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Email SparkPost Suspension

Discussion in 'Domains, DNS, Email & SSL Certificates' started by Jimmy, Oct 12, 2016.

  1. Jimmy

    Jimmy Well-Known Member

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    Just wanted to let everyone know that my account at SparkPost got suspended because of a domain extension used in the body of an email my site sent.

    I responded asking why I was suspended:

    Basically, they didn't like a specific domain extension that was inside the email body.


    The worst part is what other extensions are they banning? There are a ton of extensions out there. They didn't even send out an email stating to customers that "X" extensions are going to be banned.

    SparkPost suspended without notice. Looking over their email policy, there is no mention of banned extensions in email bodies.

    Moving away from SparkPost for forums. I'll only use them for low volume sites. Also thinking about removing content from emails, similar to how this forum works.
     
  2. cloud9

    cloud9 Premium Member Premium Member

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    IPS are looking to dump spark post as far as i know as they are not impressed at all.
     
  3. Jimmy

    Jimmy Well-Known Member

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    Yea, Lindy mentioned it in the thread on the Invision forum. That's probably for some technical reason. This "banning" of email content is even worse. They're basically censoring email content. If that's what they want to do, I'll take my business elsewhere.
     
  4. eva2000

    eva2000 Administrator Staff Member

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    Ouch thanks for the heads up .. unfortunately some domain extensions do have unusually high spam rates which get in spam link databases which like normal spam list blacklists do affect IP and delivery reputations.

    Email - Steps to ensure your site/server email doesn't end up in spam inboxes | Centmin Mod Community

     
  5. Jimmy

    Jimmy Well-Known Member

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    I think I'm just going to strip the body content out of emails sent from my forum... kinda like you do here. That will assure that all emails from my site are clean.
     
  6. eva2000

    eva2000 Administrator Staff Member

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    Was the domain extension from forum sent emails or forum domain is that blacklisted extension ?
     
  7. Jimmy

    Jimmy Well-Known Member

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    It was a domain inside the body of the email. Not a sent from domain.
     
  8. eva2000

    eva2000 Administrator Staff Member

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    Scary .tk has alot of spam but so does .xyz too apparently
     
  9. eva2000

    eva2000 Administrator Staff Member

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  10. Jimmy

    Jimmy Well-Known Member

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    I'm sure there are a lot of obscure extensions which are used for spamming. I can understand Spark banning the sending from to to those extensions. But to flag the use of those extensions in the body of an email sent from the site is crazy.
     
  11. eva2000

    eva2000 Administrator Staff Member

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    that's because ISPs now blacklist those domain extensions in email content itself and submit them to spam blacklists for banning so it affects sending provider's IP reputation just like spam itself
     
  12. Jimmy

    Jimmy Well-Known Member

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    Well, at least I know this now and can make the changes I need for the future.
     
  13. eva2000

    eva2000 Administrator Staff Member

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    yeah choosing domain extensions for site itself is also important !
     
  14. Jimmy

    Jimmy Well-Known Member

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    Suspended again, even after changes from last time. Ended up moving to Mailgun until I upgrade to IPS v4 and move to SES.

    Maybe if Sparkpost had some sort of warning, it would be fine. Just cutting off a website is bad business practice.
     
  15. buik

    buik “The best traveler is one without a camera.”

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    Seen it before.
    Any worth mentioning mail related party tightened their policies last say one and a half year.
    Whether it is mailchimp, mailgun or .....
    They all complain increasingly about absolutely nothing.

    Without naming specific names.

    An old friend called me that his system based on ...... was not working anymore.
    Research learned that his account was simply blocked.
    He acted exactly according to the regulations.

    When the helpdesk was asked to release the account.
    The helpdesk confirmed that the terms were NOT violated (1 sentence without explanation)
    but that the business did not fit their profile and the account stays blocked.
    They do whatever they want. Invested time and money gone, it's your problem customer.
    Bye Bye....
    Communication and customer care 0!
     
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2017
  16. eva2000

    eva2000 Administrator Staff Member

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    Wow suspended for the same reason again or different reason ?
     
  17. Jimmy

    Jimmy Well-Known Member

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    They don't really give a reason. Just ask you to write the compliance department and make sure you meet all their terms. I think it's an automated system that is flagging accounts. Once the user writes the compliance department, then they actually look at the account.

    I think they want a bounce domain setup.

    I'm done with them. I can use mailgun free until I move over to IPS4 and SES. Just got approved for 75K a day from AWS.
     
  18. eva2000

    eva2000 Administrator Staff Member

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    haha just logged into my sparkpost account which am not actively using
    hmm Creating a Custom Bounce Domain
     
    Last edited: Mar 25, 2017
  19. Jimmy

    Jimmy Well-Known Member

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    Yea, that's probably it. It was on the check list at the bottom of my page.

    Since I'm moving over to SES, I didn't bother.

    They have a great free tier, but the way they run things, not sure what's going to happen in the future. With AWS I know exactly what I'm going to be getting tomorrow or a year from now.

    I kind of wish mailgun wasn't so expensive. They have a solid service. Only 10K free a month isn't enough for me to use them 24/7.
     
  20. eva2000

    eva2000 Administrator Staff Member

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    Yeah i definitely now have no confidence in using Sparkpost. Still using Amazon AWS SES for live sites right now :)