Priceless Ink & Toner and CollegeInk.com Keep Customers Happy With RingCentral

Priceless Inkjet Cartridge Co. is a 13-year-old online retailer that offers name-brand, eco-friendly remanufactured printer and copier supplies. The company, founder Ray Slipatchuk says, is dedicated to providing products that are great for both the environment and customers’ budgets.

Priceless reoriented both its business model and its customer-service approach near the beginning of the recent recession, Ray told us in a recent chat. The firm, recognizing that its customers were going to become increasingly cost-sensitive, started promoting remanufactured products more heavily – but that meant it also had to invest in its support organization.

Priceless’ renewed focus on high-quality support is what prompted it to adopt RingCentral. “We needed to be certain our telecommunications partner would be reliable. RingCentral has proven to be that and more,” Ray said.

Since it started using RingCentral, in fact, Priceless’ customer-service ratings have increased steadily. In early 2010, its customer satisfaction score was 71 percent. By early 2011, the score had risen to 76 percent; at the beginning of this year, it stood at 83 percent.

RingCentral is helping Priceless in another area, too. The company, Ray noted, is relying on its RingCentral phone system to support a new initiative called CollegeInk.com – an e-commerce platform that lets any college student open an online ink and toner store at no cost.

The stores operate on commission, meaning that Priceless pays each store “owner” on the basis of how much revenue he or she generates. Store owners can also earn a bonus for referring friends or classmates to the program. The goal is to have 100,000 students marketing printing supplies through their own web stores, Ray indicated.

While CollegeInk.com’s benefits to Priceless are obvious, the initiative also stands to benefit the students who participate. They gain real-world experience running their own business – and, Ray added, they can generate a substantial amount of monthly income if they apply themselves.

“Someone can build it up to make $5,000 a month – all it takes is your noodle and some hard work,” he said.

As Priceless grows CollegeInk.com to scale, RingCentral will be vital in helping the company handle customer queries and process orders. Already, it has had a huge impact on Priceless’ business.

“The way we can use RingCentral to transfer customers to our service or sales extensions – it’s made life so much easier for us,” Ray enthused. “For a small company like ours, trying to grow with a limited budget, a cloud-based communications provider like RingCentral is a blessing.”

Originally published Dec 17, 2012, updated Sep 01, 2021