Refilling your printer ink

Our organization has a eBay business that has been helping us build our programs. We receive donations of used electronics, refurbish the items, and resell them on our eBay store. One item we receive more than any others are printers. There is a perception that printers that are broken are not repairable, and printers that run out of ink are not economical to fill with ink cartridges once they run out. Both of these may have been true at one point, but today it makes much more economic sense to repair your old printer rather than buy a new one.

Broken Printers

Modern printer hardware is inexpensively made and is not designed to last (because building something that does last is thought to be a bad business model). We have seen many donated printers with malfunctioning scanners, causing the whole multifunction unit to quit working. Another common problem is ink clogging on the print head or print alignment issues. The inexpensive price point of printers makes it seem like buying a new printer is a much easier and faster route to replace instead of repair your unit. This can unintentionally put the uninformed consume in a continual cycle of purchasing cheap printers that could be easily repaired. These sort of minor issues listed above can be fixed at home or by a local professional.

Ink

Genuine OEM cartridges are quite expensive, although pricing has come down a bit, and can seemingly make buying new ink less economic than buying a new printer. This is not true due to the rise of after-market and refillable ink cartridges. In our experience, non-OEM supplies are just as good as genuine OEM. These have become so popular that printer manufactures make printers recognize when a non OEM cartridge is installed. They also note in their troubleshooting documentation that the first step in resolving any sort of issue on printers is to ensure that genuine OEM cartridges are installed. It can be frustrating to purchase these new, genuine OEM and expensive cartridges, just to find that the print head has been clogged. Nerds Abroad recommends finding a local source for refillable and remanufactured ink cartridges to keep your printing costs down in your home or business.

Ok! Who is a trusted local professional?

There are many Internet sources to purchase remanufactured ink cartridges or refill kits, but we recommend finding a local professional who can give quality advice on keeping your printer healthy. Our local partner is Rapid Refill of Salem and Corvallis. You can see their webpage here. They have talented printer repair specialists to fix any problem your printer is having, and they also have a huge selection of remanufactured ink and toner in stock. Let them know that we sent you!

But what if my printer is WAY too old, or I never used it?

If you simply do not use your printer anymore and want to get rid of it, you are welcome to donate it to us! In addition, many Goodwill stores across the country have certifications for e-cycling. Here is a link to find a local e-cycler in Oregon.