Latest Stinkyink Posts

Celebrating 10 Years In Business - Present Five

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 08:27:11 +0100

Our final 10th Anniversary treat is from the ones who make our website tick, Stinkyink's brilliant Tech Team!

They're going out with a bang and this offer isn't to be missed!

Get 10% Off Using Code 'TENYEARS' ... AND Win New iPads

We've created coupon code 'TENYEARS' to give you 10% off every single order. There's no minimum order value, just use 'TENYEARS' with any order. That's not all....

For every 1,000 uses of coupon code 'TENYEARS' we will be giving away a brand new iPad! If you make a purchase with this discount code you'll automatically be entered into every prize draw.

This competition is open until Midnight May 1st, so spread the word and give yourself an even bigger chance to win the most sought after gadget of 2012.

This is our final treat for our 10th anniversary. We hope you've enjoyed it and made some great savings. Good luck in the iPad prize draws and we'll see you all soon!

Celebrating 10 Years In Business - Present Four

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 08:29:14 +0100

After 10 years of trading online Stinkyink.com is celebrating it's birthday. Today's treat is from our money men, Stinkyink's brilliant Accounts & Purchasing Team!

It just so happens today is the birthday of Samuel Morse, co-inventor of the Morse Code, and we've encoded two discount codes for you this weekend.

10% Off Orders Over £10

-.-. . .-.. . -... .-. .- - .. --- -.

5% Off Any Order

... --- ...

Break the cipher on your preferred discount and you'll have a code ready to use on our website. All codes are valid until Midnight Sunday, 29th of April. Happy codebreaking!

Celebrating 10 Years In Business - Present Three

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 08:30:48 +0100

Today's 10th Anniversary treat is a double-whammy from our busy-bees, Stinkyink's brilliant Warehouse and Despatch Team!

- 20 Orders Will Be Sent Out Again Free -

20 orders over April 25th and 26th will be doubled up for free! So place an order today, and if you're one of the 20 lucky winners you'll receive that order... twice... at no extra cost!

- Any Orders Over £75 ex VAT Will Enjoy Free Next Day Courier -

Our Next Day Courier service normally costs £5.99 + VAT, but for April 25th and 26th we're putting every single order worth £75 ex VAT onto a next day courier, for FREE!

You don't have to do anything your end, just spend over £75 ex VAT and we'll automatically put it on courier, saving you a whopping £7.18 AND getting your order to you next day!

(please note if you don't want your order placed on courier, enter "FIRST CLASS POST" into the delivery instructions at the checkout)

Thanks again for your support of Stinkyink and have a great few days of super fast delivery and order doubling!

Where Can I Recycle Printer Cartridges

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:14:31 +0100

Considering how "environmentally concious" manufacturers are, it's incredibly difficult to find recycling information. That's why, with the help of recycling company Greensource, we have produced a comprehensive guide of recycling advice for nearly all major printer manufacturers.

Please note for the vast majority of cartridges we provide our own recycling scheme here. If you find your cartridges do not quality for these recycling schemes, then you can find your manufacturer below for their own recycling details.

Jump to recycling details for your manufacturer here:

Brother Cartridge Recycling	Lexmark Cartridge Recycling
Canon Cartridge Recycling	Oki Cartridge Recycling
Dell Cartridge Recycling	Panasonic Cartridge Recycling
Epson Cartridge Recycling	Ricoh Cartridge Recycling
HP Cartridge Recycling	Samsung Cartridge Recycling
Kodak Cartridge Recycling	Sharp Cartridge Recycling
Konica Minolta Cartridge Recycling	Toshiba Cartridge Recycling
Kyocera Mita Cartridge Recycling	Xerox Cartridge Recycling

Brother Cartridge Recycling

Recycling Brother printer cartridges is nice and simple! They have a dedicated recycling page you can find here, where you enter your personal details to generate a freepost form.

Not wishing to miss a trick, Brother have included a checkbox to subscribe you to an information mailing list, so make sure it's not checked when you submit your details!

Once you've submitted your details they don't make it clear where your freepost label is, so click the image to the left to enlarge a screenshot with the necessary link circled :-)

Canon Cartridge Recycling

Canon announced a recycling agreement with eReco to handle cartridge recycling. They operate a 0% landfill policy and all recycled parts are used towards a vast range of products, such as traffic cones, fire alarm casings and game consoles!

To utilise their service simply visit this link and follow the on-screen steps. Please note this is a paid-for service, and you'll be charged a minimum of £34.50 + VAT for your recycling efforts.

You also receive a certificate of recycling, which is used for environmental reporting and for accreditations linked to environmental efforts.

The recycling scheme we run at Stinkyink accepts the vast majority of Canon products free of charge, so it's probably best to limit the use of eReco to the few cartridges we don't accept.

Dell Cartridge Recycling

Dell have got one of the clearest recycling schemes available for manufacturers, and I feel they should be applauded for their efforts. To start with, any Dell cartridge you receive should have freepost information included in the packaging.

If for some reason you've miss-placed your recycling label, head to Dells UK printer cartridge recycling page and select the recycling option you're looking for (or skip a step and choose them below):

Home Ink Cartridge recycling (up to 12 ink cartridges)
Business Ink Cartridge recycling (up to 300 ink cartridges)
Home Toner Cartridge recycling (single cartridge)
Business Toner Cartridge recycling (up to 20 toners)
Large Business recycling (alot of toners.....)

Epson Cartridge Recycling

Our recycling scheme does not accept Epson ink cartridges, and we typically advise cleaning the cartridge and dropping it into a plastic recycling bin. Epson ink cartridges are basically ink reservoirs, so this approach is fine.

If you'd rather use Epson's own service, you will find Epson's recycling scheme details here.

If you're recycling an Epson toner cartridge, the Stinkyink recycling scheme can accept them or you can use the Epson recycling program, either way helps the environment!

HP Cartridge Recycling

Accounting for around 50% of the total printer market, there are an awful lot of HP cartridges out there. Thankfully our recommended Recycling scheme accepts the vast majority of HP cartridges, so go get your freepost recycling details here.

If you'd rather recycle through HP, you need to register for their scheme as either a Home Office User, small business or Enterprise, and once you've done that you can order return details that are completely free.

Before placing an order, don't forget to check your HP box. The majority of them actually come with freepost details so you may already have the tools at your disposal!

Kodak Cartridge Recycling

Sometimes you wonder how Kodak could ever have gone bust. Then you see how unclear some of their information is and it kind of makes sense.

Kodak's recycling scheme for the UK very helpfully informs you that you can recycle any Kodak cartridge at a participating Kodak Express Digital Solutions Program Store. If you speak to Kodak, they advise there are no stores now part of this scheme.

You're in luck though, our recommended recycling program will take all your Kodak cartridges free of charge.

Konica Minolta Cartridge Recycling

The vast majority of Konica Minolta cartridges can go through our recommended recycling scheme here. If you'd rather use Konica Minolta's recycling scheme, it's split between the type of printer you have.

To recycling printer cartridges for the Magicolor and PagePro series, visit the Konica Minolta Clean Planet Recycling Progam here. This will provide free return labels for your cartridges.

For Konica Minolta Bizhub cartridges, you will need to contact their recycling partner eReco. Please note they charge £35 plus VAT for their recycling service, so you might prefer to use our service for free!

Kyocera Mita Cartridge Recycling

We accept the vast majority of Kyocera Mita cartridges through our toner cartridge recycling scheme, accepting both genuine and remanufactured Kyocera Mita cartridges.

If you'd rather recycle through Kyocera, they have a very simple recycling program here. Fill in your necessary details and they'll generate an RMA number for you to place on your packaging.

Please note Kyocera only accept genuine Kyocera returns that have been packaged properly.

Lexmark Cartridge Recycling

Lexmark have a two-tiered recycling system, and no matter which you proceed with it is free to use.

For up-front savings and easy recycling, look for "Return Program" versions of the cartridges you purchase. This means your cartridge is cheaper up front to purchase, and the packaging will include returns details to get the empty back to Lexmark.

If you've either lost the returns details or purchased a standard Lexmark cartridge, you can find their recycling details in the following places:

Click here if you're recycling Lexmark INK cartridges. You can order up to 10 pre-paid return envelopes through this scheme, which will be posted to you. Please note you'll need to know the Lexmark cartridge number you are returning.

Click here if you're recycling Lexmark TONER cartridges. Once there, you can select from a single return label or a container service if you're recycling in large numbers.

Oki Cartridge Recycling

Oki have a nice clear recycling system, and they even accept back used fuser units, transfer rollers and more.

If you're recycling FEWER than 10 toner cartridges, click here to go the Oki consumables recycling option and follow their 3 steps to pack the item. Once that's done, request your pre-paid returns label and you're good to go.

If you're recycling MORE than 10 toner cartridges, or transfer rollers, PCU, Fuser Units, Ribbons or Imaging Drums, click here to request an Oki recycling bin. These are completely free of charge, and contain red lining bags that, once full, can be tied up and collected by Oki!

The bin dimensions are Width: 41cm, Depth 41cm, Height 73cm, and made of 100% recycled cardboard (this is for the environment after all!

Panasonic Cartridge Recycling

Panasonic like things simple and the division that heads up their recycling program, Panasonic Systems Networks Europe (PSNE) has made it as simple as can be.

If you purchase an original Panasonic toner cartridge, the freepost recycling details will be included. If you somehow miss-place this label, visit this Panasonic recycling page to request another one.

Ricoh Cartridge Recycling

Ricoh have an agreement with the same recycling company as Canon, which means you can enjoy toner collection bags (with cable ties) to collect up to 24 cartridges a time in.

Unfortunately, this company actually charges for recycling, a whopping £34.50 per bag which covers the cost of the bag, collection charges and recycling charges.

This is why we'd advise sending Ricoh gel and toner cartridges through our own printer cartridge recycling scheme here. (please note, empty Ricoh bottles cannot be recycled this way and must go through Ricoh's recycling service).

If you're happy with the cost, click here to register for the Ricoh recycling scheme. If you'd like more information on Ricoh's recycling activities they can be found here.

Samsung Cartridge Recycling

Samsung win the best-named Recycling award, the Samsung S.T.A.R. program. This stands for 'Samsung Takeback And Recycling Program'. So technically S.T.A.R.P. but we'll let them off with that.

Samsung promise that any reusable parts will be used for new products, and the parts they cannot reuse will be disposed of responsibly, with a 0% landfill policy.

Click here to head to the Samsung S.T.A.R. program, select your country in the drop down and you'll be taken to a 5-step plan (with 6-steps). Hover over each step for clear details.

Once you're ready, click the "Print the Return Label" button at the bottom right of that page (UK users can click here for a shortcut) to register for the program and print your returns labels.

Sharp Cartridge Recycling

Sharp also use recycling company eReco for their environmental needs. This is not a free recycling service, however it does operate a 0% landfill policy which is to be applauded.

For information on the eReco agreement and possible costs of the Sharp recycling program, click here. If you're already aware of the costs and wish to take part, click here to fill out an eReco form and request recycling bags/bins.

If you're interested in a free recycling option, our own recycling system accepts the vast majority of Sharp cartridges.

Toshiba Cartridge Recycling

We've contacted Toshiba and are awaiting a response to confirm any UK available recycling program, as we've looked far and wide and as of yet had no luck.

Our own recycling program can take many Toshiba cartridges so, until we hear back from them, take advantage of our free service here.

Xerox Cartridge Recycling

Xerox came close in the naming prize with the "Xerox Green World Alliance". They've created a nice simplified process on their UK recycling page here.

Follow the on-screen instructions for the consumable you'd like to return and you'll eventually land on a Return Label Request form. Fill this in and you'll be provided with a freepost label to print.

At the moment we have no idea how to recycle multiple cartridges at the same time as the system isn't very clear, and we'd advise contacting Xerox if you're returning multiple Xerox cartridges for different machines.

If you'd prefer a simpler recycling options, head to our own recycling scheme which simply gives you a freepost detail and collection guides for whatever you're returning.

Stinkyink's Birthday Caption Competition

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 08:32:03 +0100

Please note this competition is now closed.

Update: 26/04/12

Congratulations to our four winners, they came out top in what was an incredibly competitive field.

Comments ranged from the political, the hair-raising (or lack thereof), the speed of service to a "bored" meeting. Ultimately, some made us laugh more than others, and the best of the best have been suitably rewarded.

Winner of the Nikon J1:

Congratulations to Dan, with his entry:

Zargon and his crew soon realised that the meeting about "Laser Cartridges" wasn't quite what they had in mind.

Sub-category winners:

Wittiest Caption - David

Meet my new staff - they're fully compatible with the original ones but cost less!

Most Obscure - Juliet

So, Mr John, we are agreed. The people of our planet will continue supplying your company with our raw material Stinkyinkium. And in return you will guarantee the photos will be tasteful, and I can be Miss January...

John Side-Splitter Award - Theswerve

How was John to know that printer ink was an aphrodisiac in Titan .... and it gets this big!

Congratulations again to our winners, and thank you for all your entries!

Are you feeling humorous? Are you ready to caption your way to a brand new £400 camera???? You're moments away from posting your winning entry.

So first things first, the picture...

John invites you to be the third entry into the Hat Of The Day staff competition

I know, I know, beating my caption above is going to be pretty difficult. But we can't just throw this £400 camera at you, you've got to earn it!

Think up your own golden-nugget and leave it as a comment below before midnight April 24th. The best caption will have a brand new Nikon 1 to love and cherish as a reward.

Why would you want a Nikon 1 J1? Crazy talk, everyone should want one....

A must-have worth £400
Records Full HD Video
Unrivalled autofocus speed on any shot
Perfect for low-light photography
Shoot full-res images at up to 60 fps!

In fact, we can't fit all the awesome reasons in you'd want it, so check them out here!

We've also got three prizes for winners of the following categories: - Wittiest Caption - - Most Obscure Caption - - The "John Side Splitter" Award -

Being champion of each of these categories will net you a brand new Epson SX130! This amazing all-in-one machine is cheap to run, provides great photo prints, and has all the functionality a home or small office would ever need.

Get your entries in by midnight, April 24th and we'll get the prizes, including the Nikon 1 J1 out on the 25th to their new homes. Best of luck!

(please note when you leave a comment it might not immediately appear. It is simply waiting for approval and will appear in a few moments!)

Celebrating 10 Years In Business - Present Two

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 08:32:01 +0100

After 10 years of trading online Stinkyink.com is celebrating it's birthday with a series of offers and competitions. Today's treat is from the the chaps who keep you happy, Stinkyink's brilliant Customer Service Team!

We're running a Birthday Caption Competition, giving you the chance to win a Nikon 1 J1 camera worth £400! To enter, simply head to our competition page here and leave a caption to win!

Get your entries in to us by midnight tomorrow (April 24th) and we'll get in touch with the winners the next day!

Stinkyink in Swaziland

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 09:04:12 +0100

The fame of the Stinkyink brand appears to know no bounds, as one of our customers who is out in deepest darkest Africa working with the "This Way Up" Youth Project has just sent us this picture from Swaziland!

A Cool Guy with a VERY Cool Pen.

Are you heading anywhere exotic? Be sure to take a Stinkyink Pen and send a photograph of the pen on location to sales@stinkyink.com - we'll feature the best ones here on our blog! Not got a Stinkyink Pen? Drop us a line and we'll get one to you for your travels!

Celebrating 10 Years In Business - Present One

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:09:22 +0100

After 10 years of trading online Stinkyink.com is celebrating it's birthday this weekend. We've arranged a great line up of competitions and prizes for you to enjoy over the next two weeks. Our first birthday gift is from Mr Stinkyink himself, aka Mr John Sollars

"As a token of my appreciation I am providing a 10% discount on all orders over £25 for this weekend only. Just enter the discount code 'BIRTHDAY' at the checkout when placing your order.

I'm so pleased that Stinkyink.com, and myself, are ready to celebrate our birthday this week. It's been quite a ride!

Stinkyink.com started in my garage and has grown into the fabulous Aveley-based premises my team occupies today. You'd be amazed to know that my first Stinkyink.com website was designed by my son in his bedroom, with the team growing steadily from just me and my dog to a skilled workforce of 14 staff. The present all-singing website we have today shows how far we've come.

I have built this company on unrivalled customer service and honest hard work, and am proud of what it has become. If you're one of our 130,000 repeat customers reading this, thank you for your support. If you've not yet shopped with Stinkyink.com, then welcome to my website and we look forward to providing the best online shopping experience you've had.

Either way, enjoy the 10% discount on me, and here's to another 10 years of printing with Stinkyink.com!

Stinkyink.Com Celebrates Ten Years Online

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:56:53 +0100

John Packing Orders in the Warehouse

The Stinkyink.com Team

John Sollars is a serial entrepreneur with three start-ups to his name over 30 years.

On 22 April 2012 the founder and MD, John Sollars, celebrates a decade of trading with a birthday party for his staff, suppliers and friends of the business.

John Sollars is a serial entrepreneur with three start-ups to his name over 30 years. “I set up Stinkyink.com knowing nothing about ecommerce and was almost bankrupted within months by a national ring of scamsters who defrauded me of £32,000 with stolen credit cards. The police could do nothing and I was at a low ebb. But I’m not a quitter – I discussed it with the dog and decided to carry on,” explains Sollars.

He continues, “The fraud issue really coloured the first four years of the business as it made it hard to get credit with suppliers as our balance sheet was so weak. It taught me the importance of having cash in the bank and watching my P&L like a hawk.”

However, the gamble paid off as within two years the company was in profit and today Stinkyink.com employs 14 staff and turned over more than £3 million last year. Sollars again: “I’m really proud of what we’ve achieved together over the years in a very competitive market; we all work hard to look after our customers and that has paid off with them staying loyal and recommending us. We’re looking forward to looking after their printer consumable needs for another 10 years and more.”

Local support

A believer in giving back to his community, Stinkyink.com gives financial support to the local junior cricket team, the Bridgnorth Dry Bar Trust (known as The Bridge), the County Air Ambulance and Alveley Church, as well as donating to national charities.

The company has been regularly among the top performing companies in Shropshire as winners and runners up in the Shropshire Chamber of Commerce Best Business competitions. It has also been recognised by both Investors in People (IIP) and also British Standards Institution (BSI) with ISO9001:2008.

Stinkyink.Com Ten Years On

An interview with John Sollars, who set up Stinkyink.com a decade ago selling ink and toner cartridges for all makes and models of printers.

When did you set up the business and why?

John Sollars: “In the Spring of 2002 BBC 6 Music launched, coal mining ended in Scotland and the Queen Mother died. Another story that crept under the media radar was the launch of Stinkyink.com. It was a little while before I took my first order on 22 April, and boy did I cheer! An better still, he’s still a customer 10 years later.

“I decided to sell original manufacturers’ and compatible third party cartridges for every make and model of printer after having problems finding the right ink for my son’s machine. There’s a gap in the market I thought.”

Where did the name Stinkyink.com come from?

JS: “I had a brainstorm session with the family and everyone liked it. It’s memorable and smacks of schoolboy humour, so I thought ”why not”. In fact officially we are Solar Electronics Ltd, but we trade as Stinkyink.com.”

What did you do before?

JS: “This is my third business: the first was a small CB radio shop in Kidderminster which lasted a couple of years in the 80s; the second was an electronic sub assembly business which went bust in the last big recession (1992) costing me a load of money. It took 10 years to recover both emotionally and financially.”

How important is technology?

JS: “In the beginning I had absolutely no knowledge of how an internet business worked, just a burning desire to be in on the cutting edge! As ecommerce is the core technology I turned to some web experts who would hold my hand. I chose Teclan, the internet retail specialists who built my first website using Actinic’s desktop ecommerce software. That served us well for nine years but recently I decided to move to a bespoke platform using Ruby on Rails.

“Another key area for technology is our backoffice. It’s a high volume, low margin business so it’s vital to control costs. A couple of years ago sales were growing rapidly and we were struggling with manual, unintegrated warehousing, purchase order, accounting and order processing systems. EOS (electronic office supplier) software specialist, axisfirst, was able to streamline and automate the backoffice as well as give us an electronic data interchange (EDI) with our suppliers, real-time stock control and price feeds that have made a huge difference to our margins. Within a very short time the overall efficiency of the company increased by over 40%, net profit went up by over 20%, and as our turnover has increased our stock has decreased.”

What was the lowest point in your story?

JS: “Only months after launching the website WorldPay told me that most of my orders were fraudulent. I’d been targeted by a ring of fraudsters based not in Nigeria or Russia, but all over the UK. Worse, the police could do nothing to catch them or get my £32,000-worth of stock back.

“I was on the verge of bankruptcy and I remember sitting with my dog in the office when the full enormity of what had happened sunk in. I had to make a decision whether to bother going on, or to get out and go back to a ‘proper’ job. But I picked myself up, resolved not to trust anything or anyone in future and got on with it.”

How did you recover?

JS: “The fraud issue really coloured the first four years of the business as it made it hard to get credit with suppliers as our balance sheet was so weak. It taught me the importance of having cash in the bank and watching my P&L like a hawk – I can spend up to three hours every month reviewing it.

“I used email marketing and search optimisation to grow both my customer base and website traffic. Within two years the business was in profit and we haven’t looked back.”

And the best so far?

”I guess surviving this long is quite an achievement. The fact that I now employ 14 full-time and one part-time staff is a real landmark for me and turning over £3 million last year was a big moment as well.”

What are your critical success factors?

JS: “I’ve kept my head down and worked hard! Five things spring to mind that I’ve learnt over the years:

Manage your cashflow – it is critical to keeping tabs on the health of a business.
Understand profit and the difference between the two different types of profit. Know which lines yield the most.
Recruiting staff. Consider temporary and permanent, part- and full-time options. And don’t recruit until you have to, but take on the best you can afford when you do.
Using experts. It doesn’t pay to do everything in-house, and though outsourcing to experts may look expensive, you only need them in small doses and their advice is invaluable. Seek out independents for best value in your accountant, solicitor, PR consultant, IT support, etc.
Stay focused. I learnt the hard way that if you spot an opportunity, trial it rather than go in full belt.”

What would you have done differently?

”The biggest regret I have is not starting up three or four years earlier, when the internet was really in its infancy and the opportunity was there for global domination!”

What next?

“At the moment we are working flat out to increase our visitors numbers and also experimenting with ways to improve our website conversion rate. Both of these goals are long term, time-intensive processes, that sit alongside the overall objective of improving and growing the business.”

What advice do you have to ensure a start-up reaches its 10th birthday?

JS: “It’s different for everyone but these tactics have worked for me:

Stay single. If you start a business with a friend, you will fall out eventually. That’s my experience, anyway. When my first business failed the bank chased me for the total amount of the guarantees when my partner couldn’t pay his share. This was £40,000 and took 10 years to clear.
Plan ahead. Putting time and thought into a business plan and revisiting it regularly is worthwhile. Unless you have a target to aim for you won’t know when, or if, you’re succeeding.
Minimise your liabilities. Never take a charge on your house and try to avoid providing more information than a lender requires.
Do your accounts, get invoices out promptly and don’t accept being messed around over payment. Pay suppliers on time too – it gives you their goodwill and more credit
Monitor metrics. One of the many bonuses of the internet is that you are able to tell where your customer has come from; how they searched for you; how quickly they left and whether they actually bought anything from you. Using this information you are able to improve your website and also your customers’ satisfaction, which can only be a good thing.
Hire the right staff. It is impossible to place a value on a hard working employee that cares about your company and where it is heading. Spending the extra on wages for key skill sets or talents that are suited to your business can be the difference between a 5% growth and a 20% growth in a start-up’s early years.

Mr Stinkyink at IRX 2012

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:58:23 +0100

Our benevolent dictator John Sollars was recently asked to speak at the Internet Retail Expo in Birmingham and came up with a cracking presentation entitled "Every Recession has a Silver Lining" in which John talks about his adventures in business and the lessons he has learnt from running his own business. The nice people at IRX have put the video online, which you can view here:

Back in December last year, John also stopped in with the guys at the Chartered Institute for IT and took part in a video interview where he discusses the early days of founding Stinkyink and some of the trials and tribulations he has faced along the way. You can see that video here:

If you're interested in hearing more of Johns Pearls of wisdom, you can follow him on Twitter here.