Now I'm curious about this. They list 71,245 under "shop by store."(1) However, I think this number may be low. Are inactive stores listed in that directory?

Now I'm curious about this. They list 71,245 under "shop by store."(1) However, I think this number may be low. Are inactive stores listed in that directory? I'm sure Yahoo is billing for more than a few stores which never got beyond intentions.(2) We set up a test store a few hours ago "filmat16.com."(3) It's not been published yet so there's nothing there. It's also not listed in the directory by name (although this may be a function of time.) If the $5b sales figure is correct (and I wish I could remember the original source of those numbers) and we use the 71,245 store count that's $70,180 per store/year. Reasonable? Also my original estimate didn't take into account the (currently) $50 setup fee or fees for credit card processing (outsourced, but surely they make a bit from that), DNS fees, advertising revenue, etc. In any case I think Yahoo has made rather a lot of money from their purchase of Viaweb - which is good for people creating startups which might be bought by Yahoo etc. 1) http://shopping.yahoo.com/stores/sd.html http://shopping.yahoo.com/stores/sd.html Is it reasonable to assume every store listed in that directory is a Yahoo store? 2) If that number is in any way related to the percentage of people who don't send back rebate forms it could be huge. 3) Not a completely for testing purposes; we're going to sell some 16mm films that have been sitting around in a closet for years. http://www.paulgraham.com/stuff.html http://www.paulgraham.com/stuff.html