Selling 800 numbers on Ebay
You may have seen toll free numbers listed on ebay. There have actually been over 1.7 million dollars worth of toll free numbers put up on ebay in just the last four months. (see full list) There are a number of legal issues related to that which I’m really not trying to get into at the moment. I’m not promoting that nor am I discouraging this. But I’ve been watching the listings and gathering some information from all of the ebay listings for toll free numbers listed for over $1000 (and a few slightly less). I figured that this may be helpful for visitors, at least as far as knowing what other people value their own numbers at.
I should probably also start by saying that I don’t think ebay is a particularly good vehicle for selling numbers alone, because an auction requires multiple people interested in an item at one time. And most numbers only appeal really well to a narrow niche or industry. How many optometrists (for example) that are interested in a toll free number are going to wander through at any one time?
Some are listed with buy it now, some just have an opening bid and some aren’t auctions, they’re just listings. The one thing that all of these items has in common is that there are almost no bids and none that I could find that sold. I didn’t usually find them and make the screen capture at the end of the auction but that really didn’t matter because they almost never sell. The hard part was remembering which ones I had already looked at when they were relisted, some quite often. That doesn’t mean their owners didn’t get any benefit from the listing. Some may sell afterwards for much more reasonable fee. Some might wind up doing something else for a different number too.
Some were selling domain names or even functioning businesses. My suggestion for anyone trying to sell a number through ebay would be to promote it as much as possible outside of ebay, especially if their number has a specific target market. Look for an industry journal or convention for example. Use that in conjunction with a PR campaign to drive interested parties to your ebay auction.
I even took the research one step further and looked up the resporg history of those numbers. I was surprised to see some auctions for numbers in disconnect and for numbers that nobody appeared to even control. I was even surprised to notice that some of the numbers being auctioned were actually numbers that I had gotten for customers. I do NOT encourage or promote that at all. It was only a few, but I guess that shows that our fees which are based on the time and effort required to get a number are often way below the value of the number, which I guess is a good thing.
My ebay name is TollFreeNumbers probably because I’ve used ebay longer than most of these sellers. But I don’t do not buy or sell numbers on or off ebay. We only charge a standard one time Search Fee based on the time and effort typically required. Maybe I’m missing out! I have always watched what’s going on here at ebay and I thought that some of my visitors on the web might like to see what’s going on ebay with toll free numbers lately too.
Please let me know what experience you’ve had if any with ebay. (You can post totally anonymously)
Note: You might have to sign in at ebay to follow some of the links. It’s also interesting that most of the higher volume sellers, ettmc2 (now using 800network), tollfreeconsulting, tollfreemarketing, and get-bids seller’s accounts seem to have been suspended about two months ago. Auctions with a reserve are marked with a *.
Please let me know what experience you’ve had if any with ebay. (You can post totally anonymously)
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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Bill Quimby (678 comments.) says:
November 27, 2007 at 1:13 am
When I noticed the suspended accounts at the end of my research I was a little concerned that there could be a bigger reason for it. But I dug a little further and I don’t think there’s necessarily any darker reason for them other than the normal changes and turnover.
The main reason that accounts are suspended is because of non-payment. And I think they just weren’t selling very much so the fees wound up being more than it was worth to them.
It’s easy sometimes to see monsters lurking in the dark, but in this case I think it’s not really a sign of any real problem or issue. So I’ll put aside the conspiracy theories that I saw in the dark when I first noticed the suspensions.
Bill Quimby (678 comments.) says:
November 29, 2007 at 9:58 pm
Here’s Mark Cambell’s ebay store with several 800 numbers available http://www.stores.ebay.com/800networks
Rob (1 comments.) says:
April 15, 2008 at 9:16 pm
These numbers are big business. I recently heard that a private individual sold 1-877-YELLOWPAGES and 1-866-YELLOWPAGES along with TollFreeYellowPages.com to AT&T for $500,000. Thats big stuff for just some numbers.
Mark Campbell (1 comments.) says:
August 25, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Mr Quimby,
Could you please update my ebay store if you’re going to list it.
http://www.stores.ebay.com/800NetWorks
Thank You
Mark Campbell
Bill Quimby (678 comments.) says:
August 26, 2008 at 12:45 am
Mark,
I have a lot of your listings to update. You definitely have a lot of them! I was concerned though because doing that could cause negative ramifications with the carriers you’re getting them from because it looks like they’re giving you these numbers in order to sell them on ebay. And the FCC is definitely not going to like that and would send you an inquiry requiring tons of documentation if they noticed you which posting your information could do. I know you’re handicapped but they’re really not going to care, and they’re looking to make an example of someone from what I can see.
So eventually I do probably have to update this but I’ve been reluctant to do that because I was concerned about how it would affect you. Anyway, good luck with everything.
Bill
PAUL LUTHRINGER says:
September 23, 2008 at 10:47 am
BILL I HAVE A 800 TO SELL HOW DO I PROCEDE
Bill Quimby (678 comments.) says:
September 23, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Paul,
We really can’t help you in selling numbers on or off of ebay. Ebay is fairly easy to use and you don’t really need anyone else’s help for it.
Bill
Greg says:
March 10, 2009 at 3:10 pm
I just checked, and Mark Campbell of 800Networks delisted more than 50 numbers from ebay, changed his screen name back to ettmc2 and took his website down.
Bill Quimby (678 comments.) says:
March 11, 2009 at 12:09 am
That’s very interesting. I have a lot more ebay listings saved since then but haven’t had a chance to write them up into an updated post. I also admit that I was concerned about doing that because it could really hurt Mark. That’s why I’ve tried to warn him a couple times that the FCC won’t care about his situation and may be looking for someone to make an example of. They can’t stop everyone but if they cream a couple people that will make everyone else clean up their acts.
It’s probably more likely though that he’s having health issues or some type of issue in his personal life. I hope he’s just pared things back for good reasons, not for bad reasons. Mark has always been a very nice guy.
Bill
Bill Quimby (678 comments.) says:
March 12, 2009 at 1:32 am
I emailed Mark and he’s having major surgery that will take a while to recover so he sold his ebay account and most of the assests (his toll free numbers) to another company. We wish him good luck in his surgery dd recovery!
Bill
walter sherin(new comment) says:
December 6, 2011 at 2:46 pm
I have a 800 number i would like to sell.
what would be my cost if it sold.