Ink quest – the search for the cheapest printer ink

I have a Canon Pixma MP150 and pay a fortune for ink when i buy from Staples. Where can i buy them cheaper?

Katie Waller says:

Hi HMAH,
Based on the price checking we’ve been doing, for the PG-40 and CL-41 the lowest prices for Canon branded ink have been from the likes of Amazon, 7dayshop and Play. A low price for the PG-40 is around £12.79 and for the CL-41 it’s more like £15.
As mentioned before, with Amazon check for any delivery charge.

Mike says:

“72% of Which members use printer manufacturer’s ink cartridges”. That says a lot about Which members -money to burn and reluctant to try alternatives. I use compatible inks which like the manufacturer’s are all made in PRC. They are 80% cheaper than HP and the quality difference is negligible even for photo prints.

DC says:

16 March 2012

Fair enough but if you plan to print your own framed photos as I do then you you don’t want cheap compatible alternatives. First off you will have to play around and waste ink resetting the colour management etc and secondly what guarantee do you get on colour fastness ? I think with my Canon inks I’m getting 75 years. Say no more.

Elaine says:

I have twice used spurious ink cartidges to my cost. When a fault developed on both printers the manufacturers refused to repair them because I had not used their brand of cartridge saying it made the guarantee invalid. I dont know if this was the cause of the faults but that is the excuse they were using. I now of course use branded cartridges.

wavechange says:

This has long been a concern and my recollection is that the consumer now has protection if the fault is not related to the print cartridge.

We should also remember that the retailer and manufacturer deserve some protection. Consider a user who used inappropriate ink and blocked the printhead, which is part of the printer in some models. In this case it would be unfair to blame the manufacturer but you would have a case against the supplier of the ink or compatible cartridge.

If the print head is part of the cartridge then a fault is not likely to cause a failure of the printer.

Katie Waller says:

Yes, check your printer’s Ts&Cs. It’s likely that there’s something in there to stipulate that if the fault is due to use of non-OEM cartridges the warranty may be invalidated, but as Wavechange says, if the fault is not attributable to the cartridges you may be all right – you may have to press the point though. It’s important to check the wording of the terms.

HayTay says:

I have an Epson Stylus printer/copier/scanner. Initially I used the substitute inks supplied by the company who sold me the printer. I had quite a few cartridge failures and so, after a battle to recover the cost of the failures (I had to threaten court action), I have since used Epson cartridges without problems – but, of course, at greater expense.

Katie Waller says:

Hi HayTay. Would you be happy to share the name of the company? You could email it to us at W?Conversation using the ‘contact us’ link below if you prefer.

Mike says:

To expand my earlier comment, I use manufactured compatibles (not refills). These are commonly available from reputable on-line suppliers and are made to the same spec as manufacturer’s cartridges (all are made in the PRC). Re-fills are very prone to causing problems and are better avoided.

I have an HP all-in-one and have saved a considerable amount over the past three years. I have not experienced any printer problems and have already saved more than the cost of a replacement printer. If you look at printer prices, they have dropped considerably over the years whereas cartridge prices have hardly changed. It is not hard to work out where printer manufacturers make their money.

One final point, a common cause of blocked print heads is lack of regular use -which is why most printers have a ‘print-head clean’ option in their menu. However, if a printer is inactive for too long this procedure will not work and the print-head will require replacing. If you did not purchase a warranty this is likely to cost you at least 50% of the purchase price.

Crazytrucker says:

I have always hunted around for ink cartridges and as Which says the prices vary enormously. I am at present using a refil black cartdridge that did what I wanted it to do but ran out quickly, more quickly than the HP original for a similar amount of printing.
However, that is not my question.
My question is:
I bought an HP Deskjet F2480 All-in-one a couple of years ago from Morrisons at a ridculously low price, and since I don’t do as much photo printing as I used to, my only couple of attempts on the HP at printing photos was not a success, probably needs setting up or something, and since the HP my Epsom Photoprint has not been used, trouble is I had a stack of cartridges for it that have not been used, in fact I’m not sure where they are but they must be out of date useless by now. I always used to buy ‘Think’ replica cartridges from Choice Stationary, as they were the cheapest for my Epsom and always did good deals on multibuys, alas not competitive for my HP!
How and where is the best place to dispose of them as If I remember correctly the dustbin men don’t like them?

Katie Waller says:

16 March 2012

There are a number of ways you can recycle cartridges and it shouldn’t cost you a penny to do so.
Epson and HP both have recycle schemes – they’ll send you a free post envelope and you can return your cartridges to them:

https://h30248.www3.hp.com/recycle/ereturns/ordermaterials-cs.asp?__cc=gb&__la=en&segment=ho&focus=IJ
You can also recycle through other businesses and sometimes there’s an additional benefit to you, for example you can earn Clubcard points by recycling with Tesco: http://www.tesco.com/greenerliving/greener_tesco/ink_cartridge_recycling.page

Plumbuddle says:

Many charities collect cartridges in whatever condition so you could send these defective ones to them. Childline will send you their freepost bags so you can send batches, I’m sure other charities do the same.

wavechange says:

As far as I know, only cartridges that include printheads are worth collecting. Many are just worthless plastic ink containers and the printheads are in the printer. Laser printer toner cartridges can usually be recycled and are well worth donating.

KEM says:

I have just purchased an HP364XL Black cartridge from FMS (Find My Supplies) for £12.02.

john says:

i buy compatible cartridges on eBay at £1.25 ( one pound twenty five – not twelve pounds fifty ) each. I use an Epson S21. They are ecomomical and I have never had any problems. I am not that worried in case there was a problem even in the worst case the printer is only about £20 to replace now and over one year I save much more than thn using compatibles rather than Epson cartridges.

Roy J says: