I went to a local auction house that I have been doing business with for the last three years, before I started doing storage auctions. I typically take them antique furniture, lower end pieces, and little nick-nack pieces of furniture that are not worth the hassle to sell on Craigslist (i.e. small storage racks, baker's racks, odd chairs, computer desks, small tables, end tables, etc.)
Well I took a load to them so they could sell it while I was on vacation, and when they looked at what I had (the usual stuff I bring) they said they could'nt take it, it wasn't worth enough! The guy I was talking to said sales are continueing to decline and they are having financial difficulties. He walked me around the showroom and showed the prices the furniture sold for at the last auction. Some of it I was amazed at how cheap it sold for, others I thought to myself well yea, it's ugly as chit and nobody will buy it, so as a re-seller why buy it! It sounds like more and more of thier client base is re-sellers and not retail customers. They have been in business for 30+ years so I trust they know what they are doing.
Anyway, I had to sweeten the deal with some nicer furniture for them to take the whole lot. If this is going to be the case from here on out, I am definitely going to have to back off on bidding on lower end units that typically have these odd, lower quality furniture pieces. At gas over $3 a gallon I am not going to run back and forth to try to sell $5-$10 computer tables, and bookshelves to Craigslist buyers.