Why are ink cartridges so costly?

Do you know that the ink you purchase to make your good old inkjet printer work actually costs you more than many other precious belongings of yours? Well, that’s the fact. No wonder why ink cartridges are always in the news, mostly because of wrong reasons. They are messy, hazardous to the environment, and above all, they really make a hole into your pocket. In fact, an ounce of ink is costlier than an ounce of human blood of for that matter an ounce of silver.

No doubt, over the years, inkjet technology has developed significantly. Ink jet printers worth far less than $100 can produce photo-realistic prints. But the harsh reality is linked to the amount of ink that goes into taking those prints. Even users who utilize their inkjet printers sparingly would agree that a lot of money goes into maintaining it. In fact printer refills cost way more than the actual printer cost. The statistics that Federico De Silva, an analyst at Gartner gave confirm the notion. According to him, a $49 printer would require something like $50 to $60 for maintaining it.

This is how the printer industry works at least when it comes to inkjet printers. The manufacturers know that once a printer is purchased, no matter how cheap it is the buyer is committed to it. And they very well know that the buyer would surely require the cartridge to keep it under operation.

If Charles Lecompte, head of Lyra Research, a market research firm is to be believed, the selling price of the cartridge is billed to be many times more than it actually costs the manufacturer. And to the surprise of many of us, it actually makes sense. Manufacturers may just be trying to offset the price of a printer by selling the cartridges at a much higher price, as quoted by Seheje Saraphy, analyst at market research firm IDC.

However manufacturers defend their ink pricing strategy by stating that the associated technology and the ingredients that make up ink have something to do with an ink cartridge.

So once the ink cartridge of your printer goes, you have no option but to purchase a new one.

Although you can opt of getting them refilled, (there are various vendors who claim to do a good job in this) or use a generic one, but here also reality bites. Refurbished cartridges cannot be 100 percent reliable. However, here are certain tips to make efficient use of your ink cartridge.