A US law firm has filed a class action suit against eBay, alleging that users do not receive the full duration of auction time that they pay for.

Williams Kherkher Hart Boundas filed the lawsuit against the online auction site on behalf of eBay customers.

The suit claims that these users' auctions did not start when their listing was submitted, and that they paid for, but did not receive, the full duration of auction time that they selected.

"EBay has been deceiving millions of consumers over the years by claiming that their auctions start when submitted, when in reality they do not begin for at least several hours, and up to 24 hours," said John Fabry, the attorney leading the litigation.

"However, the clock starts running on your selected auction time even though eBay has not posted it yet."

The suit alleges violations of various provisions in California statutes intended to protect consumers, as well as common law, and seeks injunctive relief and damages.

It is estimated that there are millions of eBay users who have been affected by eBay's course of conduct.