Cheap Ink and Toner: Finding the Best Deal

Shopping online for cheap ink or toner–how hard could it Be?

I'm not talking about buying third-party options–namely, the refill kits and remanufactured ink cartridges that PCWorld's Nonparallel Refiller has tried. I shop for the trafficker's own ink or toner cartridges, because I'm trying to cause voice selling prices for the consumables of a taxonomic group printer I'm reviewing. I live online, I check a handful of major retailers, and I'm cooked. However, when I delved a little deeper late, I found that the best price wasn't always the best deal.

CDW, Staples Trend Higher in Price

All of this started when I noticed that Staples usually had the highest ink and toner prices of the retailers I checked. Intrigued, I picked several other new printers from a assortment of manufacturers and consulted the same variety of sellers. What I saw, regardless of printer brand, was that two online sellers tended to bearing more than anyone other: Staples and CDW.

The online pricing enquiry I did along the Canon Pixma MG5320 illustrates the trend. As you can see in the table below, at the time of my explore, CDW had the highest prices of all the sources I checked, and Staples had the 2nd-highest prices (by a young allowance) for the color cartridges:

Ink Cartridge Prices for the Canyon Pixma MG5320

Magazine	Record-breaking Buy	BlueDogInk	Canon	CDW	Situatio Depot	OfficeMax	Staples
PGI-225BK	15.99	12.99	15.99	18.99	15.99	15.99	14.49
Command line interface-226BK	13.99	11.99	13.99	16.99	13.99	12.99	14.49
CLI-226C	13.99	11.99	13.99	16.99	13.99	12.99	14.49
CLI-226M	13.99	11.99	13.99	16.99	13.99	12.99	14.49
Command line interface-226Y	13.99	11.99	13.99	16.99	13.99	12.99	14.49

Highest prices in bold.

Subsequently surveying six different printers in total, I saw that Staples had the highest prices for two of them, and the second-highest prices for three others. CDW charged the highest prices for three of the printers surveyed–but was reasonable in completely other cases.

When I showed my research to Staples, a company representative responded by saying that Staples focuses on the incentives IT offers to repeat customers. For example, as part of Staples' Rewards program, 10 percent of what you spend on ink and toner (among other things) comes plunk for to you in the form of salt away credit. In addition, customers World Health Organization bring their empty cartridges back to a Staples store receive a $2 salt away credit. Staples offers relinquish transport on all ink and toner purchases over $45, and transportation is free for some order of HP ink or toner. These incentives Don't change the fact that Staples' ink and toner prices tend to be higher; they just present a tradeoff that you mightiness consider worthwhile.

CDW Adjusts Prices Quickly

CDW looked at my spreadsheet and lowered the prices of whatever of the items I had researched, stating, "If we find pricing that is impossible of line with the market, we correct it as quickly as possible." Interestingly, in the case of one product line I researched, the company stopped ahead of time: Related items, such as multi-packs of the cartridges I researched, retained the same, high pricing as before, offering no savings over the new discounted man-to-man cartridges. As of this writing, CDW had been informed of this determination and was looking into it. I also noticed that CDW's shipping costs for individual users looked high. An order I placed for a $54.99 ink magazine multi-pack carried a shipping charge of $13.15–almost 25 percent of the cost of the pack–and that was the lowest-cost option getable.

Bluedogink.com Seems Spotty

I tried to check more almost the cheapest seller I had encountered, an online retail merchant named Bluedogink.com. Whatever I shopped for, this site's price was a few dollars lower than anyone else's. Flush the shipping prices looked fair: $6.95 for any purchase up to $100, then a percentage of the cost beyond that.

When phone calls and a query through the internet site led nowhere, however, I started checking further. I found that Bluedogink.com was non accredited by the Better Business Agency, and that the BBB had fielded 25 complaints about Bluedogink.com over the ancient three years. Although most were resolved satisfactorily, the BBB's letter grade for the company was good a C. My random search for user complaints in other places yielded stories about unexpected shipping charges, slow or missing refunds, and inconsistent responsiveness. Bluedogink.com's bargains of a sudden seemed less alluring.

Of run over, atomic number 102 retail merchant is an angel; all of them are difficult to get your money somehow, not just through ink and toner. For a little more position, I shopped online at all three national office-supply irons (Office Depot, OfficeMax, Staples) for some common office products. Staples charged the highest toll for a 22ml nursing bottle of Liquid Paper: $1.99, compared to $1.89 at Spot Storehouse and $1.69 at OfficeMax. Office Entrepot charged a premium for a pack of 12 Bic Clic Stic sensitive-bespeak black pens: $9.18, versus $7.29 from both OfficeMax and Staples. OfficeMax charged $13.99 for a single ream of Hammermill LaserPrint paper, compared to $10.29 at Office Depot and $10.79 at Staples. E-chain armor queries to Office Depot and OfficeMax went unanswered.

When the Go-to-meeting Monetary value Isn't the Best Plow

My online shopping experience reinforces for ME that finding a low-growing price is jolly easy, but finding an honest deal can be velar. It's not or so checking multiple Sellers, and digging into the shipping charges and return policies. It's also virtually feeling comfortable with the vendor's integrity and accountability. Proceeding with caution continues to be the rule of the game.