I own an Epson XP-235 Printer.
Shortly after buying it I obtained a set of refillable cartridges with self-resetting chips and it has given trouble-free service for several years.
My sister-in-law has an XP-255 that has stopped printing magenta and black after having been unused for three months. Not too surprising!
She has asked me if I would sort it out.
Apart from cleaning the heads, I noticed that the cartridges were almost empty and decided to buy a new set of compatibles because there was a likelihood that the old cartridges could have dried out.
I ordered from a French eBay supplier.
When the cartridges arrived, I noticed that the black one seemed to have come from a different manufacturer, because the colours had different labelling on the sealed packs.
When I installed the cartridges, the black was recognised by the printer, but not the colours.
My printer takes the same cartridges (29 - Strawberry) so I tried the colour cartridges in that and they installed without problem.
When I put my refillable cartridges in the XP-255, it would not recognise them.
I have noticed that many suppliers of compatibles want to know what printer it is for as well as the reference of the cartridge. At first I thought that this was just a double check, but I now suspect that, although these models of printer appear to be identical, there is a subtle difference in the firmware that has allowed Epson to fit new chips in the 29-Strawberry cartridges in order to frustrate the compatible manufacturers and leaving them with a load of obsolete chips. But rather than fitting the latest chips in all compatibles, the clone makers can still shift the old ones if they know what printer it is to be used in.
Is it possible that I have uncovered one more fiendish oriental trick from Epson? Anyone got inside information on this?
It is called dependency. You are as the owner of these units, dependant(as far as possible) on the OEM cartridges. It isnt a scam or otherwise. Just protection of their Intellectual property.
To me it’s a nasty restrictive practise.
When you buy a car, nobody insists that you only buy their brand of petrol. They may recommend their own brand of oil, but it is accepted that other brands will also work and they won’t refuse a warranty claim on that basis.
But cannot escape the fact that, in this throwaway world, a new printer is often cheaper and less hassle than buying new cartridges…
Sadly, not so! A new printer will come with a set of “starter” cartridges that last no time at all and you’re back in the shop buying more at an eye-watering markup on the manufacturing cost.
We bought a new HP Laserjet well over a year ago (maybe even two years) which has a set of starter cartridges and they’re still going strong despite printing off at least 5 bank statements every month (mostly in colour), medical reports and various other things so we are quite happy.
Ya pays ya money and ya takes ya choice but when we had HP colour inkjets, the cost of a new printer was less than the sum of the various cartridge parts 
Good for HP and lucky for you.
I was talking about Epson who are notorious for taking the Gilette ploy to its ridiculous conclusion.
The cartridge costs more to make than the ink it contains, so only partially filling it is simple malicious greed.
I now know that a Brother inkjet printer may cost twice as much but you won’t get ripped off for ink.
Don’t HP have a better driver library than Epson?
My HP Laserjet is a doddle to set up in Ubuntu (Linux) - sometime quite a challenge without the Windoze plug and play (all day!) but looking through the Ubuntu forums, Epson have a dreadful reputation - as indeed do so many other manufacturers.
I like HP 
Whilst our house was a holiday home we bought it a small Brother laser printer for about ÂŁ50, it is wireless and has apple airprint - it does about 1000 pages per toner which are quite cheap and it prints double sided also.
Due to the convenience and low running cost since we moved here permanently our bigger HP inkjet printer remains unused. The HP whilst it prints in lovely colours is expensive to use.
As the Brother was a temporary solution 5 years ago for ÂŁ50 I am very impressed and was very useful for all those Attestations.
IIRC Brother uses (used) the Epson printer engine but perhaps they have better “arrangements” to make it worthwhile selection from the Epson variant?
Never owned a Brother inkjet, but from my Google research, “experts” seem to think they are less picky about cartridges. There are some reports of Epson printers not recognising “genuine” cartridges. Seems to be a firmware thing. Allowing an update is regarded as courting disaster!
I have always used Epson printers ( 3in 22 year’s ) and compatible replacements. When I change cartridges I get a pop up to inform me I am not using a genuine Epson product 
I just click on continue and off I go… maybe I have just been lucky 
Seems so, when they go wrong, they go wrong big time!
What model are you using?
I’ve had an Epson wf3250 for maybe 6 or7 years, always used the cheapest cartridges and never any problems. Think it cost e120, about double the HP, Canon etc printers I’d had before, but they have never lasted more than a couple of years.
Problems seem to be worse with the latest models. Trying too hard to keep users buying overpriced “authentic” cartridges has damaged their reputation. A pity, because their printers are very nice - if you can keep them working.
I bought an Epson XP-245 from a local Brit who I think bought a job lot off l’arrière d’un camion (Is there an authentic French way of expressing this useful idea?) 
. It has a Euro plug and instruction leaflet in French.
It seemed to offer a myriad intriguing functions but totally refused to speak wirelessly to my Orange Livebox which is a total tart generally and smiles and simpers at any bit of passing hardware, and hooks up straightaway.
I tried to get it to accept some non-Epson compatible cartridges from a reliable French specialist dealer in a local city, but it died on me completely and just winked malevolently.
It is now sitting atop a bookcase where it is giving the evil eye 
to a Canon I bought on-line recently during the lock-down.
I’ve had a least 6 in the last 10 years and they’ve mainly all been cheap tat.
Computer stuff has always been too complicated. Give someone a hammer or a screwdriver and he will work out how to use it without an instruction book.
With computer stuff, all you can do is follow the instructions to the letter and hope it works. If it doesn’t you are in deep. . . . . .
Mike…epson XP352
It works as well as my first all bells and whistles Epson, but I don’t print photos these days so not sure of the quality. Print from my laptop, iPad and Android.
A good older model - treasure it!
Is it? I have only had it 12/18 month’s