I looked up the model number, and two interesting facts are not pointed out (as Sebastian probably did not expect this to appear all over the internet).<p>The first fact is that HP offers the printer and cartridges at similar prices on their web site. This means the discrepancy is not due to a crazy sale on Amazon. Even according to the HP web site, the price of four replacement cartridges is $822, while the price of the printer (which includes the cartridges) is $699. Though Amazon reports that at some point, the printer may have been sold for up to $885 since it was launched in October, that's still almost identical to the cost of the cartridges.)<p>Second, also by design, the printer comes with the full cartridges, not starter ones...<p><a href="http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF28a/18972-18972-3328060-15077-236268-4184772-4184773-4184776.html?dnr=1" rel="nofollow">http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF28a/18972-18972-33...</a>
The printer usually comes with less ink per cartridge than the refills. So buying a new printer every time you run out of ink is not cheaper than buying the refills.<p>Nor practical.
Ug:<p>> <i>"Sounds like a market begging for disruption."</i> (in comments)<p>There have been 'disrupters' at work for many years now. I wish people wouldn't assume that (a) this sort of market distortion hasn't been noticed for years, (b) leveraged for almost as many, and (c) that there are actually reasons why the market delivers these prices.
That's why I installed and use BULK INK refillable instead of the original cartridges in all my printers. Costas are 97% less than original ink. This is my printer with the external bulk ink: <a href="http://bit.do/bulkink" rel="nofollow">http://bit.do/bulkink</a>
One solution is to not print, except when absolutely necessary for legal/financial events. Go to UPS or Staples to do the few printings per year that you absolutely must do.<p>My printer hasn't printed for at least a year. The scanner still works, and UPS/Staples is just down the street. Not for everyone, works for me. HP can die in a fire.
A lot of folks point toward much-less expensive third party toner cartridges and refill kits. I tried that route with my two Konica Minolta color laser printers and had <i>horrible</i> experience with cartridges/kits from several vendors: toner leaking in the printer, streaks, squeaking, colors that were off, etc.<p>YMMV but for know I'm sticking with OEM toner. And yes, the toner 4-pack is more expensive than a new printer. So much so that when I used up the toner on my printer I bought a new one since I wasn't all that satisfied with the printer I had.
That's how it's been for years (always). Also, that's the reason why they put authentication chips in those cartridges to try to stop you from refilling them or putting in cheap alternatives. However, this doesn't stop the counterfeiters and you can get the cartridges for tenth of the price. <a href="http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/569376994/CE400_1_2_3A_Laserjet_Color.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/569376994/CE400_1_2_3A_Las...</a>
That's a "bait and hook" business model, just like Nespresso's: <a href="http://www.businessmodelinspiration.com/?p=55" rel="nofollow">http://www.businessmodelinspiration.com/?p=55</a> and Gillette's: <a href="http://www.boardofinnovation.com/business-revenue-model-examples/bait-and-hook" rel="nofollow">http://www.boardofinnovation.com/business-revenue-model-exam...</a>
This. And try downloading a driver to run a HP printer and you will be forced to download a 750 MB "HP Digital Solution" crapware.<p>Thats why I avoid HP printers.
Hasn't it been long established that printers are a loss leader? I have a HP printer that cost me peanuts and at every opportunity the printer pushes me to purchase HP printer cartridges. Yes you can game the system but most people don't understand that and it never crosses their mind because of how absurd it is.
I remember getting a new printer <i>and</i> extra ink for less than a refill:<p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/12/03/211250/what-do-you-do-when-printers-cost-less-than-ink" rel="nofollow">http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/12/03/211250/what-do-you-do...</a>
The original printer claims it comes with 6000 page yield color cartridges but a 5500 page yield starter cartridge for the black.<p>There are also 2000 page low yield color and 11000 page high yield black cartridges available.<p>The replacement cartridges he is looking at are 6000 page yield for color and 11000 for black. So the black is twice the capacity of the original.<p>You can also find aftermarket compatible toner, the high yield version 10,000 black and 6,000 for each color, for $330 for a complete set of cartridges for this machine - <a href="http://www.lenscomputers.com/hp-m551-vp.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.lenscomputers.com/hp-m551-vp.html</a>.
Some websites allow you to sort printers by price. They then list the cartridges that you can use with those printers.<p>But some people would want to sort the carts by price, and then see the printers that accept those carts. These people can't (for whatever reason) use toner refills or third-party carts. (There is a complication with number of sheets printer per cart, but that's easy enough to fix.)<p>And if you're a toner refill company some people will buy printers based on how much they'll have to spend to get new toner, so listing your cheapest print-per-page refill kit would be useful.
Epson went even further: <a href="http://pryf.livejournal.com/1829152.html" rel="nofollow">http://pryf.livejournal.com/1829152.html</a><p>It's in Russian, but look at the pics: it's the same cartridges made in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
You can get really cheap refill cartridges on Amazon. I paid maybe 8 bucks for C Y M and x3 B. They're not 'official' but they work just fine, in my case better even than the normal ones.
Is there a good reason why someone hasn't done a Dollar Shave Club business model for printers + inks? I would think it would decimate the ink racket.<p>Granted, it may have been tried numerous times and failed due to the hardware dominance the major printer players enjoy (and throwing out an existing printer isn't the same as throwing out a razor from Gillette, so you have to capture transitional customers). And of course hair grows fairly consistently, whereas ink usage is less consistent - but offices can always stock back a couple cartridges if they're not using enough and downgrade their account with the click of a button until they burn through them.