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What a great question. I don't know for sure about the archival quality of printer inks but I do remembrer seeing an article about it in an recent issue of American Artist which I subscribe to. I'll look through them and see if I can find it again.
I agree - your home printer is just fine for greeting cards, chap books, calendars etc.... My partner and I are doing that too.
One thing that I'm looking into for fine art prints in limited editions is giclee printing which you would order from a print shop. I'm almost positive this is archival and the exciting thing is that you can order one sheet or a thousand at the same price per sheet. That's because it prints from the computer and no plates are needed like in the past. This makes it so much easier because you can order them as you get orders.
Here's what I found out from a local printer. One sheet (forgot the size, sorry, that info is at my office) which would fit 6 of the painting I was asking about (16 X 12 plus a 1" margin) would cost $95. That comes out to $15.something per print. There was an extra charge for shooting the art, $85, and you get a copy of the file for use on the web or in ads. I don't know how competitive this price is yet. I think the price for shooting the art is pretty good. The upside of letting them take the photo is that you get to proof it. If you provide a photo or file of your own you have less power over that.
I think at $100 each, prints really need to be in a limited edition, signed and numbered. There's no reason you can't do that though.
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Sharon P.
http://get-me.to/chinaberries