# AOL and Yahoo! to charge companies for guaranteed delivery of emails

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2006/02/09/aol-and-yahoo-charge-companies-guaranteed-delivery-emails/
- Published: 2006-02-09T00:00:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

E-mail service providers AOL and Yahoo! will shortly be charging companies on a 
per message basis in order to guarantee that emails send to customers on their networks
will be delivered. The companies describe this as a contribution to reducing spam,
but they both stand to generate considerable income from the system, including from
charities, if it takes off.
The paid-for certified email system will be run by US
company Goodmail which has already by tested by the American Red Cross for its online
fundraising, according to The Times. Yahoo! and AOL say that as well as serving 
legitimate email marketers it will help their users by reducing the volume of spam
they receive, as each message they receive will have a stamp of authentication.

Over the years there have been plenty of urban myths about email taxes, but this
is a genuine development. While it goes against the original ethos of the Internet
of all data being treated in the same way, it could signify the maturing of the 
email marketing industry. Spammers are unlikely to wish to pay up for sending millions
of messages, whereas professional marketers might well choose to pay the minimal
amounts to ensure that their targeted messages reach the intended AOL or Yahoo! 
recipient.

Rick Christ of US online fundraising advisers npadvisors.com is similarly sanguine.
In his latest e-fund news he suggests: “if it helps block spam from other senders,
and increases the “open rate” of your emails, then it’s a good thing.”

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That said, the very low costs of email fundraising could now be challenged if the
two major providers charge charities to use the system. Louise Cook, writing on 
the [Fundraising Technology](http://re-focus.blogs.com/fundraising_technology/2006/02/spam_or_no_spam.html)
blog, raises the question of “whether AOL and Yahoo! will prove this isn’t just 
a way to make money by offering this service for free to charities and good causes”,
adding “(in the UK too, please!)”. She is not optimistic though.

Nevertheless it seems there won’t be charges at first for charities. According to
Dr Ralph Wilson’s Web Marketing Today (8 Feb 2006), “qualifying non-profits will
not be charged through 2006.”

To be clear, the new system won’t stop email messages reaching AOL and Yahoo! customers
sent by companies or charities that don’t pay to use the system, but equally there
will be, as there is now, no guarantee hat they will be delivered.

What can you do now? At the very least you should ask Yahoo! and AOL subscribers
to add your address or domain in their email address book, which should help messages
from you pass through through the spam filters to reach them.

 * **[Oxfam uses buy.at affiliate marketing programme](https://fundraising.co.uk/2006/02/14/oxfam-uses-buyat-affiliate-marketing-programme/)**(
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 * **[Sign up for third party emails from UK Fundraising](https://fundraising.co.uk/2006/02/20/sign-third-party-emails-uk-fundraising/)**(
   20 February 2006)
 * **[Time to update your UK Fundraising registration details](https://fundraising.co.uk/2006/02/24/time-update-your-uk-fundraising-registration-details/)**(
   24 February 2006)