Hi, I am looking to purchase a product that rarely gets discounted elsewhere but it's half the price at Inkstation.
They have good 4.5+ reviews on google/trustpilot etc, but thought I should still get some more feedback before ordering.
My concerns are whether the product is genuine or not. If you are wondering it is an apple product.
I am particularly interested in feedback with Non Printer Ink related purchases.
Thanks.
Alright thanks.
From other posts I have read shipping from them is really quick so they must be local at least.
Are their inks genuine? I find quite often it being $10 cheaper there
No, not genuine. I bought a 3 pack, only one of these worked. Good online customer service, but tried to diddle me with a refund for only 1 when I had sent the 2 dudders back. Resolved quickly, can't really complain, but probs won't buy from them again. Mailing was prompt, believe they are in Melbourne.
They sell both genuine and non-genuine inks/toners. Never had an issue with the genuine (around 10 years of HP and Canon inks and Brother toners, before I stopped spending so much and just started using compatibles).
One of the biggest and most reliable in the business
They are always clear about items being either Genuine or Compatible and back their compatible products 100%
And they usually offer both
I use them often for non genuine laser printer cartridges. Very fast shipping and the non genuine cartridges work very well for dirt cheap. So yes as a company they are legit, can't speak for the apple products though .
I just checked the Amazon price history for the product I am looking at purchasing and it shows it has dropped down to $19 for a few days recently.
https://au.camelcamelcamel.com/product/B083C6LML4
Also has been as low as $17 from a third party.
So $17 each from inkstation does not seem too far off for the genuine article?
I was just a bit anxious because I remember a period where these apple cables at some places including Amazon AU, Catch and another store I think were selling fakes. Really good fakes because they appeared real, but fakes nonetheless. Seems like a wholesaler was moving these fakes for a bit thinking they were the real product.
This was a few years ago though.
I ordered a couple to get free delivery.
I guess I will use this guide to identify if they are genuine or not.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204566
Ordered on a Monday PM, goods received on a Wednesday AM.
At least I will find out if they are fake or not real quick lol.
Been using them for years for non genuine ink cartridges and the occasional laser toner and have had no issues with any of the cartridges or toner. I have not bought anything else from them.
I usually buy two complete sets of ink cartridges when I use the last of one of the colors so I have spares and get free shipping. Shipping is very quick, usually I order at night so it get shipped the next day and I get it the following day.
Never had any issues with them. Only bought cartridges tho.
That's my experience with them too - positive
I use them for ink and paper. Though usually it's cheaper to order from the US and just pay the huge shipping costs. BH Photo ships extremely fast.
Thanks guys. Seems like most here only order Printer ink/toners from them, which are non genuine ones.
Their listing for the Apple Lightning to USB cable specifically states the brand as Apple. Only one way to find out though so I have already ordered and will inspect them closely and report back here.
Price has dropped to a similar amount and sold by Amazon AU before so I am hoping they are genuine cables from apple.
I am reluctant to post this as a deal since they might turn out to be fakes/replicas.
There are lots of fake Apple USB to lightning cables out there. Even big online retailers got caught selling them. You're better off buying a good quality third party one, like Baseus. Get two while you're at it, to have a spare.
I had a look at the listing;
"Our Apple USB-A To Lightning Cable 1m is cover by a full manufacturers warranty! If your product is faulty, please check with us to organise a replacement or refund. See our warranty page for full details." P.S. Just send it to us, not Apple.
"Full Range of Apple Cartridges at excellent value and will be delivered to your door super fast!" Do they still have LaserWriter cartridges?
I once bought a power adapter listed as genuine Apple. It came in Apple branded packaging and looked exactly like the real thing, until it blew something inside and when taken apart, it was cheap and crappy. The seller was happy to send another one. No thanks. Dodgy pricks.
I was late to update this post. Update is below it's at the very bottom.
I couldn't get out of my head that I was a complete idiot for taking the risk. Only needed one cable anyway, so better to walk into the Apple store and pick one up. I would save $20 compared to the 3 potentially non genuine cables I ordered to get over the $50 spend for free shipping. That and I could get it sooner.
Have heard good about them but never really used them.
I'd personally be looking at cheaper ink/tonner from Facebook marketplace/eBay/gumtree etc. sometimes you can find a deal for genuine inks/tonners @ better price than even ink station generic ones
I've used them too. Had the odd generic which wasn't good but turned out to be a bad batch. The RMA was pretty easy.
I still use them.
We had issues with our brother printer and their generic printer.
Without the chip in the the printer won't show you the ink levels and printing got progressively worse and worse.
Inkstation would not respond to my emails.
After we installed genuine brother ink cartridges did the printer start printing well again.
You need a little device to clear the timer in the ink cartridges, its a blue box you tap on the chip's contacts which resets it, this flashes an LED green to confirm.
Places like ink station probably can't sell these as the vendors sue anyone who sells improvements to their products (Esp. technologies that disable the product's built in Easter eggs), they just love to use any and every method they can imagine to force you to chuck out and cough up again unnecessarily.
My brother MFC has been using an ink tank for years, I just have to remember to reset the cartridges every time the printer claims they are low, which of course, they aren't… ever. Every time I do it, their brand goes deeper into my brain's brand bin.
inkstation shouldn't say they are compatible if you need a work around (easter egg whatever you want to call it) or a device for it to function correctly.
Their product lasts until the logic Brother built into the printer disables the cartridges. That is nothing to do with a vendor, it is a feature Brother designed in to some (not all printers) designed to force you to help their consumables division profiteer. Reportedly there are lots of Brother customers using genuine cartridges that find their full cartridges marked as empty, on a regular basis, forcing early repeat purchases.
If Inkstation were to take your approach, they would have either have to figure out the technical ins and outs of every model, and every software/chip change, or simply not supply anyone who isn't prepared to 'work around' the stupidity imposed by the beast that is our big brother. For products at this price, with as much change as happens upstream, it is not worth it.
Bear in mind it was Brother's decision to do this, even if others behave nearly as poorly. They've all been at it for years and as a result it is a market where the buyer must be aware before just dropping a wad on a machine. We've all known for years to research the cost of consumables before buying any printer, after all.
But all is not lost, as you can just look up the solution on the web, or have someone tell you on OzB.
However for 'consumers who are so important to them', when requiring solutions that just work, it is probably better to carefully avoid crippled products (E.g. pay more for less deceit) in the first place.
I've bought from them multiple times. Good service. I started using their non-genuine ink in my Epson multi-function but the heads kept on blocking even when doing frequent head cleans. The printer is now a black only printer so I had to buy a new one. Now I only use genuine Epson ink.
i buy non-genuine ink from this website, no problems
+1 rep for them, i buy ink from them for my HP printer
On the same evening I had ordered the Apple Lightning cables, I ended up looking up google reviews before bed and then started feeling like an idiot.
It was not the 5 star and 1 star reviews that bothered me, but after the third time I read "you get what you pay for" I started to have serious doubts and sent an email to cancel my order and request a refund. Support responded very promptly the next day, and told me the refund was on it's way. 10/10 with communication and customer service.
It probably helped that I sent the cancellation email just hours after purchasing.
I guess I will never really know if they were genuine cables or not. I ordered 3 cables to get over the free shipping threshold, but only needed one. That together with the worry that they might not be genuine was enough for me to try to reclaim my money.
Keep in mind the original post was all regarding their Apple Lightning cables. They had off brand lightning cables as well, so I thought the Apple ones could be genuine.
I just decided the risk wasn't worth taking.
They are not. They are only trustworthy until there is an issue, just like dasher86's comment above, they practice ignoring and lying to get out of doing the right thing by their customer.
I purchased a printer that was advertised to print Australia Post labels. Ink Station was overall very uncooperative. Initially the printer installation information was not provided and I had to chase it. Once provided, the printer did not work at all, the labels would only print to half the size and not the full size as advertised making it not compatible with Australia Post label printing which is solely what I purchased it for. The label printer was clearly some sort of Chinese no brand junk. They then ignored my emails for a week. I finally got hold of someone on the phone who agreed to a return due to the printer being faulty, they sent me a return slip and I returned the items. They asked me to wait 2 weeks, I patiently waited 3 weeks. When I chased it up they lied and claimed it wasn't received, thankfully I had retained the tracking which proved it was received weeks ago. They have since replied that even though it's been received by their company two weeks ago, that it would take another week to process my refund, this was over a week ago. They then told me that they wouldn't process a refund because I lodged a Paypal dispute so they are now just hedging their bets that they'll win the Paypal dispute even though they have the returned faulty goods. I spent over $400 on this rubbish and I just want my money back so that I can purchase a printer that does the job I require it to do. This has dragged out now for six weeks. Do not buy from these people, they are money hungry and have no morals when it comes to customer service.
Yes, never had an issue with them.