Leaving an answer to feedback can be tricky, as it can be the most important real estate on eBay. The seller's follow-up comment speaks to the primary soul that matters, the prospective buyer. The person who left the feedback won't be moved to do anything (except to get the last word by leaving a final comment under the seller's). Warnings to other sellers are an ineffective use of space. Sellers don't normally read or evaluate feedback left by other sellers in the follow-up spot. So that does nothing to further a seller's influence. No, the target audience that has the greatest impact on sales is the buyer-to-be doing his due diligence by checking feedback.
So if a seller gets it wrong and leaves an unfortunate remark, the battle for the buyer's business can be lost in one fell swoop. If that shopper reads a comment that is blaming, defensive, angry, name-calling, or the like, it can actually take a mild feedback and make it infinitely worse. When done well, conversely, the follow-up response can utterly negate the negative rating. Showing one's communication skills, customer service outlook, concern for the buyer, these all elevate the seller in the shopper's view.
So, when leaving a follow-up comment, be aware of who is being reached. Just making the comment calls more attention to a feedback. That's all some buyers bother read. They want to see how the seller responds to a problem. And a neutral rating sometimes makes no impact at all. Shoppers know if the situation was acute, the existing buyer would leave a negative, not a neutral.
