What do a portable minidisc recorder, VHS copies of My Little Pony, and computer programing textbooks have in common? Tons of things! Including the fact that they were all someone’s very first purchase online. Jake Riley has asked the nostalgia-doused question of the day, and Twitter has been more than happy (if only a little embarrassed) to respond. Books, especially college textbooks, were a popular item, but people also bought Strawberry Shortcake-themed roller skates, bike parts, and, naturally, a $50 plaster mold of David Duchovny‘s face.
This is definitely insane but the first thing I bought with my own money was this plaster mold of David Duchovny on ebay. It was 1999, i was in 7th grade. I sent $50 in cash in an envelope. I still cherish it. pic.twitter.com/egwf10oMGX
— Penelope Picklesbee (@TriteAndTrue) July 27, 2022
Fascinatingly, user @newdaynewlife11 said they bought a Gateway 486 (that’s a desktop computer, young folks) which didn’t work, so the company mailed them individual parts until they found out which part was defective. Bonus points if they kept the cow print box.
Other notable buys included a pillow case with Heath Ledger‘s face printed on it, Battle Beast toys, and the Ultimate Iron Giant figurine from the official Warner Bros. website.
Living in Hawaii back in 1999, I purchased the Ultimate Iron Giant off of the @warnerbros website. Never thought about that before but yeah. It was my first purchase. pic.twitter.com/9QWnz38jek
— James H. Dargie (@JHDargie) July 27, 2022
Despite being born before the 1990s, I was weirdly late to the online purchasing game. Having looked it up, it turns out my first online purchase was in 2005 when I bought The Complete Monty Python’s Flying Circus 16 Ton Megaset. Not only was it my first, it was undoubtedly the best purchase I’ve ever made online. What was yours?
Source: https://uproxx.com/viral/first-things-we-bought-online-tweets/