How do you spot an overplayed used lp without obvious scratches etc

op here

very good discussion, thank you all

My biggest problem is being able to tell if a record has groove damage from a mistracking or poor stylus

I own a very extensive collection of mint US, UK, Japanese, etc pressing that I have meticulously cared for over the years. Most of the time I am able to find the gem used records even if they have some issues. I have a ZYX cartridge which tracks very low in the groove which is good, a KL Audio Ultrasonic cleaner which really makes a huge difference in the noise floor and subtle dynamics and try to buy the best looking records. In jazz you sometimes have to lower your standards for old stuff, in classical you get pristine copies for nothing. For music in general and especially rock, I mostly favor old original issues as they typically have more open natural sound. There are exceptions where the reissue is the way to go and the Steve Hoffman music forum is a great place to figure out which to buy. Some labels like Sundazed - every lp is bright and unlistenable. I ate Booker T and the MG albums until I went back to a few slightly noisy originals - can never find totally clean ones. The KL Audio ultrasonic cleaner is a huge investment but worth it for me. It works fantastic and can get the gunk out even on new pressings, but it can’t do anything about record wear from a stylus, etc.

I am a stickler, check for warps, depth of scratches, in New Orleans mold can be an issue, and always hold the discs up to outside light. My local store puts new slip covers on everything and generally doesn’t take anything that doesn’t look good (unless it’s a dollar bin).

Still as others of you have mentioned, figuring out if there is noise from stylus wear is tough, especially from visual inspection. Thanks for the spindle / label tips, I do look at hole wear. I am not one to play test a record on a cheap table and destroy it.

thanks