And some of my technophobic relations will get the wrong message. There were bigger problems at Staples. I wanted a new desk in the corner of my office and we found one in a store, with a hutch to hold notebooks and a file cabinet to boot. After four hours of assembly work, we found the hutch didn't match the desk at all. But there was an important Clue hidden in each of these stories.
Mistakes happen, both online and offline.
What counts most is how you handle them. When mistakes happen, stop worrying about your bottom line. Worry about your relationship, worry about your customer's problem, and if you do they'll come back. These problems can be mitigated, of course. It's also important to watch your order flow closely.