Guide
Keep your phone number private when selling online
Listing a bike, a sofa or a room for rent means strangers need a way to reach you. A temporary number lets buyers text you while your personal number stays out of their contacts, their chats and any lists it might end up on.
Why not just use your own number
- Buyers keep your number long after the sale
- Numbers posted in public listings get collected for spam and scam messages
- Your number is often linked to your name and other accounts
- Ending a conversation is harder when someone has your real contact
How to set it up
- Rent a number in your country for the time your listing is busiest, for example an evening or a weekend
- Put that number in your listing or send it to interested buyers
- Read their texts live in your GimmeSMS inbox
- Extend while you are still arranging the sale, and let it expire once it is done
Stay safe while selling
- Meet in public places and bring someone along for valuable items
- Never share verification codes that arrive on your own phone with a buyer
- Be careful with links sent by strangers, especially payment or delivery links
- Prefer payment methods that offer protection over direct transfers to unknown people
Good to know
GimmeSMS numbers receive texts only, so reply through the marketplace's own messages or another channel you are comfortable with. Numbers are reused after a cooldown, so only use them for the sale itself.
Try GimmeSMS
Rent a real number for $2.20 an hour, from 1 to 48 hours, and read your texts live in your browser. Available now in United States, Canada, Netherlands.