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Deductions & credits
It sounds like your friend is acting as an agent or broker for his parents. They are paying him for his services by letting him keep the proceeds from the sales. That means it is all taxable income to him. Since this is a one-time activity (he doesn't regularly sell other people's furniture), he can report it as other income on his tax return.
It's not your friend's furniture, it's his parents' furniture. So the amount of income to your friend doesn't depend on how much his parents paid for the furniture. Whatever money they let him keep is payment for his services, and is all taxable income to him.
The money from the sale of the furniture belongs to the parents, since it's their furniture that's being sold. The fact that they use the money to pay their son for selling it doesn't change the fact that it is initially their money. If any item is sold for more than they paid for it, they would have a profit, which they would have to report as income on their tax return. But used furniture (other than antiques) would normally sell for less than the original cost, so they would have a loss, not a profit. They can't deduct a loss on the sale of personal property, so they do not have to report the sales.
If any antiques are involved, the situation might be different.
The tax treatment would be completely different if the parents gave the furniture to your friend as a gift. But that's not what you said is happening. If they gave him the furniture as a gift, he would be free to do whatever he wanted with it - keep it, throw it out, give it away, or sell it. But that does not seem to be the situation.