Ink for my Canon MX310 runs around 24 bucks for 13 mL of ink. A little math reveals that each mL costs around 1.80, or an astounding $1,800/liter.

Printer manufacturers depend on their ink sales, in a business model usually referred to as captive-product pricing (like replacement blades for mens’ razors). Because they make so little off the sale of a printer, comapnies like Samsung, Kodak and Canon recoup their margins in the sale of ink.

When anything is profitable as a brand name, profit can also be made by counterfeiters. In the tradition of fake Louis Vuitton purses and cheap Rolex watches, an epidemic of fake printer ink has been spreading over the country.

Unlike a fake Rolex, however, these ink cartridges’ damage is not finished after you buy them. They are still prone to leaking, falling alart, exploding, smudging paper and jamming the print heads. This means the consumer is often smacked with both the un-recoupable expense of the purchased ink AND the cost of a new printer.

These fake ink cartridges are usually manufactured in China, Malaysia or the Philippines, then shipped overseas to buyers eager for a discount. Next, unwitting midsize ink distributors purchase them and redistribute them to end consumers or small distributors. They use midsize ink distributors because they’re too large to trace any individual ink cartridges and too small to have top-notch buying and processing standards to catch the counterfeits.

Relatively infrequent in the United States, authorities in Latin and South America estimate that current counterfeit ink cartridge penetration on the market is around 50%. Numbers in the United States are closer to 5%.

The best way to avoid this plague is to buy from a licensed distributor or a reputable third-party distributor. Their products are almost always refilled and recyled manufacturer cartridges. Because they sell at a discount over the manufacturer prices, no one is bothering to make counterfeit recycled cartridges (at least not yet, anyway).

You can also look over the cartridge’s packaging and the cartridge itself to try to spot any faded packaging, misprinted stickers, or shoddy seams on the ink cartridge.

Try inkcartridges.com for good deals on cheap ink cartridges.

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