A bad review on a site, whether Amazon, e-bay, or other review site, can have a significant impact on sales.  Many business client’s first reaction is to file a lawsuit for defamation (because that is usually the only way to get the site to remove the review).  Besides the bad press for suing a customer for a review, defamation lawsuits are hard to win since they may easily be construed as opinion and not fact.

The surprising truth is that a free flow of information and reviews may actually help in your customer’s  impression of the credibility of your site.  Finding a product or service with 100% perfect reviews may not actually help in selling your product, a recent CNNMoney.com article says.

So bottom line, before jumping the gun with a lawsuit, first see if it is something you can easily address with communication with the individual complaining.  Obviously, if you just have a rogue employee or customer that is making up lies against your company, pleasantries are not the right tool.