If you just set up Amazon SES to send cold email and your first test message never showed up, you didn't break anything. This happens to almost everyone. It's called the sandbox, and every new SES account starts inside it.
What the sandbox actually is
When you create a new Amazon SES account, AWS doesn't let you send freely right away. You're placed in a sandbox with three rules:
You can only send to email addresses you've manually verified in the SES console. You're capped at 200 messages in a 24 hour period. You can send at most 1 message per second.
For cold email, the verified addresses rule is the one that trips people up. Cold email means reaching people who haven't given you their address ahead of time. But the sandbox only lets you send to addresses you've already added and confirmed yourself. So your first real cold email, to a prospect who never verified anything with AWS, just won't go out. No dramatic error, it simply won't deliver.
Why AWS does this
This isn't AWS being difficult. New accounts with no sending history are the most common source of spam on any email platform. The sandbox is AWS's way of making sure new accounts prove they send legitimate mail with real bounce and complaint handling before they're allowed to send widely. It protects their own sending reputation, which in turn protects everyone using SES.
How to get out of it
You request production access from the SES console. Go to your Account Dashboard, then "Get set up," then "Request production access." AWS asks for a few specific things:
Your mail type, marketing or transactional. For cold email, marketing is usually the right answer. A website URL, so AWS can see that what you're describing matches what your site actually does. Up to four additional contact emails. Your preferred contact language. A checkbox confirming you only send to people who've asked to hear from you, and that you have a process for handling bounces and complaints.
AWS says they typically respond within 24 hours. Sometimes they'll ask a follow up question before approving, which adds time.
One thing worth doing before you even request access: verify a full domain, not just a single email address. AWS calls this out directly as something that helps your request move faster.
What changes once you're approved
The verified recipients restriction goes away, so you can send to anyone. The 200 message and 1 per second caps lift too, though your new limits start modest and rise automatically as you build a clean sending history with low bounces and complaints. You can request a higher limit directly once you need it.
One thing that doesn't change: you still have to verify whatever address or domain you're sending from. Production access removes the restriction on who you can send to, not the requirement to prove you own what you're sending from.
If you want the full walkthrough, from creating the AWS account through your first real campaign, EmailQo has a step by step guide for setting up cold email on Amazon SES.
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