? about laser printer toner cartridges

[disneysteve]

I got a new laser printer last night (see blog entry) and I need to buy toner cartridges. Typical retail for a set of cartridges is about $330.00. Clearly, I'm looking for a way to trim that cost. I'd like to stick with genuine HP toner but I'm not opposed to buying HP-compatible stuff if necessary.

I've looked on Amazon and there are a couple of retailers selling what they say are genuine OEM HP cartridges for about $240. The only apparent difference is that their ads say that the retail boxes are not included.

Is there something here I should be suspicious about?

A set of compatible cartridges goes for $250 or so. Is there some legitimate way these sellers can offer genuine HP for the same price as the non-HP product?

[My English Castle]

I'm always suspicious too about those who don't have the box. We wouldn't want to be arrested for receiving stolen property, would we?

I've often found decent deals at newegg.com or lasermonks.com for toner.
Great deal on the printer!

[poundwise]

You may want to consider 123InkJets. They offer OEM HP cartridges as well as remanufactured and generic/compatible toner.

One suggestion, if you have an Ebates or Mr. Rebates account, click through to shop 123InkJets and get a substantial % rebate (16% through Ebates, 20% through Mr. Rebates.)

Of course, those rebate sites also link to several other toner sellers.

[Snowgirl]

In printers, the cartridge market is where the big $$$$ are... Lots of people sell refilled/refurbished ones with various quality. Since the drum impression unit is included in the cartridge for HP products, it drives the price up, and make the quality differs a lot. As the drum ages over refills, often the impression quality suffers. I'm sure some sellers are better than others at that, just make sure if you go this way to get a good reference. A good printer with a bad drum unit won't perform. At work, we often get cartridges with so-so quality, and my home printer (HP but smaller model) outperforms that. Since I buy a cartridge every 6 years (110$ each), I don't shop much tough! Whatever you decide, don't throw your cartridge away, at least give them to a charity, many collect and resell them in bulk.

[disneysteve]

I e-mailed the seller. He said he is selling new HP cartridges that were pulled from new printers purchased at a low promotional price. The cartridges are worth more than what was paid for the printers so they separate them and sell the pieces individually for a profit.

What do you think?

[mom-from-missouri]

I've used them before and they worked well except for one time. I got one that just wouldn't work.
FYI, don't throw empty ones away. There are schools that collect them for $$ or places you can mail them to for $$. Some even send you a postage paid box for them.
When I worked in an office, they threw them away. I dug them out and sent them in. Some months I earned $50 off of them. Now I worked for a internationcal company. Think of the wasted by throwing all those out. We could of used it for charity or for a Christmas Angel family. I tried to get the boss to do it, but he said company policy was to throw away. So, he threw and I went dumpster diving.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by mom-from-missouri

YI, don't throw empty ones away. There are schools that collect them for $$ or places you can mail them to for $$.

I think Staples still gives you a $3 store credit for each one you bring in. And Office Depot used to give you a ream of copy paper for each one.