Hard bounces and spam complaints
Keep your email delivering.
PW Hosting email uses modern delivery infrastructure, including Amazon SES. Understand hard bounce allowances, spam complaints, and how to protect your sending reputation.
At a glance
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Review activity anytime at: Email → Sending & Delivery
Why delivery feedback matters
Invalid recipient addresses, repeated bounces, and spam reports affect whether mail providers accept your messages. Keeping lists accurate protects your domain and other customers on the platform.
Mail providers now measure sending behavior closely. Hard bounces and spam complaints affect the reputation of the sending account, the domain, and the mail platform behind it. If poor mail hygiene is ignored, legitimate messages from other customers can be delayed, filtered, or rejected.
The practical change: customers need to be more mindful about where email is sent, which lists are used, and whether recipient addresses are still valid.
Spam complaints are serious
A spam complaint happens when a recipient marks a message as spam or junk. Even one complaint can create risk for the sending account and for PW Hosting's mail reputation.
If your account receives a spam complaint, outbound sending for the account will be suspended. Accounts are not automatically unsuspended after a complaint. You will need to contact support so we can review what happened and decide whether sending can be restored.
This does not mean every complaint is intentional or fair. People sometimes click the wrong button. But because complaints are treated seriously by mailbox providers, PW Hosting has to treat them seriously too.
Hard bounces use an email allowance
A hard bounce usually means the recipient address cannot accept mail. Common causes include addresses that do not exist, domains that no longer receive mail, or old contacts that have been abandoned.
By default, each primary email domain includes 3 hard bounces in a rolling 3-day window. If you need more room, you can raise the allowance for that primary email domain to 6 or 12 hard bounces as a paid add-on. Email alias domains inherit the allowance from their primary email domain.
The allowance is enforced for the sending mailbox or SMTP relay. If enough hard bounces happen close together to reach the active allowance, outbound sending for the affected mailbox or relay will be suspended.
Occasional mistakes are expected. If you send one message to an outdated address, that does not mean your account is immediately in danger. Hard bounce history clears over time, so an occasional hard bounce here and there will not normally suspend an account.
For example, one hard bounce per week is unlikely to cause a suspension. Several hard bounces in the same day, or enough hard bounces close together within a few days to reach your allowance, can suspend sending.
You can see and change your current hard bounce allowance in the Admin Portal under Email → Sending & Delivery.
What happens after suspension
Suspension stops outbound sending for the affected account. It is a safety measure to protect mail reputation and keep legitimate customer email deliverable.
Suspended accounts do not automatically turn back on. Support must review the issue before sending can be restored. In many cases, that review will include confirming what caused the bounces or complaint and what will be changed to prevent it from happening again.
If your sending is suspended, contact support@pwhosts.com with your domain name, the sending address, and any bounce or rejection messages you received.
Monitor delivery feedback
You can review recent delivery issues in the Email Sending & Delivery area of the Admin Portal. Look for the Delivery feedback section.
That section lists soft bounces, hard bounces, and spam complaints across your email accounts. Checking it regularly can help you catch bad addresses or complaint patterns before they lead to a suspension.
How to avoid problems
The best protection is careful email hygiene. Before sending, especially to a group of recipients, make sure the addresses are current and that recipients expect to hear from you.
- Remove addresses that have bounced before.
- Do not use purchased, scraped, inherited, or very old mailing lists.
- Send only to people who recognize your organization and expect your mail.
- Use a dedicated bulk email platform for newsletters, promotions, or large campaigns.
- Watch for replies, rejection notices, and signs that an address is no longer valid.
What this means for customers
Responsible sending is essential for reliable delivery. Review feedback, keep recipient addresses current, and make sure people expect your messages.
PW Hosting customers can still use email normally. The key difference is that accounts must be maintained responsibly. Keep recipient lists clean, avoid unwanted mail, and contact support quickly if you see bounce or complaint problems.