I have a "parked" domain and want to start using it for an e-mail address. This would be for only one address and would need to handle only a few dozen e-mails a month at most. I'm looking for a host that could cheaply service these very slight needs. I would probably need it for only a couple of months because I'm planning to build a Linux box w/ sendmail and then host the domain myself.

If I wind up going w/ Weinbar for 8 bucks a month, that's fine. But I wonder if there are any cheaper "e-mail only" hosts out there.

TIA

You could try ZoneEdit.com for free. They provide a free email forwarding service (and web fwd or park page) for your domain. This would probably work out for what you need it for.

-Jeff

Another that offers email forwarding and parking with your domain is **********. www.**********.com and then click on "domains" for info. $15 a year and very good to deal with. But, I don't know if it's just "forwarding" you're looking for, but that's another.

Another consideration is Cyberwings.com who offer low cost accounts. Haven't tried them, but have read good comments on them here.

As for mail-only accounts, or mail-primary accounts, I'd like to mention that all you hosts out there that this is a market to be considering catering to! Reason is MANY of the "free email" services online are going to pay-services only. Either that or "web only" access. Not to mention the "free space" providers are dwindling too. Thus, making the step to "hosted" is all the more tempting. Personally, I'd bet that if a basic offer of $1-2/month for basic POP(have more than 1 account though!) and maybe 5-10mb of space would be real popular! You could help "pursuade" the decision to move over more easily! :)

Michael

what to charge based on resources on that one though...

I mean....how many pops, redirects, alias, space, etc, for how much per month?? Is there anything existing to base prices from? Really shouldnt be too low for too much or else there's going to be spammer problems... speaking of which, I had an arguement with a postal worker today. Evidently they dont like me putting the junk mail I get into the "Outgoing Mail" box. Well I dont want it. I'm simply giving it back to them. :D As long as they stick junk mail in my box, I will be giving it back to them.

Yes, it would be a "subjective" thing to some degree for what you include, but I'm not a host, so not sure what "sources" one would be basing their accounts on. I'll give you a few thoughts though.

#1 for ideas, take a look at Cyberwings.com . They have pretty cheap accounts and you could maybe ask them if they have any 'spammer' problems too!

#2: take a look at ponymail.com . they offer POP mail accounts only(@ponymail.com) for like $1 or so a month. Not bad really, but your own domain is always cooler!

#3: let's see what "I" would be willing to pay for features-
$1/month better get me 1-5(or more if you like) POP accounts. Webmail would be nice too, but whatever. Email forwards/redirects should be either up to the same amount of accounts or not very limited. Limit them too much and that $10/month full fledged domain account is tasty!
Probably 5-10mb of space as well.
$2/month should be 2-20 POPs and maybe 10-25mb of space
$3-5/month and you'd better be getting close to offering a fuller featured set....maybe 5-25 POPS, 20-50mb space, maybe CGI, other features as well.
Then you're getting into the under $10/month range, which full featured accounts are out there.

I guess my argument is basically to offer two things. A "bridge" from the free/online services(yahoo, geocities, hotmail, etc.) to the $10/month accounts. Anybody needing more than that should know they need to pay more! But, basically, if you can charge about $1-3/month($12-36/year), you can probably attract more people in a stepover matter. I'd charge by the year only......at those prices, you should!

Another idea is to look at the "fee" rates for usa.net, Yahoo.com, hotmail, etc. for their "premium" services. Some of those are a joke.....offer more than they do for less and you have something! Just let people know!

Just some food for thought. Your concerns about spam and profit:customer ratio is also worth considering, but honestly, there is a serious chasm between what used to be "freebie" services online and the entry level website. Even in $$$. Hit that and I think you can draw in some customers....and maybe they'll build up as they get used to seeing how nice it is having your own domain!

PS.....might want to be careful with the PO.....those federal laws are nothing to mess with! You had a good point though....just don't think it will fly! Take care....

Michael
(UnkleMunky)

As for the PO...there is no Federal Law saying I have to accept the junk mail they give me, or that I cant give it back to them, or that you cant put mail in the wrong box ;) Maybe if enough people gave the junk mail back, the PO would do something about the snail mail spam....which is more of a pain than e-spam in my opinion.. With my mail at home we have those boxes like apartments have. I stick my junk mail in one of the big boxes where you recieve packages too big for your normal box..LOL

Originally posted by UnkleMunky
$1/month better get me 1-5(or more if you like) POP accounts.

You don't realize how much resources email uses up. Since most web sites are hardly ever visited, I wouldn't doubt it if a big portion of web hosting customers don't use just as much resources with their email as with their web sites. Especially since they all like to set their POP client to check their email every 1 minute or something. If they have five accounts, that's a lot of POP activity. IMHO.

Anyway, about the postal mail thing, you're fine dropping the first class mail back in the box. But you need to write "REFUSED" under the stamp (that's where messages to the postal service go, under the stamp). They should return it to the sender. The postal workers might still complain, but you have the right to refuse to accept mail.

You are right that I don't know exactly what real resources it takes just for email, but I'm not a host either....just a customer. I'm looking at this almost exclusively as a customer/potential customer. However...when I said that 1-5 pops better come for $1-2 month, well, I'm basing that on what I can get elsewhere. I'm also looking at what would be a good "bridge" to get people to leave the freebie services and "get real" about their web pages/email. This could very well be a "lot" of resources for almost no money, but bear in mind that you don't have to look far to get 50-100 POPs and 100mb+ of space for $10 or less a month. If you pro-rate that, for $1/month, one should certainly be able to get something halfway worthwhile. Also....if it's going to get people to buy, there's got to be an advantage over the online services.....not only in the domain name usage, but ideally in price too! I'm just looking at what one "should" be able to get compared to other options out there, and no, not fully knowing what it will involve on the hosts side.

I'm surprised people are setting their mail to check every minute....that would be useless for the most part. I have almost always made sure my mail is setup so "I" check it manually....ONLY when I click the "check mail" button does it do so! I like the control of that, but apparently not everyone does. Not sure what to do about it, but good point.

I'm not going to reply on the PO mail much anymore. The "refused" is definitely a part, but as noted, should be done properly. Same with "someone else's" mail in your mail.....that you should be able to drop back in and it gets processed again. Personally, I don't care about the physical junk mail too much. It's all burnable and we have wood heat here, so it's always "fire starter" material! :) I know not everyone has that, but that's what it gets used for here! Can't think of a better use!

Take care...
Michael

toggle - if its really as small as you say it is then feel free to send an e-mail to :

alger@xtroot.com

ill sort that out for you for free for the few months you need it.

NOTE: I do not in any wal sell web services, this is purely a favour to a member.

I recommend http://domaindirect.com. Their "Personal Identity Account" gives you 1 email box plus domain forwarding, 10 email forwards and 10 subdomain forwards for $39.99. That amount also covers domain registration or domain transfer. They also offer multi-year discounts. I've been using them for the past couple of years and have been very happy with them.