Commercial printers are different from your regular home and office printer in function. Unlike regular stand alone and multifunction printers that focus on document printing, the commercial ones lean and cater more on the graphic arts side. These are used to print wide formats and high volumes of commercial graphics. Still both types of printer use toner and ink cartridges as consumables.
Marketing materials such as banners, posters, signage, flyers and even billboards use commercial printers. The number of businesses emerging everyday, and the need for marketing materials increase at a rapid rate. Subsequently, commercial printing companies struggle to have enough supply of consumables while trying to cut down their expenses to maintain the business. Due to this plight, aftermarket consumables became an attractive alternative to pricey OEMs. It had since become a widely popular solution for saving money. There are a number of reasons why third party cartridges are now preferred by many commercial printing businesses. First is the cheaper pricing and second is the variety of options €“ which still offers substantial savings.
Compatible Cartridges
Compatible consumables are cartridges made by third party manufacturers. Nevertheless, these are built and designed with parts that operate similarly to that of an OEM. These are cheaper than the original counterparts, making these a popular choice for replacement. Compatibles work with one or more printer models and produce higher yields than the originals. Even the print quality hardly has a difference.
Refurbished/ Remanufactured cartridges
Another type of aftermarket consumable is the refurbished or remanufactured cartridges. This may or may not be produced by the OEM companies. However, it is guaranteed that each part is made from recycled OEM cartridges. Remanufactured cartridges are made of reconstructed parts and replaced chipsets.
Refill kits
Consumable cartridges need to be replaced when depleted. However, with the use of refill kits, these can be reused for a few times, lessening the need to buy new replacements. Refill kits are DIY consumables. It will require the user to refill and reinstall a cartridge. Among the three mentioned aftermarkets, refill kits are the cheapest and often offer savings up to 90%.
Commercial printing apparently has an extensive printing need. Therefore, consumables whether toner or ink must be on hand at all times. OEM consumables get pricier even as the printing industry grows. The existence of aftermarket cartridges has become a solution to continue producing more output while paying less.
