A key question we all have when it comes to buying compatible ink cartridges for our printer, is whether this benefits us or not.
So let’s look at the two cases where the consumer considers buying compatible cartridges or original inks. One of the biggest advantages of compatible inks is their low price, which comes due to the fact that they do not belong to a recognized company, like original inks do, whose price differs a lot; for example, a black HP compatible ink may cost 4€ and an original HP black ink costs 40€. Essentially the difference can be as high as ten times more expensive than the price of a compatible ink.
On the other hand, there have been several surveys done, whose results have shown that if the consumer is targeting high-quality prints, it is preferable to use genuine printer cartridges rather than compatible cartridges. However, these surveys were done 5 to 10 years ago and they are far from the reality of today. Nowadays, the market of compatible printer consumables has made some huge leaps of progress and development and it is among the largest markets globally, reaching almost equal levels of quality with the original ink companies, in several cases.
Thus, the use of compatible ink may not, always, be efficient. At the same time though, there are many types of compatible inks whose performance is as good as that of an original ink; even for printing photos. Therefore, manufacturers suggest that consumers should know which company they purchase their compatible printer cartridges from.
Most consumers can not separate the results of an ink compatible from that of an original one. So it is only right, that if the consumer solely considers the economic factor, to choose to buy the compatible ink cartridges, provided he knows the manufacturer.