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Cartridge photos are a representative sample. There may be variations in design.
design details
warranty 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.
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Refilling Epson Ink Cartridges - hazardous to your printer by Yisroel Goodman
by Izzy Goodman
Epson ink cartridges are deliberately designed not to be refilled.* They contain a chip which measures the amount of ink remaining. When the ink cartridge is empty, the chip is set to empty. Simply putting more ink in the cartridge will not work. 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 ink cartridges only to have the printer report that they were empty immediately upon insertion.
How does the chip know when the ink cartridge is empty? It counts the pages printed and estimates ink use. Eventually it reports the ink cartridge to be empty, often when there is still 10-20% left. Once the chip is set to empty, it will not be reset. The chip still has to be reprogrammed. Some chips can not be reprogrammed at all, so once they report empty they will stay that way permanently. This includes Epson T069, T078, T079, T098, T125, T126 and T127 ink cartridges.
But there are greater dangers than just having a cartridge report empty. Inkjet printers squirt ink through microscopic holes. If these holes get clogged, it can cause problems from poor print quality to complete printer failure. All ink has a tendency to coagulate when exposed to air. Otherwise it would never dry. Now think about an empty ink cartridge which sat around for a while before someone injected more ink. The original remaining 10% of the ink in that cartridge has coagulated. Now it has been refilled. You are already losing 10% due to the coagulated ink which was there at the time of refill. But the problem is even more serious. If that old ink clot breaks free, it can clog and permanently damage your printer. Even if you refill the cartridge immediately, if you are using an ink bottle, there will be clots along the opening of the bottle. If one clot makes it to your printer head, you might lose you whole printer in a futile effort to save a few bucks.
Some printers use a vacuum process to suck ink to the heads. If air enters the tiny tubes, the vacuum is broken. When refilling cartridges using hypodermic-type needles, it is common for air to enter the tanks.
Then there are other pitfalls. You have to keep four or six ink bottles around with 4 or six different hypodermic needles. It is virtually impossible to refill without dripping ink. And it is almost inevitable that at some point an ink bottle will be knocked over or break. Imagine the mess.
So why refill? It is a messy process. If you do it yourself, you can't avoid getting ink all over the place. If someone else does it for you, refilled ink cartridges still tend to leak, clot or bleed air into the printer. You don't save money. Places which refill typically charge about $10 a cartridge. You can buy a brand new compatible for $3. And you are risking your printer. Refilling is foolish on so many levels.
Note that refilling a single-use ink cartridge is not the same as doing so with an ink cartridge specifically designed for refilling and using special ink dispensers designed to eliminate air, leaks and spills.
We have solutions which gives you the best of both worlds - Reusable Epson Cartridges without the mess or the risk. Take a look at our 2-piece cartridges with a separate ink tank contained within the main cartridge. When the tank is empty, you pop it out and pop in a new one. No mess. No leaks. Since you are completely replacing the tank, there is no clotted ink remaining to clog your heads. The ink tanks are 2.50 or less and hold more than double the ink of regular cartridges*. Because you can get $2 back for the empty tank, you're paying less than 50 cents a cartridge! Here's how you can get lots of Free Epson Ink!
We also have Refillable Epson Ink Cartridges which can be refilled from special ink bottles. Both the reusable and refillable epson cartridges have advantages and which one to use is your personal decision. Click here for a list of Inexpensive Epson Ink Cartridges.
* see www.refillinstructions.com/Epson/E25.htm for details of how Epson prevents Epson ink cartridges from being refilled.
** see http://freedomtoprint.com/2009/03/16/review-epson-t068-t069-t088-split-open/ where researchers actually opened the Epson ink cartridges and measured the amount of ink supplied.