# What is the first thing you ever ordered from Amazon and when? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 8, 2018, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679 "2018-06-08T14:00:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/1 "2018-06-08T14:00:45Z")
Amazon lets you go back and check your full order history. What was the first thing you ever ordered from them and when (BTW I put this in CS rather than IMHO because I assume most of the answers will be media of some kind)? For me it was June of 1997 (wow I am old) and I ordered four books in Harry Turtledove’s Worldwar series and two books on Conspiracies. How about you? ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/2 "2018-06-08T14:06:58Z")
November 1997. _Angela’s Ashes_ by Frank McCourt. What interesting is that I’ve never read that book. Don’t know anything about it. In fact, looking at my first handful of orders, it’s clear I did my Christmas shopping through Amazon that year, starting a grand tradition of buying gifts in a last minute panic while at work. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/3 "2018-06-08T14:10:18Z")
Can’t recall it was probably a book when they were getting started. ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/4 "2018-06-08T14:12:21Z")
April 1997. Three books by Elmore Leonard: La Brava, Swag, and Gold Coast. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/5 "2018-06-08T14:13:52Z")
The Amazon history thing only goes to 2006 for me despite knowing that I bought books from them previously. I know that, in 1998-99, I bought a copy of Michael A Dirr’s _Manual of Woody Landscape Plants_ for a class I was taking and remember being amazed that I saved $20-$30 bucks on it (it was an $80+ book off the retail shelf). ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/6 "2018-06-08T14:15:44Z")
World War Z in 2007. ---
**Author:** ![Iggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Iggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggins)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/7 "2018-06-08T14:17:35Z")
I don’t know what I was thinking - October 17, 2001 “Star Wars - Episode I, The Phantom Menace” DVD. I can’t imagine why I did that. There is one other item from 2001, but for some reason, Amazon can’t show me what it was. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/8 "2018-06-08T14:28:55Z")
It only lets me go back to 2009. I’ve had lots of orders going back at least 10 years before that. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/9 "2018-06-08T14:32:37Z")
2005…a subscription to the magazine “Bird Talk”, for a friend for her birthday. Then I bought nothing for almost 2 years. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/10 "2018-06-08T14:39:14Z")
It’s been so long since I logged into Amazon’s site, I doubt I remember my credentials. I’m sure I ordered a few books and CDs back in the day. I still think of them as a book seller, although I hear they’ve branched out a bit. ;). ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/11 "2018-06-08T14:43:59Z")
In February 2000, I bought _John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman_. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/12 "2018-06-08T14:48:11Z")
July 1997. A wonderful book: _Mason and Dixon_, by Thomas Pynchon. I ordered it from, and was sent to, Mérida, Yucatán, México. I inscribed it: “Purchased from cyberspace, 1997.” ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/13 "2018-06-08T15:20:54Z")
I can only get back as far as November 2013, though I’m sure I used Amazon before that. Obviously Christmas shopping, I bought a cat-a-day desk calendar, a paperback Gone With the Wind, and a hardcover of The Best of John Bellairs. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/14 "2018-06-08T15:21:02Z")
August 2001 - The Avengers Emma Peel Box Set on DVD. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/15 "2018-06-08T15:21:49Z")
February 2005 3 Enya CDs-_The Celts_, _Memory of Trees_ and _A Day Without Rain_. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/16 "2018-06-08T15:23:56Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Amazon lets you go back and check your full order history. What was the first thing you ever ordered from them and when (BTW I put this in CS rather than IMHO because I assume most of the answers will be media of some kind)? > > For me it was June of 1997 (wow I am old) and I ordered four books in Harry Turtledove’s Worldwar series and two books on Conspiracies. > > How about you? Oh gosh, some book back in college. Early 2000s probably. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/17 "2018-06-08T15:24:33Z")
I don’t think it’s truly the earliest thing I bought from them, but according to my order history, in 2005, I bought some DVDs: The animated Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, and Return of the King, The Last Unicorn, and Manos, The Hands of Fate. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/18 "2018-06-08T15:29:38Z")
_For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence_ Ordered in Nov 2004. It was for a college course. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/19 "2018-06-08T15:40:54Z")
_Beyond the Valley of the Dolls_. Nov. 1999. VHS! Had a gift cert. to spend on something and couldn’t think of anything else back then. What can I say, I like odd movies. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/20 "2018-06-08T15:42:13Z")
Due to some stupid behaviour by Amazon not allowing Australians into their US account anymore I can’t check specifics, but it was in 1997 or so, and it was an art book for the making of the Disney movie _Aladdin_. I think I also bought a music CD, but buggered if I can remember what it was. Maybe the _Nightmare Before Christmas_ soundtrack. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679.md?page=2)