Option 3: Free Phone Services
Heavily Used & Abused.. but with so many options and numbers available, it can work.
Hi issam, you registered on May 21, 2019 8:53 pm, your username is: issam.benammi@gmail.com and your IP Address is: [ipt_address]
Similar to virtual phone numbers, free phone number services are also heavily used and abused. The difference is that the available pools of free services are generally MUCH larger and more widely used making them an acceptable risk.
Note: While an acceptable risk, please note that usage of free phone services (as the ones listed below) have had negative impacts on new accounts including lowered selling limits and further verification requirements. Use at your own risk.
Listed below are some of the more popular options including their pros and cons. Please note that a lot of the options below are for US residents only.
| Service | Notes |
|---|---|
| Google Voice | Google Voice has had mixed results. The phone numbers used by Google are are heavily recycled as it's a free service. And with recycled numbers it leads to abused numbers. What makes Google Voice a viable solution is their large pool of numbers and wide spread usage of their services. While some users have had initial limits placed on their accounts most are not having problems. |
| Rebtel | First call is free. |
| TextNow | Works! |
| TextPlus App | More reports of initial selling restrictions then Google Voice. It does work for that initial account verification. What a lot of people do is use Text+ or similar for the initial account verification (not wanting to burn a TracFone) and once an account is proven they switch to TracFone or similar. The reason for that is you'll have less problems with TracFones or similar as mentioned earlier. You can change your TextPlus number as many times as you want. You can create multiple TextPlus accounts without restrictions. There is a use it or lose it policy on TextPlus numbers. Use your number at least once a month to keep it. Has trouble verifying PayPal but that's not required. It works for eBay and that's all that matters. |
| Burner App | Another option is Burner App. It's cheap. You can keep your phone number or change numbers at the press of a button. You can send a receive calls. It works for eBay verification. |
| Hushed App | Last checked it's a working option. |
| TextME App | Not a lot of information is known about this app but from the looks of it it's very similar to the rest. |
| Pinger | Last check it's a working option. |
Have you tried Google Voice or any of the above options? If you have let me know your results below or if you have other services you tried let me know as well.
Note: While free phone services are a risk… it’s not an account killer. Instead it can be a strike against your account. And while 1 strike is not an account killer.. if you have other issues such as a bad IP address, bad browser cookies, etc then it could put your account at risk for review or zero’d out selling limits.
Extra Bits.
What about a Landline Phone? I strongly suggest against using a landline phone. The reason for this is your personal details such as name and address are freely available to lookup. Anyone can look up your number and grab your address in just seconds. This isn’t good for our needs. Try one of the alternative phone number solutions instead.
Moving forward…
As far as PayPal phone verification goes, it’s not necessary at this time. Your goal is eBay verification and PayPal is secondary if at all. You can use the same phone number for both your eBay and PayPal account (more on that later).
Select the option that works best for your setup whether that’s a prepaid phone, virtual phone number or a free phone number app and move on to the next step!
