[Exhibitman]

Well, Joe, I think you'd face the same reactions face to face as here. As a professional cynic (attorney) and amateur misanthrope I want to explain to you why I read an intro like yours on eBay and the alarm bells go off immediately.

First of all there are the myriad fraud and scam sellers who cloak their activities in asinine stories about grampy's attic find that is always a Wagner or Lajoie yet never a Clyde Klutz. They have no hobby credibility and no eBay experience yet they expect big money from people they don't know. An auction house called Coaches Corner built its entire business on defrauding the gullible with big ticket fake autographs.

Then there are the sellers who sell fake stuff with the tag line God Bless. Never seen one yet invoking the Lord in commerce who wasn't a crook.

Finally there are the sellers who cloak their commerce in charity or service to country. That is how you came across on eBay.

You are a vet. Good for you. A grateful nation salutes your service in many ways and contexts. Using your status as an effort to bypass developing real credibility on eBay or in the hobby doesn't play for many here who are too polite or afraid of self-righteous backlash to say it outright. I have no such qualms. In the context of an eBay seller, I don't care what you did or did not do: I don't know you and your accomplishments outside the hobby are irrelevant, unprovable and anonymous, especially when you are asking strangers for money. I've seen and sued too many con artists to take what you or anyone else says on its face before handing over the cheddar. You may not have considered this but your marketing appears to many to be a crass effort to monetize your military service.

Please consider the above in the context of an open and frank discussion of the reaction your eBay listings provoked.