Experiences buying used cartridges

Fair push back from Ebm and Daveyf.

If you check my feedback, you'll see that I sold some used cartridges a while back on buyer's approval. No payment up front. At some point, trust comes into the picture.

I would just feel better with a new one.

Tried it only once. Bought a $2,000 LOMC used for $800. Advertised as < 50 hours, but it arrived with a seriously off-center cantilever. It seemed to me then and now that it would have taken much longer than 50 hours to do that.

Others have been luckier, obviously. In the end, you assess the risk vs. the reward (savings) and make your own choice.

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I've sold a couple of used cartridges here on the 'Gon. The cartridges were a couple of years old. I sold them because I just never played my turntable. Sold them for 50% of the cost of new. They probably had less than 25 hrs each on them. The cartridges sold pretty quickly on the strength of my sales feedback. However, I doubt if I'd ever buy a used cartridge.
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It's a good experience, you can not buy top cartridges from the 80s in NEW condition anyway. Used cartridge in very good condition can be a good find. Some of them still sounds amazing even compared to new, but for a lot better price (used normally cheaper). Anyway it's better to have NEW stuff as well to test them nose to nose with top vintage stuff. I'm totally find buyin used if they are reasonably priced (especially MM/MI/MF). It's a part of the hobby after all.