Bogus Ink Stink: Counterfeit Ink Causes Damage

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,111319,pg,1,00.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.pcworld.com/news/article...319,pg,1,00.asp</a><br /><br /></div><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/111319-2108p026-1b.jpg" /><br /><br />"In early February, Yasar Sattar shook hands with undercover detective Rod Jones and a private investigator for Epson, who were posing as potential ink buyers. All three men were inside a Brampton, Ontario, doughnut shop, and Sattar had just agreed to sell $30,000 (U.S.) worth of Epson and Hewlett-Packard ink jet and toner cartridges for a fraction of the normal price. Jones and the Epson sleuth, who had pegged the cartridges as counterfeit after a lengthy joint investigation, hopped into an SUV and followed Sattar to a nondescript warehouse a mile away. There, Sattar swung open a metal door to reveal pallets of what looked like legitimate ink cartridges, packaged for sale.<br /><br />"These fakes looked so real, I couldn't believe my eyes," recalls Jones, a member of the Brampton-based Peel Regional Police's intelligence unit. Sattar handed Jones the invoice for the cartridges, assuring him that the ink was genuine. Backup officers then barged in and arrested Sattar, ending one of a growing number of worldwide sting operations against counterfeit-ink rings."<br /><br />This is a very interesting article - I've purchased 3rd party inks in the past, but this article talks about true counterfeit cartridges sold by legitimate businesses because they didn't know any better. A must read! I love this true-life crime stuff... :wink:

[`helios]

wow 8O that's crazy.... there always has to be something though, right?

[karen]

..that Tim Horton's was some sort of secret meeting place for all kinds o'criminal types....it can't be for the coffee....

:twisted: :morning:

[danmanmayer]

The money they make on ink should be illegal. It angiers me so much. They are now building things in ink so that if it isn't used in a certain amount of time it will dry up. I am a home printer printing stupid tiny stuff i shouldn't be paying 30 dollars for and ink cartrige. I mean what is it 1 dollar of ink? Then 3rd party ink comes in does it cheaper... they make rights protection so third parties can't make in work in the printer then sue if a third party tries. This is just terrible. You think with multiple printing companies and supposed competition that one company would stop screwing consumers and win over the entire printing market overnight.

[danmanmayer]

I forgot that i really doubt the ink cartriges hurt your printer. I mean what does it do explode. If it hurts the printer it is probably because the company made some protection against 3rd party ink that is damaging if the cartrige isn't copied perfectly.

[Skitals]

Why dont you just go to a computer show, and spend a couple dollars and get a REFILL KIT. Ink in bottles with a syringe. Put in oem cartridge. Done.

[Wingnut]

Yikes!! That's 10 minutes away from my home!!

I didn't know anything thrilling happend where I live!

[gorkon280]

Why dont you just go to a computer show, and spend a couple dollars and get a REFILL KIT. Ink in bottles with a syringe. Put in oem cartridge. Done.

If you do this, it will not work now because most ink carts have a chip in them that also needs reset. If the refill get shows you how to fix it or just tells the printer it's always full I suppose it would work. Bugt refilling generally does not work.

[danmanmayer]

here is the blurb from a slashdot today:

"The EFF filed a brief (brief, press release) in the ongoing case over Lexmark incorporating copyright-protected code in their printer cartridges in order to prevent competitors from producing compatible cartridges for their printers. The BBC notes some of the harmful effects of lack of competition in the industry."

[JoeMoon]

...Then 3rd party ink comes in does it cheaper... they make rights protection so third parties can't make in work in the printer then sue if a third party tries. This is just terrible...

It is not so much that third party companies are making and selling ink that has angered the coliation. It is the fact that these third party companies are packaging the inks as if they were genuine original manufacturer inks. Using the name EPSON on a product that is really a knock off called JOE'S INK is illegal.

Personally, I only use genuine manufacturers inks and cartridges. One bad experience resulting in a damaged printer has left me a beliver that the knockoffs really are not that much of a bargin. Therefore, I do not want to be misled in purchasing a knock off beliving it was a genuine product.

Joe...

[Jason Dunn]

Personally, I only use genuine manufacturers inks and cartridges. One bad experience resulting in a damaged printer has left me a beliver that the knockoffs really are not that much of a bargin. Therefore, I do not want to be misled in purchasing a knock off beliving it was a genuine product.

I'm with you there! I purchased some 3rd party inks for my Epson C80, and the damn things dried up in a week! I was so angry. Also, the colours were off when printing photos. My photos are worth a lot to be, so I'd rather spend a few bucks more and get the quality that I really paid for with my printer (now a Canon i950 - love it!). It would be nice if black ink cartridges were cheaper though since most people go through them the most...

[Jonathon Watkins]

...Then 3rd party ink comes in does it cheaper... they make rights protection so third parties can't make in work in the printer then sue if a third party tries. This is just terrible...

Personally, I only use genuine manufacturers inks and cartridges. One bad experience resulting in a damaged printer has left me a beliver that the knockoffs really are not that much of a bargin.

Agreed. The one time I tried a 'secondary' brand of ink cartridges they leaked everywhere. Still, the money that OEMs make on the cartridges is obscene. :idontthinkso: HP makes about 50% of all it profits on ink - or some similar figure. :twak:

[Jonathan1]

That's why I don't have a printer. If there is something uber urgent that I need to print off I e-mail it to work and print it the next day. Screw the prices of these ink carts. I swear is there a single company left on this plant that doesn't screw the consumer in one way or another?!?! :(

[SLUG]

The beauty of Laser printers. You pay $60 for a cartridge and can print over 2000 sheets. Ink jets, your lucky to print 200 sheets on a $25 ink refill. I'll never go back to inkjets. 8)

[dbrahms]

shame on the fakers who sold a faulty product...regardless of the name. But I applaud them to waking up the industry to make them realize the lenghts people will go to in order to avoid those rip-off prices. I just ordered a ton of 3rd part ink on ebay dirt cheap. I hope all is ok with them...if so, i'm not going back to Epson....$50 to restock the printer? Most home consumer level printer are only $100 anyway... bastard companies

[Newsboy]

On a related note, 81% of all revenues generated by Blockbuster video rental come from late fees.

I have a couple laser printers I got from an old job, a LaserJet IIP+, and a LaserJet III. At Bausch & Lomb, they discard them after a set number of hours, and leave them out for employees to take, sans one or two critical parts (like the paper tray). So you just get two of them, one that has a paper tray, and sacrifice one for parts! SLUG is right, the per-sheet cost of laser printers is much lower!

I have two Lexmarks, and I now refuse to pay their prices for black cartridges. Just recieved a refill kit from InkSell.com, as they got universally good reviews everywhere I looked. I'll report back with my success after I get a chance to refill a cartridge next week.

[Kati Compton]

$50 to restock the printer? Most home consumer level printer are only $100 anyway...
That's true. It's getting to the point where the printers are almost as "disposable" as the ink. I wonder when they'll start selling printers where you can't even refill the ink. :P

[Newsboy]

I wouldn't be surprised. Part of the reason I started refilling my black lexmark cartridges is that my Z13 printer cost $19.95. Cartridges are $31.99. Argh!

[Pat Logsdon]

It's getting to the point where the printers are almost as "disposable" as the ink. I wonder when they'll start selling printers where you can't even refill the ink. :P
Check this printer (http://bizrate.compuvest.com/web/Description.jsp?ItemID=8555) out. The cartridges (http://www.pcconnection.com/scripts/productdetail.asp?product_id=248924) are just slightly cheaper than the printer, and only hold enough ink to print about 270 pages. :roll:

[Newsboy]

That's the one! Well, the successor to the Z13 anyway.

[GoldKey]

I have that Lexmark. Got it for free with a computer. Already had a much better printer, so brought it to work and hooked it up as a local printer for printing personal things that I don't want to send to the group printers. It makes nice prints, but I noticed the gauge showing the ink left goes down almost a whole % every time I print a document. So 270 pages sounds about right.

[Jonathon Watkins]

The Daily Telegraph has a story today that HP's ink is 7 times more expensive per volume than vintage champagne! 8O Wow :!: It also said that chip ‘reseters’ could get 38% more pages printed by over-riding the ‘empty’ setting in the cartridges – as they Always said they were empry, when they clearly weren’t.

[fantom4]

Hi

I have being refilling printers for years now with FOOD COLOURING.

Yes thats right food colouring, I still use normal black refill ink, i did try black food colouring but that was no good

But I use Egg yellow, Cochineal ( artificial ) and blue, i use the SuperCook brand.
I have used this with out problems for years.

I have only ever owned HP printers ranging from 400 deskjet to 930 Deskjet, I am now on a Lexmark X85, Which I have yet to refill the colours on it but i have done the black ok. Looking on a refill site i would be able to use the food colouring in the lexmarks colour cart too.

Each bottle holds 38ml so thats cheap refill, each bottle costs me between £0.35p - £0.45p depending on where i get it from.

So start shopping now while you can get them.

[Dave Beauvais]

I attended an Intel conference for resellers and OEMs a couple months ago and HP was one of the featured vendors. Their rep who did the presentation actually said -- and I quote -- "HP is not in the printer business, we're in the ink business." It was very annoying to have the company just come out and say that so bluntly, but it was also strangely refreshing that at least they're honest about it. Still, you'd never hear them say it outright to an end user. :roll:

--Dave

[Jason Dunn]

As frustrated as I am over ink prices, let's face it, it's a business, and there's a demand. If we all stopped printing tomorrow because it was too expensive, printing companies would notice and drop their prices. But that won't happen, so they'll keep charging high prices, because the average person places a high value on having things printed out.

[ctmagnus]

From today's Vancouver Sun:

1985 Dom Perignon: $0.51/mL
typical colour ink cartridge: $3.90/mL

8O

[JoeMoon]

I have being refilling printers for years now with FOOD COLOURING.

You give new meaning to the student that says, "The Dog Ate It!" :mrgreen:

Joe...

[JoeMoon]

...Their rep who did the presentation actually said -- and I quote -- "HP is not in the printer business, we're in the ink business."

Of course... Any smart business will realize that the profits are in the consumables. What I am waiting for is one of these companies realizing that we are not that stupid and will opt for the more expensive printer and the cheaper consumables...

Joe...

[Kati Compton]

What I am waiting for is one of these companies realizing that we are not that stupid and will opt for the more expensive printer and the cheaper consumables...
But I bet there's far more people that just look at the printer price tag without checking prices of refills. I know it happened to me with our fax machine - I only checked it was plain paper, not the structure of the ink.