Override Return-Path in Amazon SES

I'm almost certain you cannot override the return path. As part of Amazon sending email on your behalf they also need to ensure that you're not sending spam, catch bounces (including auto responders), catch complaints and so forth. One of the key methods of doing this is be controlling the return address.

The email address that they use is a unique key related to your email. When the message is returned to that address they can then use it to track that for your account. Likewise the emails that you receive from AWS as the sender are sent programatically. These will always come to your account and as part of the terms you're supposed to respond to them appropriately.


You can now change the Return-Path / Mail-From header on Amazon AWS SES.

AWS document is here: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/ses/latest/DeveloperGuide/mail-from.html

In case the link changes, here is the section of interest that you can google quotes from to find a current link:

Setting Up a MAIL FROM Domain for a Verified Domain

You can configure a MAIL FROM domain for an entire domain. When you do, all of the messages that you send from addresses on that domain use the same MAIL FROM domain.

To configure a verified domain to use a specified MAIL FROM domain

  1. Open the Amazon SES console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ses/

  2. In the navigation pane, under Identity Management, choose Domains.

  3. In the list of domains, confirm that the parent domain of the MAIL FROM domain is verified. If the domain isn't verified, complete the procedures at Verifying Domains in Amazon SES to verify the domain. Otherwise, choose the domain and proceed to the next step.

  4. Under MAIL FROM Domain, choose Set MAIL FROM Domain.

  5. On the Set MAIL FROM Domain window, do the following:

    a. For MAIL FROM domain, enter the subdomain that you want to use as the MAIL FROM domain.

    b. For Behavior if MX record not found, choose one of the following options:

    - Use region.amazonses.com as MAIL FROM – If the custom MAIL FROM domain's MX record is not set up correctly, Amazon SES will use a subdomain of amazonses.com. The subdomain varies based on the AWS Region in which you use Amazon SES.

- Reject message – If the custom MAIL FROM domain's MX record is not set up correctly, Amazon SES will return a MailFromDomainNotVerified error. Emails that you attempt to send from this domain will be automatically rejected.

    c. Choose Set MAIL FROM Domain. A window appears that contains the MX and SPF records that you have to add to your domain's DNS configuration. These records use the formats shown in the following table. Name Type Value

    subdomain.domain.com MX 10 feedback-smtp.region.amazonses.com

    subdomain.domain.com TXT "v=spf1 include:amazonses.com ~all"

    In the preceding records, replace subdomain.domain.com with your MAIL FROM subdomain, and replace region with the name of the AWS Region where you want to verify the MAIL FROM domain (such as us-west-2, us-east-1, or eu-west-1). Note that the value of the TXT record has to include the quotation marks.

    Note these values, and then proceed to the next step.

  6. Publish an MX record to the DNS server of the custom MAIL FROM domain.

Important To successfully set up a custom MAIL FROM domain with Amazon SES, you must publish exactly one MX record to the DNS server of your MAIL FROM domain. If the MAIL FROM domain has multiple MX records, the custom MAIL FROM setup with Amazon SES will fail.

If Route 53 provides the DNS service for your MAIL FROM domain, and you are signed in to the AWS Management Console under the same account that you use for Route 53, then choose Publish Records Using Route 53. The DNS records are automatically applied to your domain's DNS configuration.

If you use a different DNS provider, you have to publish the DNS records to the MAIL FROM domain's DNS server manually. The procedure for adding DNS records to your domain's DNS server varies based on your web hosting service or DNS provider.

The procedures for publishing DNS records for your domain depend on which DNS provider you use. The following table includes links to the documentation for several common DNS providers. This list isn't a complete list of providers. If your provider isn't listed below, you can probably still set up a MAIL FROM domain. Inclusion on this list isn’t an endorsement or recommendation of any company’s products or services.

[...]

When Amazon SES detects that the records are in place, you receive an email informing you that your custom MAIL FROM domain was set up successfully. Depending on your DNS provider, there might be a delay of up to 72 hours before Amazon SES detects the MX record.

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Email

Amazon Ses

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