14 October 2026 · Document Services Australia
Most bad copier deals start with a monthly figure and work backwards. The better way round is to start with what your office actually prints, choose the machine that suits it, and only then decide how to pay for it. There are three common ways, and they are not the same thing.
Rent it
With a rental, one monthly figure covers the machine, the servicing and the toner, and the machine stays with the supplier. Nothing sits on your balance sheet and there is nothing to sell at the end. Because the machine is not yours, swapping it or resizing it partway through is a conversation rather than a refinance. Rental suits an office that wants the printing handled and does not want to own a copier.
Lease it
With a lease, a finance company owns the machine for a fixed term and you pay a fixed amount. Payments are usually treated as an operating expense, and at the end you return it, renew it, or make an offer for it. The servicing sits alongside the lease on a separate service agreement. A lease suits an office that wants a fixed cost and a clean exit.
Buy it, outright or over time
Buying outright, or through commercial hire purchase where the machine is yours once the last payment is made, puts the asset and its depreciation on your books. It suits a business that expects to keep the machine well past any term, and long life machines such as Kyocera and Toshiba models usually reward that. A well kept refurbished or renewed copier is worth a look here too.
Which of the three is right is an accounting question as much as a printing one, so it is worth asking your accountant.
Size the machine first
- Pages a month. The biggest single factor. It decides the speed and duty the machine needs, and what it costs to run.
- How much colour. Colour pages cost more to produce, so the mix changes which machine and which agreement suit.
- A3 or A4. A3 machines take larger pages and higher volumes; a compact A4 suits a smaller office and lighter use.
- Scanning and finishing. Scan to email and folders, stapling and booklets: worth having if you use them, money wasted if you do not.
A machine that is too small for the office costs more in call outs and toner than the right one ever costs in payments.
What to check in any copier agreement
- What the service agreement covers: servicing, repairs, parts and toner, or only some of them.
- How pages are billed: from real meter readings, or from an estimate.
- How toner is ordered and sent, and whether freight is charged on each delivery.
- What happens at the end of a lease: return, renew or buy, and on what terms.
- Who services the machine, and whether you are already paying someone else for servicing on the same machine.
How we do it
We supply new Toshiba, Kyocera and HP machines, and refurbished and renewed copiers in South East Queensland, on rental, lease or commercial hire purchase, delivered, installed and serviced for the life of the agreement. Toner is included on our service agreements and ordered through the customer portal, with freight charged on each delivery, and billing comes from the meter readings the machine sends. The details are on our rental, lease and finance page and our managed print page, and new machines are on our new copiers page.
If you already have a copier on a lease and want to know whether you are paying for servicing you are not getting, send us the agreement and your page counts through our quote request and we will tell you plainly.
Independent, and on the tools
