That’s the figure PayPal’s Osama Bedier rattled off to Reuters yesterday, explaining some of the rationale behind its Facebook-PayPal payment alliance for virtual goods. A lot of that is for potions and weaponry for online games such as World of Warcraft, but Facebook too does good business in virtual commerce.

Before you scoff at the notion of v-commerce, consider these numbers: for Facebook, selling virtual teddy bears and martinis could soon top $100 million and also open up an enticing market for advertisers: sponsoring virtual goods. Think of a Coke-branded teddy bear for Valentine’s Day or Red Bull sponsoring a hit job on Mafia Wars.

Wacky idea? Well, not if you consider the growing market (more on that in a moment) for virtual goods, a market that is much broader than geeky gamers. If you are an advertiser looking to build a loyal following, the thinking goes, why not invest in the exchange of “social capital,” in the form of sponsored goodies?

For Facebook, which doesn’t disclose its advertising revenue, the move to diversify its revenue stream is a wise one. One of the ways is through virtual goods, where it makes 100% profit on a virtual teddy bear and a 30% cut on virtual goods from online games that use Facebook as a platform.  Online games like Farmville and Mafia Wars have grown symbiotically with Facebook. Farmville, for example, now has 80 million monthly users, 10 million more than in Dec. 2009, and they saw a spike of 220 million virtual gifts sent for Valentine’s Day.

Here’s a few sponsorship opportunities we’d like to see come down the line: something like Whole Foods sponsoring a virtual farmer’s market in Farmville or the chance to send your pals a virtual congratulatory Heineken paid for by the brewer.