Experience purchasing a used high-end cartridge

Thank you all for the well-considered advice. @neonknight I greatly appreciate your engaging narrative and wise advice. My takeaway from @wrm57 and many of the others is to assume a steep risk curve if seller reputation involves any ambiguity--as is the case here.

@lewm, I resonated fully with your remarks which I find equally edifying to those I’ve read when lurking on other threads. @ghdprentice, same for your comments -- fortunately for me, my teenage purchase of a four-year-old ’72 Olds Cutlass bought me many years of cruising (parking) fun--though I admit to only buying new cars ever since, hence my reticence about the used cart.

Daring to synthesize the remarks, the risk-benefit tradeoff shifts towards benefit if independent, highly-reputable inspection can be obtained before purchase. I will give that a go. If the seller refuses, as @lewm stated, I will have my answer.

I would like to first, and foremost, express my appreciation again for all of the valuable insights and experiences shared by the A’gon community.

@willy-t and @drmuso your comments were incredibly on-target for me, since the cartridge I was considering was a Kleos from Wayne’s Audio listed on US Audio Mart. Wayne was very responsive to all my inquiries. Based on the advice received here I requested an inspection of the cartridge. Wayne replied this was the first time that anyone had requested inspection and was not willing to risk having his cartridge sent out for inspection--a position I can fully appreciate.

Despite the professional and responsive message exchange, I decided it wasn’t worth the risk. Instead, I found a great deal on an open-box Soundsmith Sussorro ES from a highly trusted online retailer that I buy from regularly. They even agreed to mount the cartridge for me on a new Nasotec Swing Headshell that has received glowing reviews.

As @big_greg and others have mentioned., the retipping cost factored into my decision. Soundsmith has I believe the industry’s lowest retipping costs at less than 20% of retail. My only worry now is that before I need the Sussorro retipped Peter may have sold the company to someone focused more on extracting the highest profits than on customer service.