AbeBooks.com is back online, see update below.
AbeBooks has been down since Friday evening due to a hardware issue,
Geekwire reported. Visiting AbeBooks currently brings up the following message:
We are currently experiencing a hardware issue which is causing all AbeBooks sites and services to be unavailable. Buyer and seller information remains secure and is not at risk.
We are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. We do not yet have an estimated time when this is going to be resolved.
Customer Support tools are also affected and they are unable to respond to inquiries at this time so please check our Facebook and Twitter accounts for updates.
https://twitter.com/abebooks
https://www.facebook.com/abebooks/
Customer Support will resume responding to all inquiries as soon as they are able. We apologize for the inconvenience and interruption of services.
Sincerely,
The AbeBooks Team
The outage impacts sellers, such as one who tweeted that he depended on back-to-school sales over Labor Day weekend. Likewise, some customers worried about receiving textbooks late as they return to classes after the summer break.
Some were incredulous that Amazon, which owns AbeBooks, was unable to help get the site back up and running.
Meanwhile AbeBooks has been keeping users up to date via Twitter and Facebook, where the comments from users range from supportive to outraged. A few speculated the site might have been hacked or be under a DDoS attack, but the message on its home page and in a
Facebook post states that buyer and seller information remains secure and is not at risk.
The outage came the same day booksellers lost another media marketplace, Half.com, which its owner eBay
shut down.
The outage is quite concerning to sellers who rely on AbeBooks for revenue and who these days are dealing with burdensome fees and policies on major marketplaces.
Some took the outage in stride - one customer replied to AbeBooks on Facebook, "We're almost forced to go read a book now..." Hopefully all buyers are as patient and understanding of AbeBooks' sellers who are impacted by the outage.
Update 9/4/17: AbeBooks.com Is Restored.
A reader sent us the email AbeBooks.com sent to him last night:
Update on Site Outage
Dear Seller,
From Friday, September 1, at approximately 6:00PM (PDT) until Sunday, September 3, at approximately 5:20PM (PDT), AbeBooks sites and all services were unavailable due to a hardware malfunction.
All website functions have now been restored. Buyer and seller information remained secure throughout the outage.
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and interruption of services. We will investigate the causes and work to ensure that a problem of this nature does not occur again.
Sincerely,
Your AbeBooks Team
It's interesting to note how supportive users were - on
this post on Facebook, there were many supportive comments.
Update 9/4/17:
AbeBooks is refunding a week's worth of fees to sellers impacted by the 2-day outage, learn more in this Newsflash article. 
The AuctionBytes Blog has been giving a voice to online merchants since its launch in 2005. Named one of the world's top 30 blogs in 2008 by "Blogging Heroes." Weigh in with your thoughts on the joys and pitfalls of selling online.
No ETA on a Fix for AbeBooks Outage
by: Ina