It was founded in 1994 by Dan Kohn and Roger Lee, both former London School of Economics students, and by Guy H. T. Haskin and Eiji Hirai from Swarthmore College.

[1] On August 11, 1994, NetMarket sold Ten Summoner's Tales, a CD by Sting, to Phil Brandenberger of Philadelphia using a credit card over the Internet.

The New York Times characterized this as "...apparently the first retail transaction on the Internet using a readily available version of powerful data encryption software designed to guarantee privacy.

While general online malls were superseded by specialty shops and forced to close, NetMarket continued to expand the range of its inventory.

[3] Also in 1997, CUC paid America Online $50 million to set up and promote NetMarket's services on AOL's Shopping Channel.