Why does a internet company REQUIRE phone communications?

[ealbers]

I need to get a return for a non received item, its 4 bucks, EBAY the "internet" company needs to use a PHONE to contact me, **bleep**, at $1.00/minute to use my PHONE, why cannot a INTERNET company deal with communications OVER THE  **bleep** internet???

[kawartha-ephemera]

Cannot comment on your case specifically but it is a common practice for an online entity to request a mobile phone number so that when they eventually receive a request from a user to access sensitive information (ie; password resets and such) they are able to send the customer via text message an "authorization code". The user then enters the code into a Web page thus verifying the identity of the person requesting access to sensitive information. The text message authorization code is an excellent online security measure.