Off center (not bent!) stylus?

no expert here. mine gotta little lean but HAUIE it sound 😃

Actually that front view shows a cantilever cocked out to the right while the stylus is almost perfectly straight down. The cantilever is the long straight thing sticking out. The stylus is just the almost invisible bit on the very end of the cantilever. In the view from below it looks like the stylus might be rotated a bit (azimuth) but in the frontal view it looks vertical, which is fine.

Its certainly better if all these are perfectly geometrically in alignment. In the higher end cartridges you will find they almost always are. I've never seen one less than spot on no matter how close I look. At the level you're talking what you're seeing is probably perfectly normal, new or used.

Here's why its just not that big a deal. A phono cartridge has to trace such a high vibration groove, it generates so much vibrational resonance doing this, that it's not until you get way up into mega-buck cartridges they are doing much more than just bouncing back and forth sampling the groove.  

I'm sure you never heard that before. Like most audiophiles you've been indoctrinated with marketing stories to believe the stylus perfectly traces the groove and so geometry is absolutely essential. Well then why is Peter Ledermann, easily one of the most experienced cartridge builders in the country saying this? https://youtu.be/WmwnN_T_wW8?t=1293 

If you want to understand what's going on, highly recommend to stop and watch all his videos. In a few hours study you will know more than 90% of the guys here.

I will save you a bit of time and say the angles don't matter much because its the generator at the other end that makes the signal. It generates the signal by moving. The faster and more it moves the stronger more high voltage the signal. Its an averaging device. It doesn't literally transcribe.  

Yeah sure its always better when everything is nice and perfect. That is why when you get up into the high end everything tends to be perfect. At the level you are looking at though sorry to say but what you see that looks out of kilter is only the tip of a very big iceberg of imperfections. Don't sweat it. Lots bigger fish to fry.

Hauie88, that cantilever is way off and the azimuth is off. The cartridge was damage by using it in an arm without anti skating. It is garbage and should not be used. It will damage your records.  You might be able to get a replacement stylus at LP Gear. Great Pics.
Sometimes the cantilever will be a little off and you just align the cantilever correctly and you will be fine but this is too extreme with the azimuth way off indicating damage.