QXL auctions scuppered by bug

Auction site QXL.com has been hit by a code bug that has given many bidders false information on whether they made the reserve price or not.

Over the past 36 hours confirmation messages that are sent to a user immediately after a bid is placed have not been issuing correct information on reserve price targets.

However, the company failed to inform users of the problem in an upfront manner which may have caused some people to lose bids, one silicon.com reader said.

Allan Edwards, an account manager at a technology public relations firm, said: "They were displaying incorrect information on confirmation messages but buried the explanation on a help page."

Edwards said a user was unlikely to go to the help page if the confirmation message said everything was OK.

He said: "They could have put a splash screen up on the site's front page explaining the situation. I'm concerned that a company of QXL's profile wouldn't be upfront about this mistake."

A spokeswoman from QXL.com said the problem was an inconsistent bug, which did not affect all customers.

She said the company follow confirmation messages with emails to let the user know if they have been successful or not which would inform them if they had made the reserve price.

However, Edwards said that emails can take up to three days to get to his inbox if his company's servers break down.

The spokeswoman at QXL.com said the problem had been fixed at 05:00 (BST) today.