Cheap Printer Ink 101

Finding the best deals, or discount printer ink can be a real challenge in this economic decline, but with the right amount of browsing internet suppliers and their advertisements, you can usually find a big savings over major big box retailers.  Of course the first step in buying printer ink is to do some math and determine your needs and budgets.  While most companies would love to save thousands of dollars by purchasing their ink for an entire year’s needs at a given time, most can’t for obvious cash flow reasons.  So, we recommend spending as much as you can at one time.  Like many other items in the enterprise society, the more you buy the larger a discount you can negotiate and receive.  Also, keep in mind to look at online printer ink cartridge suppliers first.  You can find some names and links on this page that will help you begin your search.

One way that the average company can save thousands each year is by having printer ink cartridges refilled after use instead of buying several new ones.  Both online ink retailers and big box stores like Office Depot and Staples provide this kind of service.  In addition, if you have a fulltime IT department, or are a small enough company without too many machines, you can buy self refill kits that sell for much less than most brand new printer ink cartridges.

Discount Printer Ink

There are several ways to gain yourself and your company a discount on your ink needs.  First, make sure you already area dealing with the cheapest dealer available.  Whether this is a local business down the street, or one you found online, doesn’t matter.  Making sure you get the best deal on an ink cartridge does.  When you look at finding a provider for your ink needs, be sure to ask many questions, and understand if there are side fees in addition to the cost of product.  Many companies will try to charge a service fee or refill fee in order to increase their own profit margins.  While some people will pay this, most don’t and we have found that by simply stating you want an “ink cost only” estimate will alleviate this problem.  Also, don’t be afraid to continue to check costs from time to time, and if another company offers you a better deal, go with it.  If you have some sort of personal loyalty top your original company, at least give them a chance to match the new offer, but printer ink cartridge business, it still a business.  Usually the lowest bidder will win.

Cheap Printer Ink

Now if you run a small, or home based business, you may not be at the point of spending two thousand dollars at a time on printer ink cartridges.  But, that doesn’t mean there are not potential savings for you as well.  Again, start with online retailers as they tend to have the best prices for small orders as well.  Make sure you check several different companies – we’ve linked to a few from this page – and don’t be afraid to ask if coupons and discounts are available.  Now, if you don’t want to spend time ordering over the net for new printer ink, compare costs at a large bulk store such as Costco or Sam’s Club.  Many times at these kind of locations you can buy two or three cartridges in one package, saving around ten dollars from the cost at Wal-Mart or a store like Staples.  Finding cheap printer ink and discount printer ink cartridges is easily done, if you put just a little bit of effort and online research into it. 

If you are in charge of buying printer ink for a small or large company, you know it can quickly become one of your most expensive budget items.  In fact, the average gallon of ink costs over $5000!!  However, by knowing a few simple facts and making small changes you can drastically reduce the cost of ink per year in your operation.

First, make sure that all your printers are set to default to using the “Econfast” setting or similar which uses the least amount of ink.  Nearly all office printers use the highest quality setting, but don’t need to unless the print job is for a very special project.  Have your IT department switch default settings and you can save hundreds of dollars of ink use each year, and still have easily readable documents.

Next make sure you instruct your purchasing agent or employee to only buy off-brand ink cartridges instead of the more expensive name brands.  In a recent survey most generic brand cartridges performed just as well as large names in printing text and simple documents.  The only exception to this rule is in the area of photo printing; if your business does lots of high-end printing work stick with the name brand stuff.

But that leads us to our final point of outsourcing your photo printing needs.  Unless you have a project due that requires immediate photo printing, consider sending the job to a Target or Wal-Mart or other retail printing location.  Most of the time these places will provide cheaper prices per print than doing it in house, even on a specially made photo printer.