Amazon SES Sending review process FAQs

We monitor the email that's sent through Amazon SES to make sure that the service isn't being used to deliver malicious, unsolicited, or low-quality email. If we determine that a user is sending content that falls into one of these categories, we take actions on that account. We call this process our sending review process.

In many cases, when we detect an issue with an account, we place that account under review. In other cases, we pause the account's ability to send email. We take these actions to protect each account's sender reputation, and to prevent other SES users from experiencing service interruptions and deliverability issues.

Account under review FAQ

Q1. I received a message stating that my account is under review. What does that mean?

We've detected an issue related to the email sent from your account, and we're giving you time to fix it. You can continue to send email as you normally would, but you should also correct the issue that caused your account to be placed under review. If you don't correct the issue before the review period is over, we might pause your ability to send additional email.

Q2. Will I always be notified if my account is placed under review?

Yes. You'll receive a notification at the email address associated with your AWS account.

Q3. Why didn't I receive a notification that my account is under review?

When your account is placed under review, we automatically send a notice to the email address associated with your AWS account. This email address is the one you specified when you created your AWS account. In some cases, this email address may be different from the one you use to send email using SES.

We recommend that you monitor your sender reputation by regularly viewing your Reputation metrics. You can also set up automated alarms in Amazon CloudWatch. These alarms can send you a notification when your reputation metrics exceed certain thresholds. You can also configure Amazon CloudWatch to contact you in other ways, such as by sending a text message to your mobile phone.

Q4. Will the fact that my SES account is under review impact my use of other AWS services?

You'll still be able to use other AWS services while your SES account is under review. However, if you request a service quota increase for another AWS service that sends outbound communications (such as Amazon SNS), that request may be denied until the review period for your SES account is lifted.

Q5. What should I do if my account is under review?

You should do the following:

Q6. How do I request a review?

You can request that we review our decision to place your account under review. To request a review, sign into the AWS Console and go to Support Center. Reply to the case we opened on your behalf.

In your request, provide the following information:

Depending on the nature of the event that led us to place your account under review, we might require additional information. See the FAQ topic associated with the issue you experienced for a list of the information you should include in your request.

Q7. What if my review request isn't accepted?

We'll respond to your request with information about why we didn't accept it. In some cases, you'll be able to submit another request if you're able to demonstrate that you resolved the issue, and that your changes prevent the issue from occurring again in the future.

Q8. Can you help me diagnose the problem?

Typically we can give you only a high-level overview of your issue (for example, that you have a problem with bounces). You'll need to investigate the root cause on your end.

Q9. How will I know if my account is no longer under review?

Reputation metrics includes information about the current status of your account. For more information, see Using reputation metrics to track bounce and complaint rates.

Q10. Do you place my account under review every time there's a problem?

No. In some situations, we might pause your account's ability to send email without first placing your account under review. For example:

In either of these situations, we automatically send you a notification when we pause your account's ability to send email.

Q11. What if I make my fixes shortly before the review period expires?

Sign into the AWS Management Console and go to Support Center. Reply to the case we opened on your behalf. In your reply to the case, let us know that you've resolved the issue.

Q12. Can I get help from my AWS representative or Premium Support?

If you're already working with an AWS account representative, we'll automatically contact him or her when your account is placed under review. Your account representative may be able to provide additional information to help you better understand the issue. If you use Premium Support, you should also contact that team for additional help.

Sending pause FAQ

Q1. I received a message stating that my account's ability to send email is paused. What does that mean?

We paused your account's ability to send email because of a critical issue with emails you sent. Most often, we pause accounts for one of the following reasons:

Q2. Will I always be notified if my account's ability to send email is paused?

Yes. You'll receive a notification at the email address associated with your AWS account.

Q3. My account's ability to send email is paused. Why didn't I receive a notification?

When we pause an account's ability to send email, we automatically send a notification to the email address associated with that account.

You can use Amazon CloudWatch to create alarms that inform you when your bounce and complaint rates are too high. Creating an alarm is a good way to receive an early warning of factors that could cause us to pause your account's ability to send email. However, there are factors other than bounces and complaints that could cause us to pause your ability to send email. For more information about creating alarms in CloudWatch, see Creating reputation monitoring alarms using CloudWatch.

You can also use the Account dashboard to determine the current status of your account. For example, if your account's ability to send email is currently paused, the Account status section of the Account dashboard displays a status of Paused. If your account is able to send email normally, it displays a status of Healthy.

Finally, you can check the AWS Health Dashboard (PHD) at https://phd.aws.amazon.com/ to determine if your account's ability to send email is currently paused. When we pause an account's ability to send email, we automatically add an SES sending paused event to the Event log section of the PHD. The SES sending paused event always has a Status of Closed, regardless of whether or not the account's ability to send email is currently paused. The event log also includes a copy of the email that we sent to the email address associated with your AWS account when the sending pause event occurred.

You can use CloudWatch to create an alarms that alert you when new events appear on your Personal Health Dashboard. For more information, see Monitoring AWS Health Events with CloudWatch Events in the AWS Health User Guide.

Q4. My account's ability to send email is paused. Does this impact my ability to use of other AWS services?

You can still use other AWS services while your account's ability to send email is paused. However, if you request a service quota increase for another AWS service that sends outbound communications (such as Amazon SNS), we might deny your request until your account's ability to send email is restored.

Q5. What should I do if my account's ability to send email is paused?

You should do the following:

Q6. What's a review?

You can request that we review our decision to place your under review. See the following question for more information about requesting a review.

Q7. How do I request a review?

To request a review, sign into the AWS Console and go to Support Center. Reply to the case we opened on your behalf.

In your request, provide the following information:

Depending on the nature of the event that led us to pause your account's ability to send email, we might require additional information. See the FAQ topic associated with the issue you experienced for a list of the information you should include in your request.

Q8. What if my request isn't accepted?

We'll respond to your request with information about why we didn't accept it. In some cases, you'll be able to submit another request if you're able to demonstrate that you resolved the issue, and that your changes prevent the issue from occurring again in the future.

Q9. Can you help me diagnose the problem?

Typically we can give you only a high-level overview of your issue (for example, that you have a problem with bounces). It's your responsibility to correct the issue.

Q10. How do I know if my account's ability to send email has been restored?

Reputation metrics includes information about the current status of your account. For more information, see Using reputation metrics to track bounce and complaint rates.

Q11. Can I get help from my AWS representative or Premium Support?

If you're already working with an AWS account representative, we'll automatically contact him or her if we pause your account's ability to send email. Your account representative may be able to provide additional information to help you better understand the issue. If you use Premium Support, you should also contact that team for additional help.

Bounce FAQ

Q1. Why do you care about my bounces?

High bounce rates are often used by entities such as email providers and anti-spam organizations to detect senders who engage in bad email-sending practices. High bounce rates can lead to email being sent to the spam folder rather than the inbox.

Q2. What should I do if I receive a notification stating that my account is under review or that my sending is paused because of my account's bounce rate?

Identify the cause of the issue, and then correct it. After you make changes that you believe will resolve the issue, sign into the AWS Console and go to Support Center. Reply to the case we opened on your behalf. In your message, provide detailed information about the steps you've taken to resolve the issue, and describe how these steps prevent the issue from happening again in the future. Also include the following information:

Q3. What types of bounces count toward my bounce rate?

Your bounce rate includes only hard bounces to domains you haven't verified. Hard bounces are permanent delivery failures such as "address does not exist." Temporary and intermittent failures such as "mailbox full," or bounces due to blocked IP addresses, don't count toward your bounce rate.

Q4. Do you disclose the bounce rates that could cause my account to be placed under review or that could cause my sending to be paused?

For best results, you should maintain a bounce rate below 2%. Higher bounce rates can impact the delivery of your emails.

If your bounce rate is 5% or greater, we'll place your account under review. If your bounce rate is 10% or greater, we might pause your account's ability to send additional email until you resolve the issue that resulted in the high bounce rate.

Q5. Over what period of time is my bounce rate calculated?

We don't calculate your bounce rate based on a fixed period of time, because different senders send at different rates. Instead, we look at a representative volume—an amount of email that represents your typical sending practices. To be fair to both high- and low-volume senders, the representative volume is different for each user and changes as the user's sending patterns change.

Q6. Can I calculate my own bounce rate by using the information from the SES console or the GetSendStatistics API?

No. The bounce rate is calculated using representative volume (see Q5. Over what period of time is my bounce rate calculated?). Depending on your sending rate, your bounce rate can stretch farther back in time than the SES console or GetSendStatistics can retrieve. In addition, only emails to non-verified domains are considered when calculating your bounce rate. However, if you regularly monitor your bounce rates using those methods, you should still have a good indicator that you can use to catch problems before they get to levels that cause us to place your account under review or pause your account's ability to send email.

Q7. How can I find out which email addresses bounced?

Examine the bounce notifications that SES sends you. The email address to which SES forwards the notifications depends on how you sent the original messages, as described at Receiving Amazon SES notifications through email. You can also set up bounce notifications through Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS), as described at Setting up event notifications for Amazon SES. Note that simply removing bounced addresses from your list without any additional investigation might not solve the underlying problem. For information about what you can do to reduce bounces, see Q11. What can I do to minimize bounces?.

Q8. If I haven't been monitoring my bounces, can you give me a list of addresses that have bounced?

No, we can't provide a complete list of addresses that have bounced. You are responsible for monitoring and acting upon the bounces for your account.

Q9. How should I handle bounces?

You need to remove bounced addresses from your mailing list and stop sending mail to them immediately. If you're a small sender, it might be sufficient to simply monitor bounces through email and manually remove bounced addresses from your mailing list. If your volume is higher, you'll probably want to set up automation for this process, either by programmatically processing the mailbox where you receive bounces, or by setting up bounce notifications through Amazon SNS. For more information, see Setting up event notifications for Amazon SES.

Q10. Could my emails be bouncing because I've reached my sending quota?

No. Bounces aren't related to sending quotas. If you try to exceed your sending quota, you'll receive an error from the SES API or SMTP interface when you try to send an email.

Q11. What can I do to minimize bounces?

First, be sure that you're aware of your bounces (see Q7. How can I find out which email addresses bounced?). Then follow these guidelines:

Complaint FAQ

Q1. What's a complaint?

A complaint occurs when a recipient reports that they don't want to receive an email. They might have clicked the "Report spam" button in their email client, complained to their email provider, notified SES directly, or through some other method. This topic includes general information about complaints. If your notification contains specific information about the source of the complaints, also read the relevant topic:

Q2. Why do you care about my complaints?

High complaint rates are often used by entities such as email providers and anti-spam organizations as indicators that a sender is sending to recipients who didn't specifically sign up to receive emails, or that the sender is sending content that is different from the type that recipients signed up for.

Q3. What should I do if I receive a notice saying that my account is under review or that my sending is paused because of an issue with complaints?

Review your list acquisition process and the content of your emails to try to understand why your recipients might not appreciate the email they're receiving from you. Identify the cause of the issue, and then correct it. After you make changes that you believe will resolve the issue, sign into the AWS Console and go to Support Center. Reply to the case we opened on your behalf. In your message, provide detailed information about the steps you've taken to resolve the issue, and describe how these steps prevent the issue from happening again in the future.

Q4. What can I do to minimize complaints?

First, be sure that you monitor the complaints that SES can notify you about, which are complaints that SES receives through feedback loops (see the SES complaints through feedback loops FAQ). Then follow these guidelines:

SES complaints through feedback loops FAQ

This topic provides information about complaints that SES receives from email providers through feedback loops. For general information that applies to all types of complaints, see the Complaint FAQ.

Q1. How is this type of complaint reported?

Most email client programs provide a button labeled "Mark as Spam" or similar, which moves the message to a spam folder and forwards it to the email provider. Additionally, most email providers maintain an abuse address (such as abuse@example.com), where users can forward unwanted email and request that the provider take action to prevent them. If SES has a feedback loop (FBL) set up with the email provider, then they send the complaint back to SES.

Q2. Are these complaints included in the complaint rate statistic shown in the SES console and returned by the GetSendStatistics API?

Yes. However, the complaint rate statistic doesn't include complaints from email providers that don't provide feedback to SES. The complaint rate from domains that provide feedback is likely to be representative of the rest of your sending as well.

Q3. How can I be notified of these complaints?

You can be notified through email or through Amazon SNS notifications. See the set-up instructions in Setting up event notifications for Amazon SES.

Q4. What should I do if I receive a complaint notification through email or through Amazon SNS?

First, you need to remove addresses that generated complaints from your mailing list and stop sending mail to them immediately. Do not even send an email that says you've received the request to unsubscribe. Consider setting up automation for this process, either by programmatically processing the mailbox where you receive complaints, or by setting up complaint notifications through Amazon SNS. For more information, see Setting up event notifications for Amazon SES.

Then, take a close look at your sending to determine why your recipients don't appreciate the mail you're sending, and address that underlying problem. For every person who complains, there are potentially dozens who didn't appreciate your mail who didn't (or weren't able to) complain. If you only remove the recipients who actually complain, you're not addressing the underlying problem.

Q5. Do you disclose the SES complaint rates that could cause my account to be placed under review or that could result in my account's ability to send email being paused?

For best results, you should maintain a complaint rate below 0.1%. Higher complaint rates can impact the delivery of your emails.

If your complaint rate is 0.1% or greater, we'll place your account under review. If your complaint rate is 0.5% or greater, we might pause your account's ability to send additional email until you resolve the issue that resulted in the high complaint rate.

Q6. Over what period of time is my complaint rate calculated?

We don't calculate your complaint rate based on a fixed period of time, because different senders send at different rates. Instead, we look at a representative volume—an amount of mail that represents your typical sending practices. To be fair to both high- and low-volume senders, the representative volume is different for each user and changes as the user's sending patterns change. Additionally, the complaint rate isn't calculated based on every email. Instead, it's calculated as the percentage of complaints on mail sent to domains that send complaint feedback to SES.

Q7. Can I calculate my own complaint rate by using metrics from the SES console or the GetSendStatistics API?

No. There are two primary reasons for this:

Q8. How can I find out which email addresses complained?

Examine the complaint notifications that SES sends you through email or through Amazon SNS (see Setting up event notifications for Amazon SES). However, different email providers provide differing amounts of information, and some providers redact the recipient's email address before passing the complaint notification to SES. To enable you to find the recipient's email address in the future, your best option is to store your own mapping between an identifier and the SES message ID that SES passes back to you when it accepts the email. Note that SES doesn't retain any custom message IDs that you add.

Q9. If I haven't been monitoring my complaints, can you give me a list of addresses that have complained?

Unfortunately, we can't give you a comprehensive list. However, you can monitor future complaints by email or through Amazon SNS.

Q10. Can I get a sample email?

We can't send you a sample email upon request, but you might find this information in the complaint notification. For more information, see Q8. How can I find out which email addresses complained?.

SES complaints directly from recipients FAQ

This topic provides information about complaints that SES receives directly from recipients. For general information that applies to all types of complaints, see the Complaint FAQ.

Q1. How is this type of complaint reported?

Multiple recipients directly contacted SES about your mail through email or some other means.

Q2. Are these complaints included in the complaint rate statistic shown in the SES console and returned by the GetSendStatistics API?

No. The complaint rate statistic you retrieve using the SES console or the GetSendStatistics API only includes complaints that SES receives through feedback loops. For more information about those types of complaints, see the SES complaints through feedback loops FAQ.

Q3. Why haven't I heard about these complaints through email feedback notifications or through Amazon SNS?

Email feedback forwarding and Amazon SNS notifications only include complaints that SES receives through feedback loops. You won't receive notifications for complaints that recipients filed directly with SES.

Q4. How can I find out which email addresses complained?

To protect the identities of the recipients who complained, we can't list the email addresses that complained about your email.

Rather than focus on removing individual recipients from your lists, we recommend that you determine the problem that led to the complaints being issued. We recommend that you begin by reviewing your customer acquisition process, and that you remove any customers from your lists that didn't explicitly ask to receive email from you. You should also analyze the content of your emails to try to understand why your recipients are complaining.

Q5. Can I get a sample email?

To protect the identities of the recipients who complained, we can't provide copies of the emails that caused your recipients to complain.

Q6. What should I do if I receive a notification stating that my account is under review or that my sending is paused because of direct complaints?

Immediately change your sending processes so that you're only sending messages recipients who have specifically signed up to receive them. Also, ensure that you're sending the type of content that your recipients signed up to receive. After you make changes that you believe will resolve the issue, sign into the AWS Console and go to Support Center. Reply to the case we opened on your behalf. In your message, provide detailed information about the steps you've taken to resolve the issue, and describe how these steps prevent the issue from happening again in the future.

If you don't request a review within three weeks, and we continue to receive direct recipient complaints, we might pause your account's ability to send email.

SES complaints through email providers FAQ

This topic provides information about complaints that SES receives through email providers (also called mailbox providers). For general information that applies to all types of complaints, see the Complaint FAQ.

Q1. How is this type of complaint reported?

An email provider reported to SES that a significant number of its customers marked your emails as spam. The report was provided to SES through a means other than the feedback loops described in the SES complaints through feedback loops FAQ.

Q2. Are these complaints included in the complaint rate statistic shown in the SES console and returned by the GetSendStatistics API?

No. The complaint rate statistic you retrieve using the SES console or the GetSendStatistics API only includes complaints that SES receives through feedback loops.

Q3. Why haven't I heard about these complaints through email feedback notifications or through Amazon SNS?

Email feedback forwarding and Amazon SNS notifications only include complaints that SES receives through feedback loops.

Q4. How can I find out which email addresses complained?

Email providers typically don't disclose this information. However, rather than focusing on removing individual recipients from your list, you need to focus on finding and fixing the underlying problem. Start by reviewing your list acquisition process and the content of your emails to try to understand why your recipients might not appreciate your email.

Q5. Can I get a sample email?

No. Email providers typically don't provide an example email.

Q6. What should I do if I receive a notification stating that my account is under review or that my sending is paused because of email provider complaints?

Identify the cause of the issue, and then correct it. After you make changes that you believe will resolve the issue, sign into the AWS Console and go to Support Center. Reply to the case we opened on your behalf. In your message, provide detailed information about the steps you've taken to resolve the issue, and describe how these steps prevent the issue from happening again in the future. If you don't request a review within three weeks, and we continue to receive complaints from providers, we might pause your account's ability to send additional email.

Spamtrap FAQ

Q1. What are spamtraps?

A spamtrap is a special email address maintained by an Internet Service Provider (ISP), email provider, or anti-spam organization. Because that address will never legitimately be signed up to receive email, the organizations that maintain these spamtraps know that anyone who sends mail to any of these addresses is likely to be engaging in questionable email practices.

Q2. How are spamtraps set up?

Spamtrap addresses can be set up in multiple ways. They can be converted from addresses that were once valid, but have been unused (and bouncing) for an extended period of time. They can also be addresses that were set up just to be spamtraps. They can be unusual addresses that are hard to guess, and sometimes they are addresses that are close to real addresses (for example, introducing a typo into a common domain name). Often, but not always, spamtraps are "seeded" into the world by putting them on the internet in a variety of ways.

Q3. How does SES know if I am sending to spamtraps?

Certain organizations that operate spamtraps send SES notifications when their spamtraps are hit by SES senders.

Q4. How does SES use the spamtrap reports?

We review the reports. If we determine that your account is sending email to spamtraps, we place your account under review and ask you to fix the underlying problem. If you don't fix the problem before the review period is over, we might pause your account's ability to send additional email. If your spamtrap problem is very severe, we might pause your account's ability to send email immediately, without placing your account under review first.

Q5. What should I do if a receive a notice saying that my account is under review or that my sending is paused because of an issue with spamtraps?

First, you should address the issue that caused us to place your account under review or pause your ability to send email. Next, sign into the AWS Console and go to Support Center. Reply to the case we opened on your behalf. In your message, provide detailed information about the steps you've taken to resolve the issue, and describe how these steps prevent the issue from happening again in the future. If we agree that the changes you've made appropriately address the issue, we'll cancel the review period or remove the sending pause from your account.

Because of the way that spamtrap hits are reported, it may take three weeks or more before we are able to determine if the changes you made solved the issue.

Q6. How many spamtrap hits can I have before you place my account under review or pause my account's ability to send email?

We don't disclose the specific number of spamtrap hits that cause us to take action on your account. However, it's important to note that even a small number of spamtrap hits can have a very negative effect on your reputation as a sender, so you should take spamtrap reports seriously.

Q7. Do you disclose the spamtrap addresses?

No. In order for spamtraps to be effective, it's essential that they remain confidential. Spamtrap organizations disclose only the occurrence of spamtrap hits, not the actual spamtrap addresses.

Q8. What can I do to avoid sending to spamtraps?

To reduce the risk of sending to spamtraps, follow these guidelines:

Manual investigation FAQ

Q1. What should I do if I receive a notification stating that my account is under review or that my sending is paused because of a manual investigation?

An SES investigator has identified a significant problem with your sending. Typical problems include, but aren't limited to, the following:

If we believe that the problem can be corrected, we place your account under review for a certain amount of time. While your account is under review, you should make changes to your email sending practices to correct the issue.

If we don't believe that the problem can be corrected, or if the problem is very severe, we might pause your account's ability to send email without first placing your account under review.

Q2. What issues could cause you to perform a manual review of my email sending?

There are several issues that could cause us to begin a manual review of your account. These reasons include, but aren't limited to, the following:

When we place your account under review or pause your account's ability to send email, we send you a notification. In most cases, this notification contains information about the issue, and provides information about the next steps you can take.

Q3. What are "unsolicited" emails?

Unsolicited emails are emails that the recipient didn't explicitly ask to receive. This includes cases in which a recipient signs up for a certain type of mail (for example, notifications), and instead is sent a different type of mail (for example, advertisements).

When we place your account under review or pause your account's ability to send email, we send you a notification. If you receive a notification stating that we're taking one of these actions because of an issue with unsolicited email, sign into the AWS Console and go to Support Center. Reply to the case we opened on your behalf. In your message, include the following information:

Q4. What should I do if I receive a notification stating that my account is under review or that my sending is paused because of a manual review?

Identify the cause of the issue, and then correct it. After you make changes that you believe will resolve the issue, sign into the AWS Console and go to Support Center. Reply to the case we opened on your behalf. In your message, provide detailed information about the steps you've taken to resolve the issue, and describe how these steps prevent the issue from happening again in the future. If we agree that the changes you've made appropriately address the issue, we'll cancel the review period on your account.

Q5. What types of problems do you view as "correctable?"

Generally, we believe the situation is correctable if you have a history of good sending practices, and if there are steps you can take to eliminate the problematic sending while continuing the bulk of your sending. For example, if you're sending three different types of email and only one type is problematic, you might be able to simply stop the problematic sending and continue with the rest of your sending.

Q6. What if I can't find the source of the problem?

You can sign into the AWS Console and go to Support Center. Reply to the case we opened on your behalf and request a sample of the mail that caused the issue.