How it works

Step 1: you tell us what you're paying now

The widget on the homepage asks five things, and you can answer most of them from memory:

• Your lease payment. The regular amount on your finance invoice, before VAT. Usually quarterly, sometimes monthly.
• Your cost per copy. Two numbers — one for black and white, one for colour. Optional, because plenty of people genuinely don't know them, and that's a finding in itself.
• Roughly how much you print. A band is fine. If you want to be precise, the meter reading is on your last service invoice.
• When your contract ends. "Not sure" is an allowed answer.

None of that leaves your browser at this stage. The sum happens on your own device, and you see the result before you decide whether to tell us anything about yourself.

Step 2: you see your real annual number

This is usually the moment the penny drops. Copier costs are split across two invoices that arrive at different times from what can feel like two different companies — the finance house that owns the machine, and the dealer that services it. Individually, neither looks like much. Annualised and added together, they often look like a lot.

Step 3: we check it against the market

Give us your contact details and we'll look at what the same machine, the same volume and a comparable service level would cost on a contract signed today.

We'll come back to you with one of two answers:

• "You're on a fair deal." It happens more often than you'd think, especially if you negotiated hard last time. We'll tell you straight, and you'll have it in writing for your next renewal.
• "Here's what the same setup costs now." A like-for-like comparison, with the assumptions written down so you can check our working.

Step 4: you decide — and you have three options, not one

People assume a review means switching supplier. It doesn't. There are three reasonable outcomes:

1. Sit tight until renewal. You now know your number and your end date, which is more than most businesses can say when the letter lands.
2. Renegotiate where you are. Take the comparison to your current supplier and ask them to match it. Lots of people do this and stay put on better terms. We're not offended.
3. Move. If you'd rather change, we'll introduce you to a supplier and step back out of the way.

When's the right time to do this?

Three to six months before your current term ends. That's when you still have leverage — no early settlement figure to pay, and enough runway to move calmly rather than signing whatever's put in front of you the week the old agreement lapses.

If you're mid-term, it's still worth knowing your number. You just can't act on it yet without a settlement cost, and we'll say so rather than pretending otherwise.

What we don't do

• We don't sell your details to a list of suppliers who then all ring you.
• We don't need a copy of your contract to give you an indication.
• We don't run a call centre. If you ask us not to phone, we won't.
• We don't rubbish the manufacturer you're with. Ricoh, Canon, Konica Minolta, Sharp, Xerox — they all make good machines. The money is almost never about the box.

What it costs you

Nothing. If you go on to sign a new agreement through an introduction we make, we're paid by the supplier. That's how the model works, and we'd rather say it plainly than have you wonder.