75 printer wont print
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Lexmark X75 printer wont print
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Lexmark X75 printer wont print
So I am merrily using my cheap refilled black cartridges, even as the Lexmark says it is empty!
Gordon.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
printer ink conspiracy
Don't focus on the ink cartridge, focus on the fact HP, and other printer manufacturers, stop your printer from working, because of some silly game they are playing of cheating customers before the ink runs out, or wrong ink standards, or what-ever. I say, go ahead send these stupid messages, but don't stop my printer from working. This is anti-competitive, and in violation of anti-trust laws.
To be perfectly clear
Hewlett Packard recycles their ink cartridges by promoting that HP cartridges be returned for recycling, using a self addressed, stamped envelope. Allowing HP, through their “refurbishing and reselling” effort to conserve resources, using the various recycling facilities of manufacturers around the world contracted by HP. Thus, the mere fact that there also are other recyclers available to refurbish, and recycle ink cartridges, but except for lower cost, and the free choice of the consumer, HP has restricted the consumer the full use, and the operation of HP printers.
Smith and Roberson’s Business Law, ninth edition. West Publishing. Chapter 43; ANTITRUST.
“Characterizing a type of restraint as per se illegal therefore has a significant effect on the prosecution of an antitrust suit. In such a case, the plaintiff need only show that the type of restraint occurred, she does not need to prove that the restraint limited competition.....Tying arrangements. A tying arrangement occurs when the seller of a product, service, or intangible (the "tying" product) conditions its sale on the buyers purchasing a second product, service, or intangible (the "tied" product) from the seller....Because tying arrangements limit buyers' freedom of choice and may exclude competitors, the law closely scrutinizes such agreements.”
Hewlett Packard has, unbeknownst to customers who purchased HP printers (tying product), tied as a condition, the purchase of new HP ink cartridges (tied product), or HP recycled ink cartridges, through the use illegal anti-competitive consumer practices.
After all, what are we talking about, it's a ball point pen refill morphed into a printer ink cartridge. It’s a recycled auto part! Again, I say Hewlett Packard, and the rest of the conspirators, play your silly games by cheating consumers on ink cost, and supplies. I say go ahead! But don’t stop me from the use of my printer.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hp Cartridges
Giles Slade
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Lexmark Printers
I've tried efficient settings but it doesn't do any good. I use to have an HP which gave me much better ink usage. What's the deal? I also have the problem of having the "ink cartridge low" come on when the cartridge is still half full. I just ignore the messages.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Lexmark Printers
I've tried efficient settings but it doesn't do any good. I use to have an HP which gave me much better ink usage. What's the deal? I also have the problem of having the "ink cartridge low" come on when the cartridge is still half full. I just ignore the messages.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Lexmark Printer Ink Cartridges
The printers cost $100 - the ink can cost $1,000's ..... over a period of months. There ought to be a law, or at least, an investigation. What a rip-off.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Lexmark printers
These work o.k. but the printer insists that the cartridge is empty! My expert in the family (IT lecturer) tells me that the printer recognises the cartridge but fails to note the ink quantity within.
As long as it works, I say!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Epson c84 that won't print
Grateful for any help.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Epson c84 that won't print
There's a sponge inside your printer, along the right-hand side. It's the area where the print head goes when you do a head cleaning. It's the area where the printer basically spews ink out liberally (in addition to a little dip/rub action) in order to clean the heads. This sponge has about a 6 month "life-span" as far as I can tell -- and shorter if you have a house with dogs that shed.
(a) the sponge gets filled with ink on its own eventually, through repeated use and head cleanings.
(b) The sponge is a magnet for any dirt, dust, or hair you might have floating around your home or office.
Once this sponge gets dirty enough, doing a head cleaning will actually make your print quality *worse* and the printer effectively becomes useless for anything other than casual home use (and can even become entirely useless with enough use or time). Most people I've known in the business of small-scale t-shirt transfer production just buy a new $70 Epson every 6 months. It's part of the assumed operational costs.
As far as I can tell, there's no way to open up the printer to get at the inner-most workings, but I still managed to find a better solution:
(1) Get yourself a paper towel (dry).
(2) Make a Word document or image that has a thin column of "content" down the right side of the page.
(3) Set your printer to the highest print quality.
(4) Send the test page to the printer, open the top, and get ready with your paper towel.
.. and now the fun part!
(5) while the print head is busy on the left side of the printer, printing away a single column of nothing-ness, you have to get in and towel off that sponge as much as possible.
I usually find that I have a good 30 seconds at the highest print quality. Make sure you use high, otherwise the print head will make frequent returns to the right side of the printer and screw up your attempts to towel off the sponge. Canned Air might be a nice addition to the party as well. Air, sponge, air, sponge. Get as much ink, dirt, and hair out of that sponge as possible. I'm guessing that since you've done so many cleanings and stuff that youmight need two or three paper towels to finish the job.
Run a head cleaning and enjoy the full potential and glory of your C84 (they're actually very capable of very high print quality, even being so cheap, so long as you're willing to do the stupid sponge trick every few weeks).
Finally: Cover your printer whenever you're not using it (overnight, weekends, whichever). I use a pillow case. :)
Now, as for your current ink cartridges: Sorry. Unless you can pick up one of those gizmos mentioned above -- the kind that resets the chip on the cartridge (and I don't have one myself) -- there's nothing you can do except throw out a perfectly good ink cartridge and buy new ones. :(
Welcome to Epson's world.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Canon printers exist too
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Epson chip resetter
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Epson DX4000 / Tesco own brand cartridges
The Tesco cartridge is fine, BUT the chip only allows 2/3rd of the ink to be used - proven by my syphoning 5ml of residue.I contacted the supplier - and was glibly told this is normal to protect the printer, to which replied I was not satisfied with this, and thought the quantity excessive,saying 2ml would be more than enough. It seems to me "they" are all at it - cheating the buyer public !!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
HP notification that you are out of ink, but you are not
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Printer manufacturers taking consumers to the cleaners
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
printer cartidges
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
HP Deskjet 1341 Printer
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Epson color ink: must keep buying from only Epson
First rip-off is being forced to buy Epson brand inks even though the WF-3640 stopped printing colors over one year ago. It seems to be timed to every 6 months when it starts to warn you that you have are running low (of one color after another). If you ignore it the printer will not allow even black ink. Trying to complain at the site where you registered it yields “number is not recognized). Running on an iMac Late 2012, Mojave OS.
Second rip off is that upgrades to driver software are claimed to be through your App Store. Nope, ain’t there and all Apple will say is that this model will not be supported as of later this year.
Lastly, the box on the WF-3640 says that this all-in-one includes faxing. Although you can send faxes there is no fax app. You basically have to creat a generic cover page and hope that your fax is received at the other end (yes I know it’s an almost obsolete technology but the issue is that the stated specs on the box do not match what they say in the 150+ page user manual.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]