amazon meme

Apparently I'm out of the loop, because I've only seen it at New Kid's and Profgrrrl's, both of whom had already seen it everywhere.

On Amazon, my account records only go back to 2003, but I know I got something there years earlier. I was probably still using my high school hotmail account then.

I signed up for an Amazon account long before I had any expectation of actually buying anything. I think I was just interested in the email alerts when my favourite authors published something new. At some point (1998-ish?), I got emailed a $10 gift certificate to encourage me to try the new-ish service.

At first I thought it would be useless, given how far from the US I lived at the time, but I was delighted to discover that $10 would just cover a childrens/YA mass-market paperback plus shipping. I instantly signed up for another amazon account with a second email address, just in case I could get the same offer again, and a couple of months later I did!

I bought two of Madeleine L'Engle's books that I hadn't been able to find at home: A House Like a Lotus and (I think) And Both Were Young (neither of which are now available from amazon in the $3 form I got).

I'm still amazed that the gift certificates had no strings attached. I don't think I actually gave Amazon any of my own money until I moved to the US in 2003 and did all my xmas shopping online.