What is a Catch-All Email (and Why It’s Bad for Your Deliverability)

You’ve probably seen it in other verification tools: catch-all, accept-all, unknown.
Let’s cut the crap — that’s just code for “we don’t know.”

And if you’re sending at scale, “we don’t know” is dangerous, not a harmless grey area. It’s a direct hit to your deliverability, your sender reputation, and ultimately, your revenue.

So, What Is a Catch-All Email?

A catch-all email is an address on a domain that’s set up to accept every incoming email — whether the recipient actually exists or not.

Example: If example.com is a catch-all domain, you could send to qwerty@example.com, fakeaddress@example.com, or realperson@example.com and the mail server will say “Yep, got it.”

Here’s the problem:

• Many of those addresses don’t actually belong to real inboxes.
• ESPs (email service providers) can’t tell the difference, so they treat them with suspicion.

In the eyes of an ESP, a list full of catch-all addresses is just a list full of possible bounces. And that’s a red flag.

Why Most Tools Get This Wrong

Most verification tools punt the problem down the field. They’ll mark catch-all emails as:

• Unknown
• Accept-All
• Or worse… they’ll mark them “Valid” and call it a day.

Why? Because it’s easier to hedge than to dig deeper.
But hedging doesn’t help you. It just moves the “bad news” from today to tomorrow — and tomorrow is when you hit send, rack up bounces, and your deliverability tanks.

The Deliverability Cost of Catch-All Emails

Every catch-all address you keep in your list is a risk. Here’s why:

• Higher Bounce Rates – Many catch-all addresses don’t exist. They’ll bounce.
• Damaged Sender Reputation – ESPs watch your bounce rate like a hawk. Go over ~2% and you’re in the danger zone.
• More Spam Filtering – High bounce rates make spam filters nervous. Nervous filters block your campaigns.

It’s a slippery slope: one bad list → high bounces → low inbox placement → wasted sends.

How TLDR Verify Handles Catch-Alls

We don’t hedge. We don’t shrug.
If it’s a yes, it’s a yes. If it’s a no, it’s a no.

Our system digs past the “accept-all” façade and tests whether the inbox is actually deliverable.
That’s how we keep Sopro campaigns at a 0.8% bounce rate — 99.2% delivery.

No “unknown.” No “maybe.” No polite lies.

Ready to remove catch-all emails for good?