Epson SC P800 ink marked Korea Only

[Tony4597]

Based in the UK and with the UK purchased Epson P800 I have recently purchased some genuine Epson P800 inks from a UK seller at a reasonable discount over the Epson direct cost.

I believe in certain countries Epson has modified some printers to reject third-party inks. I believe that this type of move rejected in Europe. So suspect that this is a printer rather than an ink cartridge issue.

Not being too sure about this new (to me!) cartridge I emailed the seller. Any thoughts about the reply I received?
...it is just a labeling thing, nothing to do with the chip.

All Epson inks for their newer printers have included the Korean language on the labels - and the wording 'Korea only' means that text-only applies in Korea, not that the cartridge will only work in Korea.

This is a recent addition to all Epson labels in respect of their modern printers - you will not be able to buy a 2021 dated ink for the P800 without the Korean language on the label.

This ink will work without issue on your P800​

​

 

[stratman]

Give Epson Sales in your country (or EU) and ask them.

suspect that this is a printer rather than an ink cartridge issue

Chicken or the egg? It's both in this case.

The chip on the cartridge communicates with the printer (firmware?) to negotiate successful cartridge installation. A mismatch between the two results in no printing joy.

 

[Tony4597]

Give Epson Sales in your country (or EU) and ask them.


Chicken or the egg? It's both in this case.

The chip on the cartridge communicates with the printer (firmware?) to negotiate successful cartridge installation. A mismatch between the two results in no printing joy.

Thanks, yes I have already fired off an email. Hoping that I will get an honest opinion rather than corporate response which may be economical with the truth. We know that some printer manufacturers have tried to lock printers into their own ink systems and it would not be a huge surprise to me to find very different cost for identical products in certain countries

 

[stratman]

What is the model number of the ink cartridge in question? The model of the cartridges you have been using? Are they the same? Please post so we can see.

Are you able to go to a store and see if the packaging of cartridges for your printer has Korean language on/in it? You might have to buy one to read the internal documentation. Look for package dating of 2021.

 

[Tony4597]

Sorry to say no local stockist to compare

Yes the cartridge numbers are the same and dates 2021 My existing cartridge packaging looks like
https://images.app.goo.gl/A6VAr3E3QMQgyuwA8

The new inks packaging looks like: EDITED....

 

[stratman]

Epson has a "store" on Amazon in the US. I am not sure it is owned/stocked by Epson directly, but I would think Epson would not like some non-Epson entity selling their goods impersonating an Epson business.

That said, notice that some of the cartridge packaging is the "old" cleaner style and others are the "new" text-heavy appearance but do NOT look like the "Korea Only" packaging you posted.

https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/...2b2b-b91a-487f-830c-981c56a7c88d&ref_=ast_bln

Similarly, Epson in the US has the same looking packaging as on the Epson Store on Amazon. It is not a wonder there are no "Korea Only" marked packages since, well, it's the United States.

https://epson.com/i/T850500

So, it appears that packaging has changed. However, the "Korea Only" cartridges MAY NOT work in your UK distributed printer. Epson may slice up the world into "Regions" in which chipped cartridges are designed for a specific Region-distributed printers.

Either secure in writing from the seller they warranty the cartridge will work in your UK printer or money back, or, call Epson like I said above.

Or you could buy from someone else that isn't selling a "Korea Only" marked package and, as our fearless Moderator @The Hat likes to say, be done fecking around.

 

[Tony4597]

Thanks for the reply. Being curious I had a quick look on ebay.com seems that there are a few sellers offering the Korea Only:


My concern is as you highlighted the cartridges could be chipped to regions, although I did not think the UK and Europe allowed this type of practice

The sellers website guarantees the cartridges will work and I am waiting for a reply from Epson this week. In the meantime I have the 4 cartridges I purchased and one of the inks in the printer is getting very close to replacement so I may be forced to try it !

Edit:

 

[stratman]

Good luck. Let us know what happens.

 

[Tony4597]

Just a quick update

Epson replied asking me a few questions about where I bought the ink from, batch numbers, and photos of the cartridge boxes and barcodes, etc. I did not name the seller as I did not feel it appropriate at this time other than to say it came from a UK based eBay seller.

Today had this initial reply:
It seems they are the correct cartridges and should be fine for use in your unit. To be sure we are sending the information to another team for confirmation.

I will post again if there is any reply from Epson with any negative information

 

[stratman]

Sounds like grey market sales of cartridges not to be sold in your Region. It should be easy to find the seller on eBay as well the distributor and possibly the retailer the cartridges were originally designated to go to.

The silver lining out of this story is that Epson P800 cartridges marked "Korea Only" work in a Great Britain designated/sold printer. Certainly gives question as to what other "Region" cartridges can be used in England. That would make printers distributed in England like AB blood - universal recipients.