Years ago, I once asked a friend for her new phone number, and she replied, “It’s really easy to remember,” before giving me this doozy (area code and first three digits censored, obviously):
“***-***-5050”
I joked that she should start her own law firm, but it got me thinking about those billboard attorney ads with phone numbers spelling phrases like “INJURED” or featuring multiple repeating digits. At the time, I had to wonder if something as intangible as a phone number actually had any worth. Like, how much is my phone number worth? Is there anywhere to check a mobile number for its value? And anyways, how would you actually sell your phone number, even if it was valuable?
Trying to figure all that out sent me down quite a rabbit hole. But working with NumberBarn, I know now of course, that you can sell your number, for as little as a few bucks to as much as thousands of dollars.
To explore this world, you just have to know a couple of key things first.
How To Sell A Phone Number
One of the first things I learned in that rabbit hole was that telephone companies use a lot of different terms than regular people do, even when they’re talking about the same thing.
So let’s start by defining some pivotal stuff around the concept of moving a number.
Can I move my phone digits to somewhere outside my current plan?
There is one general term used when discussing moving a number: porting.
Porting – The act of moving your phone number to another person or company. (This is technically what you are doing when you “sell” your number — more on “licensing” later.)
If you aren’t literally handing your phone over to another person and telling them to pay your bill, what you’re doing is taking an active, paid-for number currently being serviced by a company or online service, and transferring it to a different company to service it instead.
People typically port phone numbers when they want to keep their number after switching providers, but that’s not the only reason, as we’ll see. (They may even “park” their number they aren’t using, but that’s another thing.)
Can I give my phone number to someone else who’s on my own phone plan?
Yes, of course! If you’re on the same plan or even using the same provider, companies like Verizon and T-Mobile generally have fairly simple, step-by-step procedures for doing a service transfer that’s located somewhere on their respective apps and websites.
But that isn’t the same thing as selling a number. (I mean, feel free to personally invoice your daughter, if you’d like.)
Okay, where do I sell my phone number to someone outside my plan?
Now that you know that phone companies and services generally allow you to “port” a number, I’m thrilled to tell you there are places online that allow you to sell your number to anyone in the world.
Because believe it or not, there are many desirable numbers that people may wish they had for a wide variety of reasons, so therefore it shouldn’t have shocked me that there are online marketplaces (think: eBay) for people to browse and purchase all kinds of telephone numbers.
NumberBarn.com is definitely the biggest database for phone numbers you can list or buy (if we say so ourselves), but there are a few others, like Ring Boost. On sites like these, generally you get to look for numbers available by area code, by what they spell on the keypad, and of course, how much people are asking for them.
How does it work?
It’s surprisingly simple, actually.
You “port” your number to NumberBarn or whichever service you are using, and they sell the number for you. (Congrats, you’re officially a “number broker!”)
All you need is:
- A free NumberBarn account
- An active phone number
- To fill out the application on their site
The application asks stuff like how much you want to charge for it, whether you want to sell or license, and if you want to have options on, like counter-offers. Once someone buys your phone number, NumberBarn assesses a fee, after which you can cash out your earnings directly into whatever bank account you set up.
That’s kind of up to you. Luckily, NumberBarn Support will talk you through figuring that out if you have no idea where to start.
Whoa, how do I know how much to charge for my number?
However, there are two basic factors that determine how valuable a number is:
- How memorable are the numbers?
- Do the numbers spell out anything?
You’re more likely to Google “how do I sell my number?” if you own some crazy repeating number like “777-7777,” so the first one should make sense. However, what a lot of people may not realize is that the last 4-7 digits of their regular ol’ number might spell something interesting!
NumberBarn’s new phone number value calculator will quote you an instant price range you might be able to sell your mobile phone number for.
On top of that, our phone number search tool lets you search for words available and their current asking prices, which can get you started on what sort of prices you can get for your number. (NumberBarn recently sold an all-repeating number for hundreds of thousands of dollars to a law firm!) Remember that every unique area code is ripe for the same letter combinations, so what numbers are available or assigned per region can vary drastically, location to location.
If you ultimately don’t know what to charge, you can leave your number up and allow other people to submit offers to you.
Note: Keep in mind that the “cool word” approach is dampened by any phone number that has “0” or “1” in it, since those two numbers aren’t ascribed any letters on the keypad.
What does ‘licensing’ a number mean?
Sometimes people don’t want to let go of the number they fortuitously have, so you can also opt to license anumber through NumberBarn instead.
- Licensing – The act of allowing someone else to use your number for short durations, typically with a monthly fee. (Like leasing or renting.)
This way, a person licensing a number retains ownership of that number, while someone else pays a recurring fee to use it for however long they negotiate. (For example, maybe they only need it for a month-long marketing campaign, or perhaps they can only afford a huge number like “555-CARS” for a year.)
Note: If you have an active toll-free number such as a “1-800” number, in most cases, these can only be licensed and not sold, per FCC regulations.
That’s it?
That’s it! Number broker sites take care of the billing, invoicing, money transferring, and all that legal junk, so you don’t have to do anything other than set up your account and list your number.
It’s pretty wild to learn how much a phone number can sell for. You don’t have to go too far down that rabbit hole like I did, but you might just gain a new hobby of looking up funny number combinations for sale. (Listen, don’t judge until you try it yourself.)
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Illustrations by Alice Mullon
