Why does it cost more for Backorders than regular #s?
The simple answer is that they take more time and effort. Regular activations for numbers that say they’re Currently Available are relatively easy to do. They can be done very easily in our automated system.
Numbers in Disconnect however are NOT currently available. They are in the aging process. You won’t be able to get them from any phone company. Other phone companies will simply say they’re not available because they don’t look deep enough to see that they are in disconnect, nor do they have any way to compete with the vanity number squatters that suck up every number they think is worth anything at all within seconds.
We are the only company with a way for end users to request numbers in the Disconnect period. We will do the research and tell you the exact date it comes out of Disconnect and if you don’t cancel it (which you can do any time up until the date it comes out) we’ll try go get it for you the first second or two after it becomes available. See: Big phone companies are all asleep and their 800 reservation system is 20 years out of date.
Numbers are released at 11:00pm central time, which is midnight for us, on the east coast. That means almost EVERY night at midnight we have to race to get backordered numbers for our customers. We have some proprietary programs but it takes live people to maximize our chances. It’s usually at least two people each running at least two computers.
We charge more for 800s than for 888s which are more than 877s and 866s too, because we put more attention and resources into 800s. There is more competition for 800s. That is because they are generally more valuable but we don’t put the higher price on them just because they’re more valuable. We do it because they require more time and energy.
We try hard to be fair and straight forward with our pricing. We really can’t discount backorders or do them in bulk since they come out on different nights. And we are trying for each of them individually. It’s not like we can make a big batch of them all at once like cookies.
The prices are listed of the backorder page, on the order form and again in the email confirmation. You are welcome to cancel backorders any time up until they come out and we do the work. If you don’t cancel it and we get it for you, it’s your number. Payment isn’t optional any more than it’s optional for us to give you the number if we get it. We can’t just decide that we changed our minds and not give it to you, and you can’t just change your mind and not pay for it.
There are a lot more posts about disconnected numbers and backordering them in the Backorder Section. Go to Start with a backorder request for just $4.95 if you’re interested in placing a backorder
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Joe says:
April 21, 2008 at 1:11 pm
I’m willing to pay $1000 instead of $595 if you get this one for
me.
Thanks
Joe
Bill Quimby (209 comments.) says:
April 21, 2008 at 11:43 pm
Joe,
I appreciate that you really want or need that number and your faith in us. But unfortunately it’s not a matter of paying something extra.
If you want to do some more work, you can try to reach the old owner of the number. If you do reach them, I can give you the paperwork they need to sign. And if you’re able to get them to sign off on it, we can process that for you. It’s a little more than the backorder fee, but it gets the number immediately and is guaranteed to get the number for you. It’s certainly not easy to do all of that, but it is at least possible.
It’s also important to point out that we can’t simply offer a number to someone else willing to pay more. They do that for domain names, but phone companies are required to issue toll free numbers on a first come first served basis. We have fees based on the general time and effort to get them, but we won’t give someone a number that someone else has backordered or reserved for any amount of money.
Admittedly, more people ask us to accept less money than ask us to accept more money, but I have to give you the same answer, that our prices are what our prices are. We have specials and sales sometimes, but the prices have to be consistent to build a larger business and get over a thousand numbers a month for customers.
Thanks for writing and we’re reall happy to help you get the best possible number for your business.
Bill