How to set up Yahoo FBL with Google Workspace when postmaster@ is not allowed?
Summary
What email marketers say7Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Quora says that distribution lists in Google Workspace can sometimes work where groups fail. Create a distribution list with postmaster@ as the address, add an external email as a member. Adjust settings to allow external senders.
Email marketer from Stack Overflow shares that Google Groups can be used as a workaround for the postmaster@ requirement in Yahoo FBL setup with Google Workspace. Create a Google Group with the postmaster@ address, ensuring external sending is enabled. Configure the group to allow external senders to post to it. This allows Yahoo's feedback loop emails to reach the group and be processed, effectively bypassing the Google Workspace restriction.
Email marketer from EmailToolTester Blog advises checking Yahoo's bulk sender guidelines for FBL setup. It emphasizes ensuring your email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is properly configured, as Yahoo requires this for FBL participation. They also mention that you might need to contact Yahoo's support to register for the FBL program.
Email marketer from Email Geeks explains that emails sent from within the same Google Workspace Org to postmaster@ do not show up, but emails sent from external accounts like Gmail or Yahoo do.
Email marketer from Reddit r/emailmarketing suggests setting up a separate, inexpensive email server specifically for handling FBL. Configure your domain's MX records to route postmaster@ emails to this separate server. This server can be set up with any provider that allows the creation of a postmaster@ account. Once the FBL is established, you can monitor the feedback from the separate server.
Email marketer from Google Workspace Admin Community suggests that you could set up a catch-all email address for your domain. This can be configured in the Google Workspace admin console. All emails sent to non-existent addresses on your domain, including postmaster@, will be forwarded to the catch-all address. Then you can filter the emails to the catch-all address to get the Yahoo FBL information
Email marketer from Email Deliverability Forum suggests creating a forwarding address. Set up an external email address (e.g., on a personal domain) and configure Google Workspace to forward all emails sent to postmaster@yourdomain to this external address. This way, Yahoo FBL emails will be received outside of Google Workspace.
What the experts say7Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks shares they successfully received a CFL code at their postmaster group which has one member.
Expert from Word to the Wise, Laura Atkins, highlights the importance of sender authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and a clean sending reputation when setting up Yahoo FBL, regardless of the email platform used. She emphasizes that while workarounds might exist to bypass the postmaster@ restriction in Google Workspace, Yahoo will only provide FBL data to senders demonstrating responsible email practices. Proper authentication and low complaint rates are key.
Expert from Email Geeks shares an alternative, albeit complex, method involving temporarily capturing mail for the domain on another mail server to get CFL signups, then changing the MX back.
Expert from Email Geeks confirms that the groups workaround for setting up postmaster@ accounts in Google Workspace worked for them late last year.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that Google Workspace does not deliver emails sent from oneself to oneself (even via a group), as they consider the "sent" copy the same email.
Expert from SpamResource discusses general feedback loop best practices. Ensure a valid, monitored abuse@ and postmaster@ address. Although Google Workspace may limit creation, configuring the addresses correctly is still important for overall deliverability and ISP relations.
Expert from Email Geeks says the key is to always test from outside to inside when it comes to G-Suite/Gmail routing and to test from Hotmail or Yahoo when Gmail is used.
What the documentation says3Technical articles
Documentation from Google Workspace Admin Help explains how to create a group in Google Groups that can be used in place of a user account. This can allow you to setup external forwarding for FBL
Documentation from Yahoo Help explains the purpose of the Feedback Loop (FBL) to help senders identify and remove users who are marking their emails as spam. This helps maintain a good sender reputation.
Documentation from Google Workspace Admin Help explains how to route outgoing emails from Google Workspace through a custom route. This can be used to route emails to a specific FBL address.