In a world where the price is often king, it's tempting to opt for cheaper alternatives in your business operations. One such area where cost-cutting can backfire is in the use of imitation printer ink and toner cartridges.
While these may seem like a bargain, the risks involved can far outweigh the financial savings. Investing in genuine products is a smarter, more secure choice.
Read on to learn why using imitation printer cartridges might be more of a liability than a savings strategy.
Not All Printer Cartridges are the Same.
To make informed decisions about printer cartridges, it's important to understand the different types available:
- OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer)
OEM ink and toner cartridges are produced by the same manufacturer as your printer. For example, HP cartridges are made for HP printers. These cartridges are designed to work seamlessly with your printer, offering the best quality, security and reliability.
- Remanufactured cartridges
Remanufactured ink and toner cartridges are reused OEM cartridges that have been cleaned, refilled and reassembled. They often perform the same as OEM cartridges in terms of page yield, sustainability and cost savings.
In the interest of transparency, Staples provides remanufactured ink and toner cartridges, as well as OEM cartridges.
- Imitation cartridges
Beware of this third type of printer cartridges: the imitations. These cartridges (and even their packaging) are deliberately designed to look eerily similar to OEM cartridges — but at an aggressively lower price.
Imitation toner and ink cartridges are created to deceive you.
Imagine this scenario:
- You go online to stock up on toner and ink cartridges for your organization.
- You scan the site for the logos, imagery and brand colors of the OEM cartridges that you typically purchase (HP, Epson, Brother, Lexmark, etc.).
- But you also see some cartridge options with the same brand colors and similar imagery as the OEM cartridges you've bought in the past — only these cartridges are WAY cheaper.
- You think, "That's a great deal on my OEM cartridges!"
- When the products arrive, you might not even notice that these cartridges do NOT include a brand logo of any OEM cartridge you've ever heard of (HP, Epson, Brother, Lexmark, etc.).
- It's only after you've installed the cartridges into your organization's printers that a bit of wisdom comes to mind, a notion perhaps engrained into you by your parents:
You get what you pay for.Ask any person who's bought imitation shoes, imitation watches or imitation earbuds (either purposely or accidentally), and they'll heartily agree — imitation products are cheaper because they're cheap.
To simplify things, we'll refer to any cartridge that isn't OEM or remanufactured as imitation — because that's exactly what they are.
The problem occurs when you purchase imitation cartridges because they can create serious risks, which we'll get into next.
