Ink vs. Toner, and How to Stop Overpaying for Both

Printer companies sell printers cheap and make it back on cartridges. You don't have to play along.

Cost per page is the only number

Divide cartridge price by page yield. A $90 high-yield toner rated 3,000 pages is 3¢/page; a $25 ink cartridge rated 200 pages is 12.5¢/page. Laser + toner wins for anyone printing documents weekly.

High-yield is almost always worth it

XL/high-yield cartridges typically cost 50% more for 2–3× the pages. Unless you print a few pages a year (where ink dries out first), buy the big one.

Sealed surplus = the arbitrage

Businesses close, printers get replaced, and pallets of brand-new sealed OEM cartridges end up in liquidation — which is where we come in. Same genuine HP/Brother/Canon cartridge, sealed in box, usually 40–60% under retail. Check the expiration-style date on ink (toner effectively doesn't expire) and you're getting the identical product.