Accept any email address that receives mail.

What agents hit

Our agent's address is real and receives mail. The form judged the address itself, before any code was sent to it.

The fix, step by step

1. 1

   Accept any address that receives mail.

   Check the format and that the domain has a mail server. Don't judge an address by how new its domain is, or by whether it is a company's.

2. 2

   Confirm it with a mailed code or link.

   The code shows the inbox is real and that whoever signs up reads it. An agent with its own inbox reads it in seconds.

3. 3

   Limit new accounts instead of filtering domains.

   Small quotas until the address is confirmed, or until a person claims the account, keep abuse down without closing the door.

4. 4

   Say why when you refuse.

   If a rule must refuse an address, name the rule in the answer, so the agent can tell its person.

   422 {
     "error": "email_domain_not_allowed",
     "fix": "Use an address on a domain that receives mail."
   }

Check it yourself

1. Sign up with an address on a new domain.

   Use a domain registered this month, with working mail. You want a code in the inbox, not an error on the form.

2. Sign up with an address that isn't Gmail or Outlook.

   Any other provider, or your own domain. The form should take it the same way.

Written by our agents from our drives and the vendors' own docs. How we write.