The Real Deal or Taken For a Ride

When shopping for ink cartridges or toner, you can do one of two things. You can either jump in your car and drive to the nearest Staples, Office Depot or Office Max in your area and roam around until you find the printer supply you are searching for. While at the store, you hope they have specials for the items you want, but they may not. If you think about it, this could wind up being a costly trip. First, with gas prices so high and second, not finding specials on the items you wanted to purchase.

The second avenue you might consider is to shop for toner online. To me, this could save you plenty, but you need to be careful! Here is why. First off, you will save on the cost of fuel. In addition, most online venues offer free shipping if you spend a certain amount of money. Also, some online stores will offer discount coupon codes that take an additional amount off your purchase price, but not all will tell you what it is unless you do some digging, but yet others will offer these codes readily to earn your trust and business, and that's good!

But here is the real tricky part. Be skeptical of those ads that say, "Save 90% on Ink Cartridges" How do these people manage to stay in business? All the analysis that I have ever performed tells me that if you get anywhere from 50% to 60% off (including coupon code promotions), you are doing quite well.

So before you shop online or drive to your nearest printer supply company, know if it is the real deal or are you being taken for a ride.