Hilton Imaging Solutions, Inc.

   Factually, the plastic strip is a psychological device only. It makes you feel good that you've got a sealed cartridge, that you're the first one to use it. In most cartridges the seal is entirely unnecessary. We routinely ship cartridges to Australia without seals and without problems of any sort.

   To install an aftermarket seal, the cartridge has to be broken or sawed in half and glued back together. Many things can go wrong. The most common problem is misalignment during gluing. This can make an uneven print -- dark on one side, light on the other. Less frequently, the cartridge can fall apart when being put in the printer, dumping its full load of toner.

   Splitting cartridges increases failure rate by more than 5% that is why we do not split cartridges. Some cartridges accept seals without splitting, and we install seals in those. Otherwise our cartridges do not have seals.