Pay the way you please!

Here at Carrot Ink we accept multiple forms of payment.

Credit Cards

For all online and offline (telephone, fax, and mail) orders, we accept VISA, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover/NOVUS. (Please note your credit card is charged only when your order is ready to ship).

If you are uncomfortable using a Credit Card as a form of payment we also offer the following three options.

Paypal

We accept PayPal for online orders only.

Checks

We accept checks for mail-in orders only. First-time check payments are subject to a 10-business day hold pending bank clearance. Your order will ship at the end of the hold period. For returning customers, once your check is received we will process your order the same day!

Money Orders

We accept money orders for mail-in orders only. Once we receive in the (orders will be released the same day the money order arrives).

If you wish to purchase via Check or Money order simply print out a copy of the check out page and mail it to us at the following address:

Carrot Ink
3732 Arapaho Rd
Addison, TX 75001

Absolute Hogwash!

One of the pains of printer ownership is that nagging “warning” you receive that claims to void your warranty if you use a cartridge other than the brand of your printer – can they really do that?

Well, I did a little digging one day and came up with this little nugget, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, which provides that:

No warrantor of a consumer product may condition his written or implied warranty of such product on the consumer’s using, in connection with such product, any article or service (other than article or service provided without charge under the terms of warranty) which is identified by brand, trade or corporate name.

Seems to me that this is saying if these brands require you to use its ink, or else, must provide that product to you for free – I won’t hold my breath on this one!

So, what do you think? Are these warranty-voiding warnings just a bunch of hogwash?

No Cords Attached…

While browsing at CES 2009, Ray and I stumbled across something that could change the way we print. Seems that HP has come out with an application that prints photos wirelessly from your iPhone. This comes just in time for many to empty their holiday photos and get ready for St. Patty’s day!

Before this application, photos from your mobile phone had to be downloaded to a Mac or PC or Smart Printer, or e-mailed to yourself so you could print them out. Not the end of the world, but it took forever.

The HP app is so simple and innovative. You download it off of iTunes and pick a printer to print from. Tadaa! photos taken with the iPhone are printed wirelessly and memory can be cleared.

This is not the first application of its kind. A while back I noticed there was software that you could buy to print from your Blackberry. In my opinion, not only is the HP iPhone app easier, it’s free!

Has anyone out there used this application? If so, what are your thoughts?

Great Troubleshooting Tip for Remanufactured Cartridges!!


When it comes to printing photos, important documents like a resume or term paper, or even a grocery list, no one wants streaky or discolored printouts. Several different factors can affect the quality of your print jobs, including a clogged printhead. These clogs can prevent the proper ink flow needed to print quality documents or pictures, and streaking or discoloration can occur.

For Remanufactured or OEM cartridges that contain a printhead, there is a quick and easy way to clear away dried ink particles on the printhead. This tip typically works better than using the deep cleaning option on your printer, and does not waste your ink! Please see the steps below:

· Remove the cartridge from the printer and locate the printhead. The easiest way to do this is to turn the cartridge upside down and look for the copper rectangle on the bottom that dispenses the ink.
· Once you have located the printhead, take a shallow dish from your kitchen and fill it with a quarter inch of warm water. You will then need to soak only the printhead portion of the cartridge in the warm water for 1-2 minutes. Sometimes you will see a small amount of ink run into the water but do not be alarmed. This is dried ink being washed away from the printhead.
· After the soaking has been completed, gently dab the printhead dry with a paper towel and re-install the cartridge in the printer. Your test page should print streak free and in the correct shade of colors.

** Please note that in some cases you may need to perform the printhead soaking more than once to clear away streaks and discoloration.**

Economic Stimulus

It’s hard to escape talk of the economy these days – words like sub-prime, bailout and stimulus have become everyday vocabulary. So it was no surprise when I was forwarded an e-mail about the stimulus payment we’re all going to receive in 2009, and it got me thinking.

The e-mail explained the stimulus payment in a “Q & A” style that led you to the conclusion that the money is meant to be spent on products that will boost the American economy – that makes sense. But here is what really got me thinking – the e-mail analyzed the different ways we could spend our stimulus check, and in every case it ended up in another country’s bank account. A sampling from the e-mail:

• If you spend that money at Wal-Mart, all the money will go to China.
• If you purchase a computer it will go to Taiwan.
• If you purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala (unless you buy organic).
• If you buy a car it will go to Japan and Korea.
• If you purchase prescription drugs it will go to India.
• If you give it to a charitable cause, it will go to Nigeria.

Although meant to be sarcastic or funny, there was a strong element of truth which is really pretty sad. While this got me thinking about the undoubtedly globalized business world in which we operate, it also evoked this sense of pride from within. I’m proud, for example, that Carrot Ink has been in business for 10 years. I’m proud that we save our clients money while still providing a superior product. Most of all, I’m proud that our Carrot Brand remanufactured inkjet products have been bought, reprocessed and sold right here in the good old US of A.

This e-mail drives home the unfortunate notion that the American small business is a dying breed. It’s a shame, because it will be companies like these that will be integral in helping this country weather this economic storm.

Consider this - according to the National Small Business Association, over the past 15 years small business has created 21.9 million jobs while large business only created 1.8 million. It doesn’t say how many have been lost by large businesses in the last year alone. Small businesses comprised 99.7% of all employers and provide 50.4% of jobs in the US in 2007. I wonder what the landscape looks like today?

This e-mail serves as a call-to-action for all who read it to do their part in using their stimulus check wisely. Personally, I am going to focus on ways to keep my stimulus money stateside – buy something from a local artisan or craftsperson, vacation domestically and consume domestic products. As they say, “what goes around, comes around.”

Printer Reset Tips

After installation of new cartridge, if your printer does not recognize the correct ink levels or recognize that the cartridge has been installed, you may need to preform a printer reset to correct the problem. Please follow the steps below to reset the printer:

•Remove all the cartridges, black and the colors, sorry but every cartridge must come out.

•Turn off the printer.

•Unplug the printer from the power source (outlet or USB cord) once unplugged leave unplugged for five complete minutes.

•Reverse the steps

•Plug back in, turn back on, and install all cartridges back into the printer.

This should reset the printer, after you have completed this process everything should start to work again. Please contact us if you should have any other concerns so that we may help you work through the problems or replace the cartridge for you.