Buying a used cartridge...tell us your tale.

Wow, Peter. Ignorance is no excuse for a ripoff -- shame on that seller!

I've bought and sold used a number of times now -- some pretty high-price
cartridges, too (e.g. Koetsu). All transactions thus far have been flawless. The
used cartridges I've received have been free of any meaningful defect, sound
great, and seem to have lots of life left as advertised. Though to be fair, I think
I'm nearing an end of my cartridge gambling days.

I've got one cartridge with a worn stylus that renders some minor but audible distortion on the inner-most grooves -- that's definitely where you'll notice issues first. To be honest, it still sounds awesome on the outer and middle grooves. But obviously it's high time for a re-tip, and I don't play it since I noticed the issue. Unknown hour count on this one, but I absolutely knew it was high up there when I acquired it (early 1990's Koetsu).

I've rotated through a lot of cartridges over 7 years, and I haven't put enough on any 1 cart (~ 400 hours max) to drive it into audible wear. So I've never encountered any issues besides on that one.