Craigslist has great deals on furniture! Even the free section sometimes has furniture in really good condition.
To answer your question: I bought a used sofa off of craigslist for $150 about 4 years ago. It is a crazy 1980s sofa w/ amazing fabric and was super clean (barely used). Love it. Super comfy.
I have a Mitchell Gold sectional that was purchased in 1999, new, when I was living in Hawaii. I think it was abour $3000. There was no craigslist back then so... It was very expensive but it has held up. Fabric still looks good even after cats, dogs, two kids who are now 11 and 8, etc.
What is not worth spending any money on at all is *cheap* cheap super cheap furniture from dealers (sorry - the kind of place where you get a sofa for $400) and also not worth it is a lot of the upholstered furniture from Ikea. Some of what Ikea sells is ok quality, but a lot of it is junk that looks good for a while and then falls apart. Inexpensive upholstered furniture is easy to make look good in the showroom - and even if you know about furniture construction you can't nessesarily tell much about the quality just from looking at the outside. In comparison, it is pretty easy to tell poorly made casegoods (like a dresser) from junk just by looking. Springs should not be falling out of chairs after a couple years of use! Furniture frames should be heavy and have a solid feel to them when you pick them up, padding should be firm, upholstery on fixed areas should be tight w/ no loose seams. Pillows can be filled w/ foam (generally more firm) or with down (squishy), or with a combination.
Unforunately, I put Ashley Furniture in the category of a store that is selling a lot of poorly made furniture. "Big store" brands that are good quality include Henrehdon, Pottery Barn, West Elm, Mitchell Gold, Ethen Allen, Flexsteel, many others. You can find excellent quality used furniture on craiglist. Avoid that awful cheap "bonded" leather that rips and goes to hell with very little use (any leather sofa that is $1000 new is covered in the stuff - it is basically leather cooked up w/ plastic - junk).
So you can both get what you want w/ some careful shopping on craigslist - a comfortable sectional w/ a reasonable price.