[Symbiote]

Average non-technical people used well-known companies, but that included eBay and Amazon.

Presumably Network Solutions was trusted by this customer of theirs.

[TedDoesntTalk]

I could be wrong, but I think in 1999 Amazon was still only selling books. Certainly they did not sell the variety of goods they have now.

There were thousands of online shops at the time, selling everything that Amazon sells today, and it was common to purchase from them using CC or PayPal.