Frequently Asked Questions

Does this box include a black cartridge?

It does not. This set covers the color side only: every cartridge inside is a TK5242C cyan, a TK5242M magenta or a TK5242Y yellow. The black slot is a separate listing altogether — nothing in this box is meant to go into it, and the set exists for offices whose color cartridges run down far faster than their black.

How are the six cartridges split between the three colors?

The listing does not state the split, and we are not going to guess at it. What you can rely on is the packaging: each of the six cartridges is individually boxed and labeled with its own code — TK5242C, TK5242M or TK5242Y — so the division is plain to read off the cartons the moment the delivery is opened, before anything is fitted.

Who actually goes through six color cartridges?

Offices where color is the daily work rather than the exception: marketing handouts, charts and customer-facing documents printed in volume. When a three-color machine is producing that kind of output, color toner is a consumable you plan ahead for — a six-cartridge reserve means a slot running dry mid-week is a two-minute swap, not an emergency order.

What does the 3,000-page figure mean here?

It is the rating of each individual color cartridge at standard coverage — every TK5242C, TK5242M and TK5242Y in the box is a full cartridge rated at 3,000 pages. Dense, color-heavy pages will land below that figure and lighter work above it, but the rating is per cartridge, and all six carry the complete one.

Should the spares go in as soon as they arrive?

No — keep the ones you are not fitting sealed in their boxes, stored flat somewhere cool and out of direct sun, and work through them oldest first. Fit a cartridge only when its slot actually runs empty. A sealed spare keeps its full rating on the shelf; an opened one gains you nothing.

How does the cover work on a multi-cartridge set?

Each cartridge stands on its own: a 1-year warranty with 1-year free returns applies unit by unit — the full terms sit on our shipping & returns page. If one color ever develops a fault inside the year, that single cartridge is returned free; the rest of the reserve is untouched and stays covered.

What does each cartridge in this color reserve cost?

The set is $115.45 for six full color cartridges — about $19.24 a unit — against $34.65 when a TK5242C, TK5242M or TK5242Y is bought on its own. Every cartridge in the box carries the full 3,000-page rating, so the saving is purely a depth saving: the same complete units, held in advance, at a lower per-cartridge figure. For a workgroup burning through color, that difference recurs with every swap.

How does the black cartridge get handled if it is not in this box?

Separately, and on its own rhythm. This set deliberately covers only the color side, so the TK5242K black is ordered from its own listing whenever the black slot runs down. Offices that fit this set's profile usually find the two supplies live on different clocks — colors turning over quickly, black lasting — and keeping the orders separate matches how the machine actually consumes them.

What does the split inside the box tell me about my next order?

Read the six carton labels when the set arrives and note how the TK5242C, TK5242M and TK5242Y divide up. Then watch which color's sealed count reaches zero first in real use — that is your machine's honest color appetite, measured rather than guessed. When the reserve thins, that record tells you whether another six-cartridge color set matches your consumption or whether the next top-up should lean on single cartridges of the fast color.

How should the empties from a color-only stock be cleared out?

Send each spent cartridge back into the packaging its replacement arrived in, and keep the boxed empties together in the set's carton. Six color cartridges cycling through a busy workgroup generate a steady stream of empties, and a single collection carton keeps them contained until there are enough to justify one trip to a local recycling point. A cartridge that faulted early stays out of the batch until its cover has been sorted.

About This TK5242 Six-Cartridge Color Set

A depth reserve for the color side of the Kyocera ECOSYS M5526cdw, priced at $115.45. Six full color cartridges — TK5242C cyan, TK5242M magenta and TK5242Y yellow, each rated at 3,000 pages — with the exact division between the three codes printed on the individual cartons rather than promised here. It suits a workgroup that prints enough color to treat these cartridges as a stocked supply: draw one down as a slot empties, keep the rest sealed, and let the shelf carry the planning instead of the calendar. Part of our compatible Kyocera-Mita range, dispatched from our IL, PA, GA and CA warehouses, with support Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM CST.