Speaking my mind here...
According to Seller Support this is not scheduled maintenance.
"Our website is currently unavailable while we make some improvements to our service. We'll be open for business again soon, please come back shortly to try again. Thank you for your patience."
Their message insinuates that this was planned, which it clearly was not.
This would make a nice front page article on the Washington Post. Did anyone call them and tell the reporters whose duty it is to report the news in an unaltered and honest fashion? Even though Jeff Bezos now owns the Washington Post wouldn't the headline "Online Retail Giant Amazon.com Merchants' Access Website Goes Down for Hours During Washington Post Sale?"
Now that's integrity!
At least email all merchants and tell them that there is an unidentified problem and you're working hard to fix it, we're used to things not working correctly anyway.
The buyer experience is certainly sucking right now, after all that is the biggest concern. If it was a concern wouldn't they communicate the issue throughout the Amazon.com website where necessary by letting buyers know that they are experiencing some technical issues that may affect sellers abilities to communicate with them?
Too many bright ideas, I may get purchased next.
