Move AWS SES out of the sandbox (request production access)

New Amazon SES accounts start in the sandbox: you can only send to email addresses you verified in SES, up to 200 emails a day. To email your real contacts, open the SES console, click Request production access, describe who you email, how they opted in and how you handle bounces and unsubscribes, and submit. AWS usually replies within 24 hours.

Check whether you are in the sandbox

1. Open the SES console and confirm the region at the top right is the one you use in Meisa.
2. Click Account dashboard in the left menu.
3. If you see a banner saying your account is in the sandbox, you need production access. If it shows your sending quota with no sandbox message, you are already in production for this region.

Production access is per region. If you switch regions later, request it again there.

Submit the request

1. In the SES console, click Get set up in the left menu (or the button in the sandbox banner on Account dashboard).
2. Click Request production access.
3. Mail type: choose Marketing if you send newsletters or broadcasts, otherwise Transactional. Most Meisa users send both and choose Marketing.
4. Website URL: your product’s website. Make sure it loads and has a privacy policy.
5. Additional contacts (optional): add an address on your team who should get AWS updates.
6. Preferred contact language: choose your language.
7. If the form has a Use case description box, paste the text from the next section, edited with your real details.
8. Tick the box to agree to the AWS Service Terms and Acceptable Use Policy.
9. Click Submit request.

AWS opens a support case and emails you. If the form had no description box, AWS often replies asking for these details. Answer in the case with the same text.

A use case description that gets approved

AWS declines vague requests. Be specific about who, how they opted in, how often, and what happens with bounces, complaints and unsubscribes. Copy this and replace the brackets:

We are [company], the maker of [product], [one line on what it does] at [website].

We send two kinds of email through Amazon SES using Meisa (meisa.io), an email platform that runs on our own SES account: 1. Transactional and onboarding emails (account confirmation, onboarding tips, product notifications) to people who signed up for [product]. 2. A [weekly/monthly] newsletter to subscribers who opted in on our website [with double opt-in / when signing up].

We have about [number] contacts and expect to send about [number] emails per [day/month]. We never buy, rent or scrape lists.

Bounces and complaints: an SES configuration set sends bounce and complaint notifications through SNS to Meisa, which automatically suppresses hard-bounced addresses and unsubscribes anyone who files a complaint, so we never email them again.

Unsubscribes: every marketing email has a visible unsubscribe link and List-Unsubscribe headers with one-click unsubscribe. Unsubscribes are honoured immediately.

We keep our bounce rate under 2% and our complaint rate under 0.1%. Sample emails can be shared on request.

Every point about Meisa above is true once you finish setup. Turn on delivery tracking before you submit, so the bounce and complaint part is already in place: Set up open and click tracking.

While you wait

You can finish everything in Meisa during the sandbox:

1. Verify your domain and add a sender.
2. Verify your own email address in SES so you can receive tests: in the SES console, go to Configuration, Identities, click Create identity, choose Email address, enter your address and click Create identity. Click the link AWS emails you.
3. In Meisa, use Send a test on your provider to send to that verified address.

If AWS declines or asks for more

• Read the reason in the support case. It usually asks for more detail on opt-in, list source or bounce handling.
• Reply in the same case with specifics: where the signup form is, a sample email, and how unsubscribes work. Do not open a new request.
• If you just created your AWS account, AWS sometimes asks you to use it for a few days first. Reply once there is some history.

After approval

The Account dashboard shows your new daily sending quota and maximum send rate. Meisa reads your send rate from SES and paces sending so you never exceed it. Your quota grows as you send good mail. To ask for more, open a sending limit increase request for SES in the AWS Support Center.

Troubleshooting

• Emails to contacts fail with “Email address is not verified”: you are still in the sandbox, or you got production access in a different region than the one in Meisa.
• Approved, but sending still fails: check the region in Meisa (Email setup, More actions, Edit) matches the approved region.

Related articles

• Connect Amazon SES to Meisa
• Which AWS SES region should I choose?
• Set up open and click tracking
• Unsubscribe links, CAN-SPAM and GDPR