Printer ink cartridges                                                                                      Updated May 2010

Genuine (also called original or OEM) ink cartridges or ink tanks are made by the same company as your printer (eg Brother, Canon, Epson, HP etc). They are brand new and highest quality you can get.

Compatible (also called generic or non-genuine) ink cartridges or ink tanks are also brand new, but made by independent companies, not associated with the printer makers. There are countless generic cartridge manufacturers and quality varies from brand to brand. You get what you pay for. Good generics are almost as good as original ink cartridges, cheap ones can be really bad.

Compatible ink cartridges are usually cheaper than genuine. This is mainly because the manufacturers don't have the same overheads as the large printer makers (Canon, Epson, HP etc), who invest huge amounts of money into development of printer hardware. All the generic cartridge manufacturers design and make is ink cartridges, so they can (and do) market them much cheaper.

Remanufactured ink cartridges are used, genuine cartridges that have been flushed, refilled, tested and repackaged (usually overseas). Same as with generic cartridges, quality varies from brand to brand. Buying "no name" remanufactured cartridges can be a gamble. Print-rite cartridges are good quality and backed by 12 months warranty.         

Refilled ink cartridges are used genuine ink cartridges that have been refilled, either at home or by a refilling company. Quality depends on the ink used, condition of the cartridge and skill of the refiller.  

We offer Printrite compatible and remanufactured ink cartridges and ink tanks, because they are consistently good quality. When you sell ink cartridges by mail order, returns are expensive, so quality is as important to us as it is to you. Printrite cartridges are well made and the ink is good.

Note: To comply with printer makers design patents, some recent "chipped" cartridges don't support the ink level display. "Ink gauge" may not work with these cartridges. Printer operation is unaffected.