How to get off an email
blacklist

A blacklist is a database of addresses seen sending spam. Mail servers query it before accepting a message, so being listed usually does not mean “mail goes to spam” but “mail is refused”: the receiver says no before it ever sees the text.

Who lists what

• Spamhaus (SBL, XBL, PBL, DBL) — the main one. Almost everyone consults it, and a listing is felt immediately.
• Barracuda, SORBS, SpamCop — significant, but not every receiver acts on them.
• The internal lists of Gmail, Outlook and Yandex — the most important ones, and the only ones absent from every public database. They cannot be checked from outside at all.

You can be listed by server address or by a domain appearing in your links — the second happens to people who sent nothing themselves but whose domain was mentioned in someone else's campaign.

How to find out

We deliberately do not offer a blacklist checker: Spamhaus and most DNSBLs refuse public resolvers, so a “clean” answer through them would mean “nobody listened to us”, not “you are not listed”. Lying about that is worse than not doing it.

• check.spamhaus.org — by IP and by domain.
• Google Postmaster Tools — the only window into what Gmail thinks of you: domain reputation, complaint rate, authentication.
• Header analyzer — if some mail does arrive, the refusal is often visible right in Received.

Why it happens

1. A bought or scraped list. Such lists contain spam traps — addresses created precisely for this; one message to one of them is grounds enough.
2. A sudden jump in volume. A mailbox that sent ten a day now sends a thousand — to a filter that reads as a compromise.
3. Complaints. Above 0.3% and automatic mechanisms engage.
4. A compromised account or server. The most common cause for an IP: you did not send it, but it left your address.

What to do before requesting delisting

A request filed without fixes gets rejected — and repeat requests are handled more slowly. So first:

• Stop sending entirely. Not “reduce” — stop.
• Find the cause: a compromise, a forgotten script, a purchased list.
• Rotate passwords, enable two-factor, revoke third-party access.
• Check SPF and DMARC — without them a request looks unconvincing.
• Clean the list: unsubscribes, bounces, addresses you did not collect yourself.

Filing the request

Every list has its own form, and nearly all ask the same thing: the address or domain, what happened, and what you did about it. Be specific — “fixed it” without detail does not work.

Timing: Spamhaus usually answers within hours, others take days. A second listing after a delisting is treated far more strictly.

Gmail does not work that way

The internal lists of Gmail, Outlook and Yandex have no delisting form at all. The only route is to stop doing whatever hurt your reputation and wait for it to recover on its own. That is weeks, not hours, and throughout it volume must stay low and list quality high.

Which is why not getting listed is cheaper: see staying out of spam and Gmail limits for a safe pace.

A note on your own mailbox

If you send through your own Gmail, you cannot land on a public DNSBL by server address: Google's addresses are not yours and are not listed. Your risk is different — domain reputation and Google's own internal limits, up to a temporary sending block. That is cured by pace and list quality, not by delisting requests.