3rd party ink for latex

[bigben]

So I've just got this email from my supplier that the ink price for my L26500 will go up another 2% next month. I currently pay 160$/cnd. I've got a call from a distributor that have 3rd party ink for 112$/cnd. Should I tried them or stick with the OEM and charge more to my customers?

 

[BALLPARKSIGNS]

I'm to worried about adding 3rd party inks to our printers. We recently purchased a used Vutek and had a great offer from a 3rd party ink developed for Vutek printers. But again... too many worries about switching over. I would suggest to have a slight bump in ink cost that goes into your print jobs vs 3rd party inks.

If things worked out well over time with 3rd party inks then you would save a good amount of money. But if it goes bad... you would surly lose more than what you saved.

 

[BIG EASY DOES IT]

So I've just got this email from my supplier that the ink price for my L26500 will go up another 2% next month. I currently pay 160$/cnd. I've got a call from a distributor that have 3rd party ink for 112$/cnd. Should I tried them or stick with the OEM and charge more to my customers?

Stick with the OEM inks. Although a 2% increase in ink shouldn't have a very big affect on your pricing. Personally we would just eat the extra cost of the ink. Divided over the cost of all jobs made with that cartridge and we are talking pennys per job.

 

[bigben]

Stick with the OEM inks. Although a 2% increase in ink shouldn't have a very big affect on your pricing. Personally we would just eat the extra cost of the ink. Divided over the cost of all jobs made with that cartridge and we are talking pennys per job.

Since last January, it's been almost 25% augmentation (134$/cnd to 164$/cnd). It's alot in just one year. Does the ink of the other manufacturers as gone up like this?

 

[CanuckSigns]

Since last January, it's been almost 25% augmentation (134$/cnd to 164$/cnd). It's alot in just one year. Does the ink of the other manufacturers as gone up like this?

yup, our dollar sucks right now!

 

[Robert Gruner]

By my calculation, $160 Canadian equals $115.95 US. That makes your ink cost about 15 cents a square foot (100% saturation, all colors). That's pretty good price?

I see same ink at various internet locations priced as low as $117 and as high as $146. I believe average price in US is probably closer to $125?

 

[AaronSSsignsKC]

Price increases are part of the game as prices from our suppliers goes up our prices go up in turn. I would stick with that plan because just from my personal experience switching from OEM inks is pretty risky man, it is just my opinion but every machine i have been around that has switched to second party inks has ran into a string of issues following the switch. I know some companies like van-son warranty the inks but that doesn't cover you're equipment. Another thing to keep in mind is one thing that is a real headache with most second party inks isnt the risk or adverse affect they have on the OEM equipment but the firmware. I ran a valuejet for awhile that ran second party inks and it literally read only half of the firmware chips in the cartridges. Most manufactures try to keep up to date on that stuff and ahead of second party manufactures on that type of stuff so you are forced to stay with OEM stuff....good luck

 

[P Wagner]

By my calculation, $160 Canadian equals $115.95 US. That makes your ink cost about 15 cents a square foot (100% saturation, all colors). That's pretty good price?

I see same ink at various internet locations priced as low as $117 and as high as $146. I believe average price in US is probably closer to $125?

Based on this, your potential savings on ink (30% lower cost) works out to < .05 cents (USD) per square foot. Is that significant, given the potential issues associated with any ink swap (potential need for new profiles, drying problems, color shifts, ink train/ printhead replacements)? Doesn't pencil out to me, but your mileage may vary.