It's something people respect, compared to giving away this stuff for free which just can't seem to make anyone happy.
It seems like being misunderstood is what makes you angry and unhappy here - so switching to a model that people understand might be a relief! Remember why you started the project. Is your goal to prove people wrong about the value of free-but-not-open-source software, or is your goal to improve people's lives at a low cost? After all, there was already a cost to your software - the time cost of finding, evaluating, and installing it. That time cost, plus a buck or two, would not be a big increase in the real cost for end users.
And you could keep it your little secret if your 'business' runs in the red because you charge pennies on the dollar compared to what it's really worth.
The truth of the matter is vastly different.
Can you name anyone who as actually done a security audit on every single binary and source file they use?
In other words, the assurances people seek by paying for software are fictitious from the start. The very same is true for open source software.
I will say that technical users, such as myself and people here, are wary of installing random software on their computers. Most of the time, I'm not worried about malware or nagware but about wasting my time on product that doesn't work. But I've seen low quality paid software, low quality open source software, and low quality free software in equal measure.