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eBay promises to refund seller fees after latest MASSIVE OUTAGE

Tat bazaar: We're protecting YOU from our BUTTER FINGERS

eBay is telling some of its sellers that their fees will be refunded, following Sunday's seven-hour-long outage - which was the latest in a series of technical blunders hitting the online tat bazaar.

The company wrote to customers on Monday, informing them that they were "protected" by eBay, despite the latest service sitdown that hampered folk at the weekend.

In an email, seen by The Register, eBay's global customer experience bod Steve Boehm said:

I'm writing to you today about the recent technical issues that have affected our platform and to let you know that we're protecting you.

On Sunday 14 September, a number of eBay sites and customer service platforms around the world experienced intermittent issues. When the disruption began - at 11:15am BST - our eBay Technology Team immediately began work towards resolving it. By 6:45pm BST that day, they had restored the vast majority of site functionality.

The personal information of our customers was not compromised by this incident.

On Sunday we reported that eBay users struggling to access the site. Many people complained that they were having major problems with the login system on eBay and its sister site, PayPal.

Sellers have suffered a number of frustrating outages on eBay in recent weeks. Boehm, in his email, acknowledged the cockup. He said:

We know how much it matters to your livelihood that eBay functions properly and that lately our performance hasn't met your expectations. We apologise for this, and we're taking steps to make sure that we exceed your expectations going forward.

Sellers are being told that they will be "protected" against the outage. Boehm promised that eBay would refund "all fees for certain listings that ended between 11:15am BST and 8:45pm BST on Sunday 14 September."

He added that "the additional two hours will help make sure we assist all of our sellers who may have been affected."

The grovelling email continued:

The fee credit will apply to auction-style listings that ended (except those that sold for a Buy it now price) and any fixed price listings that ended without a sale (except 30-day and Good 'Til Cancelled listings). If the affected listing was a free listing, it can be relisted for free within 7 days, even if you've used all allotted free listings.

Boehm said that transaction gaffes triggered during the lengthy outage would be scratched from sellers' accounts and pledged that any such "defects" would not harm their performance records. The refunds will appear on eBay sellers accounts on 23 September, apparently.

As noted by Reg reader Jim, however, it's unclear which fees eBay is offering to refund to sellers. "No mention if this is the listing fee (pittance), or the final value fee (loadsa money), or both," he told us.

Boehm signed off his missive by saying that the company was "committed to maintaining your trust." But customers might argue that there is already a dent in that particular promise, given the number of outages to have recently blighted eBay's service. ®

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