The exact trade-in value will depend on the age and model of the printer that is being exchanged, as well as the specification of the K600i or BitJet+ system the company wants to buy.

Domino area sales manager Steve Taylor said the average cost of a 108mm print width K600i would be from £45,000 to £75,000 depending on specification, while a BitJet+ system would typically be around £55,000, although a "really basic" implementation could be from around £30,000 upwards.

This means mailing houses with older inkjet technology to trade in could potentially get up to two thirds off the cost of a BitJet+ system or up to 44% off a K600i.

Mailmark, which was launched in March, combines printed barcodes with recent upgrades to Royal Mail's optical recognition and sequence sortation systems to provide reports on where individual pieces of mail are at up to five different points in the mailing process.

Greg Noble, customer take-on lead for Royal Mail Mailmark, said: "By adding a Mailmark barcode to each letter in your mailing, you are able to track the consignment from the moment it is accepted at a mail centre through to when it is processed for delivery."

The service is offered for free to Royal Mail retail and wholesale customers; it requires a 2D barcode printed onto each mailpiece and to provide the corresponding data to Royal Mail.

Domino's K600i is available with UV and aqueous inks and can be configured with multiple 108mm-wide print bars to create bespoke print widths for different end-user applications. The widest standard specification is 558mm although Taylor said most mailing applications tended to be 108mm.

The K600i can print at 75m/min at 600dpi or 150m/min at 600x300dpi and is best suited to flat substrates, such as cards, leaflets, flyers and vouchers, due to its maximum 2mm throw distance (the distance between the printhead and the substrate).

The BitJet+ is available with solvent and acetone-based inks and while it has a much lower print resolution (max 240x120dpi) it is better suited to very high-speed applications (maximum print speed 800m/min) and printing onto uneven substrates due to its much greater throw distance (up to 10mm).

Domino, which is an accredited supplier to the Mailmark programme, highlighted its trade-in programme at a conference demonstrating the potential of Mailmark to the mailing industry, held at its Bar Hill, Cambridgeshire headquarters last week.