Price war leads to 'disposable printers'

It could be justified in the case of inkjets, Grote says, because it suits buyers who do little printing as the cartridges can degrade with time. But this is not the case with laser toner.

The confusion has spread to the enterprise market, where prices have been driven down by competition from consumer printers.

"A model that would once have cost $2,000 can now be bought for a steal…. And where it would once have contained enough toner for 10,000 pages, it now has enough for 6,000."

The true cost of ink and toner is a closely guarded secret – and rightly so, said Grote. Margins are high, but they have to cover development costs, marketing and support for users and retailers.

Manufacturers also face competition from third parties who clone or refill cartridges. There is a big problem with "back door" sales by companies that specialise in making toner or ink cartridges for printer manufacturers and that produce more than they are contracted for.

Big manufacturers such as Hewlett-Packard are the hardest hit because they sell more printers and therefore offer a bigger market for third-party consumables. But the threat comes not only from small firms.

‘Companies including Xerox and IBM offer to service HP printers if you agree to buy consumables from them,’ said Grote.

But the problem is a monster of the printer industry’s own creation, he believes. Manufacturers reckoned they could recoup hardware costs on consumables but forgot that home users need less than businesses.

Pay-per-print schemes from the likes of Oki, Epson, Kyocera, and Xerox are introducing an element of transparency for businesses.

Oki in Germany offers options suitable for small businesses and heavy home users, though you have to sign up for three years and they are not available in the UK.

Prices start at €25 (about £17) a month for 500 mono and 100 colour pages. Each additional colour page costs about 13p for colour and 1p for mono.

Current Analysis says this compares with an industry average of about 6p a colour page, but the Oki prices cover on-site servicing. They also remain the same however much toner you use – a photo uses far more toner than spot colour on a page.

There is talk of bringing pay-per-print further into the home market, but for the moment we are stuck with rising costs and obfuscation. Manufacturers deserve credit for making excellent printers affordable, but they are leaving buyers feeling cheated.

Grote said: "Manufacturers branded as rip-offs will find it hard to regain the trust of customers."