You can often find some great deals on a laser printer (heck I got paid to take a laser printer). That’s all fine and good until you run out of toner.

Once that happens, you can often end up paying more money for the toner refill than what you paid for the printer. Don’t get ripped off! There are much cheaper ways to refill.

Printer companies are smart. They’ll sell you a cheap printer, but then charge you an arm-and-a-leg for their own proprietary toner.

Never buy from a retail store. There are much better options.

Cheap (without any hassle)

There are many, many companies out there that sell generic laser toner cartridges that will work perfectly with all the popular printers. The reason that there are so many companies like this is that toner cartridges are CHEAP to manufacture. Even if they sell you one at 50% price of the retail version, they will still make a nice profit.

Pick a reputable company. I’ve had good experience (great prices!) with www.4inkjets.com.

Cheapest (takes some time and work)

For the ultimate in frugal, you can just buy the toner itself (from Ebay) and refill the cartridge yourself. This way, you’ll spend less than $10 to refill your toner cartridge. I’ve done this before with great success.

It’s not for the faint of heart though. All you’ll get is a plastic bottle containing some black powder. You’ll have to unscrew your cartridge, wedge it open, carefully pour the black powder into the repository, and then close it back up again. It’s not so difficult, but you may make a mess since that black toner is very fine and can get all over the place.

Check Ebay if they have “toner refill” for your printer brand.

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Next time your laser printer runs dry, take heed of these options. This post likely also applies to inkjet printers, although I don’t have any personal experience with this.