Buying Tips for Purchasing a HP 78 C6578DN Cartridge on eBay.

1.  Feedback. The sellers who are moving quantity of ink and have a rating above 99% are usually safe bets.   You want to deal with a professional ink seller. Selling Imaging products is quite complex.There is a lot of after sale support intrinsic in this category.

2. Listing Description.  Some very tricky marketing is being done on Ebay.  Some common misleading tactics are adding phrases like “new in the box” , “NEW remanufactured cartridge”, or “NEW ink”. It's amazing how many customers; eyes will skip everything else to only see the word NEW. Read the description carefully. Vote with your dollars and don't reward these unscrupulous  sellers with your business.

3.  Pictures:  Pictures don't tell you very much. Unless they are misleading indicating a sleazy seller.

There are hundreds of companies doing remanufacturing and only 6 to 8 companies manufacturing generic boxes. Almost all the re-manufacturers are using the same box. YOU CAN'T  look at a picture of a box and determine the manufacturer or the quality. An additional caveat is that many times what you receive won't be the same product as pictured.

One seller whose name I won't mention has a rating of 95%. Pictured right at the top of his listing are a brand new cartridge in the original HP box. Doesn't even put a dislcaimer in the picture. If you don't read the description you think you are buying a brand new cartridge.  So many poor customers  fooled and Ebay does nothing. His prices are low and he has many negatives for quality and service. Surprise surprise the number 1 complaint is "I thought it was a new cartridge"
 
4. Fill Level:  HP sells a high yield (38 ml) and low yield (19 or 25ml) version of the cartridge. The plastic body (chassis) is the same so  a low yield version is nothing more then a half filled high yield cartridge.
Many re-manufacturer's only fill the cartridges to 25 ml as they figure you won't notice the difference and you'll buy more often.

Since the difference in price is miniscule the 38ML is the better buy.

TIP:
Printers don't recognize how much ink is in the cartridge only how much printing is done with the cartridge.  A regular cartridge filled to a high yield level may have a circuit board difference that will show that it's out of ink after the first 25ml are used.  This problem is circumvented by ignoring the warnings and continuing to print until the cartridge runs out of ink!. CAUTION don’t ever print to empty with any printer that has the  Print head on board. It'll fry the head a very expensive problem to fix.. But no worries with the HP 78
 
5. There are brand new third party generic knockoffs (of questionable quality and legality) available in the market the catch phrase for identifying these is the words "Not an OEM product” or “ New not Oem” These are not considered as high of quality as a premium remanufactured cartridge such as we sell.
 
6.  Country of Origin: The United States overall makes a better remanufactured cartridge than Asia. Sellers advertising that their cartridges are remanufactured in America are generally selling superior quality. If the HP 78 is remanufactured in China, it's probably inferior quality.

7. Manufacturing Process. A professionally remanufactured cartridge will go through an extensive remanufacturing process. Specially formulated Inks are used and a complete manufacturing process using state of the art machinery is implemented. Avoid drill and fill and pay the extra for premium product.

8. Seller Dedication: Look for a seller in the business of selling Inkjet Cartridges. The HP 78 cartridge is a perishable item. Heat and Humidity are  enemies along with the position in which it's stored. 30 days in a hot warehouse can dry that cartridge out. . It is very risky to buy closeouts in this model. The Bidabit warehouse is Air conditioned and never allowed to go above 78 degrees. Do you think a seller not specializing in the industry will take this kind of care?

9. Shipping: Every shipment of cartridge in should be packaged in a shipping box not a mailer. This adds 1,000s of dollars to the bottom line because Padded mailers are lighter in weight (freight savings) and easier to pack and assemble(labor savings). We package all shipments in a box because HP 78 cartridges are sensitive electronic items. A padded mailer simply isn't sufficient protection for shipping. Especially not on the HP 78 which is a fragile cartridge.. Make sure that the listing states that the units are double boxed or packaged in a shipping box.  Otherwise you  run a greater risk of receiving damaged product.

9. Warranty: Your inkjet cartridge should at least have a 90 day warranty. 30 days simply is not enough warranty to protect you on a larger purchase. You'll find the more reputable companies will guarantee there products for at least 90 days. Also look for a Money Back return Policy. If it doesn't work out  you want to at least be able to get part of your money back. The money back norm in the industry is 30 Day Warranty Full price less shipping and handling. But some companies will have restocking fees etc.