Learn More About Toll-Free Number Verification Rejection
Overview
AfterShip partners with a wireless carrier to verify toll-free numbers. The verification process determines whether your number can be approved or rejected. If your toll-free number gets rejected, it means that wireless carriers will not deliver messages sent from that number.
Understanding the Toll-free Verification Rejection Categories
Encountering toll-free verification rejection can be frustrating, but understanding the different rejection categories can help you identify the issue and take appropriate action. While some rejections cannot be resubmitted, others allow you to correct errors or make necessary adjustments before resubmitting.
| Category | Resubmittable | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Content violation | No | The toll-free phone number cannot be verified because the submission indicated that the business was part of a prohibited SHAFT category or the content potentially contained SHAFT material. |
| Campaign violation | No | The toll-free phone number cannot be verified because the campaign was found to be a known spam or phishing campaign. |
| Disallowed Content | No | The toll-free phone number cannot be verified because your campaign contains disallowed content types, such as: loan marketing, 3rd-party debt collection, gambling, sweepstakes, stock alerts, cryptocurrency, risky investments, debt reduction, credit repair, 3rd-party lead generation, and federally illegal substances. |
| High Risk | No | The toll-free phone number cannot be verified because your campaign is considered fraudulent or involves deceptive marketing. |
| Unknown error | No | The toll-free phone number cannot be verified due to an unknown error. |
| Invalid Information | Yes | The toll-free phone number cannot be verified due to invalid information. The business information, such as the business name or address, could not be verified, or the website URL could not be validated because it is not accessible or available. |
| Opt-In Error | Yes | The opt-in workflow provided is not sufficient for the campaign type, and express consent is required. Consent for messaging is a requirement for the service. |
| Phone Number Error | Yes | The toll-free phone number is already in use by others. |
| Age Gate | Yes | The toll-free phone number cannot be verified because an age gate is not present or is not acceptable on your website and/or opt-in policy. |
| Invalid Sample Message URL | Yes | The toll-free phone number cannot be verified because the website URL in the sample message that you submitted was either from a public URL shortener or is non-secured. |
Best practices for toll-free verification approval
1. Ensure business information is accurate and verifiable
Rejections occur when we receive business details that are incomplete, incorrect, or unverifiable. To avoid this:
Ensure your business name, website, and email domain match and are publicly accessible.
Use your official business email rather than a free email account.
Make sure the submitted business details align with your legal business name.
2. Ensure that your company’s online presence can be validated
Another common rejection reason is because we are unable to validate the business URL provided in the application. This happens when:
The website has no content or is under development.
The site is private, password-protected, or otherwise inaccessible.
The URL is misspelled or does not match the business name.
3. Specify your use case clearly
Clearly defining your use case is critical for toll-free verification approval. The more detailed information you provide for the use case/summary, the better. Most toll-free verification requests are rejected because the use case description is vague or incomplete.
A good example of a use case is: "This number will be used to send out promotional offers and coupons to the customers of [Company Name]" or "This number will be used to send out order confirmation and delivery information to the customers of [Company Name]."
A bad example is: "Marketing" or "Status."
Please note that some use cases, such as communications related to multi-level marketing, illegal substances, debt collection, etc., are prohibited by carriers and will be automatically rejected.
4. Provide opt-in consent with clear documentation
Opt-in consent is required for toll-free verification to ensure recipients have explicitly agreed to receive messages from your business.
General considerations for all forms of opt-in
Opt-in should not be embedded with other agreements (e.g., deeply embedded in your Terms of Service or Privacy Policy).
Consent cannot be shared across multiple use cases (e.g., receiving order confirmation and receiving coupons as marketing offers are two separate use cases requiring two different opt-in consents). You cannot mix and match or use one opt-in consent for both. However, you can group consent within a single use case (e.g., coupon alerts and new product launches would be considered two marketing use cases that can be bundled together).
Opt-in must be branded, which means that the name of the end business must be mentioned in it. This could be written or displayed through the company logo.
Opt-in cannot be shared across businesses or sold to third parties.
You can meet the opt-in requirements for your TFN through verbal, web/online, paper, mobile QR code, and text-based consent. To see more details, please click on the method that your company will use to obtain customer consent for your use case.
Web/Online opt-in must be a standalone consent form present on your website/app (e.g., please check this box to opt-in for promotional messages from [Company Name]).
Verbal opt-in requires a detailed script showing how consent was collected.
Paper opt-in should be a signed document clearly indicating consent for messaging (e.g., please sign here to opt-in to receive promotional messages from [Company Name]).
Mobile QR opt-in should lead to a web form to opt-in with a phone number or to a templated message in the user’s messaging app seeking opt-in consent.
Text-based opt-in consent should provide keyword campaign information (e.g., text ‘Subscribe’ to 12345 to receive updates).
4.1. Web/Online opt-in
Some things to consider when using web/online opt-in:
Provide images of the opt-in request from your website/application. You can take a screenshot of the webpage showing how you ask for user consent.
Online opt-in can be a form on your company’s website that prompts end-users to enter their mobile handset phone number and opt into the texting campaign.
The checkbox should not be preselected and should be selectable by the end-user if they decide to opt in.
4.2. Verbal opt-in
Some things to keep in mind when using verbal opt-in:
If you choose verbal, you must provide the sample verbal consent collection. Please upload the script image.
Verbal consents are not sufficient for marketing use cases. For marketing use cases, “written” consent is required. Requiring a customer to select a checkbox on a website or providing signatures or opting in via text is adequate.
4.3. Paper opt-in
Some things to consider when using paper opt-in:
If you choose paper, you must provide the form image.
4.4. Mobile QR code opt-in
Some things to consider when using mobile QR code opt-in:
If you choose mobile QR code, you must provide the QR code image.
Please include a brief explanation of how the end-users will get to know where the QR code is located in the additional info. This could be, for example, mentioning that the end-users will find the QR code in a banner placed at the cashier when paying for a product, in a social media advertisement, etc.
4.5. Via text opt-in
Some things to consider when using text-based opt-in:
If you choose via text, you must provide the image of keyword campaign information (e.g., text ‘Subscribe’ as stated in the above example).
Please include a brief explanation of how the end-users will get to know where the keyword is located. This could be, for example, mentioning that the end-users will find the keyword in a banner placed at the cashier when paying for a product, in a social media advertisement, etc.
Encountering toll-free verification rejection can be frustrating, but understanding the different rejection categories can help you identify the issue and take appropriate action. While some rejections are not resubmittable, others allow you to correct errors or make necessary adjustments before resubmitting.
If you need further assistance or have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our support team, and we’ll be glad to assist you.
Updated on: 12/03/2025
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