Hey!!
We have been contacted by many users asking for help because they faced issues with email configuration and asking how they can configure emails sent by Yclas. We just improved on this section to send your emails successfully.
What emails are we talking about?
When setting up a marketplace with Yclas, the platform generates a bunch of emails that will be sent automatically depending on the action taken on the site. A good example of this is: If a user publishes a new ad, an email is delivered to that user letting him know the new ad is posted successfully. Another example is when a new user just signed up, a welcome email is sent automatically.
Those emails are called "Transactional emails". Till now they were sent through our servers and caused some issues on both ends (Our users and our company)
What do I need to do?
For existing users, we will force you to configure your email settings to improve the way emails are sent. You must configure your SMTP from your email provider whether they are Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, Zoho, or your own to make it work. Also, we offer the option to set up transactional emails with Elastic Email, our email partner. They offer 150k free emails for new users coming from Yclas.
For new users, once you enter to admin panel for the first time we show "the Tour". The last tour step will be to configure your email settings.
How to configure SMTP?
We already updated our documentation with valuable information about setting your email properly. If you are going to send emails from a Gmail account, Yahoo, Outlook, or Zoho, please check this resource to get details about the configuration.
If you want to make it more professional and would like to take advantage of our partner features, you can set up Elaset up email following these steps.
Sending marketplace emails in 2026: what changed
This post is from the time when every site had to set up its own SMTP server. That is no longer the case. A new Yclas site sends its transactional emails (new ad, welcome, contact messages) through our default email service from day one. If you want emails to come from your own domain, or you send a lot of them, go to Settings > Email in your admin and pick one of these:
| Option | Good for | What you need in 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Platform default | New and small sites | Nothing, it works as soon as the site is created |
| Elastic Email or Mailgun | Growing sites that want to send from their own domain and see delivery logs | An account and API key with the provider, plus SPF/DKIM records on your domain |
| SMTP: Gmail | Very small sites | 2-Step Verification and an app password (a 16-digit passcode). Your normal password won't work, and changing your Google password revokes the app password. |
| SMTP: Outlook / Microsoft 365 | Better avoided for new setups | Microsoft has turned off Basic authentication for most Exchange Online protocols and has announced the retirement of password-based SMTP AUTH (page updated July 2026) |
Step-by-step settings for each provider are in our help centre: Send email through SMTP.
The 150,000 free emails offer has ended
Elastic Email still works with Yclas, but the partner offer mentioned above is no longer available. As of October 2026, Elastic Email's Email API pricing has a free plan with up to 3,000 emails a month and a Starter plan at $19 a month for up to 50,000 emails. For most classifieds sites, the free plan is enough to start.
The inbox rules Gmail and Yahoo enforce
Since February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo have required every sender to authenticate their mail. Google's sender guidelines require SPF or DKIM for all senders, a valid reverse DNS record and TLS, and a spam rate below 0.3% in Postmaster Tools. Senders of more than 5,000 messages a day to Gmail also need SPF, DKIM and DMARC aligned with the From domain, and one-click unsubscribe on marketing emails. Yahoo's rules are similar: bulk senders need a DMARC policy of at least p=none, and must honor unsubscribe requests within two days. Yclas emails already include an unsubscribe link in the footer. If you send from your own domain, the DNS records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) are up to you to add.
When an email doesn't arrive
Look in your email provider's activity or log page first. It shows whether a message was accepted, bounced or marked as spam. Most problems are one of three things: a wrong API key or app password, missing SPF/DKIM records for the sender domain, or the recipient's mailbox filtering the message.
Still, have issues? You can always open a support ticket and our agents will try their best to help you! ;)
