buynumber.io keeps handing me numbers that already have accounts on them

third number in a row from buynumber.io already has an account on it

so i pay, i get the code, then the platform says this number is taken. is that normal or am i doing something dumb

anything similar that isnt recycled to death

Normal for the price, and it isn't you.

At four cents a number nobody is buying fresh SIM blocks. What you're renting is a number that has been through the pool before, and on the big platforms a number that has ever held an account is burnt for that platform permanently even after the old account is gone. It'll work fine for a service nobody farms.

If you need clean, you're looking at ten to thirty times that price and it's still not guaranteed. There isn't a cheap version of this — the cheap ones are cheap because the numbers are used.

Four cents. You found the catch and you're surprised there was one.

Recycled numbers also mean somebody else's recovery flow can reach your account. Price isn't the only cost there.