The thrift stores are not the problem.
It’s antique store people who haunt thrift stores and garage sales and try so hard to convince you something is not worth what you are asking just so they can skim a hefty profit off it.
They are worse than used car salesmen IMO.
I don’t think anyone twisted anybody’s arm to buy , or sell. The time spent “haunting “, as you call it, is a manner of sweat equity. May not be your type of job, but still serves a purpose in the world. Heck, someone could have just thrown the brass swan in a landfill, for that matter, in cleaning out a dead cousin’s house. (Yes, i did, because to my eyes,itwas junk and not worth my time)