AliExpress will not let you finish without a phone number. No code, no charge: you pay nothing for a number that never receives one. SMS For U rents you a real one — pick a market, put the number into AliExpress, and the AliExpress code lands in your account seconds after AliExpress sends it. AliExpress is one of 1,400 services in the catalogue, with numbers from Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa.
How you get your code
- Look AliExpress up in the SMS For U catalogue.
- Take a country from the ones the app is offering for AliExpress today.
- Confirm the order; the AliExpress number is live from that second.
- Type it in at the sign-up form, or Settings → Phone number on AliExpress and ask to be sent the code.
- The code turns up in your SMS For U account unprompted — copy it into AliExpress and you are through.
Why a phone number is asked for
AliExpress wants a phone number so buyers and sellers can be reached about an order, and so one person does not open an unlimited number of accounts. AliExpress asks for it on the sign-up form, before the account exists at all. The number goes in at: the sign-up form, or Settings → Phone number. AliExpress normally asks for the number once and does not come back to it afterwards.
What the code looks like
AliExpress sends a short numeric code by SMS. Whatever AliExpress texts to the number is delivered into your SMS For U account automatically, a few seconds behind AliExpress, with nothing to forward. Codes from AliExpress go stale fast; use it as soon as it lands rather than later. One number can usually serve more than one AliExpress account, although AliExpress may limit that.
What can go wrong
AliExpress accepts numbers without a physical SIM in most cases. Even so, no number works for AliExpress every single time. If AliExpress turns one down, cancel and take a different country. Nothing on this page is a promise that AliExpress will accept a number, and no success figure is printed here, because any figure would be out of date by the time you read it.
Countries we serve
We work in the 50 markets set out below, and an AliExpress number can come from any of them at one time or another. That is a map of our reach, not a stock report: what is free for AliExpress moves hour by hour as ranges are spent and replenished. Before you count on a particular market for AliExpress, look at the country screen in the app, which is the one place this question has a current answer.
- Germany
- Austria
- Switzerland
- United Kingdom
- France
- Spain
- Italy
- Netherlands
- Belgium
- Poland
- Portugal
- Sweden
- Norway
- Denmark
- Finland
- Ireland
- Czechia
- Slovakia
- Hungary
- Romania
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Slovenia
- Greece
- Estonia
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Cyprus
- Malta
- Iceland
- USA
- Canada
- Brazil
- Mexico
- Argentina
- Colombia
- India
- Indonesia
- Philippines
- Vietnam
- Thailand
- Singapore
- Hong Kong
- Japan
- Australia
- South Africa
- Nigeria
- Turkey
- Ukraine
Common questions
How do I get an AliExpress verification code without my own SIM card?
Open SMS For U, search for AliExpress and pick a country. You get a real phone number, you enter it at AliExpress (the sign-up form, or Settings → Phone number), and the code AliExpress sends appears in your SMS For U account by itself. No SIM card is involved, and the AliExpress number is not yours to keep.
How fast does the AliExpress code arrive?
The AliExpress code appears in your account within seconds of AliExpress sending it. How long AliExpress itself takes is up to AliExpress and to the country the number comes from, which is why nothing here is worded as a promise.
What happens if no AliExpress code arrives?
You do not pay for an AliExpress number that brought no code. Cancel the order in the app and the payment is refunded as soon as the cancellation is confirmed. That is the whole rule, and it is why a failed AliExpress attempt costs nothing: no code, no charge.
Which countries can I use for AliExpress?
AliExpress numbers come from the 50 markets listed on this page. Which of them can be picked for AliExpress at this moment is on the country screen in the app: that list moves through the day, and a page in a search index cannot keep up with it.
Can I use the same number for AliExpress again later?
A used AliExpress number is not reserved for you indefinitely. AliExpress normally does not come back to it after sign-up, but if you need lasting access to the AliExpress account, use a number of your own.