Experience purchasing a used high-end cartridge

Pretty good timing 

I just purchased a used Lyra Kleos

2 weeks ago.   Once received I could immediately tell

this cart had been through a lot 

parts of the body didn’t align with other parts and there was really 

no way to tell the amount of usage without a microscope

Before I purchase it ,the seller agreed on a return if I was not 

satisfied.  
The point in all this is wait for a new cart to come available at a discount 

I will never buy a used cart again because of this 

it took 2 weeks to receive the refund but I finally did 

Buy new and ask for a discount or wait for a promotion

Good luck Willy -T

I bought a "brand new" cartridge from Kron and thought I had gotten a deal. Sent pics of the odd cantilever over to the US distributor and learned it wasn't the original and was a very poor retip. Never again. 

Trust but verify.

I recently bought a used Benz Ruby 2 from Wayne's Audio through US Audio Mart.

He stated he sells a lot of cartridges, he had several for sale, and good feedback.  He was offering several vintage cartridges that he claimed have fewer than 50 hrs. use and he's marketing his own MC cartridge.  He offered me a return privilege and installed the cartridge on my tonearm armtube.  He also gave me credit for a used cartridge I sent him.

The cartridge was carefully packed and works fine.  I've not felt a need to have it inspected, and I'm not sure there is anyone near me that would inspect it.

One advantage of buying a lightly-used cartridge from a trusted source is that it may be broken-in enough that you can judge how it will actually sound at its best; you can't always do that with a new cartridge.

I've done it, but only from trusted sources.  Can you return it?  Are they a dealer or an individual? 

Another thing to consider is cost of retipping.  If there is something wrong with it, or it's worn, can you have it retipped and still come out way ahead of the cost of buying a new cart?  One of my used purchases was a Van den Hul Crimson XGW Stradivarius, which at the time were fairly inexpensive to have retipped by the manufacturer.  I paid less than half the price of a new cartridge and have not had any issues with it to date.