Comments on: Ask the Readers: Printing coupons inexpensively?

By: Theresa

Theresa — Wed, 20 May 2009 18:40:33 +0000

I have an Epson RX380 and have been printing on the same set of cartridges for over a year.. and I do a LOT of high graphics printing (Photos n such at 600-1200 DPI). My secret? I purchased a continuous ink system on ebay for around $60 bucks. When you run out, you just add 4 more ounces of inks which are available for $20 a set. I have yet to refill mine! The print quality? I cannot tell the difference and have printed many pictures of the grand-babies to frame and they have not lost their color or faded.

By: T Acosta

T Acosta — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:49:10 +0000

My husband orders from http://www.inkjetsuperstore.com/ and we pay less than $9 for our cartridges. Also, we have had this HP Officejet all-in-one for 5 years & have had no problems using the less expensive ink.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Mon, 18 May 2009 10:36:31 +0000

houseofinks.com has great deals on ink for printers. We got our ink cartridges for about 7 dollars a piece.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Mon, 18 May 2009 05:48:11 +0000

When you do the math, and figure out the cost per page (cpp in printer lingo), you will find the only way to go is with a laser printer. AND this week, OfficeMax has a Samsung on sale for only $60! (check it out here: http://officemax.com/catalog/category.jsp?catId=cat1430036 ). The cartridges are more expensive, but you only have to buy them what, once every year or two, as opposed to every month or two for ink carts. I keep an ink printer for printing things like business cards, but most of my printing, and most especially my coupon printing, is done on my laser.

By: Robin

Robin — Mon, 18 May 2009 02:02:26 +0000

I use a Lexmark printer and up until the past 2 weeks have been buying new cartridges each time from Office Depot. I finally decided we had to do something different since I was going thru ink like there was no tomorrow! So, we tried at Walgreen’s but something about our cartridges couldn’t be filled because their equipment needed upgrading or something. Anyway, we discovered Cartridge World here in town and went there. For a little less than $25 we had both cartridges, color and b/w refilled. So far it hasn’t worked, the black refuses to print correctly and we’ve taken it back once already and plan to take it back again in the morning. But, I have to say the staff at the store here in Valdosta, Ga are some of the most nicest and helpful folks I’ve ever met! Hopefully the problem will be remedied tomorrow and I can continue to be a coupon printing fool! LOL!!!

By: Kristina

Kristina — Sun, 17 May 2009 21:38:52 +0000

I second the laser printer. We got ours for $59 and saved that much in ink in the first 2 months.

By: Elisabeth

Elisabeth — Sun, 17 May 2009 16:44:54 +0000

I get mine refilled at walgreens for $10, however printing coupons has become a problem as our local walmart and several other retailers don’t accept them. I called walmart about this issue and it turns out the store’s manager has the reins on this she has choosen for her store not to accept internet printed coupons. Our local manager isn’t shall we say customer friendly.

Just a tip make sure your walmart or other store accepts internet coupons because some stores are now choosing not to do this.

By: Marnie

Marnie — Sat, 16 May 2009 17:46:06 +0000

I got a new printer this year made by Kodak-the ink is ALREADY cheap-only $10 for B&W, and $15.00 for Color. My last one was ruined by…guess what??? Refilled cartridges from Walgreen’s. It was a nice Lexmark, was sad to see it go. But, I HIGHLY recommend this new Kodak ESP all-in-one, and you can’t beat the price for the ink.

By: WV

WV — Sat, 16 May 2009 15:34:53 +0000

I’ve had good luck with toner from Monoprice. Cheap — cables are a great bargain there, too.

By: The Prudent Homemaker

The Prudent Homemaker — Sat, 16 May 2009 15:05:38 +0000

Get a laser printer that prints 7000 pages before needing to be refilled.

Sam’s Club carries refill laser cartridges for about $25 less EACH than we could find them anywhere else.

I have a black and white laser printer that has lasted me several years. I usually only have to replace the cartridge once a year, and I print schoolwork every day for my children.

By: Beth

Beth — Sat, 16 May 2009 14:30:21 +0000

Just wanted to add that although refilling is cheaper in the short term, I would be careful – I got our ink cartridges refilled at Walgreens and our printer hasn’t printed properly since. I took the refilled ones back to Walgreens and told them they weren’t working properly – they checked them and said they appeared to be working fine. No money back, no replacement. I had to go buy new cartridges and even after installing the brand-name refills our printer just hasn’t printed well at all since I tried the Walgreens refills.

We have an HP photo-printer, so maybe it works well for other printers – but definitely not for ours. Just a heads up!

By: Kyle

Kyle — Sat, 16 May 2009 13:58:52 +0000

You need a laser printer, inkjets are WAY too expensive. I’d recommend an HP laserjet 5 or 6, 6p, 6MP. Buy one on eBay. They can be had for $50 or less. Then toners can be purchased on ebay for $20-30 each. I will literally go years on a single toner cartridge.

Plus laserjet will print a more crisp image and you’ll have less trouble getting the barcodes to scan than with ink jets.

By: Teresa

Teresa — Sat, 16 May 2009 07:12:38 +0000

My husband works for a toner and copier sales company. We get a good deal. Check them out Tonersales.com. Tell them Bill’s wife sent you. He works on commision and can ship.
tschilling@centurytel.net

By: Bethany

Bethany — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:11:56 +0000

I got the best inkjet printer I’ve ever had this past Christmas (Canon MP700) and that was before I discovered & printing coupons so I really lucked out. The inkjet refills were extremely cheap at Meritline.com, which I would recommend. The only downside is that the replacement cartridges won’t show the ink levels but I keep track of when I change them out & check them from time to time. I also *only* print the coupon, not the recipe or whatever else might print on that page. Always set your printer settings to “Print Preview” so you can see beforehand what is about to print and whether or not you need to cancel the print job at any given point.

By: Nancy

Nancy — Fri, 15 May 2009 23:43:02 +0000

Yes,while ink costs are something to consider, I found that I was struggling with the amount of paper I was consuming on a daily basis! Sooooo, I had my husband bring home scratch paper from the recycle bins in the copy room at his office! Works like a charm for all of those prints I was doing. Especially when you are printing from a site that is doing one coupon per page… it’s a great way to cut costs, and help cut waste as well

By: Yvette

Yvette — Fri, 15 May 2009 22:58:05 +0000

I worked for an insurance company and the office had a laser printer and inkjet printers we were told to use the laser printer whenever possible. The laser printer cartridge did not have to be replaced for almost 16 months and we printed A LOT of papers being in the car/house insurance busines.

Soooo I would recommend saving up for a laser printer and in the long run you’d be saving a ton of $$$

By: Pamela Tetreault

Pamela Tetreault — Fri, 15 May 2009 21:54:28 +0000

Years ago a rep from HP suggested a Laserjet printer to save on ink when printing out so many mailing labels was putting me in a pinch for ink.. I have the same one I bought about 10+ years ago.. works great. I did buy a new one recently, because Staples had a deal too good to pass up. The toners cost a bit up front.. but you can print thousands of pages. when it starts streaking.. pull it out and shake it up.. the last toner I had I used for nearly a year before it ran out.

By: anita

anita — Fri, 15 May 2009 21:54:25 +0000

I put my printer on the faster and low setting (fast draft) and when the ink get low, I moved it up to slow and more ink. I also print on the back of paper that is no longer needed. My mom brings some home from work and that helps out a lot.
Also when printing from the single page of a product and you are allowed to print 2, I print on one side and then turn the paper over and around and print on the back.
Helps a lot. Also cheaper printers use a lot of ink, like the $40 Lenmark. Nicer printers do better at ink.

By: Alli

Alli — Fri, 15 May 2009 21:32:16 +0000

The best suggestion I can make is to cancel the print just after the coupon is printed. We don’t need the ad that prints out afterward and it saves ink!

By: Angie

Angie — Fri, 15 May 2009 21:28:34 +0000

I buy remanufactured ink at http://www.supermediastore.com. My Epson cartridges are kinda pricey so I can get a great deal here. But, sometimes the printer likes to say it can’t identify the cartridges (like right now!!!) so I have to play with them sometimes to get them to work. that is the only hassle. it’s worth it.