PF-03 Printhead Purchase - New or Used?

[m4tthew]

Hi,

I recently purchased a Canon PF-03 Printhead off ebay but it appears as if it has been used. A few things made me draw this conclusion:

1) Taking the orange protection covers off the nozzles and the part where the ink enters, there is (or what appears to be) cyan ink on the white padding.
2) Within the orginal box, the printhead has been placed in a resealable food bag.
3) The printhead has been marked with a marker pen.

When told the seller this was a used printhead and I would like a refund, I was told that they would be happy to refund me the amount I paid and told me that he/she was selling on behalf of someone else. I have since been told by the seller that the condition of the printhead is normal:

"All replacment print heads come in bags as they have to be coded for the warranty, as for the blue all heads come with this as it is the fluid that canon but through it to check it works this is a new head and I have to code all my heads so that you know they are from UK not imports that might damage your print if you load it in your printer and do a life status print you will see it is new if it had been loaded it would have 4 colours not just cyan."

Can anyone with experience with the Canon PF-03 Printhead tell me whether this is the case?

Thanks in advance.

 

[ghwellsjr]

The new Canon print heads that I have opened in the their original foil sealed packages have a bluish, somewhat oily substance coating them. I never saw a marking from a marker pen. It's obvious that your print head has been opened and there is no way of knowing whether it has been used. I can understand why a seller would put his marking on the print head so that if you claim it was defective and return a different print head, he would have proof that satisfies him, but not you, that you were trying to cheat him. I did buy 5 used print heads from a place in China and all except one had problems. They refunded the price of the four and didn't even ask for the print heads back. Of course that has no bearing on your situation. I would say you need to buy from someone who has a good reputation or through some place like eBay that will cover you if the seller disappoints you.

 

[geezzrcanon]

hi i have had meny years with Canon and have seen this before all it is that they come in plain boxes and have vph number on them from my experience these heads are the best ones as they always come from Canon UK and have all been tested so i would say you have a new one if it is a VPH number as this is the only number i have seen in marker on a head in the past.

hope this helps

 

[m4tthew]

great, thanks for the replies.

Does anyone else notice that there is a bluish oily substance on their new printheads? Anyone else agree that this is normal?

Thanks for point that out geezzrcanon. The box is not a white box but a brown one. Is this standard for the uk?!

Please see photos below

Bluish liquid
i41.tinypic.com/intjza.jpg

Sealed in sandwich bag
i43.tinypic.com/31361s0.jpg

In a brown box - note part of the box is scratched off
i41.tinypic.com/b8nw2t.jpg

What do you guys think?

 

[ghwellsjr]

One other thing you could try is place some tissue paper the nozzles of the print head and see if you only see that blue color coming out of all the nozzles instead of all different ink colors. You could also look at the inlet ports to see if there is only the blue color. Maybe put a Q-tip against each one to see the color you get.

 

[geezzrcanon]

The blue is the norm but yes if you have 4 colours on the nozzles then it is a used one but you would see this easy if you load it and do a status print see what letter comes up it will be an (a) if new but if you only have the the blue lube on the head I would say it is new and from UK Canon if in plain brown box with glove and in a bad with the free white strips on if you want I could contact the seller for more info for you just pm me there details