How to get ink for $1.30 a cartridge

Inkjet printer ink is almost $8,000 per gallon these days.  This little tip will save you some money.  We get our ink for about $1.30 a cartridge for the color ink and $1.70 a cartridge for the larger page black cartridge.  This kind of deal is a 3 step process.

Step 1 – Buy ink from ink4sale.net

Yes it sounds like a scam, and I was skeptical the first time I ordered, but I’ve placed 3 separate orders over the last year with ink4sale.net and they’ve been delivered just fine and my identity has not been stolen.  Prices for our printer are $3.30 for color and $3.70 for page black cartridges.  Make sure you order at least $20 worth to get free shipping.

Step 2 – Pull the chip off the original ink cartridge

The ink from ink4sale.net comes in off brand cartridges that are functional replacements for your OEM cartridges, except that they’re missing the little microchip that the printer uses to identify the cartridge (and presumably keep you from using off brand cartridges).

Take a look at your cartridges, but on mine it was pretty easy to cut the plastic of the cartridge with pliers and slide the chip right out.  The replacement cartridges will have a slot for the chip to go in so that your printer won’t know the difference.  Slide it right in and presto, you’ve got cheap ink.  Here’s an ehow article on how to do this.

Step 3 – Recycle your old ink cartridges at Staples for $2

Once you’re done with your ink cartidges, take them out, remove the chip (you’ll need it for your next set of off brand cartridges), and take them to your nearest Staples.  Staples will give you $2 store credit per cartridge.  More info is at their recycling program page.