Like the razor industry, which sells you a cheap razor then robs you blind on the blades, inkjet vendors used to sell their printers for a song, then charge incredible prices for ink. I once owned a Lexmark inkjet whose black ink cartridge cost more than the printer. I never refilled it. Over the years, ink prices have dropped from the absurd to mostly affordable, but not before spawning an entire industry based on lowering those ridiculous ink costs--with cheaper cartridges and ways to refill old ones.