[hullo]

I think it comes down to how you define "a huge amount in sales". Let's optimistically say they lose 1% of sales over a 4 hour period although it could certainly be much higher. Is 1% of Amazon's sales a huge amount for them? Not in the short term. Is that absolute amount a huge amount for me, personally, or most of the other companies in the world? It sure is.

[tlrobinson]

I'd guess they're probably losing more like 90% of sales while search is down. Basically every purchase I make on Amazon starts with a search.

[jontas]

Usually my Amazon purchases start with a Google search that links me directly to the Amazon product page. I rarely use the actual Amazon search.

[mikeash]

In addition, many search-initiated purchases will be postponed, not abandoned. I'm sure they lose a ton of sales during this period, but I doubt it's as high as 90%.