Turntable issue

@millercarbon, it was shipped in the original box with all the original packing material. Platter was taken off. There was no visible damage to the box or compression of the packing material, it all looked reasonably good (in other words, as expected when USPS has handled the box across the country).

I've checked the ceramic ball and that is indeed still on the spindle. Next, I will check the angularity of the spindle to make sure it's perfectly vertical.

The platter does "sink" all the way down when you put it on the spindle, but not the entire bottom side is dragging, so maybe the magnets are doing what they are supposed to and this is unrelated to that.

I'll continue to investigate. I appreciate all the suggestions so far and please keep them coming. This should be a solvable problem.

My suggestion which I'm guessing you've already done is to check your horizontal levels.Is the platter perfectly level?

to examine the negative,

how do you personally know for sure it was working fine before shipping?

if fine there, but not now here, it was received 'damaged', the selller/shipper is responsible.

Is there a return/refund period?  I would be very firm, in writing, to seller about the fact that it was received damaged, and if not quickly solved a full refund will be needed,

shipping insurance? insurance purchased by whom? if it comes to that, it is best to return to seller, let seller give you a full refund, let seller deal with shipping insurance, very often un-successful.

best of luck,

sometimes we let keeping a supposedly 'great deal' influence our decisions, what would you do if it was new, or full price?

I've got the maglev in my sota.  If the table is totally level, the platter will spin dead silent and freely with the belt off.  These are very precise installations and any deviations will ruin this.  My platter actually floats and has a bit of spring when pushed down.
If you are getting any dragging or grinding sound I would first check for dirt and make sure the spindle is lubed.  My platter did have the tiniest bit of noise when I first got it.  A friend who is an engineer suggested cleaning the spindle and bearing, re-lubing and running for a couple hours.  The noise went away and never came back.  The factory hadn't put this through a break-in period before shipping.

@elliottbnewcombjr; I can't of course know for sure, but the seller did send me a video of the turntable playing and it seemed to work fine. The seller has been more than accommodating and I have no concern that he would take it back if it's not repairable (which he has offered to pay for).