SKU:

CS-Xerox-C500-BK

Printer Brand:

Xerox

OEM Number:

106R03869

Ink Color:

Black

Page Yield:

Black: 12100

Printer Type:

Laser Cartridge

Condition:

New Compatible

Frequently Asked Questions

My black text prints grey and washed out — is the cartridge the problem?

Usually, yes — and it is the classic end-of-life signature for a black cartridge. As the 106R03869 runs down, the toner layer thins and solid black areas lose density first: bold headings go charcoal, barcodes lose their crisp edges and fine print looks tired. Before blaming the cartridge, rule out the cheap causes — a draft or toner-save setting left on, or a low print-density value in the driver. If settings are standard and the greyness is creeping in from one side of the page, the cartridge is spent; no menu adjustment puts toner back in the box. Swapping in this fresh 106R03869 is the whole repair.

The rating says 12,100 pages — what does that look like on an office calendar?

Think of it in reams rather than pages. 12,100 pages is a little over 24 reams of paper — the stack a single busy desk works through in a year of letters, invoices and reports. A lighter user printing a few hundred pages a month may see two or three years from one cartridge; a desk pushing 2,000 pages a month will finish it in about half a year. The rating itself is standardized at 5% coverage, so dense forms, full-page scans printed back out and heavy graphics pull the real count down, while plain correspondence can push it past the rating. Either way, at this capacity the 106R03869 is a fit-and-forget refill, not a monthly errand.

What is the real cost of one printed page here?

This single cartridge is $39.62, and spread across its rated 12,100 pages the toner cost works out to about 0.33 cents per page — calculated from this listing's own price and rating, with nothing added and nothing hidden. That is the number that matters when you compare supply options: not the sticker price of the box, but what each page leaving the printer actually cost you in toner. Paper and the machine itself sit outside the figure, as they do in any honest per-page calculation.

Does the C505 multifunction use this same black cartridge, or a different one?

The same one. The C505 line copies, scans and faxes on top of printing, but the black toner bay underneath is identical to the C500 printer's, and every black copy or scanned-to-print page draws from the same 106R03869 cartridge. That shared bay is convenient in a mixed office: one spare cartridge on the shelf covers the printer and the multifunction alike, so nobody has to remember two different black codes for two machines that sit ten feet apart.

Exactly which models should I check on my machine's badge?

This cartridge fits the Versalink C500 DN and Versalink C500N printers, and the Versalink C505 X and Versalink C505S multifunctions. The surest check takes ten seconds: open the front cover, read the code on the cartridge that comes out, and if it says 106R03869 you are holding the right refill. Ordering against the code rather than the machine's marketing name avoids nearly every wrong-cartridge return.

If the cartridge disappoints, what happens next?

You are covered two ways: a 1-year warranty against defects and 1-year free returns if the cartridge simply is not right for you. Orders leave from whichever of our four US warehouses — Illinois, Pennsylvania, Georgia or California — is nearest, under the terms set out on our shipping & returns page. Questions before or after ordering reach a person Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM CST, and the wider range for this platform sits in our Xerox catalogue.

About This Xerox 106R03869 Black Cartridge for the VersaLink C500 and C505

One compatible Xerox 106R03869 black toner cartridge, rated at up to 12,100 pages and priced at $39.62 — about 0.33 cents per rated page. It serves both halves of this platform: the C500 printers that produce a department's documents and the C505 multifunctions whose copying leans on the same black supply. A single high-capacity unit like this suits an office that wants one code to stock, one quick swap when output fades, and a per-page cost that stays predictable for the cartridge's whole long life. It is backed by our 1-year warranty and 1-year free returns.