I bought a new printer recently. I notice the prices are way up. The chip shortage may be to blame, but I don't know for sure.

All original-brand cartridges are expensive; printer companies make most of their their money off toner and ink sales. It was like camera companies selling cameras cheap so they could get you on film (ahem, Polaroid!). If you don't need photo-realism, compatible cartridges sold on Ebay have worked for me for at least two decades.

Watch out: when shopping around, I noticed some inexpensive printers are being sold without any toner - not even the typical starter set. Printers that were offered for around $200 would cost closer to $550 if you wanted ink. I don't know if this is a new trend, but so much for operating it right out of the box.