How to choose a cartridge you can't hear on your system?

Ps68, that’s pretty funny...just buy it..so I don’t.lol.
I wasn’t actually “expecting” any specific winner to my poll, but the results were probably predictable, I guess??
It is a shame that this is the one piece of gear that people seem to buy with little to no real experience as to how it is going to sound. I am having the same predicament right now, shopping for a new cartridge, and one that will be better than what I already own, is no easy task. I will most likely have to drop my cash and hope for the best. Not what I like to do at all in this hobby. 
Plus, as some have mentioned, this wasn’t such a big deal in the past when the cartridge price was maybe a few hundred dollars, but today we are talking multi thousands!

inna, i'm not sure as to who you are responding to. However, your thought that by waiting a dealer is going to be essentially begging you to buy, just doesn't seem to jive with reality. 
IME, the dealers are all pretty independent when it comes to this issue. While i agree with you that this is not in the best interest of the consumer, it certainly seems to be a somewhat uniform response....at least in the dealers in my area. In some ways, i cannot blame them, once a cartridge is mounted it becomes a 'used' device. How the mounting and care of the cartridge is accomplished is also a variable. When we are talking of multi thousand $$ pieces, the rest follows along. Not at all a great situation for the consumer, and certainly one that I would love to see changed, but I see both sides of the picture. 
Buying without listening first is, at least IMHO, never a good thing to do....unfortunately,with cartridges, I don't see a lot of options! YMMV.

+1000 on Clearthinks post.
Chakster, if you enjoy an old cartridge that is more than likely destroying your vinyl, so be it. Cartridges are a wear item, plain and simple. Like Clearthinks stated, just one play can easily damage the groove if the cartridge is badly worn.
I am in the market for a new cartridge, I will not even consider anything that is not brand new...regardless of the price, or the seller’s reputation. The age and condition of the stylus and how it was treated is a huge factor, even barely used cartridges can be badly damaged by misuse and incorrect set-up. A vintage cartridge..dried up and with a worn stylus is just asking for trouble. Unless that is you have a small LP collection of little value and like to play DJ, then who cares-- LOL. All IMHO.

syntax, perhaps look at what you just wrote.....is it possible that this very opinion might....just might, apply to YOU!! ...:0)