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Can You Guess What The Very First Item Sold On The Internet Was?

Black Friday has rapidly become one of the biggest days of the year for online sales, and a video released by e-commerce company Shopify claims to reveal what the very first internet purchase was.

Pizza Hut is often rumoured to have made the first online sale, although while it did begin online sales in 1994, it was not the first.

One early claim to the first online sale dates back to the early 70s with students in the U.S. allegedly setting up a marijuana sale using the pre-internet ARPAnet university computer network.

However, this wasn’t a true online sale as no money was actually exchanged online and the network was merely used for messages to arrange a face-to-face meeting. It was also illegal.

Fast forward to 1984, and a 72-year-old British pensioner called Jane Snowball used an old Videotex setup to order some groceries.

Jane Snowball ordering groceries using Videotex (BBC)

The antiquated tech essentially involved a telephone line-connected TV which was used to place the order via remote control, as part of a council initiative to help the elderly.

While the order was made online, it was paid for on arrival in cash.

According to Shopify, the very first secure online transaction was made on 11 August 1994 over Net Market - a very early e-shopping start-up founded by Dan Kohn.

The very first online purchase was a CD, bought buy one of Kohn’s friends.

And the CD in question? The Summoner’s Tales by Sting, with a price tag of $12.48.

Image credit: Shopify/YouTube

Via: FastCompany