Ready, steady, oh no!!!

Put the new ink cartridge which had arrived on Friday into my printer. Printer told me: still no ink, tee-hee! Pulled the cartridge out, cleaned the contacts, put the cartridge in again. Printer told me there is no cartridge at all. Tried to reset printer. Printer did not let me. Printer is as good as dead. What shall I do with a freshly opened ink cartridge now (which was almost as expensive as the darn printer itself) with the printer gone?