Ebay please fix: glitch results in multiple payment with no report

Those of us who use Ebay starting around 11PM PST are used to "information not available" kinds of messages on the pages.

And, we're used to error reports when trying to pay for postage or items.

Doing maintenance, ok, they have to do that sometimes.

Sunday night I paid for two items I had purchased.  Error message said "try again", so I did. Twice.  Same error.  Logging on to paypal showed that something was amiss.  No recent transaction data was available.  Ok, paypal down for maintenance.  Wait until morning.

Monday morning, my items were still awaiting payment. I paid, and all seemed well.

My seller sent a message, "you might want to check your Paypal account, I was paid four times".  And indeed, I had paid four times. The first three were not connected to any Ebay transaction. They were just there, payments from me to seller.

No indication from either Ebay or Paypal of any problem whatsoever.  Waiting through the Paypal phone queue got the money straightened out, although they reversed the wrong payments and ended up with my Ebay purchases showing reversed Paypal transactions.  I don't expect to use buyer protection, but if I did, that will no doubt take another call or two.

Makes me wonder. I can recall paying for postage in the past, and having it not go through. 

Bottom line: if your paypal payment fails, check your paypal account before paying again. Expect to see where you paid, even though nothing is marked paid.