NetMarket sold the Sting CD commonly credited as the first secure retail purchase on the internet in 1994.
On August 11, 1994, NetMarket sold Sting’s album Ten Summoner’s Tales to Phil Brandenberger of Philadelphia. Brandenberger paid by credit card over the internet, making the transaction notable not merely because an item was ordered online, but because payment details were protected by encryption.
The transaction used Pretty Good Privacy, or PGP, integrated into the X Mosaic browser environment. Contemporary reporting described it as apparently the first retail internet transaction using widely available encryption designed to protect privacy. The CD cost $12.48 before shipping, an unusually modest purchase that became a landmark in electronic commerce.
The wording is sometimes simplified to “the first thing sold online,” but earlier electronic transactions and competing firsts can make that absolute claim misleading. NetMarket is the accepted answer for the first secure online retail transaction associated with a physical consumer product. Amazon, eBay, and CDNow became major e-commerce names later; none made this particular 1994 sale.