Cross-reference: Genuine cartridge numbers: Black 841280, Cyan 841281, Magenta 841282, Yellow 841283. Yields: Black 10,000 pages, Cyan/Magenta/Yellow 5,500 pages each. Fits Ricoh Aficio MP C2030, MP C2050, MP C2550; also sold for Savin C9020L, C9020, C9025, Lanier LD520C, LD525C and Gestetner MP C2030, MP C2050, MP C2550.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the cyan cartridge run out long before the black one does?

Two reasons. First, capacity: the color cartridges in this family are rated at 5,500 pages while the black is rated at 10,000, so cyan starts with barely half the black cartridge's supply. Second, appetite: charts, logos, photos and even blue-tinted document templates draw cyan on nearly every color page, so a color-heavy office burns through it faster than the page count alone suggests.

What does cyan really cost per page? Give it to us straight.

At $50.35 for a rated 5,500 pages, cyan works out to about 0.92 cents per page — close to double the black cartridge's 0.50 cents, and that is simply the economics of color on this platform. We will not pretend color pages are cheap here; the honest picture is that black output is the bargain and color is the premium, so it pays to print drafts and internal copies in black where color adds nothing.

What are the warning signs that cyan is nearly empty?

Watch your greens and blues. As cyan fades, greens drift yellow, skies and corporate blues lose their depth and start looking washed or minty, and solid blue areas can print unevenly. Those shifts usually appear while the machine still reports some toner remaining, so treat the color change itself — not just the on-screen percentage — as your signal to reorder.

Our copier is a C2530. Is this cyan cartridge right for it even though the listing says C2030?

Yes. This 841281 cyan serves the complete platform — Ricoh Aficio MP C2030, MP C2050 and MP C2530 — and the C2030 in the listing title is only the model this page is organized under. Any machine in that family that takes the 841281 cyan uses this same cartridge, so the model badge on your machine does not change which cyan you order.

Do we have to replace all the colors at once when cyan runs out?

No. Each color cartridge in this machine swaps independently, so you replace cyan when cyan is empty and leave healthy magenta and yellow cartridges in place. There is no benefit to changing colors as a set, and doing so throws away toner you have already paid for.

What if a new cyan cartridge prints streaky or off-color?

It is covered the same way as everything we sell: a one-year warranty, with free returns for a full year if the cartridge itself is at fault. Contact us via our shipping and returns page and we will replace or refund it. Support hours are Monday–Friday, 9 AM–5 PM CST, and orders ship from our IL, PA, GA and CA warehouses.

About This Ricoh 841281 Cyan Toner Cartridge

This compatible cyan toner cartridge replaces the Ricoh 841281 for the Aficio MP C2030, C2050 and C2530 platform, rated at 5,500 pages and about 0.92 cents per page at standard coverage. It is sold within our Ricoh toner range by Clever Supplies, backed by a one-year warranty and one-year free returns, and shipped from warehouses in IL, PA, GA and CA.