Printer Ink Key Terms

Learn the vocabulary for making the right printer ink purchases

Almost every business requires printer ink for day-to-day use. Shopping for the right printer ink can be more technical and complicated than one would think. First you have to know what type of printer ink your company printer uses. You also have to decide between buying new printer ink cartridges or finding other cost-saving methods, such as refill kits or buying recycled/remanufactured cartridges.

Refill kits

Refill kits allow you to add new ink to your existing cartridges as a way to save money. A color refill kit requires one bottle of each of the basic colors: cyan, magenta and yellow.

Recycled or remanufactured cartridges

Recycled or remanufactured cartridges are old cartridges that have been filled and reused instead of newly manufactured. Recycled cartridges are an alternative to do-it-yourself refill kits for the "green" consumer.

Imaging Supplies Coalition (ISC)

The Imaging Supplies Coalition (ISC) is a non-profit organization that seeks to manage the growing number of counterfeit ink cartridge suppliers.

Continuous ink system (CIS)

A continuous ink system is a set of ink tanks or bottles that are connected by tubes to the nozzles in an inkjet printer. The tanks and bottles are refilled outside the printer.

Redundant nozzles

Some printer ink cartridges come with redundant nozzles, which means there are backup nozzles in case one in use becomes clogged.

Page yield

Page yield refers to how many pages you can print from a certain ink cartridge. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) sets the standards for how to measure page yield, so that customers can effectively compare different printer ink cartridges.

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