Sublisplash inks ...

[DyeSubSupplies]

If if you work on that basis of a 10% discount from xpress ( I was led to believe sawgrass ink wasn't to be discounted below the rrp but that's a different matter) and their free postage there cost comes in at £198.45 all in.
The price of the sublisplash would be £196.19 all in, however each cart has 2ml more ink in them so that's an extra 8ml of ink then also take into account the quality of the ink which is being independently tested by Paul at the moment, so those results will be interesting,time will tell of people's thoughts and opinions are.
We had at least 10 sets go out with printers yesterday after our demo day so the feedback should start coming in very quickly.

I think it is a shame that these inks though are no cheaper than Sawgrass (taking into account the 10% DSF discount with Xpres for instance). In fact the 4 pack Sublisplash from DSS is probably going to be more expensive than Sawgrass as Xpres offer free postage over £100.

[UK Printed Mugs]

Of course the results are going to be interesting but it is ILLEGAL in the UK and EU to prevent any supplier for selling below RRP. Hence RRP starting with the word "Recommended". A manufacturer is not allowed to impose a fixed price on goods. Hence the massive lawsuits with pharmaceutical companies recently. I do know from one sublimation supplier that Sawgrass IMPOSE strict selling practices and they know it is illegal to do so but if they don't they will lose being able to supply. I doubt anyone has funds to challenge them though.

[DyeSubSupplies]

That's a very good post, and have hit the nail right on the head!!

Of course the results are going to be interesting but it is ILLEGAL in the UK and EU to prevent any supplier for selling below RRP. Hence RRP starting with the word "Recommended". A manufacturer is not allowed to impose a fixed price on goods. Hence the massive lawsuits with pharmaceutical companies recently. I do know from one sublimation supplier that Sawgrass IMPOSE strict selling practices and they know it is illegal to do so but if they don't they will lose being able to supply. I doubt anyone has funds to challenge them though.

[mr-gobby]

These sublimation inks don't need to be this price, it's borne out by the fact wide format ink is much cheaper, just seems like it's all just profiteering.

[Andrew]

It does seem to be a little backward. Sawgrass have been portrayed as the greedy monopoliser with their patents. They charge around 4 times the cost of equivalent wide format ink. Now you would assume the wide format ink suppliers make a certain level of profit so Sawgrass have been taking advantage of their patents. It is business after all and they have been big enough to uphold their patents until recently. Really can't see any justification in having a comparable price to Sawgrass if patents no longer stand. It's basically slagging of Sawgrass for what they have done then doing the same thing......... charging way over the odds for ink. I assume the margins are possibly bigger even as no licencing fees are involved which the likes of sublijet and artainium must have had to pay.

[Mario Panter]

Well, as I said before, I think there is nothing wrong to offer an excellent product with superb print quality,
delivering outstanding results, higher capacity in the cartridge and all that at a cheaper price.

Doing the math by adding VAT, shipping and on top a discount from a particular vendor isn`t a fair
comparison as the product itself offers significant savings if you compare apples with apples.
Once again, all that has to be seen in light of a cleary visible difference in print quality.

Of course, cartridges always look expensive comparing to liter bottles, no doubt. But it`s a completely
different story to provide a high quality, reliable European made product in cartridges comparing to
simple bulk ink in CIS systems. We`re convinced about both print quality and reliability, not sure
about the liability of the vendor of bottled ink.

But hey, this might not be for everybody. Time will show which ink will succeed in the long run,
might be rather sooner than later..

Enjoy your holiday!


Regards,

Mario

[webtrekker]

Well, it looks like the distributors will be busy providing printed samples. It's a lot to fork out just on an opinion.

As with any new product, I really do hope you have a lot of success, but it's early days yet.

[mr-gobby]

Quality in a product always gains respect and nobody expects a race to the bottom on price but a couple pounds difference over the dearest inks on the market (SG) still means these are priced way over what they could be. Nothing wrong charging what you believe the market can bear however taxes, delivery costs and reseller discounts are all relevant considerations of any prospective purchaser whether it's ink or apples. The opportunity is there to be a game changer and open up the park with the right pricing, long term it would be the smartest move anyone in the ink business could make.

[JMugs]

Pagani sell cars and Dacia sell cars with a difference in their market. If the quality is there it will sell. There is a market for the right inks with the quality of print and gamut range. Not everybody needs it, but some of us appreciate it and quality not low cost is the driving factor.

[UK Printed Mugs]

Personally don't agree. We sell to gift shops, tourism boards and into business and every client is happy with the quality of print using SG inks. Unless there is an economic benefit of using new SS inks then why change something that isn't broke. I appreciate as a newbie you may decide to buy new printer and SS carts but for companies with multiple Ricoh and SG printers like us (yes, we should be wide format by now!) then I am not feeling any advantages.

One confusion I have is that the SS ink carts are meant to fit old style Ricoh and new style SG printer e.g. 7100 / SG800. I was under the impression the head of the SG800 required finer "ink" hence why there is a separate SG ink just for SG800. You can't use SG800 carts in 7100 and vice versa. Is SS magical or SG printer really just a rebadge? Hmm