Photocopier Prices from UK Suppliers

Photocopiers are a staple piece of office equipment for businesses. Whether you call it a copier, copy machine, or a Xerox, the functions of a photocopier are needed on a regular basis, and therefore investing in the right one for your company is important.

When selecting the best photocopier for your business, you should consider the following:

Regardless of where and how you work, you will need a business photocopier that suits your needs.

The market prices is flooded with various types and features, from basic ones to the most advanced colour photocopiers. You may find yourself lost trying to figure out which copying machine is right for your office. Are you wondering what type of office photocopier best suits your company? Then you will find in this page all answers on your questions about your next photocopier.

If you are interested in buying or renting photocopier, fill in the form and we will provide you with up to four, free, non-binding quotes to help you make a well-informed purchase.

Photocopier machine prices vary and depend on the size, quality, brand, and other capabilities. Machines for private use will cost less, but if you need a machine that can scan highly detailed images and documents, then you will naturally need to spend more.

Of course, quality also needs to provide a good fit with the printing budget of a business. Although there are other factors to consider besides the purchasing price of an office photocopier, it is always good to have an overview of the rough price ranges with regard to the different copier types.

The prices of photocopiers start from £49 for entry-level photocopiers, suitable for small and home-operated businesses. However, for a multifunctional photocopier for a medium and large business, you can expect to pay around £4,999. Finally, if you own a business in need of an industrial machine, the prices start from £19,999.

It is also useful to consider the features while calculating the total cost of the photocopier.
Irrespective of the price range, one can expect to find certain functionalities such as copying, scanning, and faxing to be present.

Connectivity options, duplex printing, and good output resolution are again standard to a good extent.

Yet, with the price range, some features do change. The following table gives an approximation of what features to expect at different purchase price points. When it comes to the service, many UK suppliers offer complete solution packages. The maintenance of the office photocopiers is often fully covered also with technical helpline and engineers aiming to fix the machine as soon as possible.

You should keep in mind that you do not necessarily need to buy a photocopier since there is an option of photocopier rental. Many suppliers are prepared for situations in which to buy a new or used photocopy machine is neither possible nor necessary and they can offer a cheap solution in the form of short term photocopier rental. This represents a cheap way to cover one event’s document production and other short term intense printing demands.

Office photocopier leasing offers you the use of a new device over an agreed period of time without the initial expense of paying in full. Instead of the purchase of the new office photocopier, you spread the costs and make your regular fixed payments while getting the immediate use of the copy machine. Photocopier lease agreements may start from just around £24 per month, depending on the supplier and the duration of the lease.

The clarity, sharpness, and level of detail that your photocopy machine needs to deliver depends on the needs of your business.

The best way to determine which level of quality you need from a copying device is the resolution. This is measured in the number of dots per inch (DPI) that can be placed in a line with a span of one inch, the higher the number of DPI, the better the quality, as demonstrated below.

Commercial copiers can have a resolution between 600 to 2,400 DPI, depending on the nature of the task:

Toner prices vary greatly and depend on whether you have a colour or monochrome photocopier.

The following table gives an approximation of the cost and page yield of toners for A4 Photocopiers across different tiers:

Black toners tend to have a better page yield, while colour toners (Yellow/Cyan/Magenta) not only have a lower page yield but are also costlier.

The graph shows how page yield changes with the cost of the toner. It was plotted by analysing data across 11 photocopier brands at different price points. 30 toners were analysed for both black and colour photocopiers. Generally, black toners for mono-photocopiers are more economical as the page yield increases much more with respect to the toner price.

 The running costs that come hand in hand with owning a photocopier are mostly tied to replenishing the supplies such as toner, paper, staples etc. and to a lesser extent, but equally important to consider, repairs, maintenance and replacement of parts (such as toner drum, rollers etc.).

As mentioned, the running cost you will encounter most often is replenishing the supplies, particularly the toner. In order to exemplify how much this may cost, we have chosen to compare three photocopiers by leading UK brands, each in a different copy volume category.

Purchase price: £550
Black cartridge capacity: 9,000 pages
Black cartridge cost: £76
Colour cartridge capacity: 6,000 pages
Colour cartridge price: £365

Purchase price: £2,340
Black cartridge capacity: 18,000 pages
Black cartridge cost: £38
Colour cartridge capacity: 15,000 pages
Colour cartridge price: £243

Purchase price: £6,116
Black cartridge capacity: 31,000 pages
Black cartridge price: £69
Colour cartridge capacity: 22,500 pages
Colour cartridge price: £405

The overall price of a photocopier is comprised of the purchase price of the machine and the running costs of supplies, maintenance and repairs.

It is generally known that a cheap copier has expensive consumables (primarily toner) while a more expensive machine saves money on those, is more durable and requires less maintenance.

The main cost driver, the ability to print in colour is great to have because of the undeniable impact it has on visual materials. However, keep in mind that a colour photocopier generally costs more and the cartridges can reach up to 6-7 times the price of simple black toner. This means that a colour copier is probably not affordable for companies with a strictly limited budget, trying to cut costs or fighting for survival.

This is an estimation of how many copies a month the machine can handle. Do not try to match your monthly printing volume to this number, as it is there to show how durable the machine is and should be around 10 times more than your actual output if you want to keep the copier in optimal shape and elongate its life.

For some businesses, it may be very important to have a speedy machine that can take on project after project swiftly (at 50 copies per minute) and without much downtime. Other businesses, typically with lower volume printing needs, would be satisfied with the average of 30 copies per minute, which also influences the purchase price.

Typically, office copiers can handle A4 and A3 page sizes with ease. If your business has special requirements for large size printing, you must consider only browsing for machines that can accommodate that.

It has become customary for photocopiers to have functionalities that used to be considered luxurious. These machines, which can also be called all in one printers, incorporate the ability to scan, copy, print, e-mail and fax documents all in one while also providing options like stapling, binding and three-hole punching for a great finish of your materials. As with everything there are basic models and advanced models which is reflected in their price tag, but you do not have to spend as much nowadays to get your hands on such garden variety functionality.

These can really inflate the purchase price of a photocopier. Add-ons such as an automatic document feeder, duplex (double-sided) printing, a document editor etc., can be very convenient, but luxury comes with a price. For example, if you want to have one business printer that also photocopies, you could have a multitude of features integrated in one machine.

Nevertheless, it is only a one-time price and will not affect the long-term running costs of the machine, so have this in mind when considering whether to get a model with all the bells and whistles.

Buying a used photocopier is a fair option to consider. However, with today’s advancements in technology and price drops it is easy to afford a new unit with good capabilities. Furthermore, that makes finding parts for older models that much harder on top of the fact that their warranties would have expired by the time of re-purchase, further increasing their obsolescence.

Unless your business is in dire need of a machine, but without the budget to afford a new one; or if you just need it to copy something every once in a while, buying a used photocopier may cost you extra in the long run.

The process of xerography is a method of printing and copying documents using a photocopier machine, and relies mainly on the following components: halogen lamps, a photoreceptor drum (Corona), toner, and a conveyor belt. Once the photocopier machine is turned on, the document has been placed upside-down on the glass and the user has pressed the enter/copy (green) button, the process of xerography starts inside the machine.

First, the Corona drum, a metal roller which is electrostatically charged by a high voltage wire, starts to rotate as light reflects off blank areas of the paper. However, the printed letters and images do not reflect light; instead they absorb the light and thus trigger an electrical discharge. For the areas in which the light was not reflected, the toner is positively charged when it is applied to the drum in order to develop the image.

First, the Corona drum, a metal roller which is electrostatically charged by a high voltage wire, starts to rotate as light reflects off blank areas of the paper. However, the printed letters and images do not reflect light; instead they absorb the light and thus trigger an electrical discharge. For the areas in which the light was not reflected, the toner is positively charged when it is applied to the drum in order to develop the image.

Photocopiers don't use liquid ink. Unlike printers, they only use the toner, which is basically a dry powder contained in the cartridge. The process is complex, but in a nutshell, positively charged particles of black powder from the toner will be attracted to those areas where the light was not reflected, and this will result in your final printed images!

An old printer can be very disruptive for your employees’ daily routine. The noise pollution, increased downtimes and outdated technology can cause stress and overall negative user experience. Newer photocopiers, however, have improved technology, and the common fears about photocopiers can easily be debunked.

Companies that are focused on being green and sustainable must start by changing from within.

There are solutions out there that can provide high speed and quality of print at reduced cost and power usage. The advancements in printing technology are not to be underestimated when exploring options for becoming a more lean and sustainable business.

There are many factors to consider when deciding for the right office photocopier for your business. It is crucial to conduct proper research and take into consideration the factors impacting the price and your business needs and budget.

Fill in the form and get up to 4 free quotes from leading UK’s photocopiers that will help you to choose the most suitable photocopier for your business. This service is non-binding.