The good news is Amazon won't put up with that shit. Dispute it and you will get your money back. Hopefully you still have the box it shipped in.

although I did use the printer.

it would do any good. Can't hurt.

And, yes, electronic stuff is made for specific countries for a lot of reasons-- language, software licenses, power outlets, patent and copyright issues, local regulations and customs thingies, and other seemingly ridiculous reasons. Makes life a real PITA for us mortals.

And yes, in a just world the sellers would be required to tell you the printer is not licensed for the US. It's possible they might not know about that, but Amazon should know.

Too late now, but new printers are ridiculously cheap if you wait for Staples to have a sale. I got an HP do everything printer a while ago for a hundred bucks or so but it died in a couple of months. Thing was a piece of crap to begin with so I didn't bother with the warranty. Found an Epson wide carriage printer with scanner, fax, and everything else for 200 bucks and have had it for years.

to buy a new printer once the original ink runs out.

starter cartridges don't have that much ink in them.

You can get a new Brother no-frills laser printer for under 50 bucks but you only get a few hundred pages before you have to buy a real cartridge. I have one and I love it, but it still pissed me off.

The principle if nothing else is important. I know I should have done more research, but I do think sellers have responsibilities also. If the product wasn't for this market, they should have said so up front. I suspect the issue with no replacement cartridges being available is precisely for this reason.

I appreciate the answers here. I am almost 70 and feel a bit like a foolish old lady for not doing more research before buying it. However, it would never have occurred to me to ask before hand if the product was only licensed for somewhere else or whether the warranty had expired. I have owned several printers and also purchased cartridges for many work computers and I have never had one where I couldn't buy replacements at retail stores.

At least I learned something from this experience...buy locally!!!

I am 60, I would not have thought of that either

But you do need to be cautious of seller accounts.

There are usually reviews of the seller you should look at first.

I have never had a problem with anything I bought on Amazon before, and I am amazed at the response from customer service.

First, I didn't request a refund. I told them that I had installed it and used it for several days and it was working fine.

I expressed my concerns that it was apparently intended for use in Latin America which was not disclosed...warranty expired...would I have problems in the future...yada yada.

I received a response from customer service within two hours, and it was personalized not just boiler plate "we are sorry you are disappointed, you can file a claim here..." Nope. The rep said s/he read the product description and reviewed my correspondence with the seller and noted that they had not responded to my concerns.

S/he initiated an investigation of the seller to determine if the they were in violation of Amazon rules. I would not be sent the results, but wanted me to know they were investigating.

S/he filed an A-Z claim on my behalf for a refund. I should hear from them within 1-2 weeks. I was quite surprised that they filed a claim and didn't just give me a link. That is good service!

I will let you know what I hear next. Thanks for your responses.

When dealing with seller accounts.

They'll ban the seller if they get too many complaints,

Just buy a new printer, save a lot of headaches!

That seems like pricey ink for 120 pages, although it does include shipping. It galls me to have to pay shipping for something small like this that I should be able to pick up locally.

Free shipping and usually next day or two day. http://store.hp.com
Good luck with everything!

That ink is HP61 and this printer requires HP662. When I discovered that getting ink was going to be a problem, I looked for the same model printer by other sellers. I found them (at higher prices) and they use the HP61, but my seller told me it was not compatible with this printer. I am wondering if the printers using HP61 are the ones licensed for US and the HP662 is for Latin America.

If you are interested, I have posted an update of my correspondence with Amazon customer service in a post above.

I don't know about printers but I learned years ago that some stereo equipment is manufacturer for certain parts of the world and not meant for other parts (but don't know why). Here is what Wikipedia has to say about grey markets.

A grey market (sometimes called a parallel market,[1] but this can also mean other things;[2] not to be confused with a black market or a grey economy) is the trade of a commodity through distribution channels that are legal but unintended by the original manufacturer. The most common type of grey market is the sale, by individuals or small companies not authorised by the manufacturer, of imported goods which would otherwise be either more expensive or unavailable in the country to which they are being imported. An example of this would be the import and subsequent re-sale of Apple products by unlicensed intermediaries in countries such as South Korea[3] where Apple does not currently operate retail outlets and licensed reseller markups are high.