What you are actually buying
Virtual numbers are sold either as a rental (you pay monthly and the seller keeps the number active) or as a range assigned to your own infrastructure. The distinction matters for price comparison: a $3 monthly rental and a $3 one-off setup fee are not the same offer. Every DIDDock listing states its billing unit, setup fee and minimum order so you can compare like for like.
- Rental: monthly price, cancel-any-time or contract term stated
- Assigned range: setup fee plus per-number price, pointed at your endpoint
- Minimum order and stock count shown so you know the range is real
Capabilities are the part people get wrong
Voice and SMS are separate permissions on almost every carrier, and inbound SMS is separate again from outbound. A number advertised as SMS-capable in general may still refuse codes from specific platforms. Read the capability list, then read what the seller wrote about supported use cases, and keep both in the order chat where a dispute can reference them.
- Voice inbound is the baseline; outbound calling often needs a separate route
- Inbound SMS is what verification flows need
- Fax and MMS are rare — assume no unless listed
Choosing a country
Pick the country by where your callers or platforms expect the number to be, not by price alone. Some countries require a local service address or documentation before a number can be activated, and sellers state those requirements on the offer. The country filter on the board groups by region and shows how many live offers each country has, so you can see immediately whether the market you need is covered.
Reading a seller before you fund
Each seller carries completed-order count, dispute outcomes and review history from real trades only — reviews cannot be left without a completed order. Alongside that, offers show when the seller last verified the stock is live. A recently verified offer from a seller with clean disputes is worth more than a cheap offer with neither.
- Completed orders and dispute history are visible on the offer
- Last-verified date tells you the stock is not abandoned
- Offers missing fields still appear but are flagged as unconfirmed
How the trade is protected
You fund the order in crypto and the platform holds the amount — the seller never touches it early. Delivery happens in the order page, you get a testing window, and release is automatic after it passes. Inside the window, or inside a replacement guarantee, you open a dispute and support can force a replacement, a refund or a split.