Hewlett Packard C1823

If your printer uses HP 23 you have little choice, buy genuine or buy refurbished. However "genuine" and "brand new" do not tell the whole story. Some sellers state that their cartridges (5-6 years old perhaps) "should work 100%." Some guarantee to replace or refund them if they don't work. That is not particularly an option with me; I want my stock to work when opened, not several days later after being replaced. I have found after using many dozens of outdated HP 23s that eventually the printhead dries out before opening. Then one or more colors will not print, even with priming. Wetting the head may open it up but usually cross-contaminates the colors. HP warrants for 6 months beyond the "install-by" date. My experience is up to a year, never a problem. Between one and two years past date, incidence of bad ones gradually increases to about one third bad. After two years, probability gets worse, to about two thirds bad. And so on. I have NEVER found one that worked properly, in factory sealed box, over four years past date. Now, storage conditions obviously have an effect but I have no control over the old-stock cartridges I buy. I have noted that cartridges OUT-OF-BOX (with tape intact on head) tend to go downhill faster than those in the box. Probably because of greater evaporation rate through the film-only than through the film-and-box. Theoretically a fairly high humidity (i.e. above 50% RH) at a low temperature, i.e. below 60F, would be ideal. Those conditions are met in YOUR REFRIGERATOR. Not the freezer though. Personally I have not experimented with that; I buy only in-date or near-date ones and use them within about a year of box date.