Vent: I used a free email for my small business for a year before switching to a real domain

I ran my side hustle, a local pet portrait thing, through a generic free email service for a full year. I thought it was fine, just a simple contact point. The big problem came when I needed to send invoices and sign up for a payment processor. They flagged my free email as high risk and almost blocked my account. I switched to a proper domain email, which cost about $60 for the year, and the difference was instant. The payment system approved me right away, and my messages stopped going straight to clients' spam folders. It's a small cost that makes you look legit and keeps your business safe from being mistaken for a scam. Has anyone else had a payment service hold things up over something this simple?

3 comments

3 Comments

kellys784d ago

Remember trying to get a vendor account for my old craft stall... they wouldn't even look at my application with a free email. Had to scramble to buy a domain over my lunch break just to submit it. It's crazy how a little thing like that makes you look like a ghost business. I bet half the spam filters just auto-bin anything from those big free services now.

hannahsingh4d ago

That's such a real struggle, @kellys78. It makes you wonder how many small startups get missed because of a simple email address. I've heard from friends that even using Gmail for freelance invoices can sometimes land them in a client's spam folder. It sets up this weird barrier before you even start. Do you think this is worse now than it was five years ago, or has it always been this way?

uma_taylor473d ago

My buddy's roofing bids kept getting lost until he paid for a custom domain email, like $12 a year. Hannahsingh is right, it's a dumb filter but it's real. I tell every new contractor to skip the free email from day one.