The best US number for Amazon & eBay sellers (2026)

I've coached marketplace sellers for years, and the same friction shows up on every call with a seller based outside the US: their whole business is aimed at American buyers, but every touchpoint gives them away as being somewhere else. The listing looks great. The product is solid. Then a buyer wants to ask a question before a $180 order, sees a phone number with a foreign country code, and hesitates. That hesitation is money.

A US number — a plain +1 line — fixes more of that friction than sellers expect. This isn't about tricking anyone. It's about looking like the professional operation you already are, running support where your buyers actually message, and keeping your personal phone out of it. Here's how I walk sellers through it.

Four reasons a +1 number earns its keep

When a seller asks me whether a US number is worth the bother, I break it down into four concrete jobs it does:

You look professional to US buyers. A +1 number on your storefront, your packing slips, and your buyer messages reads as "set up to do business in the US." For a first-time buyer weighing whether to trust you, a local-looking contact line does more than a paragraph of reassurance ever will.
You can run WhatsApp Business support. Plenty of buyers — especially international ones and repeat wholesale accounts — would rather chat than email. A dedicated number lets you stand up WhatsApp Business as your support channel instead of routing everything through the marketplace's slow message system.
You receive OTP codes for signups. Running a store means signing up for a stack of tools: analytics dashboards, repricers, supplier portals, ad accounts. Many send a verification code by SMS. A number that reliably receives those codes keeps you from getting locked out at the worst moment.
You keep your personal number private. Once your personal mobile is on a public listing or a shipping label, you don't get it back. A separate business number means buyers, suppliers, and your family stay in different lanes.

One thing I'm careful to tell every seller: a US number is not a workaround for any marketplace's verification or seller-identity rules. Whether Amazon, eBay, or any platform accepts a particular number for a particular purpose is their policy, and it's on you to follow it. Use the number for what it's genuinely good at — professionalism, support, privacy, receiving codes — and stay inside each platform's rules.

Why the usual free apps don't work for most sellers

The first advice sellers get online is always "just use Google Voice" or "grab a free TextNow number." The problem is that both are built for people already inside North America. Google Voice generally needs you to be in the US, with a US number to link, just to set it up — it isn't offered in a lot of countries at all. TextNow is North-America-only and blocks registration from outside the US and Canada, so many sellers can't even create an account. If you're operating from India, Pakistan, Nigeria, the Philippines, or most other places, you hit a wall before you've started.

That's the gap I kept running into with my clients, and it's why I started pointing them at a tool that actually lets you sign up and buy from wherever you are.

Where G100 fits

G100 (app.g100.us) is a US-registered app that sells dedicated US, Canada and Puerto Rico numbers — and it lets you create an account and buy from anywhere, not just North America. For a seller sitting outside the US, that "buy from anywhere" part is the whole game.

The setup is quick: make an account, pick a number (I usually suggest an area code that matches wherever most of your buyers are), and activate it. There's no KYC — no passport upload, no utility bill. It works in the browser and in the mobile app, so you can handle buyer messages from your laptop at your desk or your phone on the go.

Pricing is flat and small: $1.95/month for the number, no contract, pay-as-you-go from a USD wallet through Stripe. If you actually ring a buyer or a supplier, calls run $0.03/min. That's the kind of number I can recommend to a seller who's watching every rupee or peso of overhead, because it won't quietly balloon into a real bill.

On WhatsApp: the number is WhatsApp-ready. Worth understanding why that works — WhatsApp verification is done by Meta, not by the number provider. Meta sends the code to the number, and the number only has to receive it. G100's numbers receive SMS and calls, so you can register WhatsApp Business on the line and run your buyer support there. If you later scale support to a team, there's an optional WhatsApp Business Cloud API add-on at $10/month for a shared inbox and message templates.

The honest caveat

I won't oversell it. Right now, outbound SMS sending isn't live yet on G100 — that's waiting on 10DLC, a US carrier registration process. You can receive SMS and OTP codes today, take and make calls, and run WhatsApp, but you can't yet blast text messages out to a list of US customers from the number. For most of the sellers I work with this is a non-issue, because their customer messaging lives on WhatsApp and marketplace messaging, and they only ever needed the number to receive codes and calls. If your plan depends on outbound SMS campaigns, wait for that to switch on before you commit.

How the options compare

Here's the short version I give sellers, side by side:

Service	Works from your country?	WhatsApp-ready?	Receive OTP?	Price
G100	Yes — buy from anywhere	Yes (dedicated US/CA number)	Yes (SMS + voice)	$1.95/mo flat
Google Voice	No — US-only to set up	N/A from outside US	N/A from outside US	Free (US only)
TextNow	No — North-America-only signup	N/A from outside US/CA	N/A from outside US/CA	Free (US/CA only)

What I tell sellers to do

If you sell to US buyers from outside the country, get a dedicated +1 line and stop running your business off your personal phone. Put it on your buyer messages and your packing slips, register WhatsApp Business on it, and use it to catch the OTP codes for the tools you rely on. Keep it inside every marketplace's rules — the number is there to make you look professional and reachable, not to sidestep any platform's policy.

For $1.95 a month, G100 is the cheapest way I've found for a seller anywhere to get a US number that receives codes, takes calls, and runs WhatsApp — without handing over documents or exposing a personal line. You can grab a number at app.g100.us, and the pricing page has the full rate card.

FAQ

Why do Amazon and eBay sellers want a US number?
A +1 number reads as professional to US buyers, gives you a dedicated line for WhatsApp Business support, lets you receive OTP codes for the services you sign up for, and keeps your personal number private. G100 sells dedicated US, Canada and Puerto Rico numbers that work from anywhere, with no KYC, for a flat $1.95/month.

Can a G100 number receive OTP codes for signups?
Yes. G100's US and Canada numbers receive SMS and voice calls, so OTP codes sent to the number land in your inbox in the browser or the mobile app. Whether a given platform accepts a particular number is that platform's own policy, which G100 doesn't control.

Can I run WhatsApp Business support on a G100 number?
Yes. G100 provides a dedicated WhatsApp-ready US or Canada number. WhatsApp verification is handled by Meta, which sends the code to the number; the number only has to receive the SMS or call, which G100 numbers do. There's an optional WhatsApp Business Cloud API add-on for $10/month if you want a team inbox and templates.

Can I send SMS to US customers from a G100 number?
Not yet. You can receive SMS and OTP codes today, but outbound SMS sending isn't live because 10DLC carrier registration is still in progress. Receiving OTP codes, calls at $0.03/min, and WhatsApp all work right now.