Your first online purchase

[Miss Chicken]

Do you remember what is was and what year you bought it?

As far as recall the first thing I bought online was a book that my parents had been searching for. It was a book on Australian war history and they wanted it for their RSL (Returned and Services League). I think I bought it off eBay as a guest and it was in about 2002. I Think I had to send a postal order to buy it as I had no other way to pay for it. I was somewhat nervous about buying something online.

I did not join eBay until 2006 and I did not join Amazon until 2007.

 

[Velocity]

I'm guessing it was a Kindle book, but I don't remember which one.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I just looked my at ‘Manage Content and Devices’ at Amazon. The first Kindle book I bought was Island Life by William Meikle in July 2011. It cost me $2.99. I had only downloaded some free books before that.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I've been on ebay since 1998. I'm going to guess it was either a book I'd always wanted or a star trek item.

 

[Finn]

I think it was an underwater camera I bought on eBay when I was a undergrad. It was crap. The case that kept the water out was difficult to latch back on after opening it to change film several times.

 

[Boomstick]

My first online purchase was the album Poodle Hat by Weird Al, it came out in 2003 so I must have been 12. It never arrived.

 

[J.T.B.]

A CD called "Well Traveled Love" by Kelly Willis and Radio Ranch, from an online company called CDNow, in 1995.

 

[Tosk]

I think the first thing I ever ordered online was the score to Transformers: The Movie. Would have been maybe '97/98?

Edit: Looked it up...July 1997.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

An album by an obscure band called The Green Children, from Amazon in 2010.

 

[sttngfan1701d]

It was either TNG blueprints from Ebay or "A Thousand Miles Up the Nile", a book I'd always wanted, from Amazon. I don't know which. Circa 2003.

 

[Avro Arrow]

How do you all remember such details from so long ago? I have no idea what (or even really when) my first online purchase was.

 

[Smellincoffee]

In 2005, I bought Robin and the Seven Hoods & Ocean's Eleven, both the Frank Sinatra / Ratpack movies. I'd just gotten my first real job, opened my first bank account, and was eager to put my new bank card to work. Right after that was The Ratpack, Live at the Sands, and a wall calendar that IS STILL HANGING IN MY BEDROOM.

I figure it will be current again in 2022.

 

[cultcross]

My first Amazon purchase was in 2002, a Stargate DVD boxset. I imagine that wasn't the first ever thing I bought online, but that was the gist of what I started out buying - box sets.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Amazon says my first order under my current account was the TNG Complete Series Box Set in 2004, but that definitely wasn't my first online purchase. I know I bought individual season sets of other shows and movies before that from various online retailers, including Amazon (must have been a different earlier account) and Barnes and Noble.

Pretty sure I was ordering music off of iTunes when that first started in 2001.

And I ordered clothing and shoes online back the late 90s, because I had a couple of credit cards for companies online.

 

[J.T.B.]

How do you all remember such details from so long ago? I have no idea what (or even really when) my first online purchase was.

For me personally, it's memorable because shopping online was a new thing and I didn't know anyone who had done it. Even though it was basically like mail order, big name companies weren't online yet, people hadn't heard of these new companies, and wondered, are they legit? Would you get your stuff? I couldn't find the CD I wanted locally so instead of having the record store guy order it, I ordered it from a website. I figured that was going to be a real thing, and it was. In about a week I got it, no problems.

 

[MacLeod]

Having been online since the mid 90's, I can't remember but i think it was a DVD player or a DVD, can't remember if I ordered the player over the phone or not.

 

[suarezguy]

I think it was the Horror of Dracula DVD from Barnes & Noble.com in 2003 or '04.

 

[Timewalker]

I honestly don't remember. Knowing me, it was probably a book from either Amazon or eBay.

I do remember the first game I ever bought online, though. Big Fish Games had The Count of Monte Cristo on sale for 99 cents, so I decided to try it. I enjoyed the game so much, I bought the novel (hard to find the unabridged edition in English around here; I'd thought I would have to haul out my bilingual dictionary and read the French version on Project Gutenberg - but a local secondhand dealer came through for me).

 

[Spot's Meow]

I had a feeling it was a Harry Potter book and after checking my Amazon history, it appears I was right - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in June 2003. I remember waiting by the door to receive it!

This was the first purchase I made with my own account, and my own card. However, I know that I ordered a couple of things from my parent's account before I had my own card. I'm pretty sure the first thing I ordered through their account was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

I know I was also using Ebay around 2003, but I can't say whether my first purchase was there or on Amazon. I would have been buying used video games through Ebay.

By the way, it's super trippy to see my purchase history from 15 years ago. There are items I feel like I've had forever that I apparently bought that year. Like my purple N64 controller, gifts for an ex-boyfriend, a book that is still sitting on my shelf unread...

 

[Amaris]

Freelancer on CD-ROM, via Amazon.com, in 2004.