I wouldn't be surprised if a major auction wanted something on an item with a reserve that didn't sell. Part of their value, perceived or real is the work involved in photographing describing and promoting that item. That's all work they have to pay someone for, so if the seller demands a reserve that won't be met having a way to at least defray that cost is sensible.
I am mixed on reserves. I don't really recall running into them at live auctions for items I wanted and could afford.
I did get them on Ebay sometimes, I didn't mind if the reserve was stated, or if they would reveal it when asked. But if it was treated as some big secret it generally put me off an item.
When selling, I used reserves maybe 4-5 times on things that were to me much better. In every case I was open about the reserve, and set it somewhere between what I thought the thing should sell for and what price I wouldn't be happy with. In all but one instance my reserve was so low it ended up being silly. Around 20% of the final price in one case.
The one that didn't make reserve, was an original frisbee still in the original package. The high bidder said the reserve was too high, and backed that up with links to sales on other sites that showed his high bid as slightly above average. I ended up selling to him at the high bid, which I was still happy with.
As far as using an auction house, to me it really depends on what contacts you have, and how you value your time. About 14 years ago I consigned some stuff locally. They took a big cut, but the only "work" I had to do was point what boxes and a rough idea of what was in each box.
Some stuff did about as well as I could have done. Others did much better. Overall, more results that were better than I could have gotten on Ebay, and almost none that did worse. A nice bit of cash for a few boxes of not necessarily valuable stuff. I did tell then that they had to take the 2-3 monster boxes of junkwax stuff if they wanted the better stuff, something we had a good laugh about along with the motebook of what I described as cards that used to catalog a couple bucks but don't anymore (I'd been buying stuff from them for decades, so it was for sure something we could laugh about. )
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