January 2011

The price of Printer Ink these days

You have ignored your low ink warning and ran dry who you gonna call?
Well if you desperately need to print as I did your going to venture out into the high street. I first did a little research online to see which local shops may stock my ink.
Staples sprung to mind and the website showed me a price of £32.53 for a 4 pack of original Brother Ink cartridges.
A quick check on Google map to locate the store and off I went.

The Staples store however did not actually stock my ink, well they did have individual Ink cartridges but no multi packs. The store range and prices appeared to vary greatly from what was on offer on the website. A store assistant reminded me that the online prices did not include VAT.

Maybe I would have more luck in Comet which just happened to be next door.
Nope they don’t stock Brother Ink cartridges at all but appeared to have most other makes in stock.

Finally PC World / Currys saved the day but at a huge price. A steal at £47.99!
It appears that Brother are fixing the price of their ink and or not offering stores and resellers much of a discount for traders. A few manufactures do this with various products and I am unsure why.

I am thus now going to seriously consider using compatible ink. I will compare quality but that is a whole new argument and a subject of great debate in its own write.

Huge savings can be made using compatible ink cartridges.
123inkcartridges for example offers a pack of 20 ink cartridges for just £36.99 which includes free gloss photo paper.

Ink Cartridge price comparison chart

123inkcartridges £13.99 Each £54.99 4Pk
Brother £12 Each £55.80 4Pk
Ebay Original £10 Each £35 4Pk
Ebay Compatible £3.95 4Pk
Staples website original £32.53 4Pk less VAT £47.07 Inc
Staples website compatible £6.29 each less VAT
PC World / Currys £47.99 Original 4 Pk

One final thought about recycling your ink cartridges.
I used the Brother website to claim my FREE recycle bag and was shocked when it arrived only to discover it was only big enough to return a single cartridge.
I actually taped the label onto a larger parcel.

DO NOT IGNORE LOW INK WARNING OR PAY

Canvas Printing

Having your photos printed onto canvas can now be achieved at home and you don’t need a special printer. Many current Ink Jet printers are capable of printing directly onto canvas paper. The only problem I have so far found is where to obtain the canvas paper.

High street stores such as Currys, PC World and even Staples appear not to appreciate demand for Canvas Paper and neither their website or its stores appeared to stock it.

There is however now a number of online ink cartridge supply specialist that does stock Canvas Paper at very reasonable prices. inkClub for example have it in stock it at only £6.95 for 10 sheets of A4 Canvas Paper.

UPDATE 11 January 2011
inkClub have denied my application to become an affiliate because they will not allow their advert to be displayed alongside any competitors adverts.
Guess I will just have to find another supplier for Canvas Paper.