Angola
Brasil
Kenya
Moçambique
Nigeria
Portugal
South Africa
United Kingdom
United States
International
The short answer: every e-mail moves through statuses, and every recipient has their own events. The ones that matter are sent (it left), delivered (the recipient’s server accepted it), bounced, complained (marked as spam) and failed (it did not leave, and the credits go back to the balance).
The five events
| Status | What it means | What to do |
| sent | It went out to the receiving servers | Nothing. Wait for delivered |
| delivered | The recipient’s server accepted the message | Nothing. It does not mean it was read, nor that it skipped spam |
| bounced | It bounced. If the bounce is permanent, the address joins the suppression list | Fix the address with the customer |
| complained | The recipient marked it as spam. The address joins the suppression list | Look at why that person got the e-mail |
| failed | It did not go out. The credits go back to the balance | Look at the error field |
The other statuses in the list
The list of e-mails also shows in-between and final statuses:
| Status | When |
| queued / sending | Waiting to go or going, for example at the end of a big batch |
| scheduled | Scheduled with send_at, not sent yet |
| cancelled | Scheduled and cancelled before the time |
| simulated | Sent with a Sandbox key or in test mode: nothing went out |
Why it failed
| Error in error | What it means |
| delivery_failed | It could not be delivered |
| insufficient_credits | A scheduled e-mail had no balance when it was due |
| domain_not_verified | The sender domain is no longer verified. See sender domain not verified |
Each recipient’s events, with the time and detail, come in GET /v1/email/messages/{id}. To avoid asking, receive them by webhook.
| An address that bounces for good receives nothing more. It joins the suppression list and later e-mails to it are left out, at no cost. If the customer fixes the mailbox, remove it from the list: see the suppression list. |
| Want to understand a bounce? The event detail usually carries the receiving server’s answer. The most common ones are explained in bounce message 550. |
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A bounce or complaint you cannot make sense of? Open a support ticket with the e-mail id. Open a support ticket |
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