10 Things You Absolutely Need To Know About Compatible Cartridges

Contrary to popular belief, a printer owner is not required to buy & use OEM cartridges only. It is a myth created by the printer brands to sell their over-expensive cartridges to their gullible customers. Usage of compatible cartridges in laser printers will not even affect the warranty let alone explode inside the printer as some of the big brands have led consumers to believe, over the years. If you own a laser printer and are fed up with buying OEM cartridges regularly at exorbitant rates, we have some points for you to consider before switching to compatibles.

Let’s get the basics examined first - OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer, so OEM cartridges are those manufactured by the printer manufacturer while compatible cartridges are manufactured by third-party manufacturers who might not have expertise in printer manufacturing. The compatible cartridge manufacturers make them with brand new components like Drum, Blades, Rollers, Chip, etc. The outer case and some other parts are usually made by recycling old cartridges. OEM cartridges are usually 100% new made by brands like HP, Canon, Konica Minolta, Ricoh, Kyocera, Xerox, etc.

In case your printer is brand new and under warranty or if you have signed up for an extended warranty with the manufacturer, then we suggest that you save this page and check this once the warranty period expires. Even though usage of compatible cartridges does not affect the printer’s warranty clauses in any manner, it is best not to embark on a difficult journey to prove to a printer manufacturer that the printer defect is not attributable to the cartridge used. It’s just not worth the time and effort.

Alright, now that you are keen to make a switch to compatible cartridges, check out the below info:

Because of the high demand for low-cost printer cartridges, the market for compatible toners is really huge. However, not all compatible toner cartridges are made equal. Hence, utmost care should be exercised while zeroing in on the right product for your printer.

1. Even at the office, money saved is money earned

The cost is the most important benefit, which you are probably aware of but have always not given much thought to when purchasing compatible cartridges. You might be wondering why compatible cartridges are so much less expensive than their original equivalents. Printer brands want you to feel that their cartridges are worth the money they charge, but in reality, there is not much difference in performance when compared with compatibles available now.

 

Compatible toners these days are of great quality, unlike in the past when they had a terrible reputation. Companies are concentrating on offering customers high-quality cartridges that they can trust without having to go out of the budget for getting the high-quality prints they need regularly. The bottom line is customers today can easily switch to compatible toner cartridges to enjoy 50% to 75% savings when compared to OEM cartridges without worrying about performance.

 

2. Quality

Some people even assume that compatible toners would not deliver the same level of quality as genuine toner cartridges. The truth is that thanks to technological advancements, compatible cartridge manufacturers have been able to exceed their customers' expectations by providing them with high-quality toner cartridges that impress the client by providing them with the same high-quality prints and quantity of prints as their OEM cartridges. Compatible cartridges are designed to perform in the same way as OEM cartridges, if not better. At a fraction of the cost, you'll get the same high-quality prints.

 

3. Lasts Long, Really Long

Will an OEM toner last longer than a compatible toner? Customers are often led to believe that only the OEM cartridges can give the maximum possible yield from their printers. This has been carefully communicated in most of their brand publishing activities. The reality is that most compatible cartridges are tested to meet OEM standards. This means that every compatible cartridge from Ctrl E will print at least as many pages as the OEM equivalent.

4. Environment Friendly

One of the advantages of switching to compatible cartridges that you may not be aware of is that they are usually made up of recycled parts, making them environmentally beneficial options. Recycling, going green, and decreasing your carbon footprint is all-important these days, and using compatible cartridges will help you move one step closer to your goal while giving you peace of mind that you made an environment-friendly choice today.

Also, check with your compatible cartridge supplier about the e-waste recycling option. We at Ctrl E are glad to collect back the empty compatible cartridges from our clients and put them into a cartridge recycling program. This ensures that these cartridges get reborn as remanufactured cartridges, thereby further reducing your carbon footprint.

5. Saves Time

Although hardly anyone notices this, when it comes to buying a compatible toner cartridge for your laser printer, you will also save time and energy. That is because while buying OEM cartridges, you will have to spend hours browsing through the internet the arrive at the best price that suits your budget. This is a time-consuming, tedious, and sometimes costly endeavor.

 

Purchasing compatible toner is easy, cost-effective, and saves time. Furthermore, it is critical that you only get toner from a reliable source with considerable experience in the field. The best method to do this is to search online for vendors who deliver to your locality and check their online reputation.

 

6. Warranty does not get affected, however…

No. Manufacturers cannot specify which cartridges you should use in their printers. They can have a preference (their own brand), but they cannot compel you to use it. If you've been using compatible cartridges, they won't be able to deny any warranty claims. As a carmaker can't force you to use a specific brand of fuel or a washing machine manufacturer can't force you to use a certain type of detergent, the same applies to printer manufacturers also. The toner in the cartridge does not even come into contact with the printer; it simply comes into contact with the paper.

 

As the sale of cartridges generates the majority of the profit for printer makers, they want you to keep buying their brand cartridges. This is why, even though printer producers spend a lot of money creating and manufacturing them, so many printers are available at affordable prices. They make up for the lost profit by charging a higher price for their cartridges.

 

While it is established that the warranty of a printer will not get affected simply because you chose to insert a compatible cartridge into it, as explained earlier, it is better to avoid a legal tussle with big printer brands. We have witnessed cases where the printer company usually has a stronger legal team available to negate the client’s claim for warranty. Printer engineers are extremely well trained in pinning the blame down on non-OEM cartridges for any issues arising in the printer during the warranty period. As a suggestion, we request our clients to switch to compatibles only after their warranty period is exhausted one way or another. 

 

7. Delivery timeline

Bear in mind that, over and above choosing the highest-quality compatible toner at the lowest price, you will also want to pay attention to the time it takes to arrive. You might need delivery to your doorstep as soon as possible. Ctrl E will get it to you as soon as possible so you can get back to printing.

 

8. Replacement Policy

Once you have bought a compatible cartridge, when you put the cartridge in and it doesn't function or isn't up to par, you can return it and request a replacement. If you do need a replacement, check the returns policy and also note how long replacements take to arrive. Most often, the replacement policy for compatible cartridges is far more aggressive when compared to OEMs as customer satisfaction is of prime importance in this vertical.

 

9. Development Cycle

From the latest models to legacy printers, you can be assured that there will be a compatible cartridge available for you. Some models take more time to re-engineer and develop, so there will be a lag of up to 6 months. In some cases, like the recently launched HP 110A toner cartridge, compatible is available without the intelligent chip where you need to scoop out the chip from the empty cartridge and manually install it into the compatible.

 

10. Choice

One more advantage of buying these less expensive compatible cartridges is that there are generally many more choices available in the market. But, when you are purchasing an OEM cartridge, there is usually only one option for your specific type of printer (except some Canon toner cartridges are suitable to use in HP laser printers as HP used to outsource laser printer manufacturing to Canon). When you buy compatible, you can enjoy going through a wide variety of options.

Ctrl E has the widest selection of printer cartridges that will operate flawlessly with your printers. In addition to saving a lot of money by taking advantage of the special offers available for these products, you will also be obtaining a superior product that you can rely on. What good is a low-quality printout that you have to print over and over to get the same quality when a Ctrl E endorsed one can give you the same results on the first try? So, which one will you choose?

Ctrl E - We will help you take control of your printing!

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Our top picks of printers, scanners & paper:
Ink tank printer - Canon G670
Laser printer - Canon MF244dw
Scanner - Canon DR-C240
Paper - Rescript Recycled A4 Paper