Most printing machines come with free ink, however much of the time these are not full size. Customers don t realise that even though the printer is low-priced the ink replacements are very overpriced. The printer market is following the business model initiated by King Gillette. The razor manufacturer has been marketing low cost handles and premium cost blades for over a hundred years, and now has a superior positioning in the market place. As a result of the high costs, compatible inks are catching on.

Market research conducted by the consultancy firm IDC has found big changes in the market for ink. The recession has seen sales drop 24% of OEM printer ink products. This contrasts with a growth of 5 percent in the compatibles market. Compatibles now account for 37% of the marketplace. The former Soviet Bloc states have shown the greatest growth, where the market far exceeds manufacturers own brand sales. The total global market for compatibles is estimated to account for 37% of sales.Ink prices in Western Europe have continued to rise and consumers have not switched to compatibles at the same rate as their Eastern European cousins.

There are many factors that stifle competition in the printer ink industry. Today s printer ink cartridges frequently have built in data chips. These record the amount of ink that is used by the printer. A working chip is required. If the printer does not discover a chip it will not print even if the cartridge contains ink. These electronic chips are difficult for the manufacturers of copy cartridges to replicate. These additional barriers do make it more difficult for firms to produce compatibles. There are however a number of companies that do succeed. If you are buying a copy cartridge for a printer that has a chip reader you need to ensure that the copy cartridge you buy has this technology built in.

What is the reasoning behind the use of ink cartridge chips. Makers present a clear argument for the use of ink cartridge chips. According to the manufacturers, ink cartridge chips are applied to halt printing when ink levels run low. The chips, however are not attached to any device that gauges ink levels, instead they record information supplied to them by the printer about use.

As ink has become more high-priced need for compatible inks has jumped. The numbers of compatible ink brands has also increased. Some compatible inks can have very poor functioning, whereas with others it is difficult to seen any difference between them and the original ink. Always check the reviews on the World Wide Web before buying. With the price differences it is amazing how many customers have not changed to compatible ink. The price of ink cartridges varies greatly from store to store.

There are compatible inks available for lots of brands including Dell, Konica and Xerox. These compatible inks are developed by a variety of companies including 5 Star.

There are some really good low price ink sellers in the market, if you have the time to look. One of the best means to do this is to use online price comparison websites. These sites can often help you to save money on your printer ink.