To think the price is extortionate

Compatibles should be OK unless you are printing photos and need high quality.

It is also worth buying the inks from ebay - originals or compatibles are cheaper there.

But I realise you were "caught short" so to speak and had to get what you could. I agree that the prices are ridiculous.

I bought compatibles Luckygirl from both Ryman’s ( the assistant assured me they were as good as) and I gave it a second chance buying online but the machine just would not recognise them so would not print, it was not that it was inferior it just would not move an inch So no choice Yes I was caught short and needed a document today

BlueBelle Next time you buy ink you could try compatibles using this little trick. When you install them into the printer hold the cancel key down for ten seconds. For some reason this tricks the printer into accepting the cartridges, although you will get constant reminders that your ink is running low! Just ignore that until you know that you really are probably running low! Don't know where I heard of doing this, but I've been doing it for years with my Canon printer.

This really, really annoys me!! (and DH too)

Printers are relatively cheap - in some cases it is cheaper to buy a printer with inks than buy a new set of inks.
I cannot stand the thought of all the recycling involved if people do this.

Surely inks are not that expensive to produce?

I also have an Epsom printer, the compatibles I use are from www.internet.ink.com and they work in my printer as long as all the cartridges ate compatibles, not a mixture of compatibles and Epsom

I buy compatable ink from amazon (free postage with amazon prime but if you search some sellers offer free postage)

Just type the printer specs into amazon search engine.

Never had any problems with ink quality or colours.

We had a Canon printer/fax/copier but using compatible inks apparently made it go wrong and we had to dispose of it.

DH prints photographs for his photographic club.
Colours are very good with the compatible ink
It is more important to use good quality photographic paper.

I have an Epson and always use compatibles which work fine. Though I did read somewhere online quite a while ago that Epson were clamping down on this with their latest software updates, which would block the use of compatibles. I can't remember where I read this, but the advice given was to NOT install any software updates on the printer, so after that every time I got an 'Epson Printer Software Update' flash up on the screen, I just hit the cancel button.
Newer machines (mine is probably about 4 years old now) almost certainly have this later software installed, which will be why you have problems with compatibles.
I will naturally be wary of replacing my printer with an Epson when it finally kicks the bucket

I think printers are sold cheaply so that the manufacturers make money on the cartridges.
I bought an HP printer which came with a deal on ink; I pay £1:99 a month and for that I can print up to 50 pages including photos. When the ink runs low I automatically get new cartridges through the post because the printer emails them! It came with 4months free and I decided it was a good deal given the high cost of ink as OP has pointed out. There are other deals for heavy print users!

Canon printers seemed to be more expensive but the inks were cheaper, Epson printers were very cheap but the inks were expensive and have gone up in price.

There really is no justification for the price they charge for inks - what on earth is in them?

We also have an HP printer with monthly payment for ink, in our case we pay for 100 pages which is £3.49. Any pages not used are banked up to the maximum of the monthly contract, so currently we have an extra 80 we could use this month. It works for us and we never run out of ink. We had a couple of teething issues and found the helpline staff very patient and helpful, even crediting us with extra pages when a friend accidentally got the printer churning out empty pages. If we decide against it at any point the contract can be easily cancelled.

Ditto cornergran it works out fine for us and much less painful than having to buy cartridges as and when.

We have a Canon printer/scanner/copier which cost less than £100 and it has 5 ink cartridges - two black ones - one is the same size as the coloured cartridges and one is about twice the size. I can buy the refills separately or together. I am able to get the whole pack in Costco for £34 so a really good deal.
I agree about the price of the inks they are far too expensive.

We have an Epson printer bought from Tesco, we buy Epson ink cartridges from Tesco......the printer frequently refuses to recognise them! Grrrr!

I also had a canon printer ruined by compatible cartridges. Today I have dismantled my printer and old pc and binned the lot of it . It's not been used in more than a year so it's gone. I thought hubby would go bonkers but he didn't.I
He has a laptop now and I use my kindle fire. If we ever need anything printing we will just have to find a way around it .

Cherry I honestly have used compatibles and it just won’t accept them and yes I don’t mix them My printer is only about a year old so guess they have made it impossible to use compatibles as Bathsheba had heard I ve also heard of some little tips the assistant told me to rub the edge with a pencil but it made no difference I don’t think I have a cancel button Squiffy
I love just have to make sure I use it very little but it’s absurd recalling a minute amount of ink bah humbug

I do the same as cornergran and mollie. It saves a lot of bother if you run out of ink. Haven't yet, fingers crossed.

I was not offered that with Epsom is it just HP or have I missed out on this monthly thingy

BlueBelle have a look at this blog - it has some suggestions which may help:

Are they refillable?

I think it’s just HP bluebelle, we decided it was cheaper to buy a new printer with this ink deal than continue to buy ink for the old printer.

This is slightly at a tangent but my friend got rid of her printer and now uses the services of a nearby secondary school's reprographics department and a photography shop. It's worth considering if you have moderate print needs.

Thanks for the link Bathsheba I ll try compatibles again using those tips it’s just so annoying to lose more money and also inconvenient and you usually only change when you are at the brink of running out
I ll certainly not have Epsom again( unless these tricks work) which is a shame as it the best printer I ve ever had for performance apart from this blooming ink prices
Not a bad idea Springychicken but with no car and not near a high school it would be impossible for me but might work for others