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Compare Cartridges Frequently Asked Questions Buying a new cartridge for your printer can often be a difficult and time consuming process. By answering several frequently asked questions we hope to make the process a lot simpler. Please look for your question's answer below. If you still have any questions that aren't answered on this page, please fill out the form found at the bottom of the page or email us.

Question: Why do I get an error (like "The page cannot be displayed") when I click a link? Question: Why do I see a lot of "pop up" advertisements when I visit your web site? Question: Can I use a cartridge that has a different ending then the one I am looking for? Question: What's the difference between compatible, remanufactured and OEM cartridges? Question: What are refill kits and how do I refill ink cartridges? Question: How do I buy a printer cartridge or toner listed on your web site? Question: Will using a compatible cartridge void my printer warranty? Question: Why does the page for my cartridge contain links to unrelated products? Question: Why are cartridges so expensive? Question: I sell printer cartridges, how can I get my products listed on your site? Question: Why do I get an error (like "The page cannot be displayed") when I click a link? This error occurs because your computer cannot access the merchant's web page. If you have ad-blocking software, please disable the software and try to click on the link again. If getting this message and have the Kazaa Lite program installed, please remove the file named "HOSTS" found in c:\windows\ or c:\winnt\ or c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\. This should fix the problem and not affect the computer in any adverse way. Question: Why do I see a lot of "pop up" advertisements when I visit your web site? [ NEW ] Our site contains no pop up advertisements (we hate them as much as you do!). If you see any when you go to our site, there is a good chance your computer has "spyware" installed. These programs track which sites you go to, spam you with ads, and slow down your computer. Get Adaware to scan for and remove spyware. Question: Can I use a cartridge that has a different ending then the one I am looking for? Often the ending of a cartridge code indicates some further details about the cartridges. For example Canon cartridges often end in BK or BLK to indicate they are black cartridges, Y to indicates they are yellow cartridge, etc. For HP cartridges, the last letter indicates how full the cartridge is. For example a cartridge ending with A (like the 51629A) is full, while those ending with a G are only half full (like the 51629G). The printer merchants typically sell cartridges half full with new printers so that you run out of ink sooner. The cartridges themselves are identical in every other manner. Several merchants like to end the cartridge's code with either an X or A/G (like a 51629X or a 51629A/G) to reinforce that the cartridge is identical to those ending with an A or a G. Question: What's the difference between compatible, remanufactured and OEM cartridges? OEM cartridges are those that were made by the original equipment manufacturer (like HP). They should be identical to the cartridge that came with your printer when you bought it. Compatible cartridges are those made by other companies designed to look and work just like the OEM cartridges, but often at a significantly lower cost. Refilled cartridges are, as the name suggests, OEM cartridges that were refilled with ink similar to that that was found in the OEM cartridge and are also sold for less than the original. Since HP and Lexmark own patents on their cartridge design, no compatible cartridges exist for those brands and the only alternative is refilled cartridges. Question: What are refill kits and how do I refill ink cartridges? Refill kits allow you to refill the cartridges that came with you printer with more ink, saving lots of money. Instructions are typically included with the kit along with items such as ink, a syringe, and plastic gloves. Refilling is a somewhat difficult procedure to do and is not recommended for novices. Question: How do I buy a printer cartridge or toner listed on your web site? [ NEW ] We at comparecartridges.com do not sell any cartridges. Instead we direct you to companies that do sell ink cartridges and toner products at great prices. To get more information on any particular product including the up to the minute price, or to buy the product, click on the product's link that follows the merchant's description and precedes the description. This will take you to the merchant's web site were you can buy it. Question: Will using a compatible cartridge void my printer warranty? It is illegal for a printer company to state that using compatible cartridges will void the printer's warranty according to the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Improvement Act (Title 15 Commerce and Trade / Chapter 50 Consumer Product Warranties / 15 Section 2302): (c) No warrantor of a consumer product may condition his written or implied warranty of such product on the consumer's using, in connection with such product, any article or service (other than article or service provided without charge under the terms of the warranty) which is identified by brand, trade or corporate name; except that the prohibition of this subsection be waived by the commission if: 1) The warrantor satisfies the Commission that the warranted product will function properly only if the article or service so identified is used in connection with the warranted product, and 2) the Commission finds that such a waiver is in the public interest. Question: Why does the page for my cartridge contain links to unrelated products? The pages on this web site are automatically generated by a computer every several days by pulling product information from many merchant's web sites. Because of this, sometimes the program will include unrelated cartridges in a product's page. Please email us if you find any such errors. Question: Why are cartridges so expensive? Ink cartridges are very expensive (over seven times more than vintage champagne per millilitre) because printer manufacturers often sell their printers for less than they cost to make. They break even and then make nice profits by selling cartridges for the printers with incredibly high mark-up. Question: I sell printer cartridges, how can I get my products listed on your site? [ NEW ] To be considered as a merchant that is featured on comparecartridge.com we require that, as a minimum, your company has an affiliate program and offers a datafeed. Companies that cannot satisfy these criteria should instead opt to with us. Featured merchants can expect to make thousands of dollars in sales every month because of the traffic we send. For example, several of our top performers report conversion ratios as high as one order for every ten clicks, with average orders approaching $100. If your company does not currently have an affiliate program, we suggest you open one up with ShareASale. They offer a low cost, high quality solution that is easy to implement. Other third party affiliate solutions we recommend include Commission Junction, LinkShare, and for those merchants based in the UK, AffiliateFuture and Affiliate Window. We prefer third party affiliate solutions over in-house programs, but will work with either assuming the tracking is accurate and the minimum payment is easily obtainable. As well, we require a fair commission rate (minimum 20%) and cookie duration, and no tolerance for BHOs, adware, or similar tactics. If your company does not have a datafeed (a dump of the database used to generate your web site), we recommend you contact the person responsible for the IT aspects of your site as it is relatively easy to set up. We accept a wide variety of datafeed formats including CSV, pipe delimited, and Excel. Fields for product name and description (specifying brand name, cartridge code, color, remanufactured/oem/refill, etc.), the price and an affiliate encoded URL are necessary. For best results, we recommend the datafeed be updated at least once per month and be accessible via FTP or the web. Please contact us by email or by using the form below if you are interested in being featured on our web site so we can help you through the process and also get to know your company better. Compare Cartridges' Frequently Asked Question Form Please fill in all the information below and then click the "Submit The Form" button found below. Your Name: Email Address: Printer Brand: Cartridge Code: Question:

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