Experience purchasing a used high-end cartridge

trust but verify with an independent expert.

In other words, distrust until verification. If you find a seller willing to let you ship his cartridge around and have it handled by some third party, sure go for it without a second thought.

I don’t do it. Too many vulnerabilities with cartridges. And while I have had many excellent retips done, the sound is never quite the same as original, IME. If you have the option of having a manufacturer do a rebuild of the purchase, which is essentially a new cartridge, with warranty, then maybe. But at that point the costs mount. I’d rather save up and buy new, if only to quiet the doubts in my mind. And I consider the cost and availability of manufacturer rebuild as a condition of purchase. It’s one reason I own no Zyx: rebuild costs are too high. Ortofons, though, are reasonable.

All that said, I did recently buy, at a steep discount, a demo MC Diamond that had been used at Axpona. But it came directly from Ortofon with full warranty and had less than 20 hours on it. I trust Louis at Ortofon USA, so I had no worries.

Lots of ifs in this hypothetical. Sure, “if” all are satisfied, go for it.

No, I agree that I would need your criteria met if I were to buy this hypothetical used cartridge. How many times can I say go for it? I don’t buy used cartridges so the point is moot, but I’m submitting to your hypothetical. But I also think this transaction is unlikely to occur in reality. Most sellers like a glide path, not additional complication and risk. Additional shipping is a risk. And how many sellers do you think would say, sure, here’s my cartridge, have an expert vouch for it, however long that takes, while I don’t sell it to anyone else. And Peter can take months to do work. Could happen. Sure why not. Once again, go for it.