Save money by refilling your own toner cartridge?

The price of laser printers has fallen drastically over the last 20 years. Indeed you can now purchase a decent monochrome laser printer model for around £50! Unfortunately, the price of the toner and the drum that is used in laser printers has not fallen. In fact an original cartridge and drum may cost more than the printer itself!

Printer economics is pretty simple. Printer manufacturers make most of their money from the printer cartridges you buy, not the printer. The company makes a small amount of money from each printer it sells, but it will makes a much larger profit margin on the cartridges you buy at a later date. They sell you a cheap printer and make money on an ongoing basis by providing expensive cartridges.

It’s called the razor and razor blades model — sell you a razor cheaply and then make a huge mark up the blades! Knowledge is power!

Let’s take a look at an example of a basic laser printer sold by Brother.

• Brother HL-L2300D printer with toner and drum costs £47.99 exc vat
• Replacement toner cartridge for the HL L2300D (TN-2320) cost £62.00 exc vat
• Replacement drum unit for the HL L2300D printer costs £56.26 exc vat

Prices are taken from printerland.co.uk and are for original products.

So what can we do about the high cost of replacement toner cartridges?

Firstly be sure to look at the cost of cartridges when you are buying a printer. The cheapest printer may be more expensive to use in the long run. So think carefully about the printer you are buying.

Consider refilling your empty cartridge. When your printer gives you the dreaded warning message : Toner Low, or Replace Toner, don’t rush out and buy a new original cartridge. It could (as in the example above) cost you more than the printer is worth. So stop, take a minute and consider a refill kit.

Let’s compare our refill kit solution for the Brother HL L2300D

• Our high yield refill kit for the HL-L2300D costs £11.00 exc vat. That is a £36.99 saving!
• Our drum reset instructions are free and published on our website. So thats a massive £56.26 saving.

Combine the two savings and you will have saved £93.26! OK you will have to refill the cartridge yourself and that will take around 10 minutes. But the monetary savings far outweigh the effort required.

Are there any negative aspects to refilling?

• As discussed it is a practical task so there is an element of work involved (as opposed to just buying a new cartridge and replacing it in your machine.)
• If you are not careful there is a chance you could spill some toner and make a mess. Follow our instructions and this should not be a problem.
• You cannot refill a cartridge indefintely, if the same cartridge is refilled repeatedly, it is more likely to eventually suffer a wear-and-tear related issue. Eventually you will need to buy a cartridge.