My rule of thumb is that I don't pay significantly more for furniture than I could sell it for. Why? Most things we buy, we can't do that. You use things, they lose value. You buy the right furniture, using the right avenue, at the right time, it won't cost you a thing except a bit of liquidity.
I get avoiding used for fabric upholstery. But I could and do see deep value opportunities in buying lightly used leather chairs/sofas.
I'm bias though, as I not only buy high end (typically Room & Board) furniture used, I often end up slow flipping it as well. Plenty of things we buy depreciate as we use them. There's no reason furniture has to be one of them, couches being the only exception. I bought an armoire 4 years ago for $400, and I'm selling it for $560 tonight. Not an amazing return, but I would have lost roughly $1,000 if I would have bought it new.
I buy furniture used because I'm not willing to settle on material/craft quality and I'm not interested in paying 4 figures. Nearly every piece of furniture in my house has an insane retail price yet I purchased it for 1/2 to 1/8 of the cost. Except the couch, which we bought new for $1,000, and now probably couldn't sell for more than $150. That was our first furniture purchase as a couple and we've learned a lot since then. My wife's initial disdain for craigslist has slowly turned into an appreciation as our house has begun to look like a spread in dwell magazine.
Anyways, if you REALLY can't stomach used couches, pony up. But keep this strategy in mind for tables, dining chairs, cabinets, bedframes, etc. And don't get a sectional - get something that can work in a lot of different spaces so you don't have to sell it when you move.