Accepting a call and receiving a call are two different events, separated by a few seconds of real telephony. Understanding what happens in between is what lets you design a delivery setup that does not drop calls you paid to win.
The sequence
- 01A call opportunity appearsA consumer calls a publisher's number. The publisher's platform asks Callmart whether there is a buyer.
- 02Callmart finds eligible buyersAvailability, campaign match, limits, and funding or terms all have to line up.
- 03Your system is askedIf you have buyer ping enabled, Callmart posts the opportunity to your endpoint and waits up to four seconds for your answer.
- 04A destination is reservedOn acceptance, a destination is held for up to thirty seconds. This is the window in which the call must actually connect.
- 05The call arrivesThe publisher connects the caller to the reserved destination. Your phone, SIP endpoint, or softphone rings.
- 06Billing is decided by the clockConnected time starts when your destination answers. The call is billed once it passes your buffer, and not at all if it does not.
Choosing a destination
Calls can be delivered to a phone number you designate or to a SIP address. Wholesale buyers almost always use SIP, because the call is going into a system rather than to a person.
- A DID is simple and works everywhere, at the cost of going out over the public phone network.
- SIP keeps the call on IP into your own infrastructure, which is what you want if your routing, recording, and reporting already live there.
- The Callmart softphone exists for buyers without infrastructure. If you are reading this page, it is probably not for you.
Answer behavior is a billing decision
The moment your destination answers, the clock starts. Whatever happens after that counts toward your buffer, including time the caller spends in your own IVR or on hold.
For a wholesale buyer running an automated front end, this is the single most expensive thing to get wrong. If your system answers immediately and then spends twenty seconds deciding where to route, you have spent twenty seconds of buffer on your own plumbing. Two ways out: do not answer until you are ready to connect a person, or choose a buffer that accounts for your front end honestly.
This is general operational guidance. Your exact feeds, price book, and billing arrangement are set on your account by a Callmart administrator, and your workspace is the source of truth for them.
What you see about a call
Wholesale buyers see the call type and the duration. Publisher identities, feed names, and source names are confidential and are never disclosed to buyers, in the same way that buyer identities are never disclosed to publishers. If you need to distinguish your own inventory, use the offer_id you receive on the ping.
Inbound calls are recorded and recordings are available to review and download, subject to the services enabled on your account. You remain responsible for recording consent obligations in the states you take calls from.
Apply for wholesale accessCommon questions
01How long do I have to answer after accepting a call?
The destination is reserved for up to thirty seconds after acceptance. The call has to connect inside that window. In practice it connects much faster, because the consumer is on the line the whole time.
02Does my IVR time count toward the buffer?
Yes. Connected time starts when your destination answers, and anything after that counts, including your own IVR or hold music. Either delay answering until you can connect a person, or pick a buffer that accounts for your front end.
03Can I receive calls over SIP?
Yes. You can designate a SIP address or a phone number as your destination. Wholesale buyers with their own infrastructure generally prefer SIP.
04Do I find out which publisher sent a call?
No. Publisher identity is confidential and is never disclosed to buyers. You see the call type and duration, and you can use the offer_id from the ping to distinguish between the feeds assigned to you.