Want to make money from home or school? Join our reseller or affiliate program.
Refillable T200XL (XP200/300/400), T273 (XP600/800), T277 (XP850) in stock! Due to a 250% increase in shipping to Canada, revised policy for new Canadian customers.
Canadian details.
This site started out as an advice site to educate people on how to save money amid all the confusion and scams on the net. What the printer companies are doing amounts to legalized piracy and our goal was to help you keep your own money in your pockets. Eventually visitors urged us to stock the items we recommended and offer them on the site. When we discovered the reusable cartridges, we found a fantastic product difficult to obtain in the US so we had to import them. Our advice site evolved into a family business. Our goal is help you save money while getting great results from your printer.
We consider ourselves more than reasonable in dealing with customers and go the extra mile to make sure no one is disappointed. However, sometimes a few individuals make it difficult for everyone else. Wouldn't it be nice if everyone conducted themselves fairly and we wouldn't need lawyers and contracts to keep people honest? So while we would like to say 100% money-back guarantee, no questions asked, a few people have made it impossible to do this without adding some conditions. They can be summed up in two words: be reasonable.
We have a 60-day window in which to give credit car or paypal refunds, so refund requests must be received within this time frame (though we have at time sent refund checks even after that time period). The time limit for replacement is much more generous. If there is a problem with one or two of our cartridges, we will replace them. If three cartridges, we will refund the purchase price for those cartridges and any unopened ones returned within the window. If a printer uses four or six different cartridges (black and 3-5 colors) and you opened one of each, we will take those back. But don't open more than one of each color and expect a refund.
Why this limit? It is always possible that one or two were defective. This can happen (and has) even with genuine Epson products. But if it is two of the same color, this indicates a problem with the printer itself. What happens is the print head gets clogged and the printer stops producing that color. The customer puts in a new cartridge and it still won't print. The customer assumes the cartridge is defective and tries a second. At that point, the customer should realize it is a printer problem. Even if the customer believes it to be a cartridge problem, if two don't work, there is no point in continuing to open the rest. Return them for a refund. But we did have at least one person order a dozen black cartridges, then (without contacting us) return them all opened and empty six months later, claiming they were all defective. We did not refund in that situation. Another customer received 12 black cartridges on a hot day in a southern state. Exposure to heat creates pressure within the cartridge. (So does exposure to extreme cold.) He then emailed to say all 12 cartridges spewed ink when he removed the yellow tape and he wanted a refund. Had he called or emailed after opening the first one or two, we could have told him to put them in a refrigerator and let them cool off before opening. (And had it been a cold day, we would have recommended letting them warm up.) But if the first one spewed and then the second, why continue to open all 12? We have to protect ourselves from geniuses like that. Incidentally, we did send another 6 free and that person is still a loyal customer. But we went beyond our warranty and are not obligated to do so.
It does not take months to decide an entire order is defective. The customer tries one and it doesn't work, tries a second and has the same issue and at that point should contact us. Naturally we don't expect a customer to test an entire order within two months. So if they bought a quantity and a few months later find that one didn't work properly, we will replace it or add extra to their next order. But to request a refund, it must be done within the window. The excuse "I know I bought these 6 months ago but I just got around to using them" doesn't cut it. What's to stop anyone from buying anything - a MP3 player, computer, car, etc and saying they didn't use it until after the warranty expired? The warranty begins from date of purchase, not the date they decide to use it.
We have made exchanges a year after the purchase date when there was good reason. For example, customers bought a quantity of cartridges and then had to buy a new printer which couldn't take the old cartridges. We almost always take back sealed cartridges. But we don't want to be obligated to do so, hence the limitations in the warranty.
If you experience a problem, email or call first. Often we can resolve the problem over the phone. We get very few cartridges back and most of those work just fine in our printers. If we can't solve it, the next step would be to replace or refund. We may require that you send the product back to us. We do not send prepaid potage labels or reimburse your shipping. If this is for replacement, we will add extra to cover your costs. (We also put extra cartridges in most of our Epson, Canon and Brother orders.) This is what you accept when placing your order online. If you buy an item from a store and it doesn't work, it must be returned to the store. You can't call them up and expect to get your money back. If you expect a refund without returning the merchandise, shop elsewhere.
When returning opened ink cartridges, you must be careful to seal them against leaks. If they leak, the Post Office will dispose of them without delivery. Tape the bottom of the cartridge where the printer punctured it and the top where you removed the yellow tape. Place them in a baggie. Do not put closed cartridges in the same baggie. Return them to:
Izzy Goodman
2412 Oceancrest Blvd
Far Rockaway, NY 11691
We supply schools, professional printers and corporations. We do almost no advertising. Most of our customers come to us by referral from other customers. We must be doing something right (and our cartridges must be working properly) to achieve this track record. As long as your expectations are reasonable, we will be more than reasonable.
Our warranty only covers the cartridges bought from us and for up to the amount paid us. We do not cover any other expenses. If someone waited until the day an important job was due and discovered a cartridge didn't work and had to run out and pay a lot more somewhere else, they can't expect us to refund the amount they paid for the other cartridge. We had one customer say since a cartridge didn't work and she couldn't find another one, she bought a whole new printer and expected us to pay for it. Sorry, but that's not the way it works. Another customer complained that his 4-year old printer stopped working a year and a half after putting in our cartridges so it had to be the fault of our cartridges and therefore he expected us to buy him a new printer. I hope anyone reading this understands why this is not a reasonable expectation. If not, please shop elsewhere.
Don't wait until you're down to your last cartridge on the last day you have to complete a critical job. At about $3 a cartridge, there is no reason not to have a backup. Someone's failure to spend an extra $3 does not impose an obligation on us. An entire set of our cartridges cost less than a single Epson cartridge. Instead of spending $60-$100 for one set of Epsons, spend $20 to $40 for two to three sets of ours. With our special bonuses for buying backup sets, there is no excuse not to be prepared.
We do not offer lifetime free replacements. Cartridges do not contain any moving parts. There is no particular reason a reusable or refillable cartridge can't last for years. We have a set going on four years. However, electronic chips can be damaged by stray voltage, liquid, or being touched by sweaty fingers. So don't count on your cartridge lasting forever. We typically replace it free within a few months of purchase or we add an extra in your next order. But we did have a professional print shop with multiple printers buy a single set of refillable cartridges and move it from printer to printer. Naturally doing this caused the ink to be used very quickly. Every time time cartridges are inserted in a printer, they go through a charging process which uses a good deal of ink. This print shop kept calling to complain the ink was being used too quickly. In four months we had sent five replacements for the four cartridges they bought. In all that time, despite our reminders, they didn't take the obvious step of buying a set for each printer. Expecting unlimited lifetime replacements of a $4 item is not reasonable. Epson won't do it and their cartridges cost five times more and give one-third the ink. Incidentally, when we stopped replacing the cartridges, this print shop bought several sets and has had no problems since. They still buy their ink from us and gave us a glowing recommendation. See our customer testimonials on the upper left. We also had customers call every few months to ask for a replacement for a different cartridge - all without placing any new orders. They were basically using our warranty to get free replacements every time they ran out of ink. Over a year they had received a complete new set, cartridge by cartridge. With some people abusing our warranty we can no longer afford to be that generous. So if you make your purchase expecting our basic warranty and you experience some issue, you will receive service which exceeds any reasonable expectations.
Reusable Epson Ink Cartridges With Twice the Ink by Yisroel Goodman
The two-part ink cartridge saves you money and time while reducing problems.
The biggest complaints about Epson ink cartridges are the cost, the small amount of ink they hold, the fact that Epson printers often report an empty ink cartridge when there is still ink remaining, and the problems which arise when the printer no longer recognizes the Epson ink cartridge. This clever design solves all of these.
A key factor in the cost is the chip which must be attached to all Epson ink cartridges. The Epson printer communicates with the chip and counts each page printed. However, some pages take more ink than others. The Epson printer doesn't really know how much ink is used so it estimates. Since it could damage your Epson printer to run without ink in an ink cartridge, it errs on the side of caution and reports an empty ink cartridge when there is often ink in it. When it decides there is no more ink, it sends a signal telling the chip the ink cartridge is empty. On older Epson ink cartridges there was a way to reset them with a chip resetter (photo at right). On newer Epson ink cartridges, like the
Epson T069,
Epson T078,
Epson T079,
Epson T098,
Epson T125 and
Epson T126,
the chips "self-destruct" and can't be reset. You have to buy another ink cartridge and waste money on another chip.
This two-part reusable Epson ink cartridge contains the chip on an outer shell. For the
Epson T069,
Epson T078,
Epson T079,
Epson T098,
Epson T125 and
Epson T126,
this chip is specially designed to automatically reset itself from an empty state. For older Epson ink cartridges, you touch the ink cartridge to a chip resetter which reprograms the chip to full in 2-3 seconds. If the ink cartridge still contains ink, pop it back in. You can tell how much ink remains by looking at the back of the ink tank which is transparent (see the photo at the upper left. We photographed a partially used ink tank so you can see the ink level.) To replenish the ink supply, pop out the inner refill ink cartridge, pop in a new full one, reset the chip if necessary, and you're good to go. You pay just for the ink. There is no need to pay for another chip. See the comparison chart at the bottom. You start saving money with your first order and the savings mount up further as you order refill tanks.
Incidentally, Office Depot will give you a $2 credit - up to $40 a month - for your empty ink tanks. Staples will give you a $2 credit - up to $20 a month, which is like getting 7-20 free Epson cartridges every month!
While Epson ink cartridges hold about 7 ml of ink*, our reusable Epson cartridges hold about 18. And while regular Epson ink cartridges often report empty when there is still 10-15% of the ink left, ((we saw an Epson CX8400 with a brand new genuine cyan Epson ink cartridge report that it was empty after printing a single 4 x 6 photo) our chips automatically reset, so you get full use of almost every last drop. Regular Epson ink cartridges use a sponge system so some of the ink remains behind in the sponge. The refills use a unique spongeless system, reducing wasted ink even further.
All chips (including genuine Epson) can be damaged by a stray surge or static during the manufacturing or shipping process. We have seen Epson printers reject genuine Epson ink cartridges. (Two customers even reported their Epson R280 printers work with our Epson ink cartridges but not with genuine Epson!) It can be very annoying when you pop a new Epson ink cartridge and the Epson printer won't recognize it. Or you just changed it yesterday and today the printer is complaining about it or saying it's out of ink. Since most Epson printers won't work unless there is ink in every ink cartridge (even if you are only printing in black), one bad chip can ruin your day. But with these Epson ink cartridges, you are using the same chip each time. The only thing you are changing is the ink. So you already know the chip has been recognized by the printer.
Additional bonus for those who own two or more Epson printers. The inner refills are the same for
Epson T069,
Epson T078,
Epson T079,
Epson T098,
Epson T125 and
Epson T126.
This means that if you run out of T069 black, cyan, magenta or yellow ink but have a T078, T079, T098, T125 or T126 refill in that color, you can use it in place of the T069. The same applies to T060 and T048. You can interchange the black, cyan, magenta and yellow refill tanks. (You can even put a black ink tank in a color ink cartridge and it will work, but it will contaminate that color.) If you are using the standard one-piece Epson ink cartridges, you can not substitute. If you run out of any color, you can't print until you replace that ink cartridge and it must be with an identical ink cartridge.
So that's the story. Inexpensive ink cartridges which hold more ink and use the same chip already recognized by your printer - easier on your wallet and your sanity, not to mention the environment.
Epson printers using Epson T069 ink cartridges need four full ink cartridges - black and three colors, with a few exceptions such as the
Epson C120,
Epson Workforce 30 and
Epson Workforce 310
printers which need 5 because they hold two of the same black ink cartridges at once. Epson printers using Epson T125,
Epson T126
or Epson T127 ink cartridges need 4 cartridges with the exception of the
Epson Workforce 520 which hold two of the same black. Epson printers using the
Epson T048,
Epson T078,
Epson T079 or Epson T098 ink cartridges need 6 ink cartridges - black and 5 colors. With the Epson T048 and
Epson T060
you also need the chip resetter. So switch to the two-piece Epson cartridge system and start saving significantly on Epson ink.
full cost comparison of genuine Epson ink cartridges vs compatible epson ink cartridges, reusable epson ink cartridges and refillable epson ink cartridges.
Video showing replacement of reusable Epson ink cartridges:
Refilling Genuine Epson Ink Cartridges - Not A Good Option
Genuine Epson cartridges are deliberately designed not to be refilled. They contain a chip which counts how many pages were printed. When the printer thinks the cartridge is empty, it sets the chip to empty. Simply putting more ink in the cartridge will not solve this.
The chip also has to be reprogrammed to a full state. Newer chips are deliberately designed not to allow reprogramming, therefore this procedure often fails. I have seen numerous complaints on the net of people who bought refilled cartridges only to have the printer report that they were empty immediately upon insertion.
Instead of refilling Epson cartridges, use our Reusable Epson Ink Cartridges. They cost far less and and hold almost three times the ink of genuine Epson. Click here for a list of Affordable Epson Ink Cartridges.
* see http://freedomtoprint.com/2009/03/16/review-epson-t068-t069-t088-split-open/ where Epson ink cartridges were opened to reveal how little ink is inside.