Why you should use genuine printer ribbons

The ongoing cost of buying consumables for an ID card printer is something that anyone looking to produce their own ID cards needs to bear in mind. Along with the plastic cards, the ribbons are the most important part of the equation. ID cards typically use film ribbons that can produce anything from 100 to 1,000 prints per ribbon, depending on the make and model of your printer.

Unlike ink-jet or laser printers that use cartridges, where the yield of a cartridge is usually based around printing to no more than 5% of each page (meaning that your cartridges run out very quickly), with ribbons the yield tells you how many sets of panels of each colour the ribbon has, each set being used up by printing one card, so the amount of prints the ribbon says it will do is a lot closer to what you will actually get.

Inevitably, ribbons can become costly, especially if you have a lot of cards to produce. Some people like to try and save some money by not buying the genuine manufacturer branded ribbons and instead buying non-branded compatible ribbons. While it’s understandable to want to try and save money, here at ID Management Systems we will never recommend using non-branded ribbons and we will only ever supply genuine ribbons, supplied and branded by the manufacturer of your printer.

Often compatible ribbons can be made of lower quality materials than the genuine manufacturer branded ones, which can lead to lower quality printing and can even damage your printer. Also, it’s worth bearing in mind that most manufacturers’ warranties will be invalidated by using anything other than the genuine branded printer ribbons in their card printers.

Rather than trying to save money by buying inferior, non-branded ribbons for your card printer, save money by dealing with an expert and long-established supplier of card printers and consumables, like ID Management Systems.