Frequently Asked Questions

How long does a 36,000-page cartridge actually last on a production machine?

Longer than most people expect, but the machine's monthly volume decides it. At 3,000 pages a month — a steady departmental imageRUNNER — one GPR-31BK covers about a year. At 6,000 pages a month it is roughly six months, and a hard-worked machine at 9,000 pages a month will finish it in about four. The 36,000-page rating is measured at the standard 5% page coverage, so a month of dense forms and booklets lands a little under those figures, while plain correspondence stretches them.

What does a printed page cost with this single cartridge?

At $91.92 for up to 36,000 pages, the arithmetic lands at about 0.26 cents per page — the level of operating cost the GPR-31 family is bought for. One honest note: the single is the most expensive way to buy this cartridge per unit. The multi-packs on this page's family ladder bring the per-cartridge price down step by step, so one-at-a-time buying does not take the place of the pack pricing if your volume is steady. The single earns its place as a first trial of a compatible in your machine, or as a bridge cartridge that keeps a production run moving while a larger order is on its way.

Is this a Canon-made cartridge?

No — this is a compatible GPR-31BK, built by a third-party manufacturer to the Canon GPR-31 specification: same fit in the imageRUNNER machines that take the GPR-31 cartridge, same 36,000-page yield target. It is not made by Canon, and that is exactly why it sells at $91.92 rather than at the name-brand price. What stands behind it is our own cover rather than Canon's, set out in the last answer below.

Copies are streaking halfway through a long run — is the cartridge empty already?

Usually not. On a production machine, long runs draw toner from one side of the cartridge faster than it redistributes, and streaks or a pale band down the page are the classic symptom. Take the cartridge out, hold it level, and rock it gently end to end a few times to level the toner, then run the job again. If the streaks clear, the cartridge has life left. If the whole page is uniformly pale, rocking changes nothing, and your page counter is near the rating, then it genuinely is at the end.

Why do copy rooms rarely see the full 36,000 pages?

Because the rating assumes a page with about 5% of its area covered — a typical letter. Production and copy-room work is denser: forms with shaded boxes, booklets, handouts with logos and tables all drink more toner per page, so the cartridge empties sooner than the headline figure. The rating's real job is fair comparison between cartridges, and on that basis the GPR-31BK is a genuinely high-capacity unit. Expect your real count to land around the rating, pulled down by heavy months and pushed up by light ones.

What cover does the cartridge come with?

A 1-year warranty and 1-year free returns, on this cartridge just as on every cartridge we sell. If a GPR-31BK underperforms at any point in that year — streaks that will not clear, a yield that falls far short, a cartridge that simply misbehaves — the return costs you nothing. The full terms are on our shipping and returns page.

About This Canon GPR-31 Black Toner Cartridge

A single compatible Canon GPR-31 black cartridge (GPR-31BK) rated for up to 36,000 pages, at about 0.26 cents a page, for the imageRUNNER production and departmental machines built around the GPR-31 family. Orders ship from our warehouses in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Georgia and California, routed from whichever is closest to you, and our support team answers Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM CST. The multi-pack rungs of this family and the rest of the range are in our Canon toner range.

Alongside it sit the yellow cartridge (GPR-31Y), the magenta cartridge (GPR-31M), the cyan cartridge (GPR-31C), the GPR-31 4-cartridge set and the GPR-31 black 2 pack. This black cartridge (GPR-31BK) fits the ImageRunner C5030, ImageRunner C5035, ImageRunner Advance C5030, ImageRunner Advance C5035, ImageRunner Advance C5235, ImageRunner Advance C5235A and ImageRunner Advance C5240 — every machine on the GPR-31 list takes this same cartridge family.