Deliverability

Inbox placement is the thing that actually decides whether outreach works. Open rate is not measurable any more — Apple Mail Privacy Protection fabricates opens — so this page tracks the signals that genuinely move placement instead.

1 · Authentication — theshinebros.org

Record		Found	Why it matters
SPF on send.theshinebros.org	pass	`v=spf1 include:amazonses.com ~all`	This is the one that authenticates your sending. Resend uses a return path at send.<domain>, so its SPF lives here — NOT on the root.
Bounce MX on send.theshinebros.org	pass	feedback-smtp.us-east-1.amazonses.com	Receives bounce and complaint feedback for the return path. Separate from your inbound MX.
SPF on root (inbound)	pass	`v=spf1 include:spf.efwd.registrar-servers.com ~all`	Belongs to whatever receives your mail. Leave it alone — Resend does not need it changed.
DKIM	pass	found at resend._domainkey	Required. Signs the message so receivers can verify it really came from you.
DMARC	pass	`v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@theshinebros.org`	Required for bulk senders. Start at p=none, tighten to quarantine once clean.
MX	pass	eforward2.registrar-servers.com, eforward1.registrar-servers.com, eforward5.registrar-servers.com, eforward4.registrar-servers.com, eforward3.registrar-servers.com	A sending domain that cannot receive mail looks disposable, and you need to see replies.

DMARC policy is p=none. Fine to launch on — it monitors without rejecting. Tighten later.

2 · Warm-up

Not started

Not started — day 1 begins on your first send

20 /day allowed

enforced on every send

Stage	Daily cap
Week 1 — introductions only	20
Week 2 — best-fit prospects	50
Week 3 — scaling	100
Week 4 — scaling	150
Week 5 — near full volume	200
Warmed up	250

A campaign asking for more than the stage allows is silently held to this number. Volume spikes on a young domain are the most common way to end up in spam, and the ramp is cheap insurance.

A domain registered 60+ days ago has cleared the "brand new domain" flag Gmail and Outlook apply, so it can ramp in about 18 days instead of 35. It cannot skip the ramp. Age and sending reputation are different things — a domain that has never sent mail has no sending reputation no matter how old it is, and providers react to the volume curve either way.

2b · DNS records to add

Add these at the registrar for theshinebros.org.

Type	Host	Value	Note
TXT	`_dmarc`	`v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@theshinebros.org`	Start at `p=none` — it reports without rejecting. Tighten to `quarantine` after a few clean weeks.
TXT / CNAME	SPF + DKIM come from Resend once you add the domain there — paste exactly what it gives you.		Resend shows these on domain setup.

Do not touch the root SPF. Resend authenticates from a return path at send.theshinebros.org, so its SPF goes on the send host — a name with no SPF today. The existing root record (v=spf1 include:spf.efwd.registrar-servers.com ~all) serves inbound forwarding and stays as it is.

The one-SPF-per-name rule still holds: never add a second v=spf1 TXT to the same host. If Resend's screen ever shows the SPF host as @ or the bare root rather than send, stop and merge instead of adding.

Turn OFF open and click tracking in Resend. Open tracking injects a 1×1 pixel, which requires HTML and turns a plain-text email into a multipart one. Click tracking rewrites every link through a redirect domain, which looks like a phishing hop to filters. Both undo the plain-text approach this whole system is built on.

3 · List health

Bounce rate

—

0 bounced of 0 attempted

Safe under 2%. Past 2% placement degrades; at 5% providers throttle or reject you, and recovery runs 3–6 months. Hard bounces are suppressed automatically.

Spam complaints

—

0 complaints of 0 sent

Google wants under 0.10% and never above 0.30%. Anyone who complains is suppressed on the spot.

Circuit breaker

armed

Sending stops automatically past the bounce or complaint cutoff, once at least 50 sends have happened so a small sample can't trip it.

4 · Content

All 12 templates pass — plain text, no image references, short subjects, one link.

5 · Before you send the first email

Sending gate	MISSING	missing `SENDING_ENABLED=1`	Nothing leaves the box until these are set.
One-click unsubscribe	pass	List-Unsubscribe + List-Unsubscribe-Post sent on every email	Required by Google, Yahoo and Apple for bulk senders.
Postal address	pass	in every footer	CAN-SPAM requires a real physical address.
Separate sending subdomain	check	use a dedicated sending subdomain, not the root domain	Keeps his main domain safe if outreach ever gets flagged.
Bounce + complaint webhook	pass	POST /replies/events is armed	Subscribe to email.bounced and email.complained in Resend. Without it, bounces go unnoticed until the domain is damaged.
Open/click tracking OFF	check	check both toggles on the Resend domain	Tracking converts plain text to HTML and rewrites links — it undoes the plain-text strategy.
Reply path	check	add a Namecheap forwarder for the From address	Replies go to the From/Reply-To mailbox; without a forwarder they vanish.
Pre-send auth test	check	send one to mail-tester.com and a Gmail account first	Confirms SPF and DKIM actually pass and align before real prospects see anything.
List verified	check	verify Seamless exports before first send	Bounce rate is the fastest way to lose a domain; unverified lists run hot.