Once you have a good supply of cartridges start refilling some different types to get up to speed. You can test them in your friends printers; you probably know many people with different printers. If you're serious you can buy test printers very cheaply on eBay or other online auctions. Know anybody that works at Staples, Office Max, Best Buy? They have all new printers on display.

You shouldn't need to test every one you refill. But you will need to test your refilling procedures to make sure you are doing it right. When you are convinced they are refilled properly then you don't have to test every one of them. Now if you want best refilled cartridges you will want to eventually get a test printer for each type of cartridge that you refill.

Here is a tip. If you refill cartridges that are in most demand you will be so busy you won't have time to sleep. Most of those will be Lexmark cartridges. Why? Because Lexmark is buying back their cartridges and there aren't many floating around for refillers to refill. Cartridges like 12A1970, 10N0016, 10N0026, 15G0055, 15G0065, 17G0050, 17G0060, 18L0032 and 18L0042. HPC6578, C6656, C6657, C6658, C8727 and C8728. You'll want to concentrate on cartridges that have built in print heads because other "tank" types are sold so inexpensively that you wont make a profit by selling them.

Make sure you code your cartridges some how. You are probably going to get some duds back and you'll want to be able to identify them as yours. People will sometimes send us back cartridges that we didn't sell them. We know because they are coded. Don't let this happen to you.

This article is getting longer than I wanted so if you have read this far you are probably itching to get started. You'll need some education first. The BEST source is Matt Eve's guide "Inkjet Cartridge Refilling". I have a link to his site from my web site at http://atlascopy.com . Look in left column under Inkjet Refill Business.

There are two other guides that I can recommend, distributed by Asay Publishing. "Inkjet Guide for Entrepreneurs" and "Inkjet Cartridge Book". You can find them here: http://www.asaypub.com/bookstore/author.cfm?authorid=7

Here's one of my favorites. Remove all of your cartridges and punch a hole in them and quickly put them back in printer. Now do fifty back to back print head cleanings while pouring motor oil into paper feed tray. It helps to remove paper so oil can get inside faster. If you see smoke that's a bonus. It means you're doing it right.

This next trick involves use of a ladder and a feather. A chair can be substituted if you don't have a ladder. Any feather will do. Stand on ladder or chair and while printer is on hold feather in one hand and printer in other hand. The law of gravity states that both feather and printer should land on ground at same time providing that there is no friction from air currents or whatever. Now, lets test Newton's law of gravity. Release feather and printer at same time. Did they both land at same time? It might take a few times to get this one right. Practice this one a few times.

Here is one that you can do with your partner. Get a couple of screw- drivers. One person can remove every single screw in printer and other person can put it back together. This is fun at parties.

Last but not least most effective way to kill your printer and make absolutely sure it's a goner is let your kids play with it!