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San Antonio Business Journal - July 27, 2007
by Torence White

Brian Cheong is president of InkSell.com, which is experiencing a 30 percent increase in revenue this year as more people are seeking cost effective alternatives to refilling used ink cartridges. TORENCE WHITE / SAN ANTONIO BUSINESS JOURNAL

While the cost of printers has been plummeting, the cost for replacement ink cartridges has been steadily going up leading more and more people to seek out discount options. InkSell.com, a division of Acecom Inc., has been working to fulfill that need in the market by offering remanufactured and compatible cartridges for both inkjet and laser printers for sale online at discount prices.

Established in 1998, InkSell is today one of the largest independent online, retail and commercial suppliers of laser toner and ink printer cartridges in the nation. They provide ink products for many of the leading printer companies including Hewlett-Packard, Epson, Lexmark, Dell Canon, Brother, Xerox, Panasonic, Sharp, Okidata and more.

"Ink cartridges keep evolving, but we're adjusting ourselves," says Brian Cheong, president of InkSell.com. "If we make it difficult for people to do business with us, we lose business. We have to make sure we can make it easy for people to do business with us."

One of the ways they have made things easy for customers is by giving them multiple options for purchasing ink cartridges, including ordering products online. A customer can go to any of their retail stores in San Antonio, Houston or Austin to purchase cartridges in person, or they can phone in an order and receive free delivery for purchases greater than $50.

InkSell is currently experiencing a 30 percent increase in its revenue growth this year. "The true cost of printing isn't just my cost to get the piece of equipment in my store," says Francis Holguin, vice president of sales at InkSell.com. "It's how many pages am I printing, how much ink is going through; it's all about how much and how well we deliver day in and day out to meet their (customers) needs."

Use and reuse

InkSell is strongly committed to the ideals of refilling cartridges, Holguin says. The company believes in use and reuse as often and as long as the cartridge is capable of being refilled while still providing a quality print outcome. "Millions of tons of empty cartridges are being dumped in our landfills," says Holguin. "Printers will be long gone and we will still have their products like cartridges."

Some people aren't aware that ink cartridges can be refilled, but Holguin says InkSell is currently working on programs to bring awareness to consumers egarding reuse and recycling of their cartridges.

InkSell offers a huge selection of printer cartridges at discounts up to 70 percent off the retail price. They also offer customers an extensive line of products, including cartridges and refill kits for ink printers, toner for laser printers, fax machines and photo copiers as well as fax ribbons and specialty media products like photo and glossy Inkjet photo paper.

"The average savings a customer will see is 50 to 70 percent off the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) costs," Holguin says. "If a customer reuses the cartridge three times, the savings can be very large." For some people, finding the right cartridge can be difficult due to a lack of knowledge and training, but InkSell spends a lot of time and money training its employees so they can assist customers in picking the right cartridge, he says.

"People come for assistance," says Daniel Lopez, vice president of business development at InkSell.com. "People don't just come in to buy, they're coming in for answers."

Beverly Combs, residency program coordinator at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA), says she is impressed with how quickly the company can deliver its products and services. "They're always helpful and have good public service," Combs says. "They are very accommodating because they always make sure I get what I need. If they don't have what I need, they still find a way to get it."

InkSell's vision is to build an organization that provides quality to the consumer.

Cheong adds, "If I am a customer, I am asking myself if the product I'm purchasing is valuable to me. You have to see value in the product you sell."

Shelly Sheffield, executive secretary/collections specialist at SA Quality Fence Ltd., says she's impressed with InkSell's customer service. "I've never had a bad experience with them," Sheffield says. "They're real convenient and go out of their way for a customer."

Ink Inc.

The creation of InkSell.com came as the founders took note of the profits that printer manufacturers were making from the sale of their printer consumables. The company was originally only an e-commerce store, but the success of the online venture -- and customers seeking face-to-face interactions -- compelled the company to branch out and open their first brick and mortar store in 2004.

The success of the e-commerce venture compelled the company to branch out and open their first brick and mortar store in 2004. The first store was opened based on the response of local customers wanting to purchase their printing supplies from an organization that offers face-to-face support.

The success of the first store went beyond the company's expectations and InkSell now has 12 retail stores in San Antonio, four in Houston and three in the Austin area.

They are hoping to open more stores in Houston and Austin this year. They are currently planning for more growth in 2008-2010 which will include entering the Dallas/Fort Worth market.

Holguin says InkSell is positioned at the right place at the right time in the ink-refilling industry. "Ink refilling is just now starting to gain the respect and confidence of the users," he says. "Our emphasis is making sure our employees are the best trained and our quality is second to none."

Lessons Learned

An online store isn't enough for many customers.
Bending over backwards for customers yields repeat business.
Tout environmental benefits of your products.

InkSell.com

Key employees: Brian Cheong, president; Francis Holguin, vice president of sales; Daniel Lopez, vice president of business development
Address: 14833 Bulverde Road
Tel. No.: 798-0087
Website: www.InkSell.com
Number of employees: 100
Click here to download the article in pdf format

Date: Monday, January 1 2007
By Crytzer, Chris
Publication: All Business Office Solutions

Are recycled or remanufactured cartridges for printers a good buy? Well, that depends. For many individuals, it's a personal preference. Some think recycled ink cartridges are the greatest invention, while others vehemently oppose using them. Of course, you may not have a choice if pur employer makes the decision.

What's more, there are different options when buying recycled ink cartridges. For instance, consumers and businesses can purchase remanufactured cartridges or refilled ones. Both choices can be cheaper than original equipment manufacturer (OEM) cartridges. The process for remanufactured cartridges may involve disassembling, inspecting, cleaning, replacing worn parts, reassembling, and filling the cartridge with toner or ink. Cartridge refilling takes an existing cartridge and refills it with ink.

THOSE IN FAVOR OF RECYCLED CARTRIDGES

Cartridge World (www.cartridgeworldusa. com) provides consumers and businesses with a retail cartridge refilling service that allows customers to refill their ink and toner printer cartridges with as much ease as they refill the gas tanks of their cars. The company refills all major brands of cartridges, induding HP, Dell, Canon, and Epson.

Burt Yarkin, CEO of Cartridge World North America in Emcryville, Calif., believes recycled ink cartridges are a good buy. "You receive good print quality for half the cost, plus customers are looked after by someone who has a lot of experience with cartridges and printers." he says. "The level of service that is offered in a Cartridge World store is so much greater with this kind of experience behind it."

According to Yarkin, there are environmental benefits as well. He says, "It's not just about saving dollars on every cartridge; it is also keeping that cartridge out of the waste stream-a much greener choice than just throwing the used cartridge away!"

Yarkin notes that refilling technology has improved a great deal in the past few years, and he expects the recycled market to continue growing. "The cartridges that are in our stores are filled in the vacuum filling machine and then tested several times for print quality, leaks, and packaging. It's now a standard process in all of our 1,300 stores worldwide to test like this," he adds.

Kapil Juneja, COO of Corporate Toners (www.corporatetoners.com), a supplier of recycled toner cartridges, thinks the remanufacturing industry is on its way to achieving tremendous growth, but says counter moves by OEMs and other competitors provide hindrances. "Today, many new types of cartridges are being made with design features, chips, or additional software that either directly prevent reuse or make it uneconomic to remanufacture. These devices are not necessary for the normal functioning of the cartridge. They have no other role than to force consumers to buy only new cartridges from the original brand, depriving users of a cheaper, more environmentally friendly alternative." he says.

Corporate Toners offers remanufactured cartridges for Apple, Brother, Canon, and Dell, to name a few. Juneja, who's based in Canoga Park, Calif., points out that many charities, groups, schools, and nonprofits collect empty cartridges as an environmentally friendly method of raising funds. He adds, "We know of no other industry that offers such environmental advantages as well as monetary incentives for the consumer and such substantial charitable benefits. Remanufacturing has overall improved in die past few years and the quality of remanufactured cartridges has gotten better.''

THE NAYSAYERS

Consumer Reports recently endorsed the use of brand-name ink cartridges instead of generic remanufactured cartridges: "Few of the off-brand inks we tested offered manufacturer-level quality for text and graphics as well as photos, and it was almost always a challenge to get them working properly. We often had to run the cleaning utility, which wastes ink, and some samples simply didn't work. In our experience, brand-name cartridges rarely have such issues. ... Use brand-name ink for the least risk and hassle." (Consumer Reports, "Printer Inks," July 2006)

Scott Canonico, manager of environmental policy and strategy at HP's Corvallis, Ore., campus, said the upfront savings associated with refilled print cartridges is only a perceived value, not realized during the use of the product. "Hidden costs associated with lower yield, lower reliability, and the lower quality of refilled cartridges often cancel out any savings customers might seek to gain," he explains.

According to Canonico, HP print cartridges are intended for single use. "HP does not refill cartridges because refilled cartridges do not consistently provide the high-quality output and manageability of printing that our customers demand," says Canonico. "HP does not design its cartridges to prevent their reuse-but does caution that output quality and consistency may suffer if their use is extended beyond the design lifetime."

He cites two recent studies by QualityLogic, a quality assurance organization, which compared the reliability and quality of original HP print cartridges to refilled/remanufactured ink and color toner cartridges. The results showed that original HP ink jet print cartridges and color toner cartridges far surpassed ink refills in both print quality and reliability.

More specifically, the QualityLogic studies showed that nearly one of every six refilled ink cartridges tested was dead on arrival or failed prematurely. Other findings from the studies include:

* Over two-thirds (70 percent) of the refilled cartridges had some form of reliability problem.

* An average of 80 percent of all the tested remanufactured color toner cartridges exhibited reliability problems, as compared to less than 2 percent of the tested HP cartridges.

* HP's original cartridges printed more than four times the number of high-quality pages than the average of all the tested remanufactured cartridges.

Michael Cvetic, assistant director of purchasing for the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) in Pittsburgh, Pa., has experience with both new and recycled cartridges. "We have tried the remanufactured ink cartridges, but had quality issues with some of them. They leaked, so now we stick with original products for ink jet printers."

However, Cvetic adds, "We have had success with remanufactured toners for our printers." In fact, the school's information technology services department has found the remanufactured toners work as well as the OEM toners and cost two-thirds as much, and the yield often exceeds what is published for an OEM toner cartridge. The college buys about 525 toner cartridges a year for its four campuses and seven college centers.

STUCK IN THE MIDDLE

John Gallagher of The Promo Shop has been saving 40 percent by using recycled ink cartridges, but thinks he might be getting 40 percent less ink. He's found that recycled cartridges tend to run out quicker. Gallagher, who works in Gumming, Ga., says he has returned a cartridge that got clogged and received a brand new one in return. He recommends visiting a store where you can actually watch the cartridge being refilled. "That way, you know you're getting it filled," he says.

"It is probably okay to use remanufactured in some instances, but it is best to use manufacturers' cartridges over the long haul," notes Benjamin Jun, vice president of technology at Cryptography Research Inc. (CRI) in San Francisco. "Using remanufactured cartridges is analogous to putting cheap tires on a BMW. By doing so, the consumer negatively affects the quality of the car's performance. Similarly, a remanufactured cartridge could worsen the output and performance of a printer."

He explains that printers electronically interact with cartridges on several levels to optimize output quality. For instance, a manufacturer's cartridge often contains specific memory related to performance, environmental conditions, and usage data for the individual printer it was used on. When that cartridge is remanufactured and someone tries to put it on another printer, this memory will not match and the printer's output-and sometimes the printer itself-wiil be affected.

THE LAST WORD

When trying to decide between recycled, remanufactured, and new, consider the quality required for each print job. For home use or working drafts, recycled cartridges may work just fine. However, that may not be the case for professional presentations at work. Again, it all comes down to personal preference. Most people who have tried recycled cartridges have strong opinions: They either love them or hate them.

SEVEN TIPS FOR CONSUMABLES CONSUMERS

* Check your printer's warranty before using an alternative cartridge.

* Regardless of which option you choose, it's always best to have extra cartridges on hand. Check to see if the cartridges have expiration dates.

* If you purchase prcfilled cartridges, ask to have your own specific cartridge refilled instead of getting someone dse's cartridge.

* Be sure to ask about any money-back service guarantees for refilled or remanufactured cartridges.

* Some office stores sell store-brand, generic, or compatible cartridges for a variety of printers. If you try one of these economical alternatives, make sure you select one that's compatible. Then, check to see if it fits into the slot on your printer, as some don't. If not, return it to the store.

* Inquire about store credits (for future purchases of printer cartridges) for trading in empty cartridges at your local retailer or office supplier.

* Before you throw those empty cartridges away, inquire with local schools and charities that collect them for fundraising and recycling purposes. Many nonprofit organizations have collection bins and welcome community participation. Another option is InkSell.com, which offers a free return postage mailing label on its Website. Consumers and businesses can check the online list to make sure the OEM cartridges they want to recycle are eligible. Mailing instructions are provided. For every usable cartridge that's returned to InkSell for remanufacturing, the company donates $1 to a charitable organization that supports recycling and the environment.