Calculating arrival date
Toner Shootout: Which Warehouse Club Offers The Lowest Price On Toner?
Posted by Rob Errera on 10/16/2018
What is going on inside those big warehouse club stores?
BJ’s. Costco. Sam’s Club. You can’t even shop there without purchasing a membership. They offer great prices on certain products, especially if you buy in bulk, but do warehouse club stores offer true savings when it comes to printing supplies like ink and toner? And which offers the best bargain? We hit the street to put the big three warehouse stores to the test!
Toner Blues
If you’re looking to feed your laser printer some reasonably priced toner, the warehouse stores will disappoint you. We visited three brick-and-mortar wholesale clubs in Northern New Jersey, and found:
- Zero laser toner cartridges on the shelves at Costco.
- Two laser toner cartridges on the shelves at BJs—the ever-popular Brother TN-450 and TN-660.
- Twelve laser toner cartridges on the shelves at Sam’s Club, including popular OEM cartridges by HP, Brother, and Canon.
You’re Going To Cyberspace!
BJ’s, Costco, and Sam’s Club didn’t offer much in-house stock of OEM laser toners, but did have slightly more variety on their websites.
BJs Online carries only the most common models of Brother replacement toner—TN660 and TN450. If you own a black-and-white Brother laserjet, you might be in luck at BJs Online. All others, shop elsewhere.
Costco Online offers approximately a dozen different types of genuine Brother laser toner cartridges, as well as a handful of OEM toners for Lexmark and Xerox laser printers. Costco Online also has a handful of remanufactured toner cartridges for HP laser printers; no genuine OEM HP toner here.
Sam’s Club Online offers the best selection of laser printer toners. You’ll find dozens of genuine HP toner cartridges online, as well as a modest assortment of OEM laser toner cartridges from Lexmark, Canon, and Brother.
The lesson here is clear. If you own a laser printer, you need to buy OEM replacement toner cartridges online. But online wholesale clubs offer limited savings and even less selection. You can do better elsewhere. An account at TonerBuzz.com is free—as is ground shipping—and the price and selection on OEM laser toners can’t be beat. Feeding your laser printer means a trip to cyberspace.
The Toner Shootout
| Cartridge | Toner Buzz | CostCo | BJs | Sam's Club |
| HP 51x | 375 | 482.98 | ||
| HP 646 cyan | 215 | 280.98 | ||
| Canon 118 | 119 | 208.58 2-pack | ||
| Xerox 106 cyan | 215 | 280.98 | ||
| Lexmark E260/360/460 | 169 | 184.68 | ||
| Lexmark C792, yellow | 509 | 370.07 | ||
| Lexmark 601H | 224 | 219.99 | ||
| Brother TN-760 available in store | 84 | 74.98 | ||
| Brother TN-850, available in store | 109 | 95.98 | ||
| Brother TN-315. black | 108 | 99.98 | ||
| Brother TN-315, cyan | 114 | 109.98 | ||
| Brother TN-450, available in store | 69 | 49.99 | 49.98 | |
| Brother TN-660, available in store | 72 | 49.99 | 49.98 | |
Conclusions
All of the warehouse clubs fell short when it came to offering OEM supplies for laser printers. Sam’s Club had the broadest in-house selection, but even that was limited to a select number of toners from HP and Brother. None of the warehouse clubs offered OEM supplies for other popular printer brands like Okidata, Samsung, Ricoh, Sharp, or Panasonic.
The most economical way to buy OEM printing supplies for laser printers is on the web, and TonerBuzz.com is the number one online seller of OEM toners, inks, fuser kits, drums and maintenance kits. TonerBuzz.com is an independent dealer, not directly affiliated with any manufacturer, which frees us from the price restrictions imposed on other printing supply retailers. TonerBuzz.com for the win!
Rob Errera
Rob Errera is an award-winning journalist embedded in the world of printers and printing supplies. Rob has nearly two decades of experience writing about cutting edge technology, business trends, and the ever-evolving industry of printing.
