Before your shop can text its clients, it has to be registered for texting. The form takes a few minutes. The two reviews after it usually take a few days. If your registration came back, here is why, and what to do.
Why does my shop have to register?
Every business that texts its customers has to be approved first. The big US phone carriers made the rule after years of spam texts. Before a business texts people from software like ours, the carriers want to know who the business is. They also want to know that the people it texts said yes. That covers every business, down to a one-chair shop. The phone carriers call this A2P 10DLC registration.
Registering tells them both. Your shop is a real business. Your clients say yes to texts with a box on your waiver form. You fill in the details once, on the Texting screen in your dashboard. We file the registration for you.
What do I need?
- Your shop's legal name, exactly as it is on your IRS letter. That is the CP-575, the letter the IRS sent with your EIN. A page from your state's business registry is not the IRS letter. Your IRS letter says where the name is on it, and what to do if the letter is gone.
- Your EIN, the 9 digits on the same letter.
- The business address on that letter.
The form also asks what kind of business you are, a contact person, and a website. Your waiver page counts as your website. Nothing you type there shows to your clients.
With no EIN
If your business has no EIN, you register as yourself. Pick "Sole proprietor, no EIN". Then give the name the shop goes by (or your own name), your address, and your own mobile number.
Once your shop is verified, that mobile gets a text from (915) 278-2000. It reads: "Please confirm your registration for US A2P Messaging by replying YES. Msg & data rates may apply." Reply YES within 24 hours. If it never comes, or the 24 hours run out, press Text it again on the Texting screen.
Use the cell phone in your pocket, not the shop's landline or a number from a texting service. A mobile number can be used for this 3 times, ever.
This is only for a business with no EIN. If yours has one, you register with the EIN, even as a sole proprietor. An LLC always registers with its EIN, even an LLC of one person.
How long does it take?
Filling in the form takes a few minutes. Then there are two reviews.
The business check comes first. It matches your legal name, EIN and address against the IRS's records. It usually takes minutes, sometimes longer. Most registrations that come back come back here.
The second review looks at how your shop will text. That means the sample texts we filed for your shop, and the "yes" your clients give on your waiver form. It usually takes 1 to 3 business days, and now and then more than a week.
When both pass, your shop gets a local number the same hour. Texting turns on by itself, and we email you.
What does it cost?
Registering costs you nothing. We pay the registration fees.
Texting comes with Pro, which is $150 a year or $15 a month. When your shop is approved, there is $5 on your texting balance to start. Each text takes 1.5 cents from it. A long text that goes in parts takes that for each part.
Why did my registration come back?
Most come back because the legal name or the address does not match the IRS's records for your EIN. The review compares them word for word. One slip is enough, like the shop's name where the company's legal name goes, or the "LLC" left off. Your IRS letter shows both.
If your name matches the letter exactly and it still came back, the likely reason is a new EIN. A new EIN takes 30 to 90 days to reach the records the review checks. Until it does, the review cannot find it.
If the second review comes back, the fix is usually ours: the sample texts or the opt-in wording we filed. We fix it and resubmit for you, free, and email you when it is in again.
What do I do now?
Pick one, on the Texting screen in your dashboard:
- Fix it and resubmit. If the name or the address was wrong, change it to match your IRS letter and press Resubmit. Resubmitting is free.
- Wait. If your EIN is new, we send your registration in again for you at 30 days, free.
- Pay $10 to try again. If you'd rather not wait, upload your IRS letter and pay $10. A person then checks your registration against the letter by hand. That usually takes 5 to 7 business days. It has to be the IRS's letter, the CP-575 or a 147C, not a letter from your state.
Where do I watch it?
On the Texting screen in your dashboard, at app.waivers.tattoo/marketing/texting. Each step shows as it finishes: Your shop, verified. How you'll text, reviewed. Your local number. For a sole proprietor, the first step reads You, verified. One more comes after it: Your YES to the confirmation text.
Once your shop is approved, whatever you turned on for texting goes out by text to each client who has opted in for texting, and by email to everyone else. Texting your clients covers who gets one, and when.
A question this page didn’t answer? Email hello@waivers.tattoo and we’ll answer it.