List verification
What is a catch-all email?
A catch-all (accept-all) domain accepts mail to any local-part, so "is this person real?" cannot be answered from SMTP. EmailPal flags catch-alls as their own verdict instead of calling them valid.
In one sentence
The server says "yes" to does-not-exist-xyz@company.com and to the real people, so a green SMTP check is meaningless.
A catch-all (also called accept-all) domain is configured to accept mail for every local-part at that domain, whether or not a mailbox exists. IT teams do this so they never bounce a customer who typo'd. Cold emailers meet it as a list that looks 98% valid and then goes nowhere.
Why cold emailers care
Sending to catch-alls does not bounce immediately. The receiving server accepted the message. It also does not mean a human will read it. Mail can land in a bit bucket, a shared dump folder, or a filter nobody checks.
High catch-all rates hide list quality problems until:
- Complaints show up (someone did get it, and they marked spam)
- Ghost sends show up (nothing bounces, nothing replies)
- You think warmup "worked" because bounce rate is low, then Gmail folds you anyway
A 4% hard-bounce rate will undo warmup. Catch-alls can keep bounce rate artificially low while still wasting the send. List verification by EmailPal exists so you see them before the campaign.
What EmailPal does
We probe. If the domain accepts random local-parts, the address is catch-all, not valid. Catch-all detection.
Nothing is delivered during the check. RCPT TO only.
Catch-all is one of six verdicts. It is not "invalid" and it is not "valid." Six verification verdicts.
Should you send to catch-alls?
Usually no on a new domain or a newly claimed pre-warmed mailbox. Some teams send a smaller subset after the domain is trusted and after another source (LinkedIn, a reply, a conference list) says the person is real. That is a risk decision, not a default.
Do not let a sequencer's "valid" from a two-state verifier override EmailPal's catch-all.
Catch-all vs similar labels
| Label | Means |
|---|---|
| Catch-all | Domain accepts everything. Person unconfirmed. |
| Unknown | We could not tell (greylist, timeout). |
| Disabled | Mailbox is off. Do not send. |
| Role | Function address (info@). Different risk. |
| Valid | Impossible mailbox rejected; yours accepted. |
FAQs
Is catch-all the same as "unknown"?
No. Unknown means we could not tell. Catch-all means we could tell the domain accepts everything.
Can I "verify harder" to find the person?
Not with SMTP. You need another data source (the person's actual published address, a form they filled, a reply).
Why do companies run catch-alls?
So they never bounce a customer. It is a receiving policy, not a gift to outbound.
Will EmailPal ever call a catch-all valid?
No. That would be the bug we wrote the probe to avoid.