Skip tracing resolves one person's identity against aggregated consumer files and returns candidate phones and emails, billed per record submitted or per successful hit [1]. Published retail pricing runs from 2 cents per hit at Tracerfy to the 10 cents to 50 cents per record that PropertyRadar's guide gives as the broader market range [3][1]. Contact-data match append exposes contacts a property platform matched to the owner record before you ran a search, metered against a monthly allowance of 250 to 2,500 contacts by plan [7]. What separates them is whether the owner already exists as a resolved record inside the data being searched, because the price and the failure mode both follow from that condition [1][9]. On a large list the cheapest sequence runs the append first, then sends only the records with no contact attached out to a per-record trace [7][3].
\n","summary":"A per-record trace and a platform's contact allowance solve different problems at different prices. Skip tracing takes an owner name plus a last known address and returns ranked candidates for 2 cents to 50 cents each. Match append draws contacts the platform already tied to the parcel from a monthly allowance of 250 to 2,500. The two also fail differently, because a trace over-returns candidate identities while an append hands back a stale number that still reads as complete.","publishedAt":"2026-08-03T13:40:00","verifiedAt":"2026-08-03T00:00:00","editorialStatus":"APPROVED","lastReviewedAt":"2026-08-03T00:00:00","nextReviewDueAt":"2026-11-03T00:00:00","templateVersion":"v2","aliases":["How is match append different from skip tracing","What is contact data match append","Skip tracing compared to contact data append for real estate","Does a property platform's contact data replace skip tracing","Per record skip tracing pricing compared to a monthly contact allowance","Should I skip trace or use appended owner contacts","Difference between a skip trace and a phone append","When to skip trace instead of using platform contact data","Is appended owner contact data the same thing as skip tracing","Skip tracing definition for real estate investors"],"confidenceScore":78,"confidenceLabel":"Medium","canonicalUrl":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"contributorOrganizationProfile":{"entityId":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","legalName":null,"description":null,"websiteUrl":null,"imageUrl":null,"slogan":null,"subtitle":null,"facts":[],"coiNote":null,"foundingDate":null,"numberOfEmployeesText":null,"contactPoint":null,"address":null,"headquartersText":null,"organizationType":null},"contributorPerson":{"slug":"answerstack-editorial-team","displayName":"AnswerStack Editorial Team"},"sections":[{"id":"e479d6f3-b878-4070-8eee-baa6e7523200","sectionKey":"how_they_differ","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"How do skip tracing and match append differ?","introMarkdown":"Match append means finding a person or property in a database that already exists and then attaching data like a phone number or an email address [1]. Skip tracing is the work you do when the prospect will not answer or when no number exists for that prospect anywhere in that database [1]. PropertyRadar's guide draws the line in exactly those terms, and most other providers use both labels loosely, so the wording on a pricing page tells you little about which process runs underneath it [1].\n\nTracerfy prices the same product two ways depending on what you can supply [3]. A Normal Skip Trace takes an owner name plus address and costs $0.02 per hit, while an Advanced Skip Trace takes the address alone, resolves the owner first, and costs $0.04 per hit [3]. That gap exists because a trace needs an identity anchor, and the deed name is the cheapest anchor you can hand it. An append needs nothing from you beyond a parcel the platform already carries, since the record linkage ran before your search did [7].\n\nPrice structure follows the input, which is why a trace bills per record submitted or per successful hit while an append draws down an allowance you already bought [7]. The marginal cost of the next appended contact is zero until that allowance runs out, and an allowance you do not use in a slow month is money already spent [8]. A trace has no such floor and no such ceiling, since every record you submit adds to the bill unless the provider bills on results only [3].\n\nOne investor opened a BiggerPockets thread hunting for alternatives after a platform trace returned usable contact information on 20% to 30% of 1,000 properties [15]. Providers advertise match figures as high as 85% to 90% for comparable work [5]. Both figures can be accurate at once, because a match rate counts numbers returned and a usable-contact rate counts numbers that reached someone [10]. Picking the wrong method for the list shows up as a bill for contacts nobody ever reaches.","introHtml":"Match append means finding a person or property in a database that already exists and then attaching data like a phone number or an email address [1]. Skip tracing is the work you do when the prospect will not answer or when no number exists for that prospect anywhere in that database [1]. PropertyRadar's guide draws the line in exactly those terms, and most other providers use both labels loosely, so the wording on a pricing page tells you little about which process runs underneath it [1].
\nTracerfy prices the same product two ways depending on what you can supply [3]. A Normal Skip Trace takes an owner name plus address and costs $0.02 per hit, while an Advanced Skip Trace takes the address alone, resolves the owner first, and costs $0.04 per hit [3]. That gap exists because a trace needs an identity anchor, and the deed name is the cheapest anchor you can hand it. An append needs nothing from you beyond a parcel the platform already carries, since the record linkage ran before your search did [7].
\nPrice structure follows the input, which is why a trace bills per record submitted or per successful hit while an append draws down an allowance you already bought [7]. The marginal cost of the next appended contact is zero until that allowance runs out, and an allowance you do not use in a slow month is money already spent [8]. A trace has no such floor and no such ceiling, since every record you submit adds to the bill unless the provider bills on results only [3].
\nOne investor opened a BiggerPockets thread hunting for alternatives after a platform trace returned usable contact information on 20% to 30% of 1,000 properties [15]. Providers advertise match figures as high as 85% to 90% for comparable work [5]. Both figures can be accurate at once, because a match rate counts numbers returned and a usable-contact rate counts numbers that reached someone [10]. Picking the wrong method for the list shows up as a bill for contacts nobody ever reaches.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":10},{"id":"37e8b955-2a67-4550-9981-df55dca97828","sectionKey":"method_comparison","sectionType":"table_section","heading":"How the two methods compare on input, price, and failure","introMarkdown":"This table compares skip tracing and contact-data match append across the dimensions that change either the bill or the outcome.","introHtml":"This table compares skip tracing and contact-data match append across the dimensions that change either the bill or the outcome.
\n","outroMarkdown":"Read the pricing row against the billing row together [3][2]. A provider that charges on every attempt and one that charges only on delivered results can quote the same sticker number and still cost very different amounts per usable contact.","outroHtml":"Read the pricing row against the billing row together [3][2]. A provider that charges on every attempt and one that charges only on delivered results can quote the same sticker number and still cost very different amounts per usable contact.
\n","contentJson":{"rows":[{"cells":["Input you supply","Owner name plus a last known address, or an address alone on address-only products [3]","A parcel or owner record the platform already holds [7]"]},{"cells":["Process","Identity resolution across aggregated consumer files, run one record at a time [1]","Record linkage the platform performed in advance, exposed on the owner profile [9]"]},{"cells":["Output","Candidate phones and emails ranked by relevance, capped at 4 per category on PropStream [2]","Contacts attached to the owner record, each carrying a status marker [9]"]},{"cells":["Pricing model","Per record submitted or per successful hit, $0.02 to $0.50 depending on provider [3][1]","Monthly allowance of 250 to 2,500 contacts by plan, then $0.04 to $0.08 each [7]"]},{"cells":["Billed on a miss","Charged on some platforms, waived by Tracerfy and PropStream, which bill on results only [3][2]","Nothing, because a contact with no data behind it offers no purchase option [7]"]},{"cells":["Common error","Several candidate identities for one common name, plus disconnected and reassigned numbers [13]","A stale contact that still reads as complete on the record [9]"]},{"cells":["Where it fits","One high-value owner, an entity-owned parcel, or a list no platform could match","A saved list of parcels inside the platform that already holds them"]}],"columns":["Dimension","Skip tracing","Contact-data match append"]},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":20},{"id":"0137134e-3f2c-4eb9-bf84-8174a65ccc4f","sectionKey":"trace_cost_and_output","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"What does a skip trace cost and what comes back?","introMarkdown":"Skip Genie charges 17 cents per record and drops to 13 cents on bulk lists [4]. REISkip advertises flat pricing at 15 cents per skip [5], and PropStream bills 12 cents per contact on its $99 Essentials plan and 10 cents on the higher tiers [6]. PropertyRadar's guide puts the broader market at 10 cents to 50 cents per record, a spread wide enough that the sticker price alone will not tell you what a contact costs [1].\n\nTracerfy states that misses are free and that you are charged only when a result is delivered [3], and PropStream tells buyers they pay only for skip traces that return information [2]. A per-attempt price and a per-hit price therefore never compare cleanly at the same number, because 8 cents per attempt against a 40% hit rate works out to 20 cents for every contact that arrives.\n\nWhat comes back is a ranked set of candidates with no verification that any of them reaches the person on the deed. PropStream caps a trace at 4 results for each contact category and orders phone numbers by chronological relevance [2], which leaves you to work out which of several numbers belongs to the signer. Tracerfy sells that judgment back as a separate product at 10 cents per hit, covering line type, carrier, last-seen date, and do-not-call risk flags [3].","introHtml":"Skip Genie charges 17 cents per record and drops to 13 cents on bulk lists [4]. REISkip advertises flat pricing at 15 cents per skip [5], and PropStream bills 12 cents per contact on its $99 Essentials plan and 10 cents on the higher tiers [6]. PropertyRadar's guide puts the broader market at 10 cents to 50 cents per record, a spread wide enough that the sticker price alone will not tell you what a contact costs [1].
\nTracerfy states that misses are free and that you are charged only when a result is delivered [3], and PropStream tells buyers they pay only for skip traces that return information [2]. A per-attempt price and a per-hit price therefore never compare cleanly at the same number, because 8 cents per attempt against a 40% hit rate works out to 20 cents for every contact that arrives.
\nWhat comes back is a ranked set of candidates with no verification that any of them reaches the person on the deed. PropStream caps a trace at 4 results for each contact category and orders phone numbers by chronological relevance [2], which leaves you to work out which of several numbers belongs to the signer. Tracerfy sells that judgment back as a separate product at 10 cents per hit, covering line type, carrier, last-seen date, and do-not-call risk flags [3].
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":30},{"id":"d406bde3-6af2-4c7f-8d07-a0700192cb9e","sectionKey":"append_inside_platform","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"How does match append work inside a property platform?","introMarkdown":"Inside PropertyRadar, phones and emails arrive already matched to the owner record [9]. Every plan carries a monthly contact allowance, 250 on Solo, 500 on Team, and 2,500 on Business, with additional contacts running 8 cents, 6 cents, and 4 cents by plan [7]. Those plans list at $119, $249, and $599 a month, and included contacts reset on the renewal date without rolling over [8].\n\nA contact with no data behind it cannot be bought at all, because no purchase option appears when a phone number or email address is missing for that person [7]. Once you buy a contact, every available number and address for that person is included and later exports carry no further charge, which makes the billing unit the person rather than the phone line [7]. The five-day trial limits you to 5 contact purchases, a sample far too small to prove anything about coverage at volume [7].\n\nThe matching itself happened before you ran a search, which is why an append returns nothing usable when the platform never linked a person to the parcel [9]. PropertyRadar's owner profile carries mailing and primary residence addresses, occupation, and a status marker on every phone and email, and the page states that contact data appears only when it is already in the database [9]. A green check marks a number as active and safe to call, while a yellow triangle covers statuses that include opted out, wrong person, disconnected, and do-not-call [9].","introHtml":"Inside PropertyRadar, phones and emails arrive already matched to the owner record [9]. Every plan carries a monthly contact allowance, 250 on Solo, 500 on Team, and 2,500 on Business, with additional contacts running 8 cents, 6 cents, and 4 cents by plan [7]. Those plans list at $119, $249, and $599 a month, and included contacts reset on the renewal date without rolling over [8].
\nA contact with no data behind it cannot be bought at all, because no purchase option appears when a phone number or email address is missing for that person [7]. Once you buy a contact, every available number and address for that person is included and later exports carry no further charge, which makes the billing unit the person rather than the phone line [7]. The five-day trial limits you to 5 contact purchases, a sample far too small to prove anything about coverage at volume [7].
\nThe matching itself happened before you ran a search, which is why an append returns nothing usable when the platform never linked a person to the parcel [9]. PropertyRadar's owner profile carries mailing and primary residence addresses, occupation, and a status marker on every phone and email, and the page states that contact data appears only when it is already in the database [9]. A green check marks a number as active and safe to call, while a yellow triangle covers statuses that include opted out, wrong person, disconnected, and do-not-call [9].
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":40},{"id":"46b64071-a35c-45a3-b165-e316e8143ffc","sectionKey":"rate_definitions","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"Why hit rate, match rate, and right-party contact rate measure different things","introMarkdown":"SmartSkip defines hit rate as the share of records where the service finds at least one piece of contact information [10]. Data accuracy is a separate measure on the same page, the share of returned information that is correct and current [10]. A right-party contact rate counts something further down the funnel, the share of records where the caller reaches the intended person, which no volume of appended data guarantees on its own. Two vendors quoting 90% can therefore describe different outcomes on the same 1,000 records, one counting numbers returned and the other counting people reached.\n\nREISkip advertises that users see 85% to 90% of leads matched with phone numbers [5], a match statistic that says nothing about whether those numbers connect to anyone. PropertyRadar publishes no right-party contact rate at all, and the only figure on its skip-tracing guide is a customer-reported accuracy rate of 80% or better, paired on the same page with the caveat that no skip-tracing service reaches a 100% match rate [1].\n\nSkip Genie declines to publish a percentage at all [4]. Its pricing FAQ tells buyers that anyone quoting a specific number should be asked about the method of study, since the figure varies widely depending on which variables were measured [4]. REsimpli, a real estate CRM vendor, offers a contactable match rate as the replacement, defined as confirmed working phones or emails divided by total leads loaded, and puts the baseline at 30% to 40% [11].","introHtml":"SmartSkip defines hit rate as the share of records where the service finds at least one piece of contact information [10]. Data accuracy is a separate measure on the same page, the share of returned information that is correct and current [10]. A right-party contact rate counts something further down the funnel, the share of records where the caller reaches the intended person, which no volume of appended data guarantees on its own. Two vendors quoting 90% can therefore describe different outcomes on the same 1,000 records, one counting numbers returned and the other counting people reached.
\nREISkip advertises that users see 85% to 90% of leads matched with phone numbers [5], a match statistic that says nothing about whether those numbers connect to anyone. PropertyRadar publishes no right-party contact rate at all, and the only figure on its skip-tracing guide is a customer-reported accuracy rate of 80% or better, paired on the same page with the caveat that no skip-tracing service reaches a 100% match rate [1].
\nSkip Genie declines to publish a percentage at all [4]. Its pricing FAQ tells buyers that anyone quoting a specific number should be asked about the method of study, since the figure varies widely depending on which variables were measured [4]. REsimpli, a real estate CRM vendor, offers a contactable match rate as the replacement, defined as confirmed working phones or emails divided by total leads loaded, and puts the baseline at 30% to 40% [11].
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":50},{"id":"d13311aa-0926-4473-9513-caa709af0fc8","sectionKey":"which_fits_which_list","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"Which method fits which list?","introMarkdown":"A single owner behind a five-figure deal justifies a trace at any retail price on the market. Skip Genie's 17 cents [4] and Tracerfy's 2 cents [3] both round to nothing against an assignment fee, so one record turns on depth rather than unit cost. PropertyRadar's checklist for a stubborn owner runs well past the phone list into forwarding addresses, package carriers, and the neighbors or relatives who might know where the owner went [1].\n\nAt 2,000 records the arithmetic reverses. PropStream Essentials at $99 plus 2,000 contacts at 12 cents comes to $339 for the month, while adding the $30 Connect bundle folds those traces into the subscription and lands near $129 [6]. PropertyRadar Solo at $119 covers the first 250 contacts and charges 8 cents for the remaining 1,750, which lands at $259 [8][7].\n\nThe condition that decides is whether the platform already holds the owner. A list built from criteria inside a property platform arrives with contacts attached to records that platform matched itself, so an append is the cheaper first pass [7]. A list of addresses assembled from county portals or a driving route has no owner record behind it, which means you need the deed name before a trace has enough to work with [1].\n\nThe sequence that wastes the least money runs the append first and lets the misses identify themselves [7]. A saved list inside a platform that already carries contacts costs an allowance draw and nothing more, and the records with nothing attached announce themselves, because a contact with no data behind it shows no purchase option at all [7]. Those non-matches are the records worth sending out to a per-record trace, which turns the trace bill into a fraction of the list rather than a line item on every row.\n\nA 200-record sample sent to two trace vendors and scored on connected conversations produces a contactable rate specific to your own geography, which is the figure REsimpli's framework is built around [11]. Vendors that charge only on delivered results, as Tracerfy and PropStream both do, keep that test cheap enough to run against two providers at once [3][2].","introHtml":"A single owner behind a five-figure deal justifies a trace at any retail price on the market. Skip Genie's 17 cents [4] and Tracerfy's 2 cents [3] both round to nothing against an assignment fee, so one record turns on depth rather than unit cost. PropertyRadar's checklist for a stubborn owner runs well past the phone list into forwarding addresses, package carriers, and the neighbors or relatives who might know where the owner went [1].
\nAt 2,000 records the arithmetic reverses. PropStream Essentials at $99 plus 2,000 contacts at 12 cents comes to $339 for the month, while adding the $30 Connect bundle folds those traces into the subscription and lands near $129 [6]. PropertyRadar Solo at $119 covers the first 250 contacts and charges 8 cents for the remaining 1,750, which lands at $259 [8][7].
\nThe condition that decides is whether the platform already holds the owner. A list built from criteria inside a property platform arrives with contacts attached to records that platform matched itself, so an append is the cheaper first pass [7]. A list of addresses assembled from county portals or a driving route has no owner record behind it, which means you need the deed name before a trace has enough to work with [1].
\nThe sequence that wastes the least money runs the append first and lets the misses identify themselves [7]. A saved list inside a platform that already carries contacts costs an allowance draw and nothing more, and the records with nothing attached announce themselves, because a contact with no data behind it shows no purchase option at all [7]. Those non-matches are the records worth sending out to a per-record trace, which turns the trace bill into a fraction of the list rather than a line item on every row.
\nA 200-record sample sent to two trace vendors and scored on connected conversations produces a contactable rate specific to your own geography, which is the figure REsimpli's framework is built around [11]. Vendors that charge only on delivered results, as Tracerfy and PropStream both do, keep that test cheap enough to run against two providers at once [3][2].
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":60},{"id":"9853f714-de30-4b69-a64b-4f5c6cff52dc","sectionKey":"contributor_perspective","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"How this answer was researched","introMarkdown":"Pricing and product behavior in this answer come from the vendors' own pages and help centers [7][8][9][2][6][3][4][5]. That set includes PropertyRadar's help articles on contact allowances and the owner profile, PropStream's pricing and skip-tracing pages, Tracerfy's pricing page, Skip Genie's FAQ, and REISkip's published rate.\n\nThe statutory and regulatory figures come from federal sources, specifically the text of 47 U.S.C. 227 and the Federal Communications Commission order that established the reassigned numbers database [14][13]. Accuracy definitions were checked against independent write-ups from SmartSkip and REsimpli rather than accepted from any single provider [10][11]. An investor forum thread was read for the shape of the question and the range of reported outcomes, never as evidence of a fact [15].\n\nNobody involved in writing this answer holds a commercial interest in the products named. Practitioners who run these workflows at volume are invited to submit corrections, and a contactable rate measured on a real list carries more weight here than any published figure.","introHtml":"Pricing and product behavior in this answer come from the vendors' own pages and help centers [7][8][9][2][6][3][4][5]. That set includes PropertyRadar's help articles on contact allowances and the owner profile, PropStream's pricing and skip-tracing pages, Tracerfy's pricing page, Skip Genie's FAQ, and REISkip's published rate.
\nThe statutory and regulatory figures come from federal sources, specifically the text of 47 U.S.C. 227 and the Federal Communications Commission order that established the reassigned numbers database [14][13]. Accuracy definitions were checked against independent write-ups from SmartSkip and REsimpli rather than accepted from any single provider [10][11]. An investor forum thread was read for the shape of the question and the range of reported outcomes, never as evidence of a fact [15].
\nNobody involved in writing this answer holds a commercial interest in the products named. Practitioners who run these workflows at volume are invited to submit corrections, and a contactable rate measured on a real list carries more weight here than any published figure.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":"This answer was written and reviewed by the AnswerStack Editorial Team, which has no commercial stake in the products, companies, or methods discussed. Every claim is cited inline and verified on the dates shown.","noteHtml":"This answer was written and reviewed by the AnswerStack Editorial Team, which has no commercial stake in the products, companies, or methods discussed. Every claim is cited inline and verified on the dates shown.
\n","sortOrder":70},{"id":"db9c1d2c-9868-4d50-80df-6dc3e1052f9a","sectionKey":"trade_offs","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"Trade-offs and what to watch on the bill","introMarkdown":"### Skip tracing fails by over-returning\n\nA common name run against an aggregated consumer file produces several candidate identities, and the output never says which one signed the deed. Phone data also ages faster than the property record, because roughly 35 million U.S. numbers are disconnected and made available for reassignment every year [13]. Address-anchored traces outperform name-only searches on the same list for that reason, which is also why Tracerfy charges double when you cannot supply the name [3].\n\n### Match append fails quietly\n\nA number attached to an owner profile displays the same way whether it was confirmed last month or captured years ago. PropertyRadar puts a status marker on every phone and email precisely because of that, and wrong person and disconnected sit among the labels it carries [9]. A trace at least reports back that it found nothing, while a stale append hands you a number a dialer will burn 30 seconds on before anyone notices.\n\n### Compliance stays with you either way\n\nPropertyRadar states that the phone numbers it provides may be subject to state and federal do-not-call regulations and that compliance with those regulations belongs to the user [9]. PropStream advertises do-not-call flagging and litigator scrubbing at no extra cost on its skip-tracing page [2], which shifts some of the screening work without moving the liability. The exposure is set by statute, with the TCPA carrying $500 per violation and as much as $1,500 where a court finds the violation willful [14].","introHtml":"A common name run against an aggregated consumer file produces several candidate identities, and the output never says which one signed the deed. Phone data also ages faster than the property record, because roughly 35 million U.S. numbers are disconnected and made available for reassignment every year [13]. Address-anchored traces outperform name-only searches on the same list for that reason, which is also why Tracerfy charges double when you cannot supply the name [3].
\nA number attached to an owner profile displays the same way whether it was confirmed last month or captured years ago. PropertyRadar puts a status marker on every phone and email precisely because of that, and wrong person and disconnected sit among the labels it carries [9]. A trace at least reports back that it found nothing, while a stale append hands you a number a dialer will burn 30 seconds on before anyone notices.
\nPropertyRadar states that the phone numbers it provides may be subject to state and federal do-not-call regulations and that compliance with those regulations belongs to the user [9]. PropStream advertises do-not-call flagging and litigator scrubbing at no extra cost on its skip-tracing page [2], which shifts some of the screening work without moving the liability. The exposure is set by statute, with the TCPA carrying $500 per violation and as much as $1,500 where a court finds the violation willful [14].
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":80},{"id":"8d4b9045-c30c-4b8f-af84-93b2fdb3a206","sectionKey":"what_it_is_not","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"What skip tracing is not","introMarkdown":"### It is not identity verification\n\nA trace returns candidates ranked by the provider's own relevance scoring, with no confirmation that any of them is the person on the deed [2]. Verifying the owner is a separate step that runs against the recorded document rather than against a consumer contact file.\n\n### It is not a background check or a screening tool\n\nIDI, the company behind idiCORE, states on its skip-tracing page that it is not a consumer reporting agency [12]. Its services may not be used as a factor in credit, insurance, employment, or any other eligibility purpose defined by the FCRA [12]. TLOxp is sold into the same investigative market on the same terms, which puts both platforms outside the retail price comparison above.\n\n### It is not a right-party contact rate\n\nHit rate and match rate count numbers returned, while a right-party contact rate counts the share of records where the caller reaches the intended person [10]. REsimpli puts a realistic contactable baseline at 30% to 40% of leads loaded, which is closer to what a dialer actually works than any advertised match figure [11].\n\n### An append is not a cheaper skip trace\n\nAn append can only return what the platform already matched, so a parcel with no linked person returns nothing and costs nothing [7]. That is a different outcome from a trace that searched and failed, because the append never searched consumer files on your behalf at all.","introHtml":"A trace returns candidates ranked by the provider's own relevance scoring, with no confirmation that any of them is the person on the deed [2]. Verifying the owner is a separate step that runs against the recorded document rather than against a consumer contact file.
\nIDI, the company behind idiCORE, states on its skip-tracing page that it is not a consumer reporting agency [12]. Its services may not be used as a factor in credit, insurance, employment, or any other eligibility purpose defined by the FCRA [12]. TLOxp is sold into the same investigative market on the same terms, which puts both platforms outside the retail price comparison above.
\nHit rate and match rate count numbers returned, while a right-party contact rate counts the share of records where the caller reaches the intended person [10]. REsimpli puts a realistic contactable baseline at 30% to 40% of leads loaded, which is closer to what a dialer actually works than any advertised match figure [11].
\nAn append can only return what the platform already matched, so a parcel with no linked person returns nothing and costs nothing [7]. That is a different outcome from a trace that searched and failed, because the append never searched consumer files on your behalf at all.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":90}],"citations":[{"title":"The complete guide to skip tracing","url":"https://www.propertyradar.com/blog/the-complete-guide-to-skip-tracing","excerpt":null,"quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"SUPPORTING","verifiedAt":"2026-08-26T00:00:00","supportsText":"Definition separating match append from skip tracing, the 10 cents to 50 cents market range, the customer-reported accuracy figure of 80% or better with its 100% caveat, and the checklist for a stubborn owner.","domain":"propertyradar.com","publisherName":"PropertyRadar"},{"title":"Skip tracing","url":"https://www.propstream.com/skip-tracing","excerpt":null,"quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"INDEPENDENT","verifiedAt":"2026-08-26T00:00:00","supportsText":"Per-contact tracing run against records the platform already holds, the cap of 4 results per contact category ordered by chronological relevance, billing only on returned data, and do-not-call flagging with litigator scrubbing.","domain":"propstream.com","publisherName":"PropStream"},{"title":"Pricing","url":"https://www.tracerfy.com/pricing","excerpt":null,"quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"INDEPENDENT","verifiedAt":"2026-08-26T00:00:00","supportsText":"$0.02 per hit for a Normal Skip Trace and $0.04 for an Advanced Skip Trace, free misses, and 10 cents per hit for line type, carrier, last-seen date and do-not-call risk flags.","domain":"tracerfy.com","publisherName":"Tracerfy"},{"title":"Pricing FAQs","url":"https://skipgenie.com/faqs/","excerpt":null,"quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"INDEPENDENT","verifiedAt":"2026-08-26T00:00:00","supportsText":"17 cents per record with a drop to 13 cents on bulk lists, and the refusal to publish an accuracy percentage along with the advice to ask any vendor about its method of study.","domain":"skipgenie.com","publisherName":"Skip Genie"},{"title":"REISkip pricing and match claim","url":"https://www.reiskip.com/","excerpt":null,"quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"INDEPENDENT","verifiedAt":"2026-08-26T00:00:00","supportsText":"Flat pricing at 15 cents per skip and the advertised claim that users see 85% to 90% of leads matched with phone numbers.","domain":"reiskip.com","publisherName":"REISkip"},{"title":"Pricing","url":"https://www.propstream.com/pricing","excerpt":null,"quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"INDEPENDENT","verifiedAt":"2026-08-26T00:00:00","supportsText":"The $99 Essentials plan, 12 cents per contact on Essentials and 10 cents on higher tiers, and the $30 monthly Connect bundle that folds tracing into the subscription.","domain":"propstream.com","publisherName":"PropStream"},{"title":"Unlocking email addresses and phone numbers","url":"https://help.propertyradar.com/en/articles/5881885-unlocking-email-addresses-and-phone-numbers","excerpt":null,"quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"SUPPORTING","verifiedAt":"2026-08-26T00:00:00","supportsText":"Monthly contact allowances of 250, 500 and 2,500 by plan with additional contacts at 8, 6 and 4 cents, the absence of a purchase option where no data exists, all numbers for a person included once purchased, and the 5 contact limit on the five-day trial.","domain":"help.propertyradar.com","publisherName":"PropertyRadar Help Center"},{"title":"Pricing","url":"https://www.propertyradar.com/pricing","excerpt":null,"quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"SUPPORTING","verifiedAt":"2026-08-26T00:00:00","supportsText":"Solo, Team and Business plans listed at $119, $249 and $599 a month, with included contacts resetting on the renewal date and no rollover.","domain":"propertyradar.com","publisherName":"PropertyRadar"},{"title":"Using the property and owner profile","url":"https://help.propertyradar.com/en/articles/5730803-using-the-property-and-owner-profile","excerpt":null,"quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"SUPPORTING","verifiedAt":"2026-08-26T00:00:00","supportsText":"Owner profile fields, the status marker on every phone and email with green check and yellow triangle statuses, the statement that contact data appears only when already in the database, and the user's responsibility for do-not-call compliance.","domain":"help.propertyradar.com","publisherName":"PropertyRadar"},{"title":"How accurate is skip tracing?","url":"https://smartskip.io/resources/blog/how-accurate-is-skip-tracing","excerpt":null,"quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"INDEPENDENT","verifiedAt":"2026-08-26T00:00:00","supportsText":"Definitions separating hit rate from data accuracy and the distinction between numbers returned and numbers that reach someone.","domain":"smartskip.io","publisherName":"SmartSkip"},{"title":"An accuracy framework for skip tracing","url":"https://resimpli.com/blog/accuracy-framework-skip-tracing/","excerpt":null,"quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"INDEPENDENT","verifiedAt":"2026-08-26T00:00:00","supportsText":"Contactable match rate defined as confirmed working phones or emails divided by total leads loaded, with a stated baseline of 30% to 40%.","domain":"resimpli.com","publisherName":"REsimpli"},{"title":"Skip tracing","url":"https://www.ididata.com/skip-tracing/","excerpt":null,"quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"INDEPENDENT","verifiedAt":"2026-08-26T00:00:00","supportsText":"Statement that IDI is not a consumer reporting agency and that its services may not be used as a factor in credit, insurance, employment or any other FCRA eligibility purpose, plus the absence of a published per-record price.","domain":"ididata.com","publisherName":"IDI"},{"title":"Second report and order on advanced methods to target and eliminate unlawful robocalls","url":"https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-18-177A1.pdf","excerpt":null,"quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-08-26T00:00:00","supportsText":"Roughly 35 million U.S. telephone numbers are disconnected and made available for reassignment each year.","domain":"docs.fcc.gov","publisherName":"Federal Communications Commission"},{"title":"47 U.S.C. 227, Restrictions on use of telephone equipment (TCPA)","url":"https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/227","excerpt":null,"quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-08-26T00:00:00","supportsText":"TCPA statutory damages of $500 per violation and up to $1,500 where a court finds the violation willful or knowing.","domain":"law.cornell.edu","publisherName":"Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School"},{"title":"Best skip tracing website","url":"https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/93/topics/1157203-best-skip-tracing-website","excerpt":null,"quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"CORROBORATING","verifiedAt":"2026-08-26T00:00:00","supportsText":"Shows that investors routinely compare platform-appended contacts against standalone trace providers. The 20% to 30% usable-contact figure is one investor's own report, not a measured benchmark.","domain":"biggerpockets.com","publisherName":"BiggerPockets"}],"revisions":[],"relatedAnswers":[{"id":"929ddf7e-28d0-4afc-a521-99c753dd75b4","slug":"property-owner-no-valid-phone-or-email-next-steps","question":"What should I do when a property owner has no valid phone number or email address?","publishedAt":"2026-08-14T15:50:00","confidenceScore":78,"confidenceLabel":"Medium","industry":{"id":"2ca8d285-89d2-418e-86a8-5f0d3639f767","slug":"real-estate-technology","label":"Real Estate Technology","description":"Property intelligence, investment, and proptech"},"topic":{"slug":"skip-tracing-owner-contact","label":"Skip Tracing & Owner Contact","description":"Locating and validating property-owner phone numbers and email addresses, testing skip-tracing providers, and handling records with no usable contact data.","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"A property owner with no valid phone number or email address usually has no consumer contact data left to buy, so a repeat trace returns the same miss at the same price. The record still carries routes: the deed for the name, the tax roll for the mailing address, the state formation filing for an entity, and the probate docket for an estate. A written stop rule decides when a parcel moves to a monitored list instead of another purchase.","url":"/q/property-owner-no-valid-phone-or-email-next-steps"},{"id":"00bc94ac-c44b-4508-acb9-c23fc8c90d64","slug":"how-to-test-skip-tracing-provider-accuracy","question":"How can I test a skip-tracing provider's accuracy before buying a large list?","publishedAt":"2026-08-13T13:15:00","confidenceScore":78,"confidenceLabel":"Medium","industry":{"id":"2ca8d285-89d2-418e-86a8-5f0d3639f767","slug":"real-estate-technology","label":"Real Estate Technology","description":"Property intelligence, investment, and proptech"},"topic":{"slug":"skip-tracing-owner-contact","label":"Skip Tracing & Owner Contact","description":"Locating and validating property-owner phone numbers and email addresses, testing skip-tracing providers, and handling records with no usable contact data.","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"Published accuracy claims run from a customer-reported 80% at PropertyRadar to 85% to 90% at REISkip and a 74% right-party contact rate on BatchData's marketplace listing, and none of those figures share a denominator. The comparable number is one you produce: a 150-record labeled sample sent to two or three providers in the same week, scored on five metrics separately, then divided into total spend to give cost per reachable owner.","url":"/q/how-to-test-skip-tracing-provider-accuracy"},{"id":"8bcaef42-649a-4177-92d1-6e83c79fd818","slug":"why-skip-tracing-returns-wrong-or-disconnected-numbers","question":"Why does skip tracing return multiple, wrong, or disconnected phone numbers for one property owner?","publishedAt":"2026-08-12T16:40:00","confidenceScore":76,"confidenceLabel":"Medium","industry":{"id":"2ca8d285-89d2-418e-86a8-5f0d3639f767","slug":"real-estate-technology","label":"Real Estate Technology","description":"Property intelligence, investment, and proptech"},"topic":{"slug":"skip-tracing-owner-contact","label":"Skip Tracing & Owner Contact","description":"Locating and validating property-owner phone numbers and email addresses, testing skip-tracing providers, and handling records with no usable contact data.","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"One owner arrives with several numbers because the trace resolved a person and returned everything the consumer files attach to that person. Co-owners and old household lines land on the same record, along with signers attached to an LLC or a trust. Wrong numbers trace back to common names and to mailing addresses that were never a residence, while dead numbers follow the 35 million U.S. numbers released for reassignment each year. Sort by phone type and status, and screen every number on the row rather than the first one.","url":"/q/why-skip-tracing-returns-wrong-or-disconnected-numbers"},{"id":"84f7e21a-08b2-4667-a197-1c5753f8d0cb","slug":"what-to-collect-before-skip-tracing-property-owner","question":"What information should I collect before skip tracing a property owner?","publishedAt":"2026-08-10T14:05:00","confidenceScore":84,"confidenceLabel":"High","industry":{"id":"2ca8d285-89d2-418e-86a8-5f0d3639f767","slug":"real-estate-technology","label":"Real Estate Technology","description":"Property intelligence, investment, and proptech"},"topic":{"slug":"skip-tracing-owner-contact","label":"Skip Tracing & Owner Contact","description":"Locating and validating property-owner phone numbers and email addresses, testing skip-tracing providers, and handling records with no usable contact data.","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"A skip trace matches a person, so the county record is where collection starts and where it stops. The five fields that carry a match are the owner name as recorded, the site address, the mailing address, the parcel number, and the date each was pulled. A parcel titled to an LLC or a trust needs a signer or trustee from a state filing before a person-level trace has anything to resolve.","url":"/q/what-to-collect-before-skip-tracing-property-owner"}],"contributorStats":{"verifiedAnswers":269,"openDisputes":0},"schemaJson":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Question","name":"What is the difference between skip tracing and contact-data match append?","text":"What is the difference between skip tracing and contact-data match append?","url":"https://www.answerstack.io/q/skip-tracing-vs-contact-data-match-append","answerCount":1,"datePublished":"2026-08-03T13:40:00","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"AnswerStack Editorial Team","worksFor":{"@type":"Organization","name":"AnswerStack"},"url":"https://www.answerstack.io/contributors/answer-stack"},"about":[{"@type":"Thing","name":"Skip Tracing & Owner Contact"},{"@type":"Thing","name":"Real Estate Technology"}],"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Skip tracing resolves one person's identity against aggregated consumer files and returns candidate phones and emails, billed per record submitted or per successful hit [1]. Published retail pricing runs from 2 cents per hit at Tracerfy to the 10 cents to 50 cents per record that PropertyRadar's guide gives as the broader market range [3][1]. Contact-data match append exposes contacts a property platform matched to the owner record before you ran a search, metered against a monthly allowance of 250 to 2,500 contacts by plan [7]. What separates them is whether the owner already exists as a resolved record inside the data being searched, because the price and the failure mode both follow from that condition [1][9]. On a large list the cheapest sequence runs the append first, then sends only the records with no contact attached out to a per-record trace [7][3].","url":"https://www.answerstack.io/q/skip-tracing-vs-contact-data-match-append","upvoteCount":0,"datePublished":"2026-08-03T13:40:00","dateModified":"2026-08-03T00:00:00","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"AnswerStack Editorial Team","worksFor":{"@type":"Organization","name":"AnswerStack"},"url":"https://www.answerstack.io/contributors/answer-stack"},"citation":[{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"The complete guide to skip tracing","url":"https://www.propertyradar.com/blog/the-complete-guide-to-skip-tracing"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Skip tracing","url":"https://www.propstream.com/skip-tracing"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Pricing","url":"https://www.tracerfy.com/pricing"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Pricing FAQs","url":"https://skipgenie.com/faqs/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"REISkip pricing and match claim","url":"https://www.reiskip.com/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Pricing","url":"https://www.propstream.com/pricing"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Unlocking email addresses and phone numbers","url":"https://help.propertyradar.com/en/articles/5881885-unlocking-email-addresses-and-phone-numbers"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Pricing","url":"https://www.propertyradar.com/pricing"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Using the property and owner profile","url":"https://help.propertyradar.com/en/articles/5730803-using-the-property-and-owner-profile"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"How accurate is skip tracing?","url":"https://smartskip.io/resources/blog/how-accurate-is-skip-tracing"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"An accuracy framework for skip tracing","url":"https://resimpli.com/blog/accuracy-framework-skip-tracing/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Skip tracing","url":"https://www.ididata.com/skip-tracing/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Second report and order on advanced methods to target and eliminate unlawful robocalls","url":"https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-18-177A1.pdf"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"47 U.S.C. 227, Restrictions on use of telephone equipment (TCPA)","url":"https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/227"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Best skip tracing website","url":"https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/93/topics/1157203-best-skip-tracing-website"}]}}}