The date of your first Amazon order …

[kirstenhill]

In my current account the oldest order was 2005...but that's around the time I transitioned to my current address as my primary one. I had 3 different email addresses before that I might have used....I think my real first order was 1998.  

[Lori D.]

2001 = for Christmas, a wrench for changing the tires on the toy RC trucks for the kids -- it is now listed on other websites as a VINTAGE toy item... 🤣

The next order was for books, which remains the major type of purchase from Amazon through all the years. 😉 

Edited June 29, 2022 by Lori D.

[vonfirmath]

1 hour ago, Annie G said:

August 11, 1998 and it was Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six. That was for dh, and the next couple of years I ordered a lot of books for him and the kids. It was 2002 before I ordered anything just for me. That surprised me. But I was mostly using the library for my own books and it was before Amazon was my go to for nearly everything from shampoo to weed eater string refills.

I think Amazon was only (or mostly) books and CDs at the beginning.

 

[SoCal_Bear]

I was a really early adopter and have all kinds of swag they used to send out to customers for ordering. Pretty sure my first order in early 1996. Keep in mind that I was living and working in the bosom of the dot.com world at that time.

Edited June 29, 2022 by calbear

[MercyA]

Two orders on the same day in 2000: three Louisa May Alcott books (Little Men, Jo's Boys, The Inheritance), a Wild West sticker book, and a gift card for my brother. 🙂  

Amazon was mainly books at that time.

[City Mouse]

Under the current email address my DH first order was Aug 2002 of some books for a college class he was taking at the time. In October of the same year, I bought a copy of Junie B, First Grader Toothless Wonder. 
 

[Corraleno]

1998 — Miss Spider board books for baby DS

[rebcoola]

So my first official order was Dec 15th 2003 for Lincoln Logs Discovery Building Set: Wild West Ranch and Bathtub Finger Painting Kit.  These were Christmas presents for my Neice and nephew and were the first time I would have given presents since moving into my own apartment.  

I'm sure that my mom and I used it for a few hard to find things earlier than that but those would be on her account.

[Laura Corin]

1999

 

[KidsHappen]

With the arrival of Covid I started ordering a great deal of my household items off Amazon reached my all time high of orders in 2020 with 92 orders.

[fraidycat]

I don't have the email address anymore, but it was 2001, I think, or maybe early 2002. I remember the apartment we lived in at the time.

It was more than one item, because I also remember being shocked that they shipped and charged to my card in separate transactions. 😁

Edited June 29, 2022 by fraidycat

[Jean in Newcastle]

1 hour ago, Laura Corin said:

1999

 

I love the Moomintroll books. 

[Kuovonne]

My account lets me filter for orders back as far as 1995, but shows no orders in 1995 or 1996. I’m not sure why it lets me filter for those years unless it automatically starts at 1995 for everyone. (Amazon was started in 1994.)
 

In Sept 1997, I order “The Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications”. This was probably a professional development book for my first real job post-college. I think I still have it on a shelf somewhere. 

[Indigo Blue]

All purchased in the fall of 2007:

Augustus Caesar’s World

Bird Watching Trivia Game

American Trivia Jr. Game

Made for Trade Game

Music Ace Deluxe

 

Wow. Those were really fun things purchased all for homeschooling. Music Ace was fantastic. Ds was into birding around grade 5, and had lots of fun with the Bird Watching Trivia.

[bookbard]

First 2006. Last, I hope, 2021, when I swapped to a Kobo e-reader. 

[Lady Marmalade]

April 4, 2001.  It was a book in the Otherland series by Tad Williams.  🙂

I was also a beta tester for Prime before they launched it. 😬

[Carrie12345]

My account says 12/2011, but I suspect I had a different account before then. There is a chance that I did not, because shipping used to be a dramatic thing here.  I only had a PO Box mailing address, and had to drive 16 miles round trip to pick up most USPS packages. Then I had a box in our actual neighborhood and a street address, but the parcel boxes filled quickly, so sometimes I still had to make the long trip because companies, including Amazon, randomly chose USPS or UPS.
Today, between Amazon’s own vehicles and UPS, plus finally getting matching box and physical addresses (box still at the entrance, but re-labeled by house address), it isn’t an issue anymore.

I dream of giving up Amazon. But it’s a pipe dream.

[retiredHSmom]

1998

 

A Saturn Wagon repair manual for our new car

[GailV]

3 books in August 1998, one of which I have absolutely no memory of

2 more books in October of 1998 (knitting books that I'm pretty sure I still own)

 

I had a similar discussion with dd a few months ago. For some reason she wanted to know about something we used way back in elementary school. I found it on Amazon, the date we got it, and let her know "the return window has closed on that, btw", lol.

[GailV]

4 hours ago, Kuovonne said:

My account lets me filter for orders back as far as 1995, but shows no orders in 1995 or 1996. I’m not sure why it lets me filter for those years unless it automatically starts at 1995 for everyone. (Amazon was started in 1994.)
 

In Sept 1997, I order “The Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications”. This was probably a professional development book for my first real job post-college. I think I still have it on a shelf somewhere. 

I think it's showing 1995 for everyone. I think a few months ago mine just showed back to 1998 -- I was rummaging around on the old stuff and don't recall it going to  years I hadn't used.

[teachermom2834]

Funny observations…

I bought a book about helping babies sleep when I was pregnant with my second and my first was like 18 months. My first was an amazing sleeper. No sleep issues at all. So either I do not remember his sleep issues or I was really nervous baby #2 would not sleep and I wanted to be really on the ball from the get go or ???? Or I had a friend with a baby with sleep issues??  I really have no idea. 

I bought that “How to choose the sex of your baby” book after baby #2. I do vaguely remember that. I don’t remember if we tried it but I can tell you that if we had tried it, it didn’t work. 😂 I seriously do not remember caring but I must have had at least a moment that I did. Amazon history doesn’t lie. 

I was full on curriculum junkie before #1 hit legal age for K. I then stopped looking at my history because there would be too much shame in revisiting all the unused or ill thought out purchases. 

[Bambam]

July 20, 2000. Two books. For many years, our orders were mostly books. 

[elegantlion]

July 12, 2007. I'm not sure if I ordered before then or not. It was, unsurprisingly, homeschooling books. 

[vonfirmath]

4 hours ago, Kuovonne said:

My account lets me filter for orders back as far as 1995, but shows no orders in 1995 or 1996. I’m not sure why it lets me filter for those years unless it automatically starts at 1995 for everyone. (Amazon was started in 1994.)
 

In Sept 1997, I order “The Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications”. This was probably a professional development book for my first real job post-college. I think I still have it on a shelf somewhere. 

It goes back to 1995 for me so I think it is likely it shows the same years for everyone.

[Kalmia]

It was September 25, 2000. My husbands young 2nd cousin (maybe 18 or 19) had become pregnant out of wedlock and was not marrying the father and my husband's cousin (her mother, born-again Christian) was very ashamed of her and refusing to allow her a baby shower. So even though I barely knew the younger cousin, I was so disgusted by her mother, I bought the young woman three books on single parenting and had them mailed to her through Amazon. In the thank you note I got, she said that I was the first person who actually seemed excited about her baby.  Of course, as soon as the baby was actually born her mother (my husband's cousin) took one look and fell in love with her grandchild.

The first thing I bought for our family was a video "Let's Go to the Farm" for my two-year old son on March 7, 2002.

Edited June 29, 2022 by Kalmia

[Ann.without.an.e]

1 hour ago, teachermom2834 said:

Amazon history doesn’t lie. 

 

I’m going to steal this 😂

I guess in 2004 I was worried about my focus. I ordered like 3 or 4 books on adult adhd and organizing your life 🤣
I also don’t remember worrying about this enough to order so many books on it but ….

Edited June 29, 2022 by Ann.without.an.e

[stephanier.1765]

I changed my e-mail at some point and I think that affected the date of my first order (2003). I mean, why would Story of the World vol. 2 be my first Amazon order, after all? My need to do things in a logical order would have had me starting with the first one. LOL Actually, I know we did. I'm just surprised I've had my gmail account that long.

[Forget-Me-Not]

12 hours ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

Oh man, we’d need a whole new thread and probably a walk of shame if we counted up how many orders or money spent 😅 geez, even money spent in the last year would be a lot 😬

I have a dedicated Amazon credit card, and even some months are embarrassing! 
 

8/1/2000 is my first order. 

[Familia]

June, 2004

I win 🏆 The Well Trained Mind!  I was suspecting, but so funny to find it so!!

Wow, the minds have been well trained and “It is but a child of air that lingers in the garden there.”

 

[heartlikealion]

Oh gosh, I don't know. I think the first orders of mine were all under other people's accounts (my parents or joint with xh). 

This is how I feel when facebook does a picture challenge (find your first FB photo). I'm like I've been on here so long I don't even know how to get to it. It didn't put them in the profile photo album or whatever. And I had to have a college email address to sign up. 

[WildflowerMom]

2005:  Boys Schwin Bicycle 

[heartlikealion]

Since I can't go back to my original order I went back to the earliest one made on this account. It was Typing Instructor for Kids (free) and then the first paid one was Big Hugs Elmo and Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks Game (card game) - 2013

Edited June 29, 2022 by heartlikealion

[Ann.without.an.e]

36 minutes ago, Familia said:

June, 2004

I win 🏆 The Well Trained Mind!  I was suspecting, but so funny to find it so!!

Wow, the minds have been well trained and “It is but a child of air that lingers in the garden there.”

 

 

My WTM wasn't ordered until May 2006 on amazon but I kinda feel like I was just getting the updated version and already owned the older one so idk how long I had the earlier edition?

 

 

 

[Tenaj]

November 29, 1999.  Some Christmas gifts for the kids.  Marker sets in a cute carrying case.  

[mominco]

1998

[Jenny in Florida]

I don't have the same email or Amazon account as I had when I started ordering. However, I started ordering back when Amazon was a bookseller, and before we moved to Florida in 1998.

[Elfknitter.#]

April 2, 1997. I remember purchasing that book, too. Back when it was all hyperlinks and no images... 😂

[katilac]

10 hours ago, teachermom2834 said:

Amazon history doesn’t lie. 

There is much wisdom here. 

[Spryte]

I ordered college textbooks in the mid-90s. It was new then, but good prices on used books!

My current prime account goes back to 2009, but before that I had different addresses — email and otherwise.

[Lady Florida.]

April 2005 - The Teenage Liberation Handbook. 🙂 It was my only order that year. I ordered it for my niece who started homeschooling after 7th grade. 

I only ordered a few things a year for the next couple of years. Most were homeschool related plus a few Rolie Polie Ollie DVDs. Ds loved that show. 

It wasn't until 2009 that I started ordering everyday things regularly. I think that's when I became a Prime member. 

[Elizabeth86]

On 6/29/2022 at 3:09 AM, Jean in Newcastle said:

I love the Moomintroll books. 

We do too!

[Lady Florida.]

Like others I'm sure I ordered before the 2005 date that shows. I no longer have access to my old email but I started using ebay in 2001 and I'm sure I started ordering from Amazon less than a year later. 

I didn't join Prime until the late 2000s after a homeschool dad told our hs group about it. Before that I always tried to get the (then) $25 minimum so I could get free shipping. 

Edited June 30, 2022 by Lady Florida.

[Storygirl]

August 2, 2005

DD20 was 3.75 years old; DS18 was 1.25 years old; and we were waiting for the completion of the adoption of our younger two from Guatemala (we arrived home with them on Thanksgiving). I have some phonics things for DD in that cart, including Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and two Brain Quest sets. Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young by Prelutsky. Also some picture books in both Spanish and English.

Very representative of that time of my life.

But I was aware of Amazon for a long time before that. Before I had kids, I worked at a library, and we would discuss there the impact that Amazon was having on brick and mortar bookstores. There was a definite anti Amazon vibe in the bookish community. That was pre-2000.

[Kalypso]

1995. My dh has been a fan from the beginning. We still have one of the free travel mugs they sent us for being a customer. I think they sent us 2 or 3 of them in the first few years.

[dsmith]

November 15, 2000 - Sam's Teach Yourself Palm Programming. How boring! Definitely a business purchase, and it's made me realize how much our business has shifted it's focus since then. Dh was a few years before me. I resisted Amazon for quite a while because I preferred buying books from Barnes and Noble, so my orders were few and far between.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TravelingChris]

My account say Nov 2004 and it was three CDs for dh for Christmas--"I Don't Know What It is But It Sure is Funky" by Ripple, "The Essential Charlie Parker", and "American IV" by Johnny Cash.  But I really think I probably was buying books when my youngest was a baby--- which would have been 1997.  And I know I got a specific book recommended on a homeschooling site that I don't think would have been in a local Barnes and Noble and it was activities with babies I may have very well bought it in 1996 in preparation for her-she was born in late 96==the last of the Millenials.

[Emba]

I don’t think I have my original Amazon account, but I know it was probably around 2000, because it was in my sophomore year of college. May have been a little before that, 1999 or 1998. The specific order I remember wasn’t my first.  But it was definitely when Amazon sold almost exclusively books.

Edited July 1, 2022 by Emba