Ink price L25500 or L26500

[Robert Gruner]

Tim,

How many banners would you have to print in one day to satisfy your margin requirements for the day if it cost you say $110 to produce each banner and you sold them for $127 each?

My guess would be a BUNCH of banners.

Believe me when I say any authorized HP reseller who sells a latex ink cartridge for $130 each is making a very small margin; and, even smaller if he also pays freight.

Any reseller who sells a latex ink cartridge for $120 each is making an extremely small margin.

And, any reseller who sells a latex ink cartridge for under $120 each must be selling a BUNCH. More likely, he is using the ink as a loss lead item to get your supply business as well.

Those authorized HP resellers that sell latex ink at or about $130 a cartridge generally service their customers printers. They expect to make a reasonable margin on ink sales as the price of doing business.

On the other hand, those authorized HP resellers that sell latex ink at or about $120 a cartridge most likely do NOT service their customers printers and subscribe to the Gillette selling principle...give away the razor and sell as many blades as possible.

I would avoid all thrid party latex inks until such time that it is tried and proven.

Good printing and have a nice day.

Bob Gruner
Nusign Supply Texas

 

[KevSign]

You do realize that SAM INK and KAS ink are 2 different companies right?

Sorry out of this post here. KAS use to sell SAM Ink, and they claim SAM Ink not work (SAME $H#t). Budget ink came to my shop ask me to switch. I ask him give me some referral or user that youR sell. Never get back to me.

Your choice.

 

[rcook99]

Tim,

I was buying my inks from a certain supplier who I did not purchase my used Mutoh from. The shipping was free as I ordered other materials from them as well. Needless to say when it came time that I had a problem with my Maint. station the company that sold me the printer brought up the fact that I did not purchase the ink from them. They did not give me a hard time in any way shape or form but instead they proceeded to work on a solution to my problem which I commend them on that. (They know who they are) Next week they will be up to install a new Maint. station at no cost to me for parts just travel. So the lesson that I have learned and also mentioned in another post is simple. I bought the printer from them and they now have whatever business I can give them. I can very much appreciate a company that is willing to stand behind a product without an run arounds. That means a lot to me and goes a long way. Needless to say I have been and will continue to give them great reviews.

Please keep in mind I am not saying anything bad about the other company its just a big lesson learned.

I do agree with the fact of the other supplier coming back at a lower price or at least the same price if they want to earn your business.

So if it were me I would stay with the original company that sold you the printer as long as they stand behind what they sell.

 

[Tim Aucoin]

Tim,

How many banners would you have to print in one day to satisfy your margin requirements for the day if it cost you say $110 to produce each banner and you sold them for $127 each?

My guess would be a BUNCH of banners.

Believe me when I say any authorized HP reseller who sells a latex ink cartridge for $130 each is making a very small margin; and, even smaller if he also pays freight.

Any reseller who sells a latex ink cartridge for $120 each is making an extremely small margin.

And, any reseller who sells a latex ink cartridge for under $120 each must be selling a BUNCH. More likely, he is using the ink as a loss lead item to get your supply business as well.

Those authorized HP resellers that sell latex ink at or about $130 a cartridge generally service their customers printers. They expect to make a reasonable margin on ink sales as the price of doing business.

On the other hand, those authorized HP resellers that sell latex ink at or about $120 a cartridge most likely do NOT service their customers printers and subscribe to the Gillette selling principle...give away the razor and sell as many blades as possible.

I would avoid all thrid party latex inks until such time that it is tried and proven.

Good printing and have a nice day.

Bob Gruner
Nusign Supply Texas

I will agree about your statement on third party inks... it's not worth the potential quality and equipment issues that could arise. When it comes to inkjet printing, I have always used OEM inks.

I see where you are coming from on the margins too. I don't expect that my suppliers are making a "killing" on selling me ink... I believe that THEIR suppliers and/or the manufacturer(s) of the ink are making the killing (likely HP is not doing too bad either!). I'm not too familiar with the entire "chain of supply" in this business, but I do know that someone is getting rich off of selling ink!

Tim,

I was buying my inks from a certain supplier who I did not purchase my used Mutoh from. The shipping was free as I ordered other materials from them as well. Needless to say when it came time that I had a problem with my Maint. station the company that sold me the printer brought up the fact that I did not purchase the ink from them. They did not give me a hard time in any way shape or form but instead they proceeded to work on a solution to my problem which I commend them on that. (They know who they are) Next week they will be up to install a new Maint. station at no cost to me for parts just travel. So the lesson that I have learned and also mentioned in another post is simple. I bought the printer from them and they now have whatever business I can give them. I can very much appreciate a company that is willing to stand behind a product without an run arounds. That means a lot to me and goes a long way. Needless to say I have been and will continue to give them great reviews.

Please keep in mind I am not saying anything bad about the other company its just a big lesson learned.

I do agree with the fact of the other supplier coming back at a lower price or at least the same price if they want to earn your business.

So if it were me I would stay with the original company that sold you the printer as long as they stand behind what they sell.

You make a good point here! The question I need to ask myself I suppose is; "Who do I want to be servicing my printer?". Both suppliers I am referring to today sell the HP Latex printers. Moving forward, if I were to ever purchase a new printer, I would likely purchase it from the supplier who offered me the $130 ink. They are a true SIGN SUPPLY COMPANY, whereas the other company is a paper company that sells WIDE FORMAT SUPPLIES.

It doesn't hurt to mention the company names I suppose. When I purchased the L25500, the company was called Mondrian Hall. They merged or were bought out by Unisource (a huge paper supplier up here), and are now just known as Unisource. The other company where I am starting to get media, substrates and vinyl from is Proveer. I have not yet experienced service from Proveer on my printer, as my printer has required virtually zero service so far. I guess I should post the question to them that if I do switch to them as my ink supplier, can I also rely on them to provide me with reasonable service rates should the need ever arise?!! I'm sure my rep will be reading this and will no doubt contact me about this! :Big Laugh

Bottom line: I completely understand about the stupid low margins on these inks for our suppliers. Also I am not one to go back and forth between suppliers to save a few bucks... I believe in loyalty, but it works both ways! Let's see where this takes me now... Thanks for all the feedback guys!

 

[Redfield]

We buy the ink from our distributor for $140 a cartridge. Printheads are $101.

 

[bosdub]

New owner of a 26500

Quoted by the seller of the machine...$97 printhead, $140 ink cartridge

Haven't purchased any yet

 

[TXFB.INS]

For those of you with this machine, I'd like to ask a favor. Would you please either here, or by pm, let me know if your ink price per cartridge is below $120 / cart, or below $110 / cart? No specifics necessary-- I'm just curious how many fall in to each group.

Thanks.

What is point of collecting these amounts?

are you looking for a supplier who sales ink cheaper or are you starting to sale supplies and want to know where your margins are?

 

[ProColorGraphics]

What is point of collecting these amounts?

are you looking for a supplier who sales ink cheaper or are you starting to sale supplies and want to know where your margins are?

With the number of machines he has, I don't think he has to worry about that. If I remember right, Nate said he has (8) L25's, so I hope he gets a killer deal keeping them all full of ink.

 

[nate]

What is point of collecting these amounts?

are you looking for a supplier who sales ink cheaper or are you starting to sale supplies and want to know where your margins are?

Just curious.

 

[nate]

With the number of machines he has, I don't think he has to worry about that. If I remember right, Nate said he has (8) L25's, so I hope he gets a killer deal keeping them all full of ink.

Pretty close. With our latest shuffle we're at 9 L25500s, 3 L26500s, and a LX800 with the 610 ink.

 

[Robert Gruner]

Nate,

That's an impressive array of latex ink printers.

I don't blame you for shopping.

I don't know who sold you all those printers; but, if it was one reseller, then I can't imagine they would not want to make sure you were getting the best ink price.

Good Printing.

Bob Gruner
NusignSupply