Do quote sites sell your phone number?

Two quote sites' terms say some information you disclose will be sent to service professionals or providers to respond to your request; one privacy policy says it does not sell personal information in exchange for money, but some of the ways in which it shares personal information for targeted advertising may be considered sales or sharing under state privacy laws.

Source: HomeAdvisor Legal Center, Terms & Conditions, read 20 October 2026.
Source: Angi Legal Center, Project Submission Customer Agreement and Privacy Policy, read 20 October 2026.
Source: Thumbtack Privacy Policy, read 20 October 2026.

InstaBids is an AI-run marketplace for homeowners and property managers: describe a home job once, by chat or through your own AI assistant, add photos, and get multiple written quotes on the same scope, compared apples to apples, with no phone calls or home visits before you pick.

InstaBids runs a competing bids service; this page quotes each service's own published terms.

For homeowners.

By InstaBids editorial team with AI research agents. Sources read: 20 October 2026 Updated 2026-10-20

Describe it onceBy chat, or through your own AI assistant, and add photos.
Post it and send itContractors bid in writing on that scope.
Compare line by lineEvery quote is written against the same scope.
You chooseContact details stay hidden until you pick and they confirm.

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Key facts

California Attorney General, CCPA page, read 20 October 2026: "Note that sharing refers specifically to sharing for cross-context behavioral advertising, which is the targeting of advertising to a consumer based on the consumer’s personal information obtained from the consumer’s online activity across numerous websites."
Source: California Attorney General, California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), read 20 October 2026.
California Attorney General, CCPA page, read 20 October 2026: "Right to opt-out of sale or sharing: You may request that businesses stop selling or sharing your personal information (“opt-out”), including via a user-enabled global privacy control."
Source: California Attorney General, California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), read 20 October 2026.
One quote site's privacy policy, in its section on cookies and other electronic technologies, read 20 October 2026: "Some of the activities described in this section may constitute “targeted advertising,” “sharing,” or “selling” under certain state privacy laws."
Source: Thumbtack Privacy Policy, read 20 October 2026.

Who gets your details after you ask for quotes?

Service professionals or providers, or a business in connection with quote requests: four sites' terms or privacy policies, read 20 October 2026, say so in the words quoted below, and one of them gives a phone number as its example.

HomeAdvisor's Terms & Conditions, read 20 October 2026, carry the date line "These Terms & Conditions were last updated on January 1, 2023." and say: "Some of this information will be sent to Service Professionals, including Home Depot and Empire Today, who will need this information to respond to your request."

Source: HomeAdvisor Legal Center, Terms & Conditions, read 20 October 2026.

The Angi Project Submission Customer Agreement, marked "Version 13.0 (Current)" and read 20 October 2026, uses almost the same sentence: "Some of this information will be sent to Service Providers who will need this information to respond to your request."

Source: Angi Legal Center, Project Submission Customer Agreement and Privacy Policy, read 20 October 2026.

Yelp's privacy policy, marked "Last Updated October 1, 2025." and read 20 October 2026, says in its row on transactions: "At your request or direction, this information may also be shared with third parties as necessary to process your transaction (e.g., sharing your phone number or address with a business in connection with quote requests), and third parties may share such information with us, for those purposes."

Source: Yelp Privacy Policy, read 20 October 2026.

Thumbtack's privacy policy, marked "Last Updated: September 14, 2026" and read 20 October 2026, says under Service Professionals: "In some cases, we may provide project requests from Consumers to select Service Professionals to better enable those Consumers to find a Service Professional who can provide a service the Consumer has expressed interest in."

Source: Thumbtack Privacy Policy, read 20 October 2026.

Whether a particular transfer counts as a sale under a privacy law is a legal question this page does not answer, and this is not legal advice.

What do privacy policies mean by selling or sharing?

Two privacy policies, read 20 October 2026, tie the words to state privacy laws in the passages quoted below, and California's Attorney General says sharing refers specifically to sharing for cross-context behavioral advertising.

Source: Angi Legal Center, Project Submission Customer Agreement and Privacy Policy, read 20 October 2026.
Source: Thumbtack Privacy Policy, read 20 October 2026.
Source: California Attorney General, California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), read 20 October 2026.

Angi's privacy policy, marked "Version 9.6 (Current)" and read 20 October 2026, says: "Although we do not sell personal information in exchange for money, some of the ways in which we share personal information for targeted advertising may be considered “sales” or “sharing” under U.S. state privacy laws." The same Angi section says: "The types of third parties to which personal information is sold or shared are third-party advertisers and some analytics vendors."

Source: Angi Legal Center, Project Submission Customer Agreement and Privacy Policy, read 20 October 2026.

Thumbtack's privacy policy, read 20 October 2026, says in its section on cookies and other electronic technologies: "Some of the activities described in this section may constitute “targeted advertising,” “sharing,” or “selling” under certain state privacy laws."

Source: Thumbtack Privacy Policy, read 20 October 2026.

The California Attorney General's page on the California Consumer Privacy Act, marked "Updated on August 28, 2026" and read 20 October 2026, explains the second word: "Note that sharing refers specifically to sharing for cross-context behavioral advertising, which is the targeting of advertising to a consumer based on the consumer’s personal information obtained from the consumer’s online activity across numerous websites."

Source: California Attorney General, California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), read 20 October 2026.

In our reading, the words sale and sharing in these policies are the privacy laws' terms, so they do not answer the plainer question of who calls you after a request. The section above covers that, in each site's own words.

What did the FTC allege about one lead service?

The FTC alleged, in an administrative complaint issued in March 2022 and read 20 October 2026, that one lead service collects information about potential customers for home services like kitchen remodels or lawn care, and sells that information to service providers in its network, such as general contractors and gardeners, as leads; an FTC press release dated 21 April 2023 says the Commission has finalized a consent order against it, settling allegations.

Source: FTC administrative complaint, Docket No. 9407, 11 March 2022 (PDF), read 20 October 2026.
Source: FTC press release on a final consent order, 21 April 2023, read 20 October 2026.

The FTC's complaint, "Docket No. 9407", issued "this 11th day of March, 2022" and read 20 October 2026, alleges in paragraph 4: "HomeAdvisor collects information about potential customers for home services like kitchen remodels or lawn care, and sells that information to service providers in its network, such as general contractors and gardeners, as leads." HomeAdvisor's own Terms & Conditions, read the same day, say: "Some of this information will be sent to Service Professionals, including Home Depot and Empire Today, who will need this information to respond to your request."

Source: FTC administrative complaint, Docket No. 9407, 11 March 2022 (PDF), read 20 October 2026.
Source: HomeAdvisor Legal Center, Terms & Conditions, read 20 October 2026.

The FTC's press release dated 21 April 2023, read 20 October 2026, says the Commission "has finalized a consent order against" the company, "settling allegations that it used a wide range of deceptive and misleading tactics in selling home improvement project leads to service providers".

Source: FTC press release on a final consent order, 21 April 2023, read 20 October 2026.

Those are the FTC's allegations. They describe one company's conduct as the FTC alleged it, not every site that takes quote requests.

What can you check before you give a site your number?

Read the privacy policy and terms before you submit a quote request, look for who receives your request and for a Do Not Sell or Share link, and if you live in California, the Attorney General's page, read 20 October 2026, lists a Right to opt-out of sale or sharing and a Right to delete, quoted below. This is practical reasoning, not legal advice.

Source: California Attorney General, California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), read 20 October 2026.

Before you type your number, open the site's privacy policy and terms from the same page, and find the parts that say who receives your request.
Look for the link the California Attorney General's page describes: "If you can’t find a business’s “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” link, review its privacy policy to see if it sells or shares personal information."
Source: California Attorney General, California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), read 20 October 2026.
If you live in California, the same page lists: "Right to opt-out of sale or sharing: You may request that businesses stop selling or sharing your personal information (“opt-out”), including via a user-enabled global privacy control."
Source: California Attorney General, California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), read 20 October 2026.
It also lists: "Right to delete: You can request that businesses delete personal information they collected from you and tell their service providers to do the same, subject to certain exceptions (such as if the business is legally required to keep the information)."
Source: California Attorney General, California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), read 20 October 2026.
Keep a copy of each policy you read, with the date you read it, because these documents change.

When does a contractor see your number on InstaBids?

Contact details stay hidden until the homeowner picks a contractor and they confirm the connection.

Source: InstaBids process and privacy, live-page excerpts, read 20 October 2026.

Post your job on InstaBids, and contractors can bid in writing on one written scope.

Homeowners anywhere in the US can post a job; once you send it, InstaBids finds contractors to bid on it.

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