Frustration on Ebay...

I've been selling things on ebay for a good friend. It's a great deal for me and a great product. He is a local artist that is nationally known http://www.wjgoebel.com/ . It's been quite a journey. We've been selling artist's proofs of paintings that he has produced for the NWTF. It has been going really well. BUT...

When I first started, my ebay rating was 100% (actually still is!) but I had not sold or purchase too many things, so the quantity of my feedback was lower. Not too long into the venture, I found out from some successful bidders on my items that some other ebayers were sending unsolicited emails to people bidding on my items saying they were fakes. Since then I have contacted ebay with user names and they are investigating. BUT...

Here's the rub... why do people who don't know me, haven't bought my products, whom I have done nothing to in any way, feel that they have the right and even in some cases the responsibility to "warn" other people about me?... which really means that they are slandering my character and spreading vicious lies about me and what I am doing! When I found out who one such person was I contacted him directly and asked him why he was doing this and asked him to stop. No response. I didn't figure he would respond.

Now, a month later, I get an email from someone else saying that I NEED to disclose how I am getting all these prints that I am selling. I'm not sure how I will handle that. A while back I developed a relationship with a buyer through email who eventually asked why I chose this particular artist, so I answered her questions. But not sure on this one... Again, I find myself asking why? Why does it matter how I am getting them? Why does it matter what my relationship is to the artist? Why doesn't it matter that I have nothing but SATISFIED customers? Why doesn't it matter that I am selling a quality product at a steal of a price?

Sometimes, I just don't get it! Just so you know... Wil is a good friend of mine, we hunt together lots, we do taxidermy together, I am president of our local NWTF and he is VP. We do lots of things together!

I know that one issue here is integrity of other sellers my ebay "friends" have dealt with... But that's not my integrity. I know a few bad apples ruin the whole bushel.. but that's why there's the feedback system. Another issue, which I may blog about later is, the hidden identities of ebayer's and other online users.

More later...