What we have here is the seedy underbelly of capitalism, friends. I have a strong suspicion that all those people haggling over 25 cents are going to be selling this crap on, probably at a "general sale" at an auction house. Don't blame them -- it's how they make their living. Vultures serve a purpose in nature, just lke everything else.
Auction house general sales will usually sell just about anything that's legal. Filthy, rancid, grease-smeared detritus that nobody in their right mind would want. Yet someone invariably will take a punt on a random "Box of sundries", making a few quid/dollars for the seller, who got it for next to nothing (or sometimes nothing at all). If it doesn't sell, the auction house will dump it. Whereupon some dumpster-diver will probably find it again and it will go on to another auction house.
"Dead estates" -- old folks who have died on their own with no relatives -- make up a sizable portion of general-sale auctions. Sad but true. Often these old folks will have lived in absolute squalor, hence the grubby state of most general-sale items. You can't afford to be emotional about this stuff when you sell it -- old family photos, love letters, diaries, they all go out in the trash. No resale value, you see.
So who buys this crap from the auction? People who can't afford new stuff; people who have spotted a rare first edition in a box of mouldering paperbacks; folks who want a restoration project; folks who just hoard junk. There's a whole micro economy going on around this stuff.