29 October 2026 · Document Services Australia
If you have been quoted on an A3 copier for your office and the figure made you pause, this page is for you. These are the ranges we see in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast in 2026, what sits behind them, and the questions that turn a confusing quote into a simple one. The ranges are a guide to judge a quote by, not our price list: every office prints differently, and the right machine for 2,000 pages a month is not the right machine for 20,000.
What a copier costs a month
Nearly every office we deal with takes its copier on a monthly figure, so that is how we quote and how these ranges are written. Refurbished A3 colour, 20 to 30 pages a minute, on a 36 month rental: most quotes land between about $85 and $155 a month plus GST, delivered, installed and set up. Renewed or ex demo, a machine with a low count that looks and runs close to new: about $110 to $200 a month. Brand new A3 colour: from about $145 a month for a 20 to 25 page a minute machine with a document feeder and cabinet, to $360 a month and well beyond for 45 to 65 pages a minute with a finisher. An A4 colour multifunction, if A3 is not needed, runs from under $75 a month new. Rental, lease or hire, the monthly figure is the one to compare, and copier prices by model gives it for each of the twenty machines we quote most.
What decides the monthly figure
Two things decide whether a monthly figure is fair: the price it was worked from (ask for it) and the length of the term. A low monthly figure over 60 months can cost more than a higher one over 36. Lease, rent or buy: an honest guide sets out what each kind of agreement means at the end.
The copy charges, which matter more than the machine
Over three to five years an office usually spends more on pages than on the machine. In South East Queensland a service agreement that includes toner, parts, labour and travel is commonly quoted between about 0.5 and 1.2 cents a page for black and white and between about 5 and 9 cents a page for colour on an A3 machine, with A4 machines higher per page. Multiply the rate by your real monthly pages, black and colour separately, over the term, and add it to the machine. That total is the number to compare between quotes, and it is the one most quotes do not show.
What should be included at these prices
- Delivery, installation, network setup, scanning to email or folders, and the drivers on your computers.
- A document feeder and the cabinet or paper feeder the machine stands on. A quote with a bare machine is not a cheaper machine, it is a machine with the stand sold separately.
- Removal of the old machine, and what happens to its data.
- A warranty that means something: on our service agreements, if the machine fails and cannot be fixed, it is replaced for the term.
What makes a quote expensive without looking it
- A minimum monthly volume: you pay for 5,000 pages whether you print 5,000 or 2,000.
- Annual increases on the copy charges, written as a percentage in the terms.
- A 60 month term on a refurbished machine that will want replacing at 36.
- Automatic rollover at the end of the term unless you write to cancel in a short window.
- A finisher, extra trays or a fax card you did not ask for and will not use.
A worked example
An office printing 3,000 black and 1,500 colour pages a month is quoted a refurbished 25 page a minute A3 colour machine at $114 a month over 36 months, with 0.8 cents black and 7 cents colour. The machine is $4,104 over the term. The pages are $24 black and $105 colour a month, $4,644 over the term. The real cost of that quote is about $8,750 plus GST over three years, about $243 a month all in, and the copy charges are more than half of it. Another quote with a cheaper machine and 1.2 cents and 9 cents a page would cost more, not less.
If you would like us to run that sum on the quote you have been given, send it to us and we will do it in writing, with our own figure beside it, within one business day.
Independent, and on the tools
