An article discusses the OEMs stipulations on its cartridges in the USA.
Pamplin Media Group reported that in the US Epson cartridges may only be sold in the first instance as an OEM cartridge and can only be recycled and remanufactured in the USA after which they cannot be sold anywhere but the US.
The article noted that due to past Epson lawsuits against aftermarket companies the sale of compatible Epson cartridges was ended and only remanufactured Epson cartridges could be sold as an alternative to OEM Epson cartridges.
Up until recently this was working efficiently but the article pointed out that the standards changed with Amazon and other online sites “turning a blind eye to illegal product importation” as well as “questionable practices of knowingly listing illegal items” including Epson compatibles which are not remanufactured and are being sold very cheaply.
It was also noted that the majority were imported from China and many speculated that because of government subsidies on manufacturing enabled the cartridges to be sold at 90 percent less than original Epson cartridges. It was also suggested that Chinese production was flooding the market with twice the world demand.
Remanufacturing of Epson cartridges in the US has been of good quality and generally sell at 40-50 percent lower than the originals but this influx of cheaper, lower quality cartridges could be detrimental to those remanufacturing.
The article stated that the number of seizures in the US of illegal cartridges being imported is growing and that online companies should penalise and police illegal sellers more efficiently and that counterfeit cartridges are also finding their way onto the market. Epson recently got an injunction and seizure orders against a counterfeiting operation in Nevada.
Concluding the article said that despite those in “the business” advising consumers about the dangers of using extremely cheap cartridges some still do and are then surprised when the quality of printing is poor or they have problems with the printer.