A Facebook Marketplace phone number for one sale

Why a burner number here

Chat inside a marketplace is one thing, and a phone number is another. When a buyer or seller wants to move to calls or texts, a number made for that one sale keeps your everyday phone number out of someone else's contacts.

• Keep your real number private. The person you are dealing with gets the NumberBurn number, not the one your friends and family use.
• Stop calls and texts after you are done. Switch the number to texts only so calls stop, or burn it. Either way you keep control of who can still reach your real phone.
• See who sold your number. Each number carries a label, and the dashboard shows how many calls it took in the last 30 days. If a number you gave one place starts ringing from strangers, you can tell where it leaked.

How to set it up

1. 1

   Pick an area code

   Choose one of the supported US area codes and NumberBurn finds a number in it. Pick one that looks local if you are selling nearby.

2. 2

   Verify your mobile

   From your real mobile, text START and the 4-digit code shown on screen to the new number. The code works for 30 minutes. Calls to your NumberBurn numbers ring this one confirmed mobile.

3. 3

   Label the number

   Name the number after the item or the buyer you expect to hear from. Labels are only visible to you.

4. 4

   Hand it out

   Keep using the platform's own chat as long as it works for you. Give the NumberBurn number only when someone asks to talk or text outside it.

5. 5

   Watch the inbox

   Texts appear in the web inbox, tagged with the number that received them. There is no app. Calls ring your mobile while the number is on Forward. Read the texts there. To answer in writing, use the platform's chat or your own phone.

6. 6

   Burn it when done

   One tap. Forwarding stops at once, the message history stays visible to you, and the number is held out of circulation for 30 days before it goes back to the carrier pool. Burning is permanent. Switching to texts only is the gentler option if you might still want the messages to keep arriving.

What to know first

• Receive-only. You cannot call or text from a NumberBurn number. It only receives.
• No 911. A NumberBurn number cannot place any call, emergency calls included. Use your own phone.
• US numbers only.
• Calls ring your mobile while forwarding is on. A call you place yourself from your own phone shows your own number.
• Some sites and apps refuse virtual numbers. Check the rules of the site you plan to use before you rely on a NumberBurn number there.