"Spy Tools" and unlisted phone numbers online

In My Humble Opinion
1

I run a website where I sell my artwork and I’m currently doing a redesign. I’d like to include a phone number on my new site where people could contact me for business reasons, as an alternative to e-mail. I think it would help people feel more comfortable about sending me large amounts of money for products sight-unseen, and just make me seem a bit more serious about my work. Most businesses I have seen online have some sort of telephone contact information, however, they usually have a physical place of business. My business is run from home, so my business number is my private line.

I’m aware you can get this information from a WhoIs lookup on my domain name, but that’s not something a lot of people know about. I’m going to be posting this very obviously where anyone can see it.

When I had this phone line set up, I paid extra for an unlisted number, so it has never been listed under my name as far as I know. I tried about a dozen different free reverse-lookup services online, and none of them would give any information for my number. However, I have seen a lot of services like Spy Tools advertise that they can find names and addresses for unlisted phone numbers. They cost money, so I’m not about to pay $30 to satisfy my curiosity, but I was wondering if anyone else here has or knows someone who has used one of these services/programs? What is the likelyhood that someone will be able to find my address from my unlisted number? How do programs like Spy Tools work to find unlisted numbers? Do you think I’m relatively safe in posting it on my site as a method of business contact?

I’d appreciate your opinion…

2

I’ve never used those programs/services, but I’ve got half a memory of a book published for the use of police, EMS, and such like. If I remember correctly, they’d send out people to ask unlisted people if they wanted to be included - I ended up on their list through some mix up. I remember calling both the PD and the company to see if it was legit, and both confirmed it. The company (whose name I can’t remember, sorry) assured me that they only sell to authorized organizations, but it’s not hard to imagine such a book ending up in somebody else’s hands, and ending up in a database somewhere.
Hopefully someone will come along with the name of this company so you can do some more research - I hope I haven’t alarmed you unnecessarily!

3

I think I will just call the phone company tomorrow and ask them how difficult it is for anyone to obtain that information. (And make sure I’m unlisted and also unpublished.)