I bought my printer new. I can say that the problem seems to come after you change the ink cartridges. If the person selling the printer removed the cartridges prior to shipping he may not be aware of the problem. But, unfortunately from experiece there are also bad people who take advantage of others,so the prob may have been known, Re: fixing it. I threw mine away, didnt think it was worth fixing.  On my first one they sent me a new one since it was still under warranty. I wouldnt buy another Dell printer--ever!! and frankly i dont think i'd ever buy from e bay either. Too mant chances to lose your money on junk.  Good luck!