# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/41 "2018-06-08T17:35:52Z")
Mine only goes back to 1999 and I know I’ve been ordering before then, I was taking some HTML classes at a community college in either 1998 or early 1999 and I know I ordered computer books. And I’m pretty sure I ordered CDs in the late 1990s, but that could have been from another company But, the earliest order shown in June of 1999 and that was a copy of The Illiad, translated by Richard Lattimore. I still have it, but I’m considering a different translation next time I read it. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/42 "2018-06-08T17:45:15Z")
From [the last time we did this](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19245564&postcount=10): > [@](#): > > November 25, 2000. > > Vamp: The Rise and Fall of Theda Bara by our own delightful Doper, Eve Golden for $19.95 (would now be $13.19 for my Kindle). > > Which just goes to show that I found my way to Amazon, as to most things on the Internet, through the Straight Dope. ---
**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, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/43 "2018-06-08T17:56:33Z")
On a whim, I checked my order history again and now it shows that my first purchase was May 15, 1997. A copy of Kathe Koja’s _The Cipher_. Which I actually did/do own and I remember being not especially good and don’t think I ever finished. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/44 "2018-06-08T18:05:59Z")
I sent The Skeptic: A Life of H. L. Mencken by Terry Teachout to a friend in 2002. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/45 "2018-06-08T18:07:33Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > It only lets me go back to 2009. I’ve had lots of orders going back at least 10 years before that. > [@Musicat](#): > > Amazon allows me to go back to only 2002, and the only order that year was (they say) a book by Gladys Taber. I’m supremely confident that I did NOT order that book or any others by that author, ever, and it’s not in my library now. Later records look more plausible. > > However, I recall an order I placed from an Amazon promotion sometime in the 1990’s, for a 56K internal PC modem card, $45 (great price at the time). This is not shown in their records. Why are some people only able to go back a few years? Mine goes right back to 1998 with no issue. And I’m sure 1998 was my first order. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/46 "2018-06-08T18:08:35Z")
June 6, 1996. A cookbook. I bought several Marx Brothers-related books in 1997. Amazon sure made those easier to find. ---
**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, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/47 "2018-06-08T18:12:26Z")
Aha! I remembered an old password and was able to find out that I placed an order in 2015 for Nintendo’s Castlevania. 😃 Still don’t think that was the first thing… ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/48 "2018-06-08T18:41:42Z")
Wow, I can’t remember exactly, but it was long enough ago that you didn’t have to select a “Books” option before ordering. It was a book, btw. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/49 "2018-06-08T18:47:06Z")
Apparently a very large German-English/English-German dictionary in August 2000. Clearly I got it for German in high school, though I can’t remember why I decided to get such a big one at the time. It occasionally came in useful in college, but these days if I’m reading a scientific paper in German I let Google handle it. No idea what happened to it, probably gave it away. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/50 "2018-06-08T18:51:47Z")
In 2001 I ordered “For Bread Alone” by Mohamed Choukri and Paul Bowles, and “Departures” by Isabelle Eberhardt. ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Tom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc348/32.png) [@Big\_Tom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Tom)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/51 "2018-06-08T18:56:48Z")
December 7, 2001 Bluegrass CD’s for my Mom. Hadn’t thought about that in many years… ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/52 "2018-06-08T19:12:15Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Looking at my amazon order history is like looking at little snippets of my life. > > Kind of fun. True. My first order was in 1999, two guides to Disney World. That must have been the year I took my nieces there. 2000 - nothing. 2001 - I went nuts. Many of my favorite movies on tape, lots of books for my nieces. It would be interesting to learn how much I’ve spent there over the years. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/53 "2018-06-08T19:37:20Z")
December 31, 1996 I ordered a copy of the Judith Kerr book, “Mog and Bunny” ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/54 "2018-06-08T20:19:03Z")
May 2000, \*HTML for the World Wide Web, Fourth Edition \* It never sunk in. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/55 "2018-06-08T20:21:48Z")
A Mary Hopkin CD in July of 2004. _Those Were the Days (Best Of) [IMPORT]_ ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/56 "2018-06-08T21:58:18Z")
November 1995, a book : Pioneer Life or, Thirty Years a Hunter A book I had read as a kid and had been looking for for over 30 years. History/tall tales from the early 1800s about the area where I grew up. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/57 "2018-06-08T22:21:33Z")
I guessed that it must be the Lord of the Rings BBC Radio drama – and I was right! In August 2004. I remember that it arrived the next day. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/58 "2018-06-08T23:01:53Z")
Huh. My first order was a CD-ROM copy of vanilla World of Warcraft. ETA: February 2006. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/59 "2018-06-08T23:34:37Z")
My history only goes back to 2001, but I remember ordering books and CDs before that. I think I had a different email and account name in 1998-2000. The first time was because they offered CDs from artists that weren’t on major labels buying shelf space in chain stores. The first order on my current account is Microsoft Publisher 2002 in 2001. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2018, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679/60 "2018-06-09T00:04:44Z")
September of 2005 I ordered ClassiKhan-- a CD of Chaka Khan singing old standards. I do not remember buying it or listening to it or ever wanting it. Off to YouTube to see what I either missed or forgot. Oh, she’s singing with the London Symphony Ochestra [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-thing-you-ever-ordered-from-amazon-and-when/815679.md?page=4)