APA Open Community

Hello all, 

We ran into an issue yesterday that might have already impacted others or might impact you soon.

Our Sawgrass sublimation printer (SG1000) required an update yesterday, and after it was finished, suddenly our printer did not function because of "Non-Sawgrass ink" being installed. All of our ink is genuine ink (purchased from JDS), and the reason it was registering as non-sawgrass ink was because the cartridge is "expired."

We have used "expired" ink often, we go through phases of lots of sublimation orders, and less frequent orders, and at times certain cartridges "expire" but we've never had a color issue or an issue printing. Now it appears that Sawgrass is making sure that any "Non-Sawgrass Ink" will cause the printer to stop functioning (a distasteful cash grab in my opinion, but their choice), but they failed to ensure that older ink cartridges will still work - keep in mind our "expired" cartridge had a use by date in late 2025.

Given that suppliers like JDS run sales on sublimation ink, and it would only make sense that someone might stock up on ink during those sales, this could present a number of issues for people who suddenly find their genuine ink flagging the printer and making it so you cannot print.
Sawgrass is sending us a replacement cartridge, and I'm waiting to find out if other "expiring" cartridges will have this same issue, as almost every other cartridge we have right now is nearing the expiration date within a few months.

Hopefully Sawgrass will address the issue and fix it, but I wanted to share the information so people could adjust accordingly.

I suggest contacting them directly for an answer. Let us know their response. Maybe we should all "lobby" them to stop this practice.

Hello all, 

We ran into an issue yesterday that might have already impacted others or might impact you soon.

Our Sawgrass sublimation printer (SG1000) required an update yesterday, and after it was finished, suddenly our printer did not function because of "Non-Sawgrass ink" being installed. All of our ink is genuine ink (purchased from JDS), and the reason it was registering as non-sawgrass ink was because the cartridge is "expired."

We have used "expired" ink often, we go through phases of lots of sublimation orders, and less frequent orders, and at times certain cartridges "expire" but we've never had a color issue or an issue printing. Now it appears that Sawgrass is making sure that any "Non-Sawgrass Ink" will cause the printer to stop functioning (a distasteful cash grab in my opinion, but their choice), but they failed to ensure that older ink cartridges will still work - keep in mind our "expired" cartridge had a use by date in late 2025.

Given that suppliers like JDS run sales on sublimation ink, and it would only make sense that someone might stock up on ink during those sales, this could present a number of issues for people who suddenly find their genuine ink flagging the printer and making it so you cannot print.
Sawgrass is sending us a replacement cartridge, and I'm waiting to find out if other "expiring" cartridges will have this same issue, as almost every other cartridge we have right now is nearing the expiration date within a few months.

Hopefully Sawgrass will address the issue and fix it, but I wanted to share the information so people could adjust accordingly.

I agree with Bryan. We had the same issue last week.

I'm not communicating that to their customers before they changed was made. 

I, also, have two 2025 cartridges. One is October and the other is December.

We would like a replacement too, please.

I suggest contacting them directly for an answer. Let us know their response. Maybe we should all "lobby" them to stop this practice.

Hello all, 

We ran into an issue yesterday that might have already impacted others or might impact you soon.

Our Sawgrass sublimation printer (SG1000) required an update yesterday, and after it was finished, suddenly our printer did not function because of "Non-Sawgrass ink" being installed. All of our ink is genuine ink (purchased from JDS), and the reason it was registering as non-sawgrass ink was because the cartridge is "expired."

We have used "expired" ink often, we go through phases of lots of sublimation orders, and less frequent orders, and at times certain cartridges "expire" but we've never had a color issue or an issue printing. Now it appears that Sawgrass is making sure that any "Non-Sawgrass Ink" will cause the printer to stop functioning (a distasteful cash grab in my opinion, but their choice), but they failed to ensure that older ink cartridges will still work - keep in mind our "expired" cartridge had a use by date in late 2025.

Given that suppliers like JDS run sales on sublimation ink, and it would only make sense that someone might stock up on ink during those sales, this could present a number of issues for people who suddenly find their genuine ink flagging the printer and making it so you cannot print.
Sawgrass is sending us a replacement cartridge, and I'm waiting to find out if other "expiring" cartridges will have this same issue, as almost every other cartridge we have right now is nearing the expiration date within a few months.

Hopefully Sawgrass will address the issue and fix it, but I wanted to share the information so people could adjust accordingly.

Sawgrass responded "Cartridges expiring in 2026 and later will not encounter this issue." So while this doesn't address their lack of communication around the change and doesn't give me a lot of confidence that something like this won't happen again, they are saying it shouldn't happen again this year.
They are at least replacing the expired ink, so anyone else who finds themselves in the same situation should contact them to get those cartridges replaced. I had to provide photos of the cartridges/serial numbers but that was it.
Perhaps if enough people get replacements they'll reconsider how to enact these types of changes in the future.

I agree with Bryan. We had the same issue last week.

I'm not communicating that to their customers before they changed was made. 

I, also, have two 2025 cartridges. One is October and the other is December.

We would like a replacement too, please.

I suggest contacting them directly for an answer. Let us know their response. Maybe we should all "lobby" them to stop this practice.

Hello all, 

We ran into an issue yesterday that might have already impacted others or might impact you soon.

Our Sawgrass sublimation printer (SG1000) required an update yesterday, and after it was finished, suddenly our printer did not function because of "Non-Sawgrass ink" being installed. All of our ink is genuine ink (purchased from JDS), and the reason it was registering as non-sawgrass ink was because the cartridge is "expired."

We have used "expired" ink often, we go through phases of lots of sublimation orders, and less frequent orders, and at times certain cartridges "expire" but we've never had a color issue or an issue printing. Now it appears that Sawgrass is making sure that any "Non-Sawgrass Ink" will cause the printer to stop functioning (a distasteful cash grab in my opinion, but their choice), but they failed to ensure that older ink cartridges will still work - keep in mind our "expired" cartridge had a use by date in late 2025.

Given that suppliers like JDS run sales on sublimation ink, and it would only make sense that someone might stock up on ink during those sales, this could present a number of issues for people who suddenly find their genuine ink flagging the printer and making it so you cannot print.
Sawgrass is sending us a replacement cartridge, and I'm waiting to find out if other "expiring" cartridges will have this same issue, as almost every other cartridge we have right now is nearing the expiration date within a few months.

Hopefully Sawgrass will address the issue and fix it, but I wanted to share the information so people could adjust accordingly.