HP 70 / 73 ink / head supply shortage? Discontinued?

[Kyle D Jackson]

Hi everyone, a couple weeks ago I ordered a new set of heads and 1 ink cartridge for a Z3200, and my usual local HP supplier (in Canada) is backordered for like a month. I've never encountered this before and items usually ship immediately.

Anybody else having trouble getting supplies for older Z series printers? I'm wondering if HP has discontinued the 70 / 73 consumables and stock is running out. The HP Canada store shows a mix of "ready to ship" and "ships in 1-2 weeks", but the HP USA store has lots of "low stock" and "hurry, last few remaining".

Thanks!

[Ernst Dinkla]

All instantly available in The Netherlands says my supplier's website.


Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
March 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots

[Kyle D Jackson]

Maybe I need to move there, I hear it's a friendly place for cyclists  Wonder how much a plane ticket is for a pair of Z printers 

[kers]

Maybe I need to move there, I hear it's a friendly place for cyclists  Wonder how much a plane ticket is for a pair of Z printers 

Today the Tour Femmes has ended; all the coloured jerseys went to dutch cyclists... amazing! must be that we have a habbit of cycling...

[Larry451]

Hi,
I'm using an HP Z3200ps photo, in Canada/Ontario
Yes HP Canada is certainly not on top of their game.
Try;  amazon.ca  and cbw.ca who are out of Montreal
regards
Larry.

[Kyle D Jackson]

@kers haha yes that's definitely true! I follow DC Rainmaker regularly and am very envious of his cycling world there!

@Larry451 thanks! I might check those out. My regular supplier for HP supplies (incl paper rolls) for years has been Printers Plus (both local and online), and have generally had the best price and availability whenever I checked around. So this backorder / shortage seems to be something new. Really getting nervous that this might be the end of HP 70 / 73 product line, but hopefully it's only the usual pandemic supply chain troubles.

[deanwork]

There is a law in the US that requires a corporation to offer consumables on printers for a certain period of time. Though there is no law about cranking up the price of the inks. When I started my ink cost was $67.00 US and now they are retail $ 100.00 a 130 ml cart. But I don’t pay quite that much.

I know with the Canon inks and heads they had a list of the end dates for all their printers. They don’t however have to supply parts after a period of time. I know I could buy Canon inks and heads for the 8300 but all main boards were sold out and they would not work on them even though consumables were ( and still are ) available.

Hp must have an end time list like this, though I haven’t found it. Might call them.

All these have chips in them, probably coming from Taiwan and there are shortages all over the place AND HPs priority of course would be supplying their new printers.

John

@kers haha yes that's definitely true! I follow DC Rainmaker regularly and am very envious of his cycling world there!

@Larry451 thanks! I might check those out. My regular supplier for HP supplies (incl paper rolls) for years has been Printers Plus (both local and online), and have generally had the best price and availability whenever I checked around. So this backorder / shortage seems to be something new. Really getting nervous that this might be the end of HP 70 / 73 product line, but hopefully it's only the usual pandemic supply chain troubles.

[Kyle D Jackson]

Now over a month since I ordered these supplies and so far I've received only 2 of 7 items. Still waiting, no clear arrival date from supplier. Still hoping it's just a supply chain issue.

[Kyle D Jackson]

...Delayed update...  I ended up cancelling the order after waiting 2.5 months and receiving only 2 of the printheads. Vendor explained that getting stock into Canada thru HP supply chain has been really bad.

They pointed me to another vendor who was showing items in ready stock. I ended up not bothering because I was moving out of my home anyhow and put the printers into storage (I exercise them regularly tho). Hopefully once they're back out of storage I can try ordering supplies again and maybeeee they'll be available.

With the z3x00 discontinued though (or end-lifed), I'm still really nervous that I won't be able to get HP 70 / 73 heads or inks anymore. HP Canada's own website says "in stock, ships in 1-2 weeks" for most items, which isn't very confidence inspiring. But my vendor did say that HP hoards stock for themselves and their vendors are at the back of the line, so maybe ordering direct from HP now is the only way to get this stuff.

[deanwork]

Forget about Canada

- https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?q=Hp%2070%20inks%20for%20z3200&sts=ma

It supplies - https://www.itsupplies.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=Hp+70+inks+


Or HP US etc


John

...Delayed update...  I ended up cancelling the order after waiting 2.5 months and receiving only 2 of the printheads. Vendor explained that getting stock into Canada thru HP supply chain has been really bad.

They pointed me to another vendor who was showing items in ready stock. I ended up not bothering because I was moving out of my home anyhow and put the printers into storage (I exercise them regularly tho). Hopefully once they're back out of storage I can try ordering supplies again and maybeeee they'll be available.

With the z3x00 discontinued though (or end-lifed), I'm still really nervous that I won't be able to get HP 70 / 73 heads or inks anymore. HP Canada's own website says "in stock, ships in 1-2 weeks" for most items, which isn't very confidence inspiring. But my vendor did say that HP hoards stock for themselves and their vendors are at the back of the line, so maybe ordering direct from HP now is the only way to get this stuff.

[Kyle D Jackson]

Thanks John. Unfortunately all those HP items on B&H say "Shipping Restriction: No shipping to Canada". ITSUpplies is similarly USA-only.

Thanks anyway though. Like I said, since all my printing gear is currently in storage I haven't checked in with my supplier since Sep. Maybe stock is not a problem now. I did order an HP paper roll today so I'll see how that goes.

I used to get supplies next-day, even early in the pandemic. It wasn't until summer 2022 that I encountered problems. All my vendor reported was that HP prioritizes stock to USA first before Canada, and then HP Canada stocks its own direct sales before sending any to HP vendors.

Cheers

[deanwork]

That’s terrible. You are closer to New York and Chicago than I am.

Thanks John. Unfortunately all those HP items on B&H say "Shipping Restriction: No shipping to Canada". ITSUpplies is similarly USA-only.

Thanks anyway though. Like I said, since all my printing gear is currently in storage I haven't checked in with my supplier since Sep. Maybe stock is not a problem now. I did order an HP paper roll today so I'll see how that goes.

I used to get supplies next-day, even early in the pandemic. It wasn't until summer 2022 that I encountered problems. All my vendor reported was that HP prioritizes stock to USA first before Canada, and then HP Canada stocks its own direct sales before sending any to HP vendors.

Cheers

[Kyle D Jackson]

That’s terrible. You are closer to New York and Chicago than I am.

Haha I know right! My understanding is it's due to the same regional market controls that a lot of brands started doing over the past 5-10 years, where they prohibit vendors from selling their products outside of specific territory, or advertising lower than specific prices ("MAP"). For example I used to buy a lot of Canon gear from USA (B&H) when it made sense to, however now they are prohibited by Canon from shipping to Canada. Some vendors still ignore the OEM's rules and ship it anyway, and can afford to because of the sheer volume they sell (eg Amazon).

There are ways around it, and sometimes it makes sense where there is simply no other option. For example there are several cross-border shipping services that let you use a USA-based address to order, and then you can either pick it up in the USA in person, or have it shipped onward to Canada. Obviously it comes with added cost/hassle though, so it only makes sense for me if it's something that simply isn't available locally.

And I'm still hopeful that basic print supplies aren't in that category yet... Obviously I want to be able to order consumables as I've always done: from my "local" authorized HP reseller. But if/when HP 70 / 73 supplies are truly discontinued, then I guess I'll have to either chase stuff wherever I can find it, or simply abandon the Z3X00 series (if I don't want to hack ink carts or refurb printheads to use the other Vivera ink supplies).