Why is printer ink so expensive?

$65 to $70 every time I need ink. There are three kids but only one uses the ink.


OuchWhy is printer ink so expensive?
I have read that HP makes 50% of its annual corporate profit from the sale of printer ink. Its like the old Polaroid camera - the camera was cheap, the film was expensive.


I get my ink from ABC Ink. For an older Epson printer, I pay $3.00 for black and about $4 to $5 for color.


My recommendation: before buying a printer, check the Internet for price of ink for that printer. Pick the printer that meets your needs that has the cheapest ink.


Also, there is now a business that will refill your empty ink cartridges for about 1/2 the price of a new one. You can use Google to see if there is one near you. But for my Epsons, the internet has the lowest prices.Why is printer ink so expensive?
Because the manufacturers of inkjet printers use a marketing tool known as loss-leader pricing. This basically means that they price the main item (in this case, the printer) very cheap but further purchases (the ink cartridges) are quite expensive and add up. These purchases are also required in order for the product to function further.


They actully lose money (or make a very slim margin) on the sale of printer units but more than make this up on the sale of ink cartridges.
So the manufacturers can sell their printers cheaply and tie you into buying their ink cartridges. Cynical but true.
that's why you buy printer that have 4 seperate ink cartiges verses multi color cartige. I picked up an epson all in one for only 98 dollars, it has 4 individual cartridges, perosnally Canon does this concept better, but have been an epson person for quite some time. evetually you can buy 3rd party generic cartriges which are cheaper than OEM.
If what you are doing is not super exacting, you may want to investigate quality third party ink companies.





There are those who are not good, but many offer a comparable product for less $$