Black Friday
But for some sellers, another outage like that could mean the online auction firm's goose - or turkey - is cooked, especially during this most critical time of the retail year.
This Friday - Black Friday, as it's known here - Americans will be working-off the Thanksgiving weight by stampeding each other in shopping malls around America looking for seasonal deals, as well as exercising their credit cards online.
"Cyber Monday," the Monday after Thanksgiving, is also the date when e-tailers really get their e-rears into e-gear with under a month until Christmas. The back half of the fourth quarter will be critical for online retailers
If eBay wants to remain competitive against its biggest rival, Amazon, it really can't afford any more trouble with its "backend," or it really might fall flat on its arse this Christmas season.
