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FAQ


Do I need to download and install any software?

No. Email Address Checker is an online service. Just log-in and go!

Will my IP get blocked?

No. Our servers do all the work. Your IP is totally safe.

How are email addresses checked?

We check each and every email at 3 levels:

  1. Syntax – Is the address in the right format? (e.g. some.one@anydomain.com)
  2. MX – Does a mail server exist for a domain?
  3. Mailbox – Our server talks to remote mail server and asks “Does this mail box exist?”


How fast is it?

Very. We can check hundreds of emails every minute. For the technically minded, we run multi-threaded software services on our servers. Based on our current setup, it takes 0.07 seconds to validate one email in a list of thousands. This translates to a capability of 857 per minute or 51,428 per hour. (figures based on net server loads – performance is shared)

How do I get emails into the system?

There are 2 methods:

  1. File import – Upload any text(.txt) or CSV (.csv) file that contains email addresses. This includes Excel (export as .csv), Outlook (export as .CSV) or any other application that can support exporting as text (almost all applications support this.
  2. Copy/paste – For small numbers of emails (up to 500), you can simply copy from your application and paste directly into our import screen.


How do I get results out of the system?

You can export results to:

  1. Word
  2. Excel
  3. CSV
  4. Adobe™ PDF

Built in filtering allow you to export ALL, Bad, OK or blocked/rejected status email addresses.

Are there any emails that can’t be checked?

Yes. As we “talk” to email servers, we rely on them following certain “rules” (or standards). Unfortunately, there are a few email servers that don’t follow the rules. These servers / services include:

  • Yahoo – Yahoo mail servers implement a non standard SMTP sequence/protocol that makes it impossible to check email addresses.
  • Hotmail / MSN / Live – Microsoft™ has recently implemented stringent incoming email policies which directly affect our email checking service. For bulk email validation, Hotmail, Live and MSN servers respond to our queries with the following:

    550 SC-002 Mail rejected by Windows Live Hotmail for policy reasons. The mail server IP connecting to Windows Live Hotmail has exhibited namespace mining behavior.

    This message is correct in that we are performing “mining” by checking email addresses lists rapidly. With this policy put in place by Microsoft, we are unfortunately not able to support checking of these Microsoft free webmail based services.

  • Certain implementations of Microsoft™ Exchange – Exchange servers can be configured to always answer “Yes” to the question “Does this email address exist?” (even if it does not!). For more info, refer to this Microsoft article (refer to section “SMTP Filtering Layer”). Read our own detailed assessment here.

We try to be as accurate as possible in verifying email addresses. For servers that we know give problems, we mark the email address as “blocked/rejected” meaning that there is simply no way of telling if the email address is valid.

How accurate is this service?

Very. For various technical reasons, it is the most accurate service that you can find anywhere and we aim for between 85-90% overall accuracy based on a typical email list.

We are so confident of our claims that we back them up with a full satisfaction money back guarantee*. Find a more accurate email address checker and we’ll give you your monthly subscription fee back with no questions asked*.

Here are some of the features that we do offer that are not available in our competitors solutions:

  • Grey list management – Grey listing is implemented on approximately 10% of the worlds email servers. It is a technology that reduces spam by rejecting initial email delivery attempts. Other email checkers can’t deal with this response, ours can! Hence we get more accurate results.
  • Server based – Many other checkers are downloads that you run from your computer. There are many problems with this approach including mail servers not “talking” to dynamic IP addresses (i.e. as assigned by your ISP) and potential blocking of your IP address all together for high volumes of queries. Our service runs on servers and do not experience the problems of desktop checkers.

These features are key to why our service is the most accurate available.

Does your service detect spam trap emails?

We don’t tag spam trap emails as they are a constantly moving target. Any spam trap database is instantly out of date the moment it’s published as new spam trap emails are probably created every second of every day.

We looked at providing this feature but felt that we couldn’t do it accurately enough to back it up with a “stated accuracy” figure as we do with overall accuracy. Interestingly, we’ve never had a complaint (in the years of running our other checking services) about inaccuracy from detecting spam trap emails.

In our product design, we focused more on core accuracy (which we beat PC based checkers on by a substantial margin). Maybe we’ll re-visit spam tram addresses in a future release.

How often should I check email addresses?

For large lists (i.e. > 10,000), we suggest checking every 2 weeks. Smaller lists can be checked monthly

Email addresses are always changing. People change email addresses as they (for example):

  • Move Internet providers
  • Move to a new employer
  • Change name (e.g. after getting married)

If your business relies on email lists for its marketing, it’s important that you keep the lists current and “clean” to maximize your target potential and reduce the overheads associated with managing too many “bounced” emails. This is why we recommend frequent checking.

How to I sign up?

Go to our purchase page and choose a plan to suit your needs. Once you’ve completed checkout, we aim to have your service up and running within 24 hours.

How do I cancel?

Our service is so good that we hope that you won’t need to cancel! However, if you do, we are proud of our simple cancellation process. Unlike many other companies, there are no emails to write, phone calls to make or hassle with fine print and “minimum term” contracts.

Simply log-on, go to your “account” page and hit the “Cancel” button. Once you have cancelled your plan, you will not be charged from that point on.

Once you’ve cancelled your service, we’ll disable your account and make sure that all your data is securely disposed of (deleted).

How secure is my data?

Very. We take your security and confidentiality seriously. We know that your email lists are confidential and we do everything we can to make sure that they stay that way!

Your data is held securely in US data centers. As well as physical security of “locked” server rooms, we use strong password security in our software services. This means that no-one other than you can see your data.

Also, if you choose to cancel your plan at any time, we undertake to destroy / delete your data so that it cannot be retrieved or viewed by any other parties.

Do you share my email lists or use them in any other way?

No. No-one other than you has access to your data / email lists.

What browsers do you support?

Generally, anything that is younger (as of December 2009) than 2 years old. Including:

  • Safari
  • Internet Explorer (version 7+)
  • Firefox (version 2+)
  • Chrome
  • Opera

As this is an Internet based service, it means that it runs happily on any operating system including Mac, PC, Linux, Unix etc.

Do you offer a trial service?

No. We believe that our entry level service at $15.99 delivers substantial business benefit at a low cost. For just $15.99 you get to use the software for several days and can asses whether it fits your requirements with minimal risk or expense.