Account Suspension
Altermail automatically monitors sending behaviour and may suspend or downgrade accounts that violate delivery health thresholds. There are three distinct enforcement actions.
1. Hard-bounce suspension
Every permanent delivery failure is counted as a hard bounce. A hard bounce is triggered by:
- •An SMTP 5xx permanent rejection from the receiving mail server.
- •An EENVELOPE error: invalid sender or recipient envelope (e.g. non-existent address, sender verify failed).
Once an account accumulates 20 hard bounces, it is automatically suspended. All subsequent send attempts return 403 until the suspension is lifted by support.
Suspended account response
// HTTP 403
{ "message": "Your account has been suspended due to a high hard-bounce rate. Please contact support@altermail-console.com.ng to appeal." }Hard bounces almost always indicate a dirty mailing list; addresses that are invalid, mis-typed, or no longer exist. Clean your recipient list before contacting support to appeal. Continuing to send to bad addresses after reinstatement will trigger suspension again.
2. Content abuse suspension
Recipient mail servers and security gateways (such as Mimecast, Barracuda, and Proofpoint) reject emails whose content appears abusive, deceptive, or in violation of anti-spam policies. Each such rejection is counted as a content rejection. Examples of email content that triggers this include:
- •Phishing: emails impersonating banks, government agencies, courier services, or toll operators to steal credentials or payment details.
- •Scam or fraud: fake invoices, lottery winnings, emergency fund requests, or advance-fee schemes.
- •Malware distribution: emails with links or attachments designed to install malicious software.
- •Unsolicited bulk email (spam): mass campaigns sent to recipients who have not opted in.
- •Brand impersonation: pretending to be a well-known company (PayPal, DHL, HMRC, etc.) to deceive recipients.
Altermail sends a warning email when your account reaches 3 content rejections. At 5 content rejections the account is automatically suspended and all subsequent send attempts return 403.
Suspended account response
// HTTP 403
{ "message": "Your account has been suspended. Please contact support@altermail-console.com.ng to appeal." }Content abuse suspensions are taken seriously and are reviewed manually by our team. To appeal, contact support@altermail-console.com.ng with a clear explanation of your use case. Accounts found to be deliberately sending phishing or scam emails will not be reinstated.
3. Subscription downgrade (failed renewal)
When a paid subscription is due for renewal, Altermail attempts to charge the saved card automatically. If the charge fails 3 consecutive times, the account is downgraded to the Free plan.
This is not a full suspension; the account can still send email within Free plan limits (3,000 emails/month, 100/day) for a further 3 monthly periods, same as any new free account (see Quota & Billing). To restore a paid plan, re-subscribe from the Billing page.
Renewal failure response
// HTTP 402, renewal has failed and quota is exhausted
{ "message": "Subscription cycle has ended. Renewal charge is pending or failed.", "billing": { ... } }A notification email is sent after each failed attempt and again when the downgrade occurs. Keep your saved card up to date to avoid interruption.
How to stay in good standing
- ✓Only send to addresses you have explicit permission to contact.
- ✓Validate recipient addresses before sending; remove bounced addresses from your list immediately.
- ✓Monitor your delivery error log regularly for patterns of hard bounces.
- ✓Never send phishing, scam, impersonation, or unsolicited bulk email. 5 content rejections will suspend your account.
- ✓Keep your billing card up to date to avoid renewal failures. Use early renewal if you want to secure the next cycle in advance.