Also fits: This cartridge also fits the Ricoh IM C3000 and IM C3500 — the same machines also sold under the Savin and Lanier brands with the same model names. Ricoh's rated yields for this platform are 31,000 pages for black and 19,000 pages for each color.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the black cartridge finish long before the color ones in a text-heavy office?

Because black does almost all the work. Text, line drawings, copy output and fax pages are printed with black toner alone on this platform, while cyan, magenta and yellow only join in when a page actually has color on it. Even with the larger 31,000-page rating, a document-heavy office will usually cycle through black noticeably faster than any single color.

What does a genuinely worn-out black cartridge look like on the page?

The signs build gradually: text that should be solid black comes out gray, large dark areas look patchy, and you may see fading that is heavier on one side of the page than the other. Those symptoms point to a cartridge at the very end of its toner supply rather than a machine fault. Swapping in a fresh cartridge is the quickest way to confirm it — if the page goes back to solid black, the old cartridge was done.

Can this cartridge beat its 31,000-page rating in a light-duty office?

Yes, it can. The rating is measured at 5% page coverage, which is roughly a page of ordinary text. Offices printing mostly emails, letters and short memos often run lighter than that and squeeze out more pages, while dense reports with heavy graphics will land below the rating. The number is best read as a comparison benchmark, not a promise for either direction.

The listing is titled for the C3000 — is that the only machine this cartridge belongs in?

No. The listing carries one model name, but this 842251 black cartridge belongs to the whole Ricoh IM C3000 and IM C3500 color MFP platform, and every machine in that family takes the same black cartridge. If your printer is part of that platform, this is the right cartridge even if the exact model name differs from the listing title.

Can we keep a spare black cartridge in the cupboard without it going bad?

Yes. Toner is a dry powder, not a liquid ink, so a sealed cartridge stored flat in a cool, dry cupboard keeps perfectly well until it is opened and installed. There is no ink to dry out and no printhead to clog. Keeping one spare on hand is the simplest way to make sure a dead cartridge never stops the office mid-job.

If the cartridge misbehaves two months from now, are we still covered?

Yes. Every cartridge we sell carries a one-year warranty, and returns stay free for a full year too — the details are on our shipping and returns page. If output quality drops off early, contact our support team Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM CST and we will sort it out.

About This Black Toner Cartridge for the Ricoh C3000

This is the single black cartridge (842251) for the Ricoh C3000 listings in our Ricoh toner range, rated at up to 31,000 pages and priced at $86.37 — roughly 0.28 cents per page at standard coverage. On this platform black carries the everyday load of text, copies and incoming faxes, so it is the cartridge a busy office reaches for most often. Orders ship from our warehouses in IL, PA, GA and CA, and every cartridge is covered by a one-year warranty with one-year free returns.