Empty Toner/Ink Cartridge Buyer - Page 8

And now a $5.00 freight reduction on top! WTF $4.40... wow

Sent her the link to this page. The whole time I have been trying to find a buyer that can help us out... but it seems that they are all the same... this time even worse. normally send in what you think and get 1/2 this time 1/4... not good at all... I do wish for a ink buyer to become a member so we all can profit and the ink will not end up in with the steel for shred....

Reading some of the postings on cartridge recycling really caught my attention. It seems that many of those who were posting had a somewhat negative experience recycling cartridges. What I gathered was a collection of confusion, frustration and even anger over results of efforts in recycling cartridges. It seems that a good portion feel they got ripped off by buyers. Hopefully I can help negative experiences turn into more positive ones. I have been recycling cartridges for the past 5 years and have made it a part-time side business. I know first hand there is money to be made, as I receive checks on a regular basis. My latest check was $409.70. When you receive several checks monthly, plus whatever is sold on eBay adds up.


I have some tips that I believe will be beneficial to anyone recycling cartridges. I will also share the buyers I have used and recommend, along with experiences of each. My efforts in posting this forum is to give insight to what has worked for me, so those reading can have a better experience recycling while maximizing profits.


Cartridge Recycling Tips


1. Sell through several sources for more selling opportunities and higher earnings. I consistently use 2-3 national buyers as well as sell on eBay. I have price sheets of each national buyer I use and separate cartridges according to the buyer who pays highest. Remember that price sheets change periodically, so print sheets often. For cartridges with little to no value, I take 10 of those to Staples for their rewards program monthly and the rest I recycle locally. Recently I have been taking any gold chips or other easy to remove metal off these worthless cartridges before I get rid of them. Not sure the value of this metal yet as I am new to the scrapping.
2. Send only what is listed on the buyers price sheet. Some may even charge you for items that are not on their list.
3. Do not send compatibles to national buyers unless they accept and pay for them. Sometimes compatibles are modified which can make them worthless. Some obviously look different from OEM. Sometimes it's difficult to find these modifications. Best bet is to send compatibles (if they accept them) that look identical to OEM casing. Stickers or different drum color is normal for compatibles, so that shouldn't effect value. Look more for the shell looking different, even just a little.
4. Make sure you know what a starter (introductory) cartridge looks like. These can sneak in very easily if you're not sure how to detect them. Printed on cartridge will be something like "replace with...", "starter" or "Introductory cartridge". In most cases, these are not accepted for cash. Not all printers come new with introductory cartridges, but it's common enough.
5. Know what you're sending and invoice everything. If you feel better taking pictures of what your sending, then do it.
6. Look for any damage. You will not get paid for these. Pack everything well. Keep cartridges in original boxes or bags with air if available, if not wrap in heavy paper or bubble wrap. You don't want loose items in shipment. Keep all compatible bubble pouches you come across to use later for OEM's without any packaging. Pack tight as UPS and other carriers will generally not handle with care.
7. Do not pay for shipping. Only choose buyers who pay for shipping and send labels
8. Check all cartridge boxes you get. I can't count the times that OEM boxes had a compatible inside...and vise versa. Sometimes an opened box has an unused cartridge in it... if that's the case DO NOT send to the empty cartridge buyer. You will get way more selling in on eBay. I've been doing this so long I can tell when I pick a cartridge up if it's not empty. You don't want missed opportunities.
9. Make sure you read their packing policy. Many times there are guidelines, such as minimum pieces per box, box size and weight limitations Not using these guidelines can cost you a deduction in payment.


Buyers


The buyers I recommend using are listed below. I will briefly explain what I know and what I have experienced with each.


Blue Trading - This buyer has good buy back pricing overall, especially with higher priced HP cartridges. They have pricing online that you can download and print. They buy laser and ink cartridges and do pay for select remanufactured cartridges. They pay for shipping and email the UPS labels to you. They are pretty good with communication. They will email you an inspection sheet with what passed and failed. It will give you your check amount as well and payment due by date to send your check. Payment usually takes 5-6 weeks to receive.


EOSUSA (Environmental Office Solutions) - I used this buyer the longest, but some of their recent changes has made it a little harder for me to work with. The change was taking their buy back list off their site. They now only provide buy back prices when you send in the list of cartridges you want to send. In my case it makes it hard to compare pricing with other buyers to determine who to send to. In the past they were very comparable to BlueTrading pricing. I haven't sent anything to them for about 6 months because of that change. They too buy some compatibles and pay shipping. I would still recommend giving them a try. Payment is usually received within 5-6 weeks and they were pretty good with communication. The woman I did work through quit, so I was bummed with that too.


Toner Buyer - This buyer seems to be one of the better known of the buyers out there. I think their marketing plays a big part in that. I have used them for a long time, but honestly I don't send a lot to them because their pricing for most cartridges I receive are pretty low in comparison. I only send them items that they pay more for (not many), cartridges they accept that others don't and cartridges that are priced same as the other buyers. Compare to their competitors, they do have a more impressive list for buying Xerox and Lexmark as well as some of the lesser used cartridges out there. They don't do too well with HP pricing which I believe most people use. Out of all the buyers however, Toner Buyer has quickest payment at about 3-4 weeks.


TonerRecycle.net (LMI) - I have only been using this buyer for about 6 months. They have a pretty competitive list of buy backs, however many of the highest priced HP cartridges are higher with BlueTrading. Where these guys excel is the lower priced HP cartridges. They pay twice as much for many of these than most other buyers. You will want to contact them for current price sheet. They will also ship you 20x20x20 boxes free of charge if you request them. They would rather have you palletize your toners and have it picked up instead of shipping in boxes.

Vandgary - Thanks for that post, very helpful. As for the little gold chips off empty toner cart., definitely save those. One may not be worth much, but a pound will get you a few tens of dollars.

I came across your post and want to give Liberty Laser Solutions a try. I have used 4 other buyers with mostly positive results, but feel like trying out another company. I called Liberty Laser this morning and she sent me an email with current price sheet. Their prices seem very competitive and I will start a pallet this week. Hopefully results will be positive. Turnaround time is the one thing that some buyers have a problem with. I have waited nearly 2 months to get a check from some.

Over the past couple of months I have noticed a significant drop in buyback prices for empty cartridges across the board. It concerned me because of how much it did drop through most of the buyers that I have used. With 2 buyers it was very extreme where many cartridges dropped over 50% in value in just a short period of time, and even a few cartridges that priced at $10-$15 in value suddenly were not worth anything (like the HP C8543X). A couple of the others buyers prices dropped as well, but it was more of a moderate drop of about 10%-30%. I had questioned one of the buyers what the cause was, but didn't quite get a clear answer. This was the first time since starting cartridge recycling in late 2010 that I have seen this kind of extreme change in buyback. Does anyone out there know what the cause was in this price drop? If so, does it recover very quickly?

Originally Posted by vandgary

I came across your post and want to give Liberty Laser Solutions a try. I have used 4 other buyers with mostly positive results, but feel like trying out another company. I called Liberty Laser this morning and she sent me an email with current price sheet. Their prices seem very competitive and I will start a pallet this week. Hopefully results will be positive. Turnaround time is the one thing that some buyers have a problem with. I have waited nearly 2 months to get a check from some.

Liberty can take a while(they say 30 days but I have waited longer) but they pay better than anyone else and have great customer service. Every time I call them for a pick up they have a truck there the next day.

I have an update on trying out some new companies for cartridge buyback. I read in this thread of someone who uses Liberty Laser Solutions. I decided to give them a try and have been happy with their service so far. I typically fill a pallet of empty cartridges (about 6 - 7 feet tall) in about a 1-2 week period. Liberty Laser arranges pallet pick up with FedEx and sends necessary paperwork through email. They also pay for all shipping costs involved. The drawback of Liberty Laser Solutions for my situation is they only accept pallet shipments. Since it's out of my garage, it can be a hassle to have it take up the space where it's difficult to move if needed. Also, they do not buy inkjet cartridges, only laser cartridges. Their buyback prices are competitive, much better than most other buyers. So far since Mid January I have sent 5 pallets out to Liberty Laser. Checks have been arriving about 4-5 weeks after shipment and prices have nearly matched the total I had originally calculated. The checks I have received so far have been between $450 - $550 for each pallet. Recently in the past month or so, prices have dropped. This has lowered the expected amount of what used to be around $450- $550 to about $350 - $450 for the same amount of cartridges. Not too sure what caused the recent drop in prices, but I do know it wasn't just Liberty Laser Solutions that dropped. All of the buyers I use have dropped their prices, especially Blue Trading.

Another company I tried was Core Recovery Company out of Southern California. They offered buyback prices that seemed much higher than the competition, which caused a little skepticism at first. I decided to try it out anyway. What I soon found out was although there prices were high, they did charge shipping costs that varied by location and what's received (by value). Unfortunately, a check that was originally to be $525 dropped to $355 after they deducted $170 for a shipping charge. They do offer free shipping to those living within the given parameters of their location in Southern California. Core Recovery does offer free shipping to those outside of those parameters, but that's calculated on what's sent (value) and the cost of shipping. I think it's very close to impossible to take advantage of free shipping based on their calculation, since the cost of shipping is so high. With that said however, Core Recovery Company would still yield a higher check than many other buyers. For example, the $355 received for the pallet of cartridges may have only been $200 through a buyer like TonerBuyer.com. A cartridge to illustrate a comparison is the HP CC364X. TonerBuyer.com will buy this cartridge for $8.00 whereas Core Recovery will buy it for $20.00. Looking through the 2 pricesheets, it's clear that Core Recovery overall offers much more per cartridge than TonerBuyer.com. Liberty Laser offers $15.00 for the HP CC364X, but with their totally free shipping, it ends up a better deal than even Core Recovery.

I've used Evolve, Green Hippo, and Toner Buyer. Staples is not even worth the time. Too many hoops and too much time involved. I've only done parcels, by the way.

Evolve is great for loads of obsolete or valueless material, since they offer free shipping and recycle everything. They send a check after $25 so I just fill boxes with carts that are non-virgin or don't ring a bell as being in demand. Eventually, I send them enough incidentally valuable units that they cut a check. And they will provide a cool pie chart to their users, showing the recovery rates and the breakout of materials sent. Very handy if you need to complete a report or show customers how sincere you are in your environmental efforts.

Toner Buyer was a wild hair, stemming from a sudden surge in older, OEM toner carts. Their website just looks so scammy and the list is so huge, I was sure I was going to get burned but they were the only ones offering to buy what I had. I figured, for free shipping on stuff I didn't pay to get, I could stand to take a chance. I thought what I sent was too old but a couple of the unopened HP's netted me $20. Very fast turnaround.

I have reservations about GH. Lengthy entry process, fussy packaging requirements, and a weird phone call to verify what I was sending, even after two separate confirmations were made over email. The quote was about $50; the check came to about $26, just enough to get a check sent ($25 payout minimum, like Evolve). The list they sent of what I had shipped identified a lot of damage, though I don't recall shipping any questionable units. I also sent them some cameras, iPods, and phones. I'm not sure I would do it a second time.

My real takeaway is regarding branding. HP is almost always a moneymaker for ink, Brother for toner. HP toner carts are valuable, too, but not on the same level as Brother. Canon and Lexmark are unlikely to get you much but it's worth a look at someone's list. Epson is almost all worthless, but for a handful of fairly uncommon ink carts, and it's not worth picking them out of a pile. Kodak is pure garbage. The real oddballs, like Panasonic, are not common entries on most cart buyers' lists and are probably best sold through eBay, though Toner Buyer appears to accept a few rare units. OEM is the best bet for anything, including normally low-value ink and toner. Even refilled/drilled carts have some worth, as long as they are OEM and of a popular brand (HP and Brother).

Accepted Ink Cartridges | Inkjet & Laser Printer Cartridge Recycling | Search By Brand

Dazz cycle

Updates.

Evolve's model radically shifted to penalize people like me who were sending weird, no-name material. I don't fault that move; I always doubted the viability of the model. I'm just glad I got wind of it before I shipped a pallet of spent refills. I would have kept sending them stuff if they hadn't also decided to charge for broken units which were on their lists. Since I don't get the say in grading, it would have always been a gamble as to whether I would get paid on any given shipment or if, in fact, I could end up owing them money. That's a dealbreaker, ladies.

Toner Buyer continues to surprise me. I got in a box of eight old unopened Brother toners. I thought they were obsolete. TB thought otherwise and gave me $120. I am really starting to dig on their setup, despite the TL;DR factor of their buy sheet. They have a "spot price" section of their website, where if you have NOS material, you can fill out a quick form and get a quote in about half an hour.

I started with Planet Green Recycle and it has probably been one of my most successful arrangements. In addition to a relatively short list of inks, they also buy old cameras, phones, e-readers, calculators, and game systems, et al.. No dice on toner, though. What has caught me off-guard, aside from them buying otherwise useless small electronics, is that the payouts are about 100%. Normally with these "fundraiser" sites, I expect to lose at least half of what I am quoted, based on "damage" or whatever the buyer cooks up to get out of paying. I don't think I've seen more than one or two cartridges per shipment kicked.

One other thing: Sites like Planet Green and Cartridges For Kids skew towards payouts for non-profit entities like schools and libraries. Presumably, we get in because our facility is a municipal entity. No one has ever asked me to supply an EIN or a 501(c)3 doc but it could happen. Has anyone using these kinds of sites ever had an issue with being self-employed or for-profit and getting paid?

InkRecycling.org - Recycle Ink Cartridges for Cash - Ink Recycling - Cartridge Recycling

Originally Posted by hobo finds

InkRecycling.org - Recycle Ink Cartridges for Cash - Ink Recycling - Cartridge Recycling

I will try these fellows out and let you know what I think. The fact that they pay anything for Epson is interesting, even a penny, given that nearly all other outlets I know treat them like garbage. I have my doubts but their wider list of payable carts makes it seem worth a shot. I wish they declared what they do with unusable units, though.

I also have a pallet out to Liberty Laser. I should be hearing back in the next week or two so I will have feedback on that, too.