PayPal Technical Snafu Hits eBay Online Commerce

The payment service, which is owned by eBay, has been experiencing problems since last Friday when the service implemented software code enhancements during a regularly scheduled monthly upgrade, a PayPal spokesperson said. Some users have seen inaccurate information in their PayPal accounts as a result of the glitches.

In a Tuesday morning update on the crises, PayPal said some users may be having problems with their debit cards. The company, however, maintained that account data and personal information have not been compromised by the glitches.

The payment service said some members are able to log in to the site and make payments and perform other activities, although they may be experiencing very slow system responses, while other members are not able to get in right away, or at all.

Furthermore, PayPal said that sellers who use PayPal shipping functionality may be having problems shipping products to their buyers, and buyers may be experiencing difficulties paying sellers.

A PayPal technical team has been working around the clock since last Friday morning attempting to fix the problems, a PayPal spokesperson said. The eBay technical team has also been brought in to help solve the problem, the spokesperson said.

The servers impacted are at PayPal's headquarters in San Jose, Calif. The software upgrade was done by PayPal's own technical team rather than a third-party integrator or service provider. So far, no third party has been called in to help resolve the crisis, the spokesperson said, who did not know specifically what code was involved in the technical glitch and which software language was used to generate the code.

PayPal said it was unclear exactly how many eBay users have been impacted by the technical glitches. The PayPal service has about 15 million members that use the site on any given day, but actually has 50 million user accounts worldwide.

Pete Busam, vice president of Decisive Business Systems, a Pennsauken, N.J.based solution provider, uses eBay and PayPal both professionally and personally. He said the big question facing PayPal is, What is plan B, now that the site has been experiencing the problems for several days?

The PayPal snafu is an example of the technical problems that can wreak havoc during a system upgrade, Busam said. "When you commit to project and move forward with it and it breaks the system, the question is, How many days are you going to let it stay broken before you roll back to something that works?" he said. "I just can't believe it's Tuesday and it's still not working."

Busam said that on Monday night he attempted to use the PayPal service and even though he has $800 in his PayPal account, the service said that he did not have that level of funds available. Busam was able to complete his PayPal transaction later, but he noted that it took him three days intermittently attempting to use the service.

When asked if eBay CEO Meg Whitman was involved in the crisis, a PayPal spokesperson said that eBay executives from the highest level are involved.