You might have seen that most of our cartridge series come in single or multipack options and wondered what the difference is. Whilst single cartridges are exactly as they sound (just the one cartridge), multipacks contain multiple ink colours in one bundle.
In this guide, we examine which product type is better for saving money.
What is a Single Ink Cartridge?
Single cartridges are individual colour cartridges. They usually come in Black, Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow colours. However, some cartridge series have other colours, such as Photo Black, Photo Blue, Light Cyan, Light Magenta, Grey, and Red.
Single inks are ideal for when only one ink has run out; you can buy only the colour that you need for your printer. Single cartridges are available in both original and compatible options, giving you plenty of choice over which cartridges you buy.
What is a Multipack?
A multipack of inks is multiple ink cartridges, sold in a bundle. Multipacks are made up of individual colour cartridges, rather than one large cartridge. That means that they can be used in exactly the same way that a single cartridge can.
At Internet Ink, we offer both original and compatible multipack options. Whilst original cartridges tend to come as a four pack (Black, Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow), we offer many more options for our compatibles. For instance, our Epson 603 (Starfish) cartridges come in multipacks of three (colours only), four (colours plus black), as well as two types of 10 pack; an extra colour pack with one black and three colours each, and an extra black pack with four blacks and two of each colour.
This gives you plenty of options to choose from; by buying our compatible multipacks or singles, you can select as many or as few cartridges as you require.
Are Single or Multipacks Cheaper?
On the face of it, single ink cartridges are the cheaper option. For instance, our Compatible Epson 604XL colour pack costs £9.99. It contains three 12ml cartridges; cyan, magenta, and yellow. However, each cartridge separately costs £5.99.
If you only need one colour of cartridge, you can see that it’s cheaper to just buy the colour you need. However, if you need multiple cartridges, it is significantly cheaper to buy a multipack. If you were to buy these three cartridges separately, the cost would come to £17.97 (£5.99 x 3). Likewise, our £21.99 10 packs would cost £59.90 if each cartridge were bought separately.
In other words, unless you only need one colour, it’s cheaper in the long run to buy multipack ink cartridges.
Compatible vs OEM Multipacks
Our compatible cartridges are cheaper than their equivalent originals, so multipacks cartridges are even cheaper still!
However, if you need original cartridges, the good news is that multipacks can still save you money over single inks. For instance, Epson 16 cartridges are £19.67 each for the standard size, but only £51.81 for a pack of four. If each cartridge were bought individually, this would come to £78.68.
This means that, even if you are buying original cartridges, you can still save a lot of money by choosing multipacks.
Standard vs XL Multipacks
At Internet Ink, many of our compatible ink cartridges are XL (‘extra large’) sizes. This means that you save even more on your inks compared to normal sizes.
However, we do also sell both XL and standard original multipacks, as well as singles. Although XL multipacks are more expensive upfront, they have a lower cost per use. For example, the Epson 16 OEM XL multipacks will print 1850 pages each, whereas the standard size cartridges print 670 pages per pack.
That means that, at £83.95, the XL size is actually cheaper per page than the standard size at £51.81.
£83.95/ 1850 = £0.05 per page
£51.81/ 670 = £0.08 per page
Why are Multipacks Cheapest Overall?
Choosing our compatible multipacks allows you to save money three times over:
- Compatibles are cheaper than originals.
- Multipacks are cheaper per cartridge than singles.
- XL cartridges are cheaper long term than standard size. Many of our compatible cartridges are XL size by default.
Plus, if you choose our compatible multipacks, you can choose between multiple combinations of cartridges, whether 3, 4, or 10 packs.
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