Terms and Conditions

EMAIL POLICY

This Email Policy governs your use of email on servers provided by Lithium Hosting, llc and is incorporated by reference into Lithium Hosting, llc's Customer Master Agreement / Terms of Service. Unless otherwise stated, defined terms in this AUP have the meanings provided in the Terms of Service. Lithium Hosting, llc may modify this document at any time without notice.

1. Limits

   Lithium Hosting enforces a 500 outgoing email hourly limit per account. This limit is also applied towards Mailman mailing lists. If you send over this amount in any hour, most of the e-mails will bounce back with an undeliverable error. If this occurs, it will then take some time for your account to be able to send again so we recommend waiting at least 1 hour after this issue occurs to begin sending email again.

   Shared Hosting Servers have a limit of 30 POP3/IMAP checks per hour per each user's connecting IP address.

   Any mailing list larger than 1,000 addresses will require a dedicated server or VPS hosting solution from us. Note: Dividing one large list into smaller lists to get below this limit is not allowed. Alternatively, you can use a 3rd party service like MailChimp or Constant Contact.

   There is also a limit to the number of Mailman mailing lists permitted as follows (NOTE: This does not apply to other mailing list programs such as PHPList. This only applies to Mailman.)

   • Cloud Starter and Elastic Starter: 20 Mailman mailing lists
   • Cloud Enhanced and Elastic Intermediate: 25 Mailman mailing lists
   • Cloud Premium and Elastic Advanced: 50 Mailman mailing lists
   • Reseller packages: Unlimited number of Mailman mailing lists
2. MAILING LISTS POLICY

   1. IMPORTANT: If you do not throttle and you try sending 500 emails, the server will try sending all 500 in 1 second which will likely cause your account and/or domain to be detected as sending spam which can result in failed delivery of your emails. Your account may also be suspended to prevent further abuse of the email limits and this email policy.

   2. Any mailing list over 250 email addresses is only allowed to be sent to during off-peak times to prevent elevating server loads. Off peak times qualify as all day Saturday and Sunday, and 11PM - 7AM Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday.

   3. The list must be a Double Opt-In list. This means a user has subscribed for a newsletter or other email marketing messages by explicitly requesting it and confirming the email address to be their own. Confirmation is usually done by responding to a notification/confirmation email sent to the email address the end user specified. The double opt-in method eliminates the chance of abuse where somebody submits someone else's email address without their knowledge and against their will. You will not be permitted to mail any mailing list that you were given purchased. In doing so, this will also be considered spamming and may result in termination of the offending account.

      Email Scripts must be able to handle and document all information from a double opt-in list. This includes processing opt-outs (via web or email) and list removal on bounce backs. All opt-outs or bounce back removals must be handled in a timely manner, and outbound mail must be throttled on shared packages to a maximum of five hundred (500) emails per hour. If your account is found to be using a script that does not meet these requirements, Lithium Hosting reserves the right to suspend, terminate, or deactivate your script or account.

   4. Any unsolicited e-mail being sent will result in suspension or termination of the offending account. We take a zero tolerance stance against sending of unsolicited e-mail and other forms of spam.

   5. Any and all mailing lists MUST comply with all guidelines set forth by the United States government. These can be found at:
      http://www.business.ftc.gov/documents/bus61-can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business.

   6. No direct SMTP mailers are allowed. An example of this would be a Darkmailer or The Bat!. Any mail should be sent through the local mail server/MTA for further delivery by the server and not done directly by scripts.