SAVING CENTSABLY: Why not every deal is a bargain

Our family owns a Brother Multi-Function Center for printing our documents in our homeschool classroom. With four children having a full plate of subjects, we print thousands of pages per school year.

We purchased the printer when we started homeschooling in 2013 and have been really pleased with it. We got a fantastic deal at Staples; we used Staples rewards and coupons in the initial purchase, and then we earned more rewards because of the purchase.

We keep pretty good records (especially since the unit itself keeps track) about how many pages we print on each of the toner cartridges. When we first began purchasing toner cartridges, we paid about $75 for each one -- netting us about 3,000 pages printed.

This is certainly a savings compared to the way we once purchased ink for an inkjet printer. We could spend as much as $100 just to replace all the inkjet cartridges inside the printers we once owned.

Despite the savings I have just explained, you know I am always looking for ways to increase our savings and decrease our spending. But truthfully, not every deal you (or I) find is a bargain!

Earlier this year I went to Amazon.com to purchase a replacement toner cartridge. I knew from prior experience that to purchase one at an office supply store could cost about $70-$80 depending on sales and what coupons I could find available.

Unbelievably, I found a generic, non-OEM toner cartridge for just $12! The seller was not a "Prime" seller, so my shipping fees were not covered with my Prime membership. However, even with shipping and tax I paid less than $18 for the toner cartridge.

I received the toner, inserted it in the printer drum, reinstalled the drum and waited for the papers in the queue to print. Nothing happened. In fact, once the printer warmed up, it gave me the "change your toner" message across the screen and beeped at me as it does anytime a problem is noted.

I pulled the drum back out, made sure I had followed the instructions carefully, and re-inserted the drum and toner. I had the same results.

Believing maybe I had done something incorrectly, I had my husband inspect the toner cartridge, the drum and the printer. He could find no reason why the toner cartridge did not work -- and neither could I.

To make the situation a total loss, because we had opened and installed the toner cartridge, it was not something that could be returned. It ended up in the box to be recycled, and I ordered a Brother-brand toner cartridge for our printer.

Last week, it was time to replace the toner once again -- having made it through the summer and the first six weeks of homeschooling.

I went to Amazon.com to hunt for the Brother-brand toner cartridge.

Learning from my lesson, I avoided the dirt-cheap versions and instead ordered a moderately priced Brother toner cartridge with the high-capacity option. Typically, this prints more pages than a non-high-capacity cartridge.

I spent about $47 and paid no shipping fees since the seller was part of the Prime program.

I say all that to remind you of one the most time-honored and proven true sayings out there: "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is."

Contact writer Rachael Mercer at savingcentsably@gmail.com.

This story was originally published October 20, 2015 at 10:30 PM with the headline "SAVING CENTSABLY: Why not every deal is a bargain ."