There are other reasons why people may be "using goods of a higher quality or in greater quantity than might be considered necessary in practical terms" than just status - reasons like trust and opportunity costs. I frequently go for "higher quality than necessary" when buying tools or hardware, but I do it because I have a bad experience with products of equal quality to what's necessary, and I don't want the hassle of dealing with fixing, replacing and managing the fallout of a "just right" product breaking quickly or turning out to be garbage. I wonder if Veblen classifies that as "practical terms" too?