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Order Error Settings

thanks.io includes built-in safeguards that stop orders from being sent to duplicate recipients or addresses the USPS classifies as vacant. These can be adjusted in your Mail Preferences.

How to find these settings​

  1. Click your name in the top right of the dashboard and choose Mail Preferences (Settings → Mail Preferences).
  2. Find the Address Checks card, below Return Address, Delivery (Print Protect and Standard Mail Mode), and Scans & Gift Cards.

Each switch saves as soon as you flip it. Mail Preferences is a main-account page, so switch to your main account first if a sub-account is active.

Mail Preferences holds more than these three settings. The Scans & Gift Cards card on the same page controls whether recipients must supply an email or phone before claiming a gift card - see Gift Card Redemption Contact Info.

The settings​

Duplicate Prevention​

When this is on, thanks.io will not send to the same recipient more than once within a 36-hour window. This protects against accidentally sending duplicate mailers when a recipient appears in multiple lists or a campaign triggers more than once.

Changing it either way asks you to confirm first. While you have open orders, the switch is locked with an Open orders detected note until all orders are settled.

This setting does not apply to gift cards.

This setting covers mail sends only. Duplicate purchases of mailing list data are handled separately - see below.

Flag Vacant Addresses​

When this is on, thanks.io checks orders against USPS data and blocks mail going to addresses marked as "no-stat" - properties where no mail has been delivered in the past 90 days. These are typically vacant homes, new construction, or abandoned addresses.

Disable this only if you are intentionally targeting areas with high new construction, where addresses may not yet have postal history.

Flag Invalid Addresses​

When this is on, addresses that are returned or flagged as invalid are automatically marked undeliverable on your mailing lists and excluded from future orders. This prevents you from re-sending to a bad address.

Duplicate Radius Search purchases​

Separately from the settings above, an identical Radius Search purchase from your account is refused within 24 hours of the first one, so a repeated request does not buy the same records twice. The refusal returns the mailing list ID (and the order ID, when the search was bought as part of an order) from the original purchase.

This protection applies when you buy a Radius Search list from Mailing Lists (Add recipients → Radius Search), through the API, or through Zapier. It is not controlled from Mail Preferences, and turning off Duplicate Prevention has no effect on it. Details, including what counts as an identical purchase and when a retry is allowed straight away, are in Duplicate purchase protection.

Important warning​

If you turn off these protections and mail is sent to a bad address or a duplicate recipient, that mail costs money and will likely be returned or undeliverable. thanks.io cannot offer refunds for mailings that result from disabled safeguards.