Learn 12 Tips for Ordering Office Commodities
Most generic toner cartridges fit in your printer. However, not all cartridges are created equal. There are four main types of toners you can use:
It is important to understand the difference between the types of toner. Every cartridge has different manufacturing standards and performance qualities. Choosing the right one can save you time, money, and a costly printer malfunction.
Counterfeit products will cost you more for a faulty product and increase the risk of printer damage when used. You should always be cautious of compatible toners as well. Although they are not as bad as counterfeit, they have a high failure rate and can harm your printer.
| Original Equipment Manufacturer | Remanufactured Cartridge | Compatible Cartridge |
Counterfeit Cartirdge | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quality | Highest | High | Low | Low |
| Price | Full Price | 15-40% Less than OEM |
25-80% Less than OEM | 25-80% Less than OEM |
| Legal | Yes | Yes | Pending Supreme Court Decision |
No |
| Failure Rate | 1-2% | 1-2% | Up to 30% | Up to 30% |
| Warranty | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Machine Repairs | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Returnable | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Green | No | Yes | No | ? |
| New | Yes | No | Yes, Altered Design | Typically Yes, Altered Design |
| Dangerous | No | No | Potentially | Potentially |
| STMC Approved | N/A | Our Brands, Yes | No | No |
| Made In America | Made All Over the World | Our Brands, Yes | Made in Asia | Made in Asia |
| Brands We Carry | HP, Dell, Brother, Lexmark |
LIBERTY LASER, Innovera, Clover | ACM, PCI, ImageStar | None |
MAP or minimum advertised price is a concept that controls the selling price of all major OEM brands such as HP, Brother, Xerox, and Lexmark if you do not have your shopping cart website behind a password. So when you are browsing on the web looking at pricing, if you find an OEM cartridge well below everyone else's price, that reseller is breaking the rules (yes we do get policed on this) or more likely what you are looking at is a counterfeit cartridge.
We use market based pricing on ink and toner cartridges. As you can see below all of the non-password protected websites offer the cartridge at the same price. If one reseller changes their price, everyone including us changes our price. You will always get a competitive price on ink and toner.
Typically, a counterfeit toner is a low-grade compatible cartridge placed into a box, or replica box, of a real OEM cartridge. Here's how to tell if the one you've purchased is a fake:
Apart from damaging your printer, there are health risks associated with compatible and counterfeit cartridges:
The person in charge of office supplies procurement for your business should understand not only the differences but also the printing solutions offered by your provider. Unlike many procurement partners who only sell toner, Egyptian provides solutions from beginning to the end of your toner purchase. We carry OEM, remanufactured, and compatible. We do not carry counterfeit.
Not only do we warranty and take returns on, but we also clean the printer on remanufacturing and OEM cartridges. (This only applies if anything happens from the three brands we recommend.) Our recommendations always have the fewest issues and represent “best value”. Their superior performance and “built-in guarantee” will cost your organization less in the long run.
** We do not warranty, fix, or take returns on the compatible cartridges such as ACM and PCI. Like parking in yellow and hoping you don't get a ticket: if you buy compatible, you buy at your own risk.
Do you still have questions about the types of ink and toner? Are you interested in learning more about the single-vendor approach and how it can save you money?
Your partners at Egyptian are here to help! One of our dedicated account managers will be happy to meet with you and answer all of your questions. Schedule your free consultation today!
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Learn 12 Tips for Ordering Office Commodities
