What is the first thing you ordered from Amazon? And when?

[audreyh1]

I asked DH to look at some recent orders from Amazon. And he took it a bit further (as usual) and decided to see how far he could look back. And all orders are there!

On April 30, 1998, my first Amazon order was 3 books on finances, which included:

......drumroll.....

The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy by Thomas J. Stanley Ph.D. The active link on the order history still works!

If you ordered back in the 90s, you probably ordered books. Back then Amazon was pretty much a book retailer. In the 80s and early 90s we bought a lot of books at a popular Austin discount book chain called "BookStop". We even had Michael Dell step out of his fancy custom Honda NSX next to us one day when we visited the store. Even he was not above personally shopping for books sold at a discount. I'm not sure what happened to BookStop*. By the later 90s, they had markedly declined, and a monster Barnes and Noble store had taken over a shopping center across the street. But as neat of a browsing experience as it was to visit, Barnes and Noble didn't offer much in the way of discounts, so we were looking for an alternative and started ordering books from Amazon. Never stopped.

In the 2000s, Amazon became the purveyor of way more than books as everyone here knows. Witness http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/what-is-the-last-thing-you-ordered-from-amazon-72064.html which was started by W2R in May of 2014, and has 555 replies!!!

You can look up your order history under "your account" on the Amazon site, and you should be able to find your first order.

*What happened was, BookStop came under the control of a group that ultimately booted the founder and then sold it to Barnes and Noble. No wonder!

 

[aja8888]

Ordered this on June 9, 2005 for DD:

"Chicken Soup for the Horse Lover's Soul: Inspirational Stories About Horses and the People Who Love Them (Chicken Soup for the Soul)"

I can't find orders older than 10 years for some reason. I was a member in the late 90's when it was an auction site also, and sold and bought some auction items.

 

[easysurfer]

That's a very good question. From memory, I had no clue as to when. Then I guessed probably a computer part or a book. Well actually, after a lookup, I bought a book about computers. More specifically, a 2001 purchase of a book on how to build my own PC.

Build Your Own PC (2nd Edition): Morris Rosenthal: 0783254033344: Amazon.com: Books

I must not have liked the book as I then returned it on Jan 8, 2002

 

[Spudd]

Teach Yourself Swedish Complete Course, on January 8, 1998. 17 years later, still have it, haven't read it yet.

 

[Sue J]

Ours was a book order for our son and DH on Nov. 25, 1997.
Orson Scott Card - Enders Game
William Manchester - Goodbye Darkness

I know we got our first cable modem internet connection in Jan, 1997. When did Amazon start?

 

[audreyh1]

Ours was a book order for our son and DH on Nov. 25, 1997.
Orson Scott Card - Enders Game
William Manchester - Goodbye Darkness

I know we got our first cable modem internet connection in Jan, 1997. When did Amazon start?

They started selling online July 1995. They went public May 1997. The opening per share price (post splits) was $1.50. It's trading at $354.53 today.

Amazon.com - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[ERD50]

Interesting Q. I didn't realize their order records went back to day one.

1998-2000, a few books, 1 CD.

2001, a scanner, then zero for 2002.

A few books in 2003, and then my buying went way up in 2004 - 14 separate orders, printers, cameras, etc along with books.

Amazon is pretty much my 'go-to' place for online shopping, though I typically check and will go elsewhere if a large enough $ delta. Fairly rare.

That first order was:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0394748395/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Familiar Birds of North America: Eastern Region (National Audubon Society Pocket Guides)

and 4 other similar books in that series. Maybe for a school field trip, gifts?

-ERD50

 

[audreyh1]

Interesting Q. I didn't realize their order records went back to day one.

Exactly! We didn't either until today.

 

[W2R]

I bought a brand new Singer sewing machine as a gift for my daughter, and a book on the JFK assassination for myself.

This was in 2002, though. I know that I ordered books from them back in the 1990's, but I think at that time they allowed ordering as "guest" and not through an account with them. Either that or they messed up my record. Amazon really saved me by helping with my Christmas shopping in 1998, which was a crazy year for me. Books for everyone!

 

[REWahoo]

Apparently my first purchase was on March 3, 2001. Music by a guy born in my home town: Don Henley - Inside Job

 

[MichaelB]

I have 2 orders from 2001. The first, some DVDs, from March 30. The second, from July 23, is a Sony Playstation game, it must be something I rdered for a visiting friend - not uncommon back in those days.

 

[KingB]

I bought this in September 1997. I still have the book.


Video Demystified: A Handbook for the Digital Engineer: Keith Jack: 9781878707369: Amazon.com: Books

 

[SumDay]

In 1999, we were going to Gatlinburg for vacation, and I ordered a tour guide of the Smokies. I had NO idea you could go all the way back. Thanks for the memories.

 

[MissMolly]

Insight Guide to Alaska - a book my sister was giving as a Christmas gift to her SIL who was moving to Alaska. My sister didn't have a home computer at the time.

31" Concept Series Skateboard - a Christmas gift for my son.

Both ordered Dec 9, 2000.

 

[rodi]

In 1999 I bought the first Christmas present for my soon to be hubby (we got married 1/1/2000). It was a Garmin GPS III Plus Personal Navigator that he could use on his boat, and we could use on our planned sabbatical road trip.

In early 2000 I purchased a guide book to Budapest - which was where we were going in the 2nd half of our planned sabbatical.

 

[pb4uski]

My first Amazon order was a DVD for an obscure movie that I recall from my youth and wanted to view again called Those Calloways staring Brian Keith that was filmed in my home state of Vermont. I bought it in March 2009.

 

[Meadbh]

Amazon.ca only has my orders back to 2011, when I got a Kindle. I believe my earlier orders were as a guest. But I do remember ordering a biography of Maria Callas very early on, probably in 1995, the first year Amazon was in business. The book is now out of print and I no longer have my copy. Because I worked for a university, I learnt about the internet early and could see that ecommerce was going to be disruptive. That book purchase was the first transaction I ever did online, but by 1996 I was dispatching Christmas presents to my faraway relatives, through ecommerce sites in their countries of residence. I saved myself a lot of hassle and a bundle of money. The only problem was that the gifts arrived too early!

 

[jabbahop]

IZ in Concert CD
Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

Oct 1999

 

[RonBoyd]

Okay, I'm a sucker for minutia. My first purchase from Amazon was in October of 2005.

Yikes!! I paid $30 for a book.

Color Management for Photographers: Hands on Techniques for Photoshop Users Paperback – August 10, 2005
by Andrew Rodney ISBN-13: 978-0240806495 ISBN-10: 0240806492

I am not sure I wanted to know this.

 

[Midpack]

You can look up your order history under "your account" on the Amazon site, and you should be able to find your first order.

I didn't know and couldn't have answered if you hadn't pointed that out. It appears our first orders were in 2000, 5 books over 4 orders.

• Rick Bayless Mexico: One Plate at a Time
• The Cheese Lover's Cookbook (Lambert)
• Complete Guide to Conjugating 12,000 French Verbs (DW's)
• Heart of Glass: Fiberglass Boats and the Men Who Built Them
• Sailing to Simplicity: Life Lessons Learned at Sea

 

[prudent_one]

From Amazon, a Weber grill in 2000. But I had bought things online from other sites before that (oh, how I loved ValueAmerica and their 50% off anything promotions).

 

[Walt34]

Textbooks in the mid to late 1990's. At the time books were all they sold and I was ecstatic over getting them for half the college book store prices. I remember telling other people in the class about it and was surprised that so many still preferred to buy them at the book store.

I'd heard about Amazon from some TV news show that had a "consumer" segment a few times a week.

 

[RonBoyd]

My earliest "Internet Purchase" that I can find (my records only go back to 1999 -- prior to that electronic search was lost to MS Money) is also a book. In Dec of 1999, I purchased this book for $8.78 -- today, I can get it for 1¢. This purchase was from Half.com.

TWO QUEENS IN ONE ISLE: The Deadly Relationship of Elizabeth 1 and Mary Queen of Scots -- Sep 1999 by Alison Plowden

 

[Nodak]

January 1998 I ordered "Discovering Smalltalk". Smalltalk is a programming language.

 

[powerplay]

My history goes back to 2001 when I ordered a book in June, 2 remote controlled cars in August, and 2 music CD's in December. I'm not sure if those were my first orders or not though.