It has been brought to our attention that some e-commerce sites are offering counterfeit dye film.
Problems are very likely to arise if your dye film has not been sourced from an authorised supplier or optimised for your region. Counterfeit ribbons often come from different sources; the provider simply cuts any film they can get hold of and mounts it onto compatible spools. This means that the film has not been formulated or tested on Magicard printers, and may have been designed for another printer type entirely.
You may find:
- a reduction in the quality of your print
- colour inconsistency between rolls
- experience ongoing operational issues
- damage to the printhead on your device
- damage to your cards
- the overlay is not properly applied
- the printer doesn’t initialise
- barcodes aren’t recognised
- false “out of dye film” alerts
Every new Magicard printer is tested in volume (dozens of printers and hundreds of rolls of film) to ensure reliable operation and quality printing. A clone film provider trying out a few rolls of ribbon on 1 or 2 printers is not going to find any problems before they hit the market.
Using original dye film ribbons that are designed for use with your Magicard printer in your region is the most important thing you can do to ensure consistent card printing and printer reliability. Magicard printers and ribbons are developed together by tailoring the ribbon formulation to suit the printer, and defining the optimum printer settings to suit the ribbon.
Genuine Magicard ribbons will provide the most vibrant and most correct colours, and printed images that are sharp and free from imperfections. We also ensure consistency from batch to batch of ribbons, meaning that your colours stay consistent from month to month, year to year. The MagiCover Warranty is invalid if cloned ribbons are used and unfortunately our Tech Support team will not be able to help anyone who experiences problems caused by counterfeit film.
Packaging
Genuine Magicard colour ribbons come in a clearly branded box. Only these genuine Magicard ribbons have been tested to work reliably today, and to ensure your printer works reliably for years to come. It also means your warranty is valid.
……and our dye film is packaged in a clear bag: it isn’t vacuum-packed!
Authorised dealer
There are some organisations claiming authorised dealer status and selling counterfeit products online. Always ensure you buy your dye film from a genuinely authorised Magicard dealer in your region as all our ribbons are coded for use by geography. You can find out who this is by visiting our dealer finder.
Price
The prices being charged are way below market value. Don’t be fooled into a making a false economy: it could cause more harm than good in terms of quality of print or printer operation! And don’t forget, your warranty will be invalid.
For advice, please contact your local provider or Magicard.
