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Amazon Experiences Temporary Site Outage in U.S.

Todd Spangler
·2 min read

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UPDATED: Reports by U.S. users of problems with Amazon’s website spiked Thursday afternoon, with people across the country complaining that it was inaccessible before the issues were resolved less than an hour later.

According to DownDetector.com, problem reports for Amazon.com began soaring at just after 3 p.m. ET, with 77% reporting issues in accessing the site and another 21% saying they were having trouble logging in.

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The issues were localized to the U.S., according to DownDetector. Reports of problems with Amazon.com peaked at nearly 65,000 at 3:15 p.m. ET, and dropped to less than 3,000 by 3:45 p.m. ET, per the site-monitoring service.

An Amazon spokesperson acknowledged the problems and said the site’s technical difficulties were resolved by 4:10 p.m. ET. “Some customers may have temporarily experienced issues while shopping; however, it has now been resolved,” the rep said in a statement to Variety. The company did not provide details on what caused the site’s temporary outage.

During the COVID-19 crisis, Amazon has seen a massive surge in demand. In the first quarter of 2020, Amazon sales jumped 26% to $75.4 billion, while net profit fell 29% on higher costs. CEO Jeff Bezos said the company will spend at least $4 billion — the amount of its expected Q2 operating profit — on expenses related to coronavirus in the second quarter.

To meet increased demand, Amazon has hired an additional 175,000 workers. It also raised pay rates for hourly employees in the U.S. and other countries, which amounted to an additional expense of nearly $700 million through May 16, according to the company.

Users posted on social media about the issues accessing Amazon.com on Thursday:

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