AUTISMAXXING : Buying a printer

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I'm slightly autistic (no way !), and one of my consuming obsessions is optimizing the HELL out of buying anything second-hand. When I want to buy something, I glean info and I try to come up with the cheapest way to get what I want. I think (a little), I search on French Craigslist (a lot) and sometimes ... sometimes ! I find things worth sharing. That's the goal of my "AUTISMAXXING" series : to share my findings.

Today : printers.

So, you'd like to print stuff at home and be done with the whole ordeal for under 30€, paper and ink included ? You've come to the right place.

Black and White

If you want to be REALLY cost-effective, it is VERY important to give up on the idea of color printing. I'm pulling the stat right outta mah butt but, generally speaking, 99% of people do not need to be able to print in color (at least, at home).

If you need to print :

For crying out loud shush that voice in your head that tells you, "but what if you want to print a photo ??". The actual need never comes and you'll end up spending way too much cash for a "what if" that won't ever materialize.

Black and White is more than good enough for the vast majority of what you'll ACTUALLY end up needing to print at home like that passport renewal form or that shipping label on a bank holiday.

Laser/Toner, period.

Once thy soul ist cleansed frome any and all unpure desires (of color printing) and you've acquired the wisdom and mental discipline required to convince yourself that black and white'll do, you can ascend to the heavens of cheap printers : second-hand black and white toner printers.

Forget about ink-jet : the business model is all about selling you the main unit at a loss and then absolutely RIPPING YOU OFF on the ink cartridges. And don't get me started on the newer models that go above and beyond to prevent you from using anything but proprietary ink cartridges or that require an internet connection to print anything. In short, putrid ecosystem, avoid.

A B&W toner refill costs ~20€ and will last you about 1000 pages, sometimes more. Needless to say, you won't need to change it all that often, if ever.

Second-hand, 40€ tops

To set the record straight, keep in mind that a brand new B&W toner printer will "only" run you 110€ (as of August 2025) :

Brand new Brother Black & White Laser Printer, 109,99€ with taxes included, on Brother's website

Brand new HP Black & White Laser Printer, 119,90€ with taxes included, on HP's website

Based on this observation, I would advise against spending more than 40€ on a second-hand printer. And that's really an ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM. If you search your local classified ads website for any amount of time, you can very easily find honest offers for 20€, sometimes even as low as 15.

What do I search for ?

"toner printer" or "laser printer" on whichever website you usually buy second-hand stuff from.

Sort by price, and get the cheapest thing you don't have second thoughts about.

What should I check before buying ?

Does the ad mention the printer works at all ?

Is there some toner left ? If not, check the price of a refill, just in case.

Is the power cord included ? The vast majority of European printers will have a C14 socket ( ), which we all know and love. So you might already have the right cord lying around at home. But it'd be safer to just have the printer come with its dedicated cable directly.

How are you gonna plug the printer to your computer ? With these old laser printers, you probably won't get Wi-Fi. You can count on USB, and maybe ethernet. VERY old units might not even have USB, but they're getting rare. Check the manual for the model you're considering buying, or, failing that, a spec-sheet website like icecat.biz. If the printer does have USB, is a cable bundled with it ? If not, that'll run you 3~4€ extra.

If you're on windows : Are there drivers ? For old printers, getting working drivers on a recent Windows version might be hard, double check they exist beforehand.

Take your time, relax.

Happy thrifting !