Not available? Every way to still get it
Every search shows each number’s status in a color, and each color has its own way forward. Here’s what each one means, what it usually costs, and the one thing to click next.
Red: in use
It’s NOT available. It’s married to a customer of that phone company, and they won’t give out who it is. There isn’t a way to get something that’s unavailable. I’m not really a bounty hunter, going out and trying to make something available when it’s not. I’m more like a real estate agent, helping you find the best available property.
- Odds: usually not. If it’s sat with the same company for years, don’t wait on it.
- Cost: nothing to watch it.
- Next: tap Prefix to see close versions that are available now. The green ones are $49. If you still want this one, tap Notify, and we’ll email you if its status changes. And if it’s held by a company that makes its money from misdials, here’s why some numbers aren’t for sale at any price. And if you’d like to pay me to get it anyway, here’s my answer.
Blue: Requestable
It’s with another vanity number vendor that you can negotiate with, and perhaps buy it from. That’s the most expensive way to get a number. It depends on the vendor, but most run in the thousands, more for generic words. A few only rent them by the month and keep them, but I can often negotiate a release with some prepayment.
- Odds: good, if the price works for you. Most vendors will sell them for the right money.
- Cost: usually thousands of dollars, or in a few cases a large monthly fee. It’s free to ask, with no obligation.
- Next: tap the blue number, leave your name and email, and I’ll come back with a real price, usually within a day. They’re negotiable, but it’s not “Let’s Make a Deal.” The blue numbers aren’t what you want if you can only spend hundreds, because they’re thousands. More at How much NOT to offer.
Yellow: Backorder
It’s in disconnect. We’ll try to grab it in the first couple seconds when it becomes available, and you only pay for it if we’re able to get it. It’s a race to grab them when they come out, and we’re always competing with the phone sharks, so it’s not guaranteed.
- Odds: it’s a race. Not guaranteed, but you only pay if we get it.
- Cost: $395 to $995, one time, based on the area code. You own it with no strings.
- Next: tap Backorder on the row. For most backorders there’s no charge to place the request; we only authorize your card right before we try to get it. Some we can get for you right away, and for those you pay at checkout.
Green with a monthly price: rent to own
It’s rent to own over 72 months. There’s no term or commitment, but you’re paying it off like a mortgage rather than renting it, so every monthly dollar goes toward owning it. After 72 payments you OWN it with no strings, and you have a buyout at any point. Forwarding to your phone is included, and you can cancel and walk away at any time.
- Cost: $99 a month for toll free. Local ones are $79 a month, and they’re yours after 48 payments.
- Next: tap the green number with the monthly price.
Stuck in Limbo (833s)
That’s one of nearly 16,000 833s left over from the 833 auction, which are on an indefinite hold. I think someone will eventually wake up and make them available, and I’ll try to help you be in the right place at the right time. But in the meantime you’ll probably have to be more creative.
- Next: tap the row and tell me you want it.
No 800s anywhere?
You won’t find any 800 numbers in the available pool. There really haven’t been any 800 numbers in the available pool for a decade or more. They get taken within seconds when they come out. The purple Premium columns do have some true 800 numbers for a one time price, from $99.95 for a random 800 to $1,999.95 for 4 Star, and you own them.
What it costs over five years
- A $49 number: $49, one time. Then your phone service, with any company you want, from about $2 a month plus minutes.
- A backorder: $395 to $995, one time, and only if we get it.
- Rent to own, toll free: $99 a month with forwarding included. Five years is 60 payments, $5,940. Twelve more and it’s yours: 72 payments, $7,128 in all. Or buy it out any time.
- A vendor’s number: usually thousands up front. A few only rent by the month, and you never own those.
Always get a backup
Phone numbers don’t get jealous, so you can start with the best one that’s available now and still keep after the perfect one. Search the word by itself: instead of having to try each small word in front of it, it tries them all and gives you a list to pick from. Many of them are available for $49.
Requesting expensive generic numbers
Getting a number from a vendor is the most expensive way to get a good number, just like buying a domain name from a vendor is a lot more than registering yourself. Requestable numbers are geared toward decent sized companies that really HAVE TO have a specific number. Vendors set their fees high enough that it takes a serious need, from a company that does a decent amount of advertising and could get a lot of benefit from it. They vary a little bit, but that’s how the vanity number vendors work.
If that’s too much, the most obvious answer is to be more creative and look for alternatives that are a lot less expensive. We work really hard to find tons of good options related to almost every term that are available for just $49 or a couple hundred dollars. My average sale is much less than the average 3rd party number. So beat on the lookup tool and look for the green or purple options, not the blue ones.
One other option, if you really want that number but can’t afford it up front, is to ask if they would give you a monthly option. Some vendors give that upfront, but some might not talk about that up front but will give you that if you ask. It doesn’t hurt to ask.
You also have to realize that most vendors have more numbers than they have the time or the ability to promote. So they are probably more negotiable than most things you look for in starting your business. Make an offer or stay in touch and leave the door open to get a better deal down the road, or to offer more once your business is more developed.
I have worked with many of the vanity number services for a long time. But I’m not pushing anything, I just want to help you get whatever is best for your business. Beat on our lookup tool and let me know what questions you have or really anything you need.
You’re much better off asking out single people than married people
Although you may think he or she is the only one for you, and you simply HAVE TO HAVE THEM… there are always more options than you realize when you’re focused on “THE ONE!” The saying about there being more fish in the sea applies to that perfect phone number too.
I can’t tell you how many times someone comes to me determined to track down a number that’s NOT available, determined to make that unavailable number theirs. They’ll completely ignore hundreds of good numbers that are available to pursue and focus on the one that isn’t available. I try to explain that it’s like asking out a married person. They never understand how much harder it is to make that unavailable number available. They are blindly optimistically assuming that because the person doesn’t answer the phone from their area at the moment or they’re not using it for a large business, that it must be worth more to them than the people who aren’t using it much, and therefore must be negotiable.
Unfortunately that almost never goes the way they hope it will, because the truth is that it’s much harder to do the equivalent of getting someone to leave the one they’re with to be with you. That’s why I say, “You’re always better asking out single (available) people than married people.” I understand wanting to pursue that exciting number but when it says IN USE, that means NOT AVAILABLE. It doesn’t mean try harder.
That then leads to the next point in this conversation, “Don’t let not being able to get the perfect number stop you from getting a good number.”
Can you trust this vendor?
Most vanity number companies are small and can honestly get away with a lot of crap. The Vanity Number business is a small niche that most people don’t even know exists and the people that do, don’t pay very much attention. So how do you know who you can trust?
You can ask how long they’ve been in business, and you can check. That’s why I link to Archive.org for some of the resporgs. It’s very interesting to be able to look back at the real history of a business. I count the age of my business from when I registered TollFreeNumbers.com in 1995. I’ve done this for over 25 years because I love helping customers get great vanity numbers.
Another great way to tell if a vanity number business is legitimate, is do they have upfront pricing? Or is the price based on how deep they think your pockets are?
Another way to tell if the people you’re dealing with are honest and trustworthy, after you negotiate a price, right before you send the payment, ask for a W9 form. If they resist or don’t give it to you right away, then you know they’re not honest.
Some people may be disappointed that my prices aren’t as flexible as some others. But that’s because this is a real business and our prices are based on the time, effort and costs to provide the toll free services, not how bad you need it or how deep your pockets are. To me the flexibility of a business’s prices, in the long run is more of a negative than a positive thing. I want to deal with someone that is consistent and up front, and knows what they’re doing. There can be discounts but a real business doesn’t charge drastically different amounts for the same thing, based on who’s asking.
“It doesn’t exist” really means they can’t find it
Phone company representatives almost always make the assumption that if they can’t find a number that it doesn’t exist. Phone company reps aren’t looking at which exchanges they have, or everything in the whole company, like you’re assuming. They have just enough information to do their job, and tracking down numbers isn’t really their job. If they don’t see it in the system they have access to, they don’t tell you they can’t find it, they say it doesn’t exist, because that makes them sound better and gets you off the phone.
When they say they don’t have it, ask them, is that because you’re looking at the complete list of what their company has, or because they don’t see it in their available numbers? Given that choice they’ll usually say it’s because they don’t see it in the available numbers they have access to, which is different than what you’re assuming they don’t have it means.
The information our data is based on comes from the actual exchange data that shows which companies have every exchange. The difference between what they see and what’s actually assigned to them means you have to go higher, or your timing isn’t right, or some combination of the two. It doesn’t mean the underlying data is wrong. Phone reps never want to tell you they can’t find something. They will always tell you it doesn’t exist, because they live and die by their computer and don’t know how to find anything that’s not in their computer.
If it just came out, it might not be in their available numbers yet, so you might have to keep checking. If it was active for a customer they wouldn’t tell you it doesn’t exist. They would tell you it’s active for another company. So saying it doesn’t exist, is actually a good thing.
Most large companies have been built by merging multiple smaller phone companies. So you might have to find someone that has access to the right system or part of their organization. Part of getting a specific number is timing, and part of it is reaching the right person, because nobody has access to everything, especially in even a medium sized organization.
Unfortunately, I can’t tell you exactly who you have to talk to. It does take some luck to reach the right person, especially in a large company which has a lot of reps with differing levels of knowledge and multiple front doors. You may just have to look for someone that knows more about their multiple systems (every big company has multiple systems) or you might try a different front door. You might call business customer service instead of residential for example. Keep track of who you talk to and where they’re located, and ask some questions to figure out their level of experience.
The bottom line is that you can’t take the first no, as if that were the final answer. Every customer service rep will try to make it sound like their answer is the absolute final answer, but the underlying exchange data is still true, but their answer could change tomorrow or if you talk to someone else.