who knows ZYX retipping or refurbish ?

The ''old economist'' wrote about production and distribution of            wealth among (social) classes. This distribution in our case is
between manufacturer,  importers and dealers. If I am well     informed each get about 30% .So if chakster is right that ZYX
get  60% of the  retail value by exchange of the old for the new     cart  why should they   then mess with refurbishing ? 

Yes, 60% or even more, but only if you send them back broken cartridge with valid serial number. I actually sent my broken Premium 4D, but then i gave up on ZYX. I believe each distributor can do more or less to help their customers. I'm pretty sure it's very difficult to sell such expensive cartridges.  

You could do much worse than having Peter Lederman at Soundsmith repair your cartridge. His work is first rate.

I’ve had customers have work done on a ZYX Universe (a re-tip), several Benz LPs, and a Dynavector XV1-s and in all cases, the work was equal to that of the original.

Will the cartridge be identical to its original state? Well if it doesn’t end up as an identical twin to the original, the worst-case is that it will be a fraternal one.

... Thom @ Galibier Design

So after months of talking, you've got 2 options with your old zyx :
- exchange with a new one ( new version)
- or repair if you want to get the same cartridge if it's no more available

Both are the same price, around 65% of the the new value

There is no repair of ZYX cartridges provided by the manufacturer (Nakatsuka-San in Japan) or any distributor !!

ONLY exchange, even if you want the same cartridge back to work it will be a different (brand new) cartridge with different serial number that you can get officially from the distributor. BUT only if your ex cartridge was purchased officially from the distributor. 

ZYX cartridges has SEALED body, the manufacturer will give you a new cartridge instead of cracking up the old one for any reason. They do not re-tip the cartridges, even if you want just a new tip, you will get brand new cartridge with discount instead.