Counterfeit Compatible Ink Cartridges And How To Stop Them

Counterfeit Compatible Ink Cartridges And How To Stop Them

, by Planet Green, 6 min reading time

Counterfeit compatibles are not recyclable and can’t be remanufactured. They make them, fill them, drain them and chuck them. Once they are empty, they have only one place to go, the trash.

Consumers want the best value for their buck. They spend countless hours daily looking on the Internet for the most inexpensive way to get their jobs done. Everyone needs to print - they just want to print cheaper! What the typical consumer doesn’t consider when buying cheap up front is the long term cost, they’ll pay - the cost we’ll all pay when they save a few dollars on their ink cartridge and toner purchases.

Enter the compatible ink and toner cartridge market. It’s an industry that fuels the shoveling of US dollars into the hands of shady overseas manufacturers that are taking advantage of capitalism and technology and just putting the screws to the entire planet. It sounds harsh but it’s true.

What is a compatible?

Compatibles, or counterfeit cartridges, are designed to look like the real deal, often incredibly similar to actual OEM Cartridges; this includes the vibrant color packaging, the OEM images used to sell this garbage through online retailers like Amazon and eBay and they even slap actual brand logos on their boxes to swindle you into giving them your money. Sadly, it works all too often.

Compatibles are made by copying and infringing on patented designs and intellectual properties from equipment manufacturers and making them with the least possible quality and effort possible. It doesn’t have to be good; it just has to work. Once you have it, it’s your problem and you won’t know it’s a problem until it’s opened, installed and failing to do the job properly. At this point, it’s your problem. The common return policy is that once you have used it - it’s yours.

In the US, we have a fairly rigorous border policy that works hard to stop this trash at the border before it infiltrates Amazon warehouses, where they are most commonly stored and distributed, but regardless of the law raiding these facilities in search of offenders … there are a lot of trailers going to a lot of warehouses and selling a lot of crap for profit. You can’t stop them all.

What’s worse is that a lot of this illegal compatible trash is designed to look so close to the real thing that without an educated inspection, you might not know it’s counterfeit on sight and it slides right into your machine.

Here’s some of what happens:

- It can leak.
- You might get an on-screen message telling you it won’t work.
- You might void any warranties.
- You likely can’t get a return when you find you can’t print with it.



Can you spot the counterfeit?

Well, here’s a sure-fire way to avoid getting a counterfeit compatible. Buy OEM products or buy US Remanufactured OEM products from verified remanufactures. If you have an hour to research the cheapest option to buy, you can spend five minutes learning about what companies are in the US and those who are remanufacturing OEM products.

Companies like HP have gone as far as to create a QR code that they put on their security tags so you can personally verify the product before you buy it. Brands like Epson have the plastic molding of their toner cartridges impressed with their logo. It costs a little more to do this, but it verifies that it’s theirs. Counterfeiters don’t spend money knocking off imprinted plastic, it would take away from any profit they make by creating their garbage. No Epson logo? Not really Epson.

Not all newly made product at low prices are counterfeit compatibles though. Some vendors have blow-out and overstock sales, and they liquidate product at cost. That’s a good low-price option, though far and few between, it doesn’t make it a counterfeit. That eBay special where it’s wrapped in plastic and half the price of the OEM product from the actual manufacturer's website … I’d question that one.

But why should you care, really? You just want to print something and chuck the empty toner cartridge in the trash when it’s done. Okay - STOP THE INSANITY!



The Chuck Stops Here!

First, let's make it brief. Counterfeit compatibles aren’t made to standards that health officials in the US mandate. Leaky toners distribute dust that causes cancer. Leaky ink cartridges seep toxic chemicals into the earth, into the water and into your body. No, really - for thousands of years!

Outside of health, these counterfeiters are taking away the economy that allows you to go to Disney World once a year with your kids. It takes away from the bottom line that actual U.S. manufacturers need to keep paying their employees and providing benefits for their families.

Oh yeah, most of them also print terribly. You’ll deal with it and accept its substandard quality, but you won’t be happy about it. Then we get to the part where it’s empty. Are you ready for this?

We’ve all accepted the facts that as a planet, we have to recycle used products because we’re draining our natural resources. Making millions of toner and printer cartridges every day and having them empty in a week, then making more and more - it’s an environment vacuum. We take those OEM cartridges, and we send them to a remanufacturer in the U.S. who cleans them up, remanufactures them and sells them at lower than retail prices. We save money, we save resources - we protect the planet from further harm. It’s a win, win, win! There is one thing ….

Counterfeit compatibles are not recyclable and can’t be remanufactured. They make them, fill them, drain them and chuck them. Once they are empty, they have only one place to go, the trash. Here, they’ll enjoy thousands of years just breaking down into the environment and leaving a deadly trail of toxins in their wake. This means generations of people taking in those toxins and getting sick while the environment suffers.

That is well worth the $9 you saved buying compatibles on Amazon.

We can all stop this! It works like this - Recycle and Buy Recycled. When your ink cartridge is empty, buy a U.S. Remanufactured Cartridge from Planet Green Recycle. Take your old OEM Cartridge and ship it FREE to Planet Green Recycle. Just like that - recycle and buy recycled. You’re sparing the waste of ink cartridges and the long-term damage they cause the planet, and you are saving money at the same time. Who would have thought it could be that easy?

Now you know. www.planetgreenrecycle.com.

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