Uncovering the Dell Printer Monopoly

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Greetings Subscriber,

Welcome to our January issue of Computer & Printer Tips. I hope you're having a great new year so far.

Have you jumped into 2007 with both feet running, or are you still playing catchup on tasks leftover from 2006? Did you make any new year's resolutions?

Personally I've been playing catchup, but I think I'm finally starting to enter the transition into 2007. I'm at about 50% on the couple of resolutions I made. (I'll have to try a little harder on those.)

;^)

We've got a good amount of news here at ASAP Inkjets that I'd like to let you in on. Our website redesign is finally completed. It's been a long time in the works, however we think it's turned out well, and should help our customers find what they need quicker and easier.

If you haven't seen our improvements, I encourage you to stop by and see the changes.
http://www.asapinkjets.com/

The biggest difference is when you attempt to locate a cartridge. If you remember our previous setup, when you clicked on a printer brand (HP for example), you would see a page listing all cartridges we carry for HP. If you didn't know which cartridge models your printer used, then you'd use our "lookup tool" to find what you needed.

What we found, is that most people generally know what printer model they have -- but not the cartridges it uses. So, we flipped it around. Now, when you navigate to the HP section, you see a list of printer models. You simply click on your particular printer model, and the resulting page shows ONLY the items that are compatible with that printer. This should reduce confusion of whether or not you're ordering the correct items.

The printer models listing page also has a link to our old format (listing all of the cartridge models in alphabetical order), so IF you know exactly what cartridge you need -- it's quick to use as well.

We'd love to hear any feedback you might have on the changes -- good or bad. It's comments and suggestions from our customers that help guide us along. We're always game for suggestions that make things easier, increase clarity, or provide other benfits.

Send any feedback you may have to us at:

On another note, over the past few months we have received requests from people wanting to know if they could advertise with us.

We have decided to offer some limited advertising opportunities, and have just recently setup a page providing additional information on this topic.

So, if you have a business or service you'd like to promote in this newsletter, our rates are quite reasonable.

We have a readership of 44,921 readers who look forward to our articles, so it could be a good opportunity for you to get your message out. Past newsletters will also be archived on our website with your ad links intact, so they will also help your website's link popularity.

For more information visit:
http://www.asapinkjets.com/advertising.html

Finally, this month we are offering a 10% off coupon to all of our newsletter subscribers.

Here are the details:

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SPECIAL 10% OFF DISCOUNT COUPON
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From now through the end of this month (Jan 31st), we're
offering our newsletter subscribers an extra 10% off your entire
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Shipping is still free with this offer, so take advantage
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Here is your special 10% off discount promotion code:

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Simply enter the CODE word above, and the discount will be
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*** LIMITED TIME -- This offer expires Wednesday, January 31st ***

Now, onto our featured article. This month's topic talks about the "Dell Printer Monopoly". It's a good read...

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FEATURE ARTICLE: Uncovering the Dell Printer Monopoly
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If you own a Dell inkjet printer and you actually love it, I can only think of 3 reasons for your answer: Either you work for the company, you rarely use your printer, or you haven't owned another printer previously.

Those of you who work for Dell or rarely use your printer (less than 3 cartridges a year), you are excused from this article and have no need to read any further.

For all of those who have never owned another inkjet printer or had to buy the supplies, lend me your ears�

Dell has developed a master planned strategy to force their printer owners into paying TOP DOLLAR for replacement supplies, while at the same time creating barriers that prevent competition from resellers and cartridge recycling companies. (To ensure their top dollar prices live on)

So far, it has worked very well for them.

The first part of this strategy is to make sure that they are the ONLY source available to purchase replacement supplies. You cannot currently purchase a new Dell brand printer cartridge from any office supply store. They are only available directly from Dell

Although Dell touts its reorder system as being a simple way to get supplies, most people find it annoying and inconvenient at best.

The company's press release states that this reorder system "simplifies the purchasing process..." by proactively prompting users to order replacement cartridges.

What it actually does, is proactively "nag" a user to order ink every time they print something. There is no way for a user to turn off these nagging messages.

Remanufactured cartridges can offer a slight alternative, but Dell is fighting that as well.

Our company has sold remanufactured Dell cartridges (recycled and refilled) for a few years now. A couple of earlier Dell cartridges are able to be refilled quite successfully like the T0529 and T0530, however newer model inkjet cartridges such as the M4640 (R5956) and M4646 (R5974) have proven to be unreliable when recycled and refilled. This is no accident.

As Dell has progressed, they have learned that making it harder for recycling companies to refill their empty cartridges helps keep competition away.

These days, many Dell cartridges are engineered to be "one-time use" cartridges, unlike other brands with built-in print heads such as HP. They specifically design their cartridges to fail if used more than once. This helps to assure that Dell retains nearly all of the consumable supplies business of the unfortunate people who own their inkjet printers.

Every company we have tested, that has attempted to remanufacture Dell cartridges, experiences roughly a 20% failure rate. Our company has actually stopped selling the newer model because the quality was unacceptable (even though we have a waiting list of customers eager to buy them).

To make matters worse, Dell has a team of lawyers sending intimidating letters in an attempt to scare companies away from selling remanufactured Dell cartridges. I doubt many companies have enough resources to try to go head to head with such a giant in a legal fight.

Competition is good for the consumer because it lowers prices, but Dell of course doesn't want competition. Increased competition would mean an end to their extremely high priced supplies cash stream.

Only Dell themselves currently sell new OEM cartridges. No discounts are even available for buying in volume, so the distribution channel stops right there.

With their legal team attacking the small amount of competition they currently have (recyclers and remanufactured cartridge sellers), there is no reason yet to charge lower prices.

The most shocking thing to me, is that most people do not even realize how much more they are spending on replacement ink cartridges for their Dell printers in comparison to other brands that are out there.

Unless you are comfortable paying more per page for the same printed material, I would recommend turning your Dell inkjet printer in for recycling and buying a different brand of printer.

If you would like to hear some other colorful stories about the reorder process or the satisfaction of Dell printer customers, you can click on the link below from ConsumerAffairs.com:

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/computers/dell_printers.html

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About The Author

Joe Rogers writes for ASAP Inkjets. ASAP Inkjets offers
inkjet cartridges & toner at up to 80% off. Signup for
their free newsletter for tips & discount coupons at:
http://www.asapinkjets.com/ or email:
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Ok, that's going to do it for this month's issue. Hopefully you found it a good read.

Again, if you have any feedback or suggestions regarding our recent website improvements, we'd love to hear about them.

Email your comments to:

For those of you wishing to learn about advertising in this newsletter, visit our advertising section to grab your spot.

http://www.asapinkjets.com/advertising.html

I'll see you next month!

Eli Fry
ASAP Inkjets

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