This post is based on a comment I received on another post about the legality of buying or selling numbers.

Here’s “Jill’s” anonymous comment:

From what I am understanding after researching this a little bit, is that it is YOU Bill Quimby that is skirting the law by selling toll free numbers for a fee - this is contrary to the FCC policy.

Perhaps you are getting away with it, like you said because you are operating in a niche market, so no one is watching you. But from your writings, it definantly sounds like YOU are the one that is doing something illegal.

You have NO service to offer except registration of a ‘vanity’ number for me for a fee of $49.99. Without paying that fee (or a higher one) then you will not allow me to obtain a toll free number. Is that correct?

Apparently you have become your own ‘RESPORG’ for the sole purpose of selling vanity phone numbers.

Before we start, here’s the actual FCC regulation I believe Jill is wrongly referring to and reading things into. I could just say that what she’s saying isn’t there and leave it at that but it’s a big document and I think this ridiculous allegation deserves to be much more thoroughly disassembled. This is a long post, but bear with me a little. And to lighten the mood a little, here’s a funny picture I found of the “Phone Police” Jill is referring to.

(Photo credit: http://www.mycrazycars.com/)

Jill,

Let me start by saying I’m glad you asked this because it’s easy to get confused, but there are clear answers for this if you think about it, and I really want to address this issue head on to remove any confusion. I know ahead of time that this will be a long answer, so I’ve made it, it’s own post so it will get even more exposure than it would if I just responded to the comment you made. Your comment was very contentious and makes it sound like you have ulterior motives but I think should be addressed thoroughly. Most of this is on our website in the About Us Section, or the Numbers Sections, which I wrote just a few months ago.

We’re an Internet Search Service

First of all, we are ultimately an internet search service. Our service couldn’t exist outside or without the internet. And 90% of our effort and our benefit to the consumer is our search program which is the better than anything even inside the biggest Fortune 500 phone companies. You’re not paying the $49 for the activation, you’re paying for our unique search capability if we successfully find a number you want. And you’re certainly not “buying” the number for that flat fee.

We’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to develop a better mouse trap and no individual phone company could ever justify that even if they could duplicate it. So to say that we’re doing something wrong because we charge a small search fee only if we are successful in helping a customer find a vanity number that they want seems more than a little extreme.

We certainly provide a VERY valuable service

Secondly you assert that we “have NO service to offer.” That clearly couldn’t possibly be any further from the truth. We provide an amazing amount of information, a much more powerful and efficient search process, faster activation, free temporary service so you know it’s working right away, we give you more choice of carriers and services than anyone else, and we insure that whatever service you select can’t hold you hostage by your number. You get all of this on top of not just good customer service, but immensely better customer service, not to mention the ability to talk to one of the most knowledgeable people in the industry, without having to spend a half hour pressing buttons or waiting on hold. Regular phone companies are fine at providing the ongoing service, but if you can’t see way more than $49 of value in all of this, I think you clearly need to have your eyes checked.

We’re clearly NOT “selling” numbers

Then to think that we’re “selling” numbers because we charge a search fee is kind of like saying that dating services should be illegal because they are “selling” human beings. They charge a fee for their “search” service which provides you with people that you might have sexual relations with so they must be guilty of “selling” people. Or maybe it’s just promoting prostitution, since you pay them a search fee and they help you meet someone that you probably hope to have sex with. That’s about the most ridiculous argument or position I’ve heard anyone take in a long time. I admit that’s probably why I wanted to highlight and slaughter this stupid accusation. But that’s not all, there’s still several more holes in this argument, if you’re still following me, so lets examine it some more.

The process of activating a number from the spare pool is clearly a “service” not a product. We aren’t the end user or owners of these numbers. We are the organization responsible for them. Maybe a better analogy would be to the domain name industry. There people that sell domain names, but Go Daddy clearly isn’t selling domain names, it’s registering them from the spare pool. When our customer pays us a one time “search fee”, they are the original end user, hence our term “Toll Free Birth Certificate™” for the documentation. It’s not a transfer, or bill of sale, but a document which states the time and date of the first user, not the second.

All phone companies charge fees…

You are asserting that it’s somehow illegal to charge a fee to establish a phone number. All phone companies charge fees for just about everything including setting up toll free or local numbers. Some companies charge a small fee up front for setting up a new toll free number, and some simply build that in to the monthly fees. But the people who activate your number at AT&T or Sprint don’t work for free. They get paid for it, and that cost ultimately has to come from the customer who receives the benefit and use of the number. So to say that simply because a fee is charged is somehow wrong is also ridiculous.

The last time I activated a local number with Verizon, I think I paid about $150 and they didn’t have to do any physical wiring at all. They just threw a switch in the central office and were nice enough to offer to split my activation fee into three monthly payments at no cost. Is that illegal or does that mean they were selling me numbers? No of course not.

Some things that we do take a little more time and effort so some things cost more than the $49 regular number, just like Verizon charges more for larger customers who need more elaborate installations. But even when you consider all of our services, our average sale is just under $100, which is less than the basic setup for many major phone companies.

I believe that a one time flat fee based on the time and effort and expense necessary to provide the service is not only reasonable but it’s both fairer and necessary in order to provide a better service. Regular phone companies, aside from having very little training or experience, have absolutely no incentive to get you a better number. It’s extremely important to most advertisers but the system isn’t setup to allow regular phone company representatives to spend the time and effort necessary to get what their customer wants. We again just offer the advertiser that wants it a choice.

We empower end users and give them choices

We don’t make anyone get numbers from us. None of the phone companies that refer people to me require their customers to use my service. They only offer that option to customers that specifically want a better number than they can get themselves. Our customers love us and they almost universally say our prices are cheap or at least very reasonable. And that’s not even considering the hundreds of thousands of dollars and years that we’ve spent to develop this system.

It’s also important to point out that we don’t charge different rates based on what we think we can get for a number. I’ve gotten numbers for customers that were clearly worth literally tens of thousands of dollars and many have even gone on to get or make a lot of money from them. I love that and am happy for them, but I didn’t charge them any more than I did for other numbers. I don’t charge large advertisers more, or companies that have really urgent needs any more than the smallest little part time home based startup. There is certainly nobody else in the vanity number business that can say ANY of that. They usually don’t want to list their rates because not only are they outrageously high, but they will raise up the rates for anyone they think will pay any more. They’re trying to sell them for as much as they can get like a used car salesman who sells things with no book value or even any good way to compare prices.

We’re the opposite of most other vanity number businesses

Almost everyone else in the vanity number business acts as the end user of record and wants to either sell them, transferring a number they have the end user rights to, (usually for tens of thousands of dollars) or worse yet, to “rent” toll free numbers that they OWN and retain the end user rights to, for hundreds of dollars per month while locking the customer into a rate at least three times the competitive rate. I say that renting numbers like that is worse because it leaves the renter at the mercy of the number owner.

When you consider our overhead and our maintenance charges let alone the development costs, $49 is insanely cheap, especially considering that there really isn’t any competition. But I picked a low price and have held it the same for years because I don’t have the overhead or pressures that a bigger traditional phone company does and I want to keep it that way. I have built this business without doing any real advertising, (ever!) by over delivering and simply providing a better mouse trap.

We’ve simply built a better mouse trap which may upset some people

I think it’s also clearly better for the end user to give them more choice. That’s the core of what we do. We not only give them more choices in terms of numbers, (and tons of information too) but we also give them more choices in who to service their number through. Most phone companies want to take away your choice and make you think you have to stay with them for your toll free number. Several even twist the rules and actually do hold their customers hostage by their number. (If you want to complain about something that would probably be MUCH more appropriate, although from the sound of your comment you obviously have ulterior motives)

But anyway, we educate customers and teach them that their ability to transfer their number is their ultimate guarantee that they’ll always get decent service and a competitive rate, plus the right type of service for their needs even when their needs change or if their phone company changes (ie merges with someone else and raises the rates and lowers the service or just goes out of business). We empower the end user and help them get not only the best number for their business but allow them to take it to the best company for their needs too.

I don’t mean to go on, but this is extremely important to me and I don’t take allegations of illegality or misconduct lightly. A lot of this is answer is on our website, but I don’t think this question is answered this clearly so I thought it was worth elaborating. There are probably a few other things I could add especially from a legalistic point of view, but I think that pretty well beats this dead horse. We are successful, not because we’re small and able to just get away with anything, but precisely the opposite. We are successful because we provide a necessary service within the industry. Our business model is not the traditional phone company model, because we’re not a phone company. We are an internet search service that helps a lot of customers fairly and efficiently and consistently over delivers.

PS. You’re obviously not a customer of ours. And no regular phone companies hate me. I actually get a lot of referrals from them because I don’t compete with them at all. My service is very complimentary to them. So I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that you are either a shared use company or just an internet basher, hiding behind an anonymous comment. If you’re in the business of “renting” toll free numbers, my one time $49 fee to own or control your own number nationwide certainly makes it hard to rent them for hundreds of dollars per month for a single market.

The main people that don’t want customers to be able to control their own number are companies that try to charge much higher monthly fees to rent them or using the control of the number to hold customers hostage. (Talk about skirting the regulations on technicalities that’s the ultimate—but we’ll save that discussion for another day.)

I realize that a page this long may be hard to comment or add anything to, but I promise not to pile on, any dissenting comments. Actually if there’s anything worth commenting on or discussing this is probably it. So please feel free to express yourself here especially.