Well that is the question which has a definite affirmative answer and inkShop ordered this review from me to tell the world more about it and also let you know about their own service where you can get the ink cartridges which are manufactured under stringent ISO 9001 / 9002 standards and available at a 30-75% discounted rate.

Well buying a printer is not a big deal with manufacturers allowing a hefty discount on the initial purchase. You may be quite happy with the money you saved but in months and years to come you may realize that the amount of money you spend on buying printer ink cartridges may easily overtake the cost of your initial printer purchase.

Printer ink cartridges are really a gold mine for these manufacturers and just like a cell phone plan where you are stuck with a carrier for a two year period, with the printer too you have no choice but to buy those costly ink without which your printer can turn out to be a box of useless junk.

To put things into perspective a HP LaserJet printer with network support and a copier, scanner and fax costs $505 in a best buy store, now that’s quite a deal and no doubt you may get the printer at a much cheaper cost too.

Now after you have brought the printer lets take a look at the price of the printer ink cartridges, a compatible cartridge for the above printer costs $74 at a discounted prize that’s almost 15% of the total printer cost. If you use one printer ink cartridge per month within the next 6 months you would have spent enough to buy another printer itself and within a year have two of them.

Many printer manufacturers like Lexmark also have adapted a technology where they put in a chip inside their printer ink cartridges. If the printer cartridge does not carry the chip the printer will not work at all and you have to send the cartridge back to them for refill where they refill the ink and put in a compatible chip. Now that’s worse than robbery at gun point because you are stuck to buy the ink cartridges from the manufacturers itself and that too at a higher cost.

Isn’t it quite contrasting that you have to spend a whole lot more to buy the ink rather than the printer itself. The profits they make out of selling you the print cartridges contribute to a $21 billion industry. Now that’s a whopping amount you are shelling out.

InkShop is a UK based service that sells the same branded ink without the premium price tag, that is you can buy the ink cartridges from them at a 30-75% discounted rate and that too with free shipping in the UK. They also have a return policy where you can get any faulty cartridges replaced.

They have a variety of hp ink cartridges and Epson ink cartridges available at a discounted price. Well there is nothing to lose and with the savings they provide it is worth giving a try to an alternative. Also they have a stringent standard in place making them a safer bet.

What do you think about these exorbitant prices for printer ink? Do you own a printer, how much do you spend on the ink cartridges? Do let me know through your valuable comments.