posted on October 18, 2000 11:00:00 AM new
Just curious. Probably for the more part/full time business oriented sellers.
Why is an eBay outage in the last few hours of an auction any different from a cloudburst during the last few hours of a flea market or yard sale? Or a power failure in a retail store?
We live in a resort area and my wife's toy store thrives on rainy days, the guy down the street selling beach inflatables doesn't do too good.
It's even worse when the Boston weather forecasters focus on Logan Airport (rainy) and the seashore is bright and sunny all day. (Reverse this for the ski season, no snow down here, 12 inches up North).
None of these situations allows a refund for the assumed loss of income.
Seems like this is the price of the ticket for being in business, some things can't be controlled, just have to be lived with. It is nice to vent though.
posted on October 18, 2000 11:06:04 AM new
Very, very simple. Ebay, as a compnay is worth 11 figures. Yahoo, which is also (I believe) worth 11 figures, handles a signifigantly larger amount of traffic each day, and yet -- no outages!
What that tells us is that ebay, with their many billions can't keep their site stable because they don't give a crap about us, not because "outages just happen" like rain happens.
posted on October 18, 2000 11:28:56 AM new
Seems to me that outages on eBay aren't an act of God like bad weather.
The issue is that Sellers are paying for a service and that service is not being provided. Considering the lag in indexing of auctions for buyers to find the auctions, and the outages, sellers are lucky if they have 4 days of viewing exposure for a 7 day auction. Plus there are the function specific outages that affect the ability of buyers to view or bid on auctions. This is especially bad for sellers who have auctions ending during "functionality issues".
It would not be such a critical issue if eBay made up the lost exposure time or offered credits but it doesn't. I am convinced that one of these days someone somewhere is going to file suit against eBay for taking fees for services it is not providing on an ongoing basis.
posted on October 18, 2000 12:28:54 PM new
Boy, that was quick. I learned something. I assumed that when I got my confirmation from eBay that the item was available for searching. I never checked.
You still have to expect some problems, but I see that the problems that do exist are avoidable with a little investment from the supplier (eBay). Maybe a suit would get their attention, but it sure would be difficult to put a dollar value on the harm done.
BTW, I'm not a shill for eBay. The outages wouldn't bother me as much as they would a full time business, I'm just converting from closet cleaning to maybe part-time business. These message boards are giving me a lot of information on the pitfalls. Won't stop me, just preparing me. It's beginning to sound like eBay is the best of a bad lot.
posted on October 18, 2000 12:46:25 PM new
As some one who does this for a living.Once in a while is no big deal and has to be expected though I do not like it.
But its not once in a while its been daily for the last week and at peak times too.
Ebay on the outage this afternoon as short as it was is telling me it was not them when all other things suggest otherwise.
On the example you gave this affects all sellers and buyers not just a few.
How would your wife feel if all traffic was blocked too the store for a few hours a day during peak buying times.
I am sure she would not be happy and would wonder what the mall owners if in a mall where thinking or not thinking.
