We have always heard (and believed) the argument that it is cheaper to buy a new printer when you need new ink than to buy the consumables themselves. To that extent, a whole new market for refills and generic consumables has been formed, made up of businesses and consumers that are fed up with paying exorbitant prices for original consumables for their printers.

The problem is, however, that the market is so inundated with stories of refills that explode in printers, and unreliable generics, that it seems that consumers and businesses are better off paying upwards of 300 rand for an original cartridge.

Shayne Tyrrell, HP SA"s supply business manager, says that a lot of the hype to do with buying original cartridges versus refills has died down, as a result of a more educated user base, and a 35 percent drop in price.

"Consumers and businesses are a lot more educated as to what they want and what their needs are," he says. "They know that they are buying a printer for a specialized job, and that consumable quality and TCO are very important." He also says that it is now becoming more generally accepted that the printer is merely a mechanism for moving the real technology, which resides on the actual cartridge, back and forth across a sheet of paper.

Defining the players

But Jason Niedermeyer, GM of Digital Data Communications, SA distributor of Calidad refill cartridges, says that the market has various sectors that all contribute to the consumable hype.

"First, there are the original consumables available from the printer"s manufacturer," he says. "Then there is the fake or "compatible" market, which is generally dominated by the cheap far-Eastern imports, and, lastly, there is a specialized market sector referred to as "alternative originals"."

Unlike mass-produced generics, alternative originals differ from compatible cartridges in that they generally carry warranties that extend to the printer itself. "For example," says Niedermeyer, "Calidad warrants all its cartridges and refills, and will repair a printer in the unlikely event that it is damaged as a result of using an alternative original."

"Also, alternative originals will generally come in a total package, including a new cartridge and refill inks, as opposed to a kit for refilling used cartridges, which is where all the horror stories come from," Niedermeyer says.

Pros and cons

Having totally taken generics out of the picture, the argument that alternative originals and refills do not match the quality of originals has also often come under the spotlight.

It is generally accepted that, for occasional document printing and low-volume business use, the ink refill does help to bring down the TCO of a printer. And the vendors agree that it is tough to compete on that level with the alternative originals, but for imaging and photo printing, they still believe that original consumables are the way to go, contrary to what the refill distributors will say.

The truth is that vendors use proprietary technologies for the development of ink, and even the method used to place ink droplets on the paper is a closely guarded secret. But the alternative original market seems to think that it has the technologies more or less duplicated, and that it is able to produce prints with the quality of originals at half the cost.

And the selling points around originals (quicker drying times, smudge resistance, fade resistance etc...) also seem to be the selling points around the alternative originals, which means that somewhere down the line, the vendors are going to have a hard time competing on a pure price point level.

Remanufactured toners

Toners seem to be a different kettle of fish altogether. According to Minolta laser printer channel division manager, Marc Pillay, while remanufactured consumables are more affordable than original consumables, this does not necessarily result in a lower total cost of ownership for a laser printer.

Imaging cartridges are made up of toner, waste toner and an OPC drum. The entire unit needs to be replaced regularly to ensure print quality and clarity and to avoid paper jams and breakdowns. In the case of remanufactured consumables, the toner is usually replaced, but not the waste toner and OPC drum.

"And when they are replaced, they often use fake or used parts, which not only decrease the quality of the prints, but impact on the life-span of the cartridge. There is a strong possibility that these parts will break before the toner is used, and the entire unit will need to be replaced anyway," says Pillay.

Pillay says another important factor to consider, particularly in high-volume printing environments, is the yield specified by the printer. "A printer will achieve the specified volume per month if it is using original parts and consumables. If not, it is likely to under-perform," he says.

The bottom line

While opting for the cheapest up-front acquisition cost for consumables may not always translate into a lower TCO in the long term, the market is changing dramatically, and we may even see the original vendors having to make huge changes to their value proposition on original ink. But until that happens, the consumables market should be an interesting one to watch.