Guide · Send-only email

Transactional & no-reply email

Only need to send — order confirmations, password resets, receipts, alerts from a noreply@ address? Then you don't need a mailbox at all. Setting your domain up in MailPoppy is enough.

No mailbox neededLands in the inboxRuns in your own AWS

Just need to send? A domain is all you need.

A mailbox in MailPoppy is for receiving — it's an inbox someone signs into. Sending is different: once your domain is verified, you can send from any address on it (noreply@, receipts@, alerts@…) without creating a mailbox for each one.

So if your address only ever sends and never needs to receive replies, you're done after the domain step. No mailbox, no extra setup per address.

What this covers

“Transactional” or “send-only” email is anything your systems send automatically, that people aren't meant to reply to — for example:

Order & payment confirmations

Receipts, invoices, “your order has shipped” — sent from something like orders@ or noreply@.

Account emails

Password resets, email-verification links, sign-in alerts — the messages your app sends when someone acts.

Notifications

“Someone commented”, low-stock alerts, reminders — automated updates from your product.

Newsletters from a no-reply

One-way announcements where replies aren't expected. (If you want replies, see the note at the end.)

How to set it up

One step in MailPoppy, then you point your app at AWS to do the actual sending.

  1. 1

    Set your domain up in MailPoppy

    This is the only MailPoppy step. It verifies your domain and adds the records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) that prove your mail is really from you, so your automated messages land in inboxes instead of spam. You don't create a mailbox for the sending address — sending is allowed for the whole domain.
  2. 2

    Lift the sending limit

    A brand-new setup starts in a “try-it-out” mode that only sends to a few approved addresses. In the app, use the one-click “request production access” step so you can send to anyone. AWS reviews it, usually within a day.
  3. 3

    Get your sending credentials from AWS

    Automated email is sent by your website or app, so it needs credentials to hand to it. In the AWS console's email service (SES), create a set of SMTP credentials — a username and password made just for sending. This is a one-time step and takes a couple of minutes.
  4. 4

    Point your app at those settings and send

    Wherever your app or platform asks for “SMTP settings”, enter the host below, port 587, your SMTP username and password, and set the From address to noreply@yourdomain.com. Send a test and confirm it arrives. That's it — you're sending on your own domain.

New here? Set up a new domain or move a domain that already has email first — then come back here for the sending part.

Your sending server details

Most apps and platforms just ask for “SMTP settings”. Use port 587, your SMTP username and password from AWS, and the host for the region your domain is set up in:

RegionSMTP host
Europe (Ireland)email-smtp.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com
US East (N. Virginia)email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
US West (Oregon)email-smtp.us-west-2.amazonaws.com

Prefer code over SMTP? You can also send with the AWS SES API from any AWS SDK — same result. Either way, set the “from” to an address on your verified domain, like noreply@yourdomain.com.

Good to know

Deliverability is already handled

Because MailPoppy sets up SPF, DKIM and DMARC when you add the domain, your transactional mail is signed and trusted — the main reason automated email lands in spam is missing exactly those records, and you've got them.

Replies to a no-reply will bounce — and that's fine

A send-only address has no mailbox, so if someone replies, they get a “couldn't be delivered” note. For a genuine no-reply that's the intended behaviour. If you'd actually like to read replies to that address, just give it a mailbox — then it can receive too.

Lift the sending limit before you go live

New setups can only send to a few approved addresses until you request production access (one click in the app). Do that before you start sending to real customers.

Set up your domain, start sending

Add your domain in MailPoppy — that alone unlocks sending from every address on it. No mailboxes required for send-only mail.