SMS For UOpen the app

GuidesApps and services

OLX phone verification: posting ads, keeping your number.

OLX needs a number to trust your listing. Buyers only need OLX chat.

Get your OLX OTP here

Get a number for OLXDownload on the App StoreDownload for Android™

No code? Your money comes back.

OLX asks for your phone number when you sign up or post your first listing, and confirms it with a code by SMS. A verified number does not have to appear in your ads: you can leave it unpublished and let buyers write through OLX chat. That matters, because published seller numbers are exactly what the best-known OLX scam starts from.

Why OLX asks for your phone number

Classifieds live on trust between strangers. A verified number tells OLX that a reachable person stands behind each ad, and it makes it harder to flood the site with fake listings.

  • At sign-up, as part of the account form.
  • When you post a listing, if the account has no verified number yet.
  • Rarely afterwards: OLX does not usually come back for the number once it is verified.

OLX at a glance

Virtual numbers
Usually accepted
Code sent by
SMS
Asks for the number again later
No
One number per account
No

More about OLX numbers

Verifying it step by step

  1. Open the phone step It appears in the sign-up form or on the screen where you post your ad.
  2. Enter the number Pick the country, then type the number without its national 0. In Brazil include the two-digit DDD.
  3. Wait for the SMS Give it a couple of minutes before you request another code.
  4. Type the code Use the newest one; an older code may no longer work.

Keeping your number out of listings

OLX Poland moved in 2021 to show numbers in listings only to logged-in users, and lets sellers skip publishing a number entirely so that buyers write through OLX messages. The reasons it gave apply everywhere: numbers were being harvested for sales calls, and scammers used them to pull conversations off the platform.

  • Publish no number unless you prefer calls.
  • Keep questions in OLX chat until a buyer has committed.
  • Leave the number out of the description and photos as well. A number in the text is public even when the contact field is hidden.

Code scams on marketplaces

In Brazil, scammers have phoned OLX sellers whose numbers were public, posed as OLX staff, and asked for a code "to confirm the ad". The code was in fact WhatsApp's, triggered by the scammer registering the seller's number on another phone.

What they ask for
A code that just arrived by SMS
What it really is
The key to your WhatsApp account
What OLX needs from you
Never a code by phone
Best protection
WhatsApp two-step PIN, and a number you do not publish

Common questions

Why does OLX need my phone number?

To confirm that a real person stands behind the account and its listings. You can verify the number without showing it in your ads.

Can buyers see my number on OLX?

Sellers can choose not to publish a number, and buyers then write through OLX chat. Check the contact setting each time you post.

Someone from OLX asked me for a code. Is that real?

No. OLX does not ask for codes by phone. A code you are asked to read out is usually for your WhatsApp; hang up and do not share it.

Does OLX ask for the number again later?

Not usually. Once verified, the number stays on the account and OLX rarely asks for a new code.

No code, no charge

You do not pay for a number that brought no code. If nothing arrives, cancel the order in the app; the payment is refunded as soon as the cancellation is confirmed. While it is being checked, the amount stays reserved rather than spent.

Cancelling is possible after a short wait at the start of an order — a number needs a moment before it can be reached at all, and a cancellation in the first seconds would be refused anyway.

If a number has already received one code and you need a second one, you can ask for another SMS on the same number. That is a separate, chargeable attempt and it is not refunded even if no second code arrives; the app shows what it costs before you confirm. There is no subscription: you pay per number, never per minute and never per month.

What this is not for

Do not use these numbers for banks, payment services, wallets or crypto exchanges. Those are excluded — and an account resting on a number that is not permanently yours is an account you can lose. The same goes for anything you need access to for years: government portals, tax accounts, insurance. A temporary number is for a one-off confirmation, not a lasting key to something important.