Abuse and anti-spam Policy

MAILRELAY, we maintain a zero-tolerance policy against SPAM. We strongly believe that any communication sent, whether by email or other means, must be legitimate and explicitly accepted by its recipients. We actively promote this belief and take the necessary measures to ensure compliance with current data protection and electronic communications regulations.
We expect our customers to follow basic but strictly mandatory rules when using our products and services. It is essential that you read and accept these rules before creating an account and starting to use our service. Failure to comply with this abuse and anti-SPAM Policy may result in the immediate suspension of your account and/or restriction of access to certain services to protect the reputation and efficiency of our platform.

Definition of SPAM and Recipient Consent Policy

MAILRELAY, we consider SPAM to be any unsolicited message sent without the explicit consent of the recipients. Purchased, rented, or unauthorized lists are strictly prohibited. You may only send messages to users who have given informed consent and confirmed their subscription through a double opt-in process.

Essential rules you must follow

  • You may only send emails to recipients who have requested to receive your newsletters or communications.
  • You must be able to provide proof of consent for each of your contacts at any time.
  • All emails must include a visible and easy-to-use unsubscribe link.
  • Recipients must be able to easily unsubscribe from communications, and you must respect their decision immediately.

Abuse Cases and Service Cancellation Causes

MAILRELAY, we take a clear stance against service abuse. Any violation of the following rules may lead to the indefinite cancellation of the service:

  1. Use of free accounts:
    • A customer may only have one free account, even if they have several domains.
    • If a customer upgrades to a paid plan, they cannot maintain an additional free account.
  2. Registration conditions:
    • Accounts registered with free hosting or email are not allowed.
    • Accounts with newly registered domains or those with multiple extensions of the same domain are not accepted.
    • Registrations without a visible corporate website with a privacy policy in accordance with regulations and real contact details will be grounds for cancellation.
  3. Improper use of free accounts:
    • Free accounts cannot send campaigns on behalf of other domains.
    • Two free accounts cannot send the same newsletter. If several domains send the same newsletter, it will be considered abuse, and all associated accounts will be canceled.
    • Free accounts can only send campaigns on high-risk topics if they purchase a dedicated IP (see “High-risk topics: dedicated IP only”).
  4. High SPAM rates:
    • When SPAM reports are high and result in the blocking of the outgoing IP.
  5. Excessive bounces:
    • If the number of bounced emails exceeds 25%, it will be considered misuse of the service and grounds for cancellation.
  6. Prohibition of multilevel marketing:
    • Multilevel or pyramid business accounts are not accepted, nor are unregulated activities or those promoting illegal products or services.
  7. Compliance with data protection regulations:
    • Recipients of campaigns must have given their consent through a double opt-in process, ensuring that there is no identity theft and that databases comply with anti-SPAM and data protection regulations.
    • If it is detected that recipients have not given explicit consent, the account may be immediately blocked.

Prohibited Content and Industries

MAILRELAY, we do not allow the use of the platform for the following activities or content:

  • Phishing, fake news, illegal or unregulated activities.
  • Counterfeit products, software piracy, or dangerous materials.
  • Hate speech or any form of language that promotes violence.
  • Sending messages that violate anti-SPAM laws such as CAN-SPAM, GDPR, LGPD, or CASL.
  • Activities related to pyramid schemes, “get rich quick” promises, offers to make money passively or effortlessly, miracle diets, or work-from-home schemes without effort.
  • ICOs, and financial products or crypto-assets offered by entities that are not authorized by the relevant regulator.
  • Content promoting sexual acts in exchange for compensation, drugs, tobacco and related products, prescription-only medicines, gambling by unlicensed operators, and weapons (including non-firearms).

High-risk topics: dedicated IP only

Some legal activities generate a high number of complaints and blocks even when sent to double opt-in lists, and they damage the reputation of the IPs we share with all our customers. That is why these topics are only accepted on accounts with a dedicated IP, on the free plan as well as on paid plans:

  • Over-the-counter medicines, parapharmacy products and food supplements.
  • Adult products and content (erotic or sexual), provided they are legal and sent only to adults.
  • Alcoholic beverages, with messages addressed only to adults.
  • Gambling, betting and casinos, only for operators with a valid license.
  • Forex, CFDs, cryptocurrencies, loans and other financial products, only for entities authorized by the relevant regulator.
  • Debt collection and recovery, with messages addressed only to the debtor.
  • Esotericism, clairvoyance, tarot and astrology.

Conditions for sending these topics:

  • Before your first send, you must purchase at least one dedicated IP. It can be added to any plan, including the free plan. See prices in More services.
  • MAILRELAY may review the account before authorizing sending and request your industry license or authorization and proof of your contacts’ consent.
  • A dedicated IP does not exempt you from the rest of this policy or from the regulations that apply to your industry.
  • If we detect campaigns on these topics sent from shared IPs, we may pause them or block the account until a dedicated IP is purchased.
  • MAILRELAY may also require a dedicated IP for any other activity whose complaint or block rates put shared IPs at risk.

Penalties for Non-Compliance

Failure to comply with this Anti-SPAM Policy may result in penalties, including the immediate suspension of the account or restriction of services to protect our shared infrastructure and ensure the quality of our services for all customers.

IPs or domains added to blocklists. If an account’s sending causes an IP address or domain used by MAILRELAY to be added to a blocklist (such as Spamhaus, SpamCop, Barracuda or URIBL) or to a mailbox provider’s block list (such as Gmail, Microsoft or Yahoo):

  • MAILRELAY may immediately suspend the account’s sending until the cause is fixed.
  • The work needed to get the listing removed (investigating the cause, delisting requests, IP changes and follow-up) will be charged to the account in accordance with clause 8.2 of the Terms of Use. Before charging, we will inform the customer of the listing and of the data linking it to their sending. Free platform support covers unblocking the account, but not this work.
  • If the account uses a dedicated IP, the customer is responsible for that IP’s reputation. MAILRELAY may pause sending from the IP while it is listed and withdraw it if the listing recurs or cannot be resolved.
  • MAILRELAY does not pay blocklists that charge for delisting. In those cases, we wait for the listing to expire automatically.