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Would you pay more than 25% of MSRP for a used cartridge?

Seems most seller want to price their "low-hour" used cartridges at 50-80% of MSRP. This seems ridiculous to me because there is no sure way to verify these "low-hour" claims. You need to have specialized microscopes and even then it's a just a guestimate if worn or not. 

 

Another point is even a cartridge with 1000+ hours can still sound very good. A worn stylus will mistrack only on certain passages of certain demanding records. So it is nothing obvious.

 

So why do all these folks price their used cartridges so high? Are folks actually paying these prices?

 

My max. would be 25% of MSRP for any "low-hour" claim. 

12inch45rpm

Showing 2 responses by lewm

lewm
13,515 posts
 

Here’s where everyone trots out his or her individual experiences buying used cartridges. As to the issue of cost, I forgot to point out that many cartridges that are out of production are now valued much higher than their original MSRP. For those cartridges, there is virtually no relationship between the used value and the MSRP. In my opinion, it’s foolish to make a hard rule about what the valuation of a used cartridge should be in relation to its MSRP. Each case is unique.

12inch, you have no idea what you’re missing if you completely rule out “old things”.

lewm
13,515 posts
 

“Caveat emptor” is good advice for probably more than 2000 years. “Trust but verify” also is a good motto. Get a pre-purchase inspection done by an expert. If someone like Peter Ledermann or our Needlestein confirms low use and perfect structure. I’d be all in. Such a specimen is worth much more than 25% of MSRP, to me, if I want it. If a seller won’t agree to a PPI, done at my expense, I’m not a buyer at any price.

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