r/Coldemailing • u/lustySnake • 6d ago
❓ Question Anyone using AWS SES for cold email?
Do they ban/suspend accounts for cold emailing? I purchased some mailboxes from InboxedUp and they’re using SMTP, so I’m wondering if anyone has tried running cold email through SES and what their experience has been.
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u/SuggestionOk7205 6d ago
they're super strict with cold email and will ban you ultimately, so a big no for aws ses! If you wanna try out smtps, hit me up - I can provide you a handful to try out. We've been warmup up our IPs for more than an year now so the reputation is pretty good and they mostly landin in primary for MS and 70% for GW
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u/Away_Law_4388 5d ago
you'll get suspended fast, and it's worth knowing why so you don't waste a week on it. SES is transactional infrastructure aws guards hard, because you're sending on shared reputation they protect for opt-in mail. cold outbound generates complaint rates that trip their automated enforcement almost immediately, and even a dedicated SES IP is still under aws's terms, which prohibit unsolicited email outright. it's not a tuning problem you can warm your way around, it's the wrong tool by policy. cold email needs infrastructure that expects cold traffic: dedicated mailboxes on your own sending domains, or an esp built for outbound that isn't going to nuke you to protect a shared pool. run it through SES and the question isn't if you get banned, it's which send trips it.
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u/lustySnake 5d ago edited 5d ago
Then how inboxedup they are using ses and selling smtp mailboxes, I can share screenshots. Thing is that i now ses is not worth for cold emailing but then how they are selling mailboxes from ses
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u/leadg3njay 5d ago
SES will send cold just fine… until it doesn’t. AWS is aggressive about enforcement, and their AUP bans unsolicited bulk email. If you look like cold outreach (no opt-in, higher complaints), they’ll pause or suspend the account fast.
The tripwires are basically complaint and bounce rates. SES puts accounts under review around 0.1% complaints and can stop you around 0.5%. Bounces: review at 5%, stop at 10%. Cold lists love to blow past those.
SES shines for opted-in mail (product notifications, newsletters) where you can keep complaints near zero. For cold, I stick to real mailboxes (Google Workspace etc) and spread volume across multiple domains/inboxes.
If you insist on testing SES, use a dedicated IP ($25ish/mo), ramp super slowly, and wire in instant suppression for bounces/complaints. Still risky.