Bounce hooks now include Spam complaints

We introduced a small change in Postmark bounce hooks. When we initially launched that feature, hooks would only fire up for bounces, not for spam complaints. After we received some feedback and got compelling reasons from our users that we should change our policy, we did it. In addition to regular bounces, spam complaints are posted to bounce hook now.

This change should not break anyone’s code. One important note is that programatic reactivation of spam complaints is not possible. It can’t be done through the UI either. The reason is, if the user does a drastic measure of marking the content as spam, we should not allow the web app to reactivate and proceed sending more email. This is protecting reputation of both Postmark and our users. Of course, sometimes people accidentally mark something as spam and in that case you should contact our support to enable back sending.

If you are routinely watching bounce hooks to reactivate hard bounces you should watch for "Type" : "HardBounce" in the posted JSON and attempt reactivation in that case. If "Type" is "SpamComplaint" reactivation will not be possible. So if your web app attempts it, you should expect to get an error back. The only change that affects users is that your web hook code will now get posts with "Type" : "SpamComplaint" and it did not receive those previously. We suggest that you use this information to update your accounts and lists. Let your customer know that their email is inactive and don’t send them more emails.