FAQs

What is Return Path?

Return Path is an email change of address service that helps you stay connected after you change your email address. Friends, family and online relationships who only know your old email address can use our service to find your new email address. Personal contacts can search for you using our Email Finder service -- found both at www.returnpath.net and through various other web sites -- while business relationships proactively use our service to find your new address. When using Return Path services, you control who has access to your new email address. Every time a personal or business contact asks for your new email address, you will be notified via email. Then you decide with whom we can share that information. A record of those notifications and update status is recorded in your account, where you can view them at any time. The email finder directory is offered to you as a free service.

How do I reverse an email update?

Return Path allows one week from the time we send you a notification update before sharing your email address.

If you did not respond to the email, and now do not want one of your business relationships to have your new email address, you must contact the company you received the update from and they will remove you.

If you have accepted the update and want the update reversed, you must also contact the company directly.

Please note: We can not reverse personal updates. The one week response time in this case does not apply to personal updates. Personal updates are only given out upon your approval and will stay in the Respond to Request page until it is either accepted or declined by you.

Can you transfer my address book from one email account to another?

No. We can, however, upload your old address book to notify friends of your new email address using our e-cards, within the guidelines below.

First of all, the address book upload program does not work with a Mac, if by chance you are using one. Secondly, the old address book must still be installed on the same computer you are accessing the Return Path website from. Finally, the program only works with the following address books, and is not compatible with any webmail address books.

Is this a free service? How much does it cost?

The Return Path email finder directory service is free. You can register your old and new email address with us, and we will help you stay connected at no charge. While our Return Path email finder directory service is free for the individual user, we do charge businesses who use our service. Businesses with whom you have existing relationships will pay us to be reconnected with you, if you give permission.

How do I unsubscribe from the Return Path email finder directory?

If at any time you wish to unsubscribe from Return Path services, simply click on the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of any of the email messages you have received from Return Path.

If you no longer have a saved email message from Return Path, please visit the Return Path Home Page, click the "Already Registered?" button, and then enter your new email address in the space provided.

A new Access Message will be sent to your new email address. You can unsubscribe by clicking the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of the Access Message.

I have a new current email address. How do I make my current email address my old one?

If you are already registered with Return Path and have changed your email address again, you will need to re-register just as you were signing up for the first time. Please close any open browser windows (to log you out of your old Return Path account), open a new browser session, go to www.returnpath.net and register your new email address change. You will be prompted during the registration process to add any old emails you had previously registered back to your account.

Someone else registered my email address without my permission. What should I do?

If you receive another unauthorized email change, click on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email and this will take you to where you can permanently remove the change from our network.

Return Path ECOA provides consumers with an Email Change of Address service so they can stay in touch with valued contacts and web sites. Our service is essentially a directory of changed email addresses. Return Path ECOA helps ensure you can be located at your new email address, even if your contacts only have your old email address. We only provide the updated email address to a requester when you give us permission to do so. For example, if a friend with whom you'd lost touch wanted to locate you, and only knew your old email address, they could enter your old email address at our web site. If you are registered with our service, we'd contact you, by email, to inform you that your friend was trying to reach you. If you granted us permission, we'd then provide your friend with your new email address. Return Path ECOA is a double opt-in, permission-based service, and is certified by TRUSTe and the Better Business Bureau's Online Privacy Program - BBBOnline.

Unfortunately, there are rare occasions where a consumer registers an email address to our service which they do not own. While infrequent, this usually occurs because the consumer has misinterpreted how our service works, or thinks we can help them obtain a new email address. This is why we send out confirmation emails to every email address registered to our service. This ensures that the owner of each email address can verify that they want to register with Return Path, and is called a double opt-in process. If the owner did not register their email address -- as it appears has occurred in your case -- the owner can easily cancel the registration, or contact us to have us cancel it for them. Privacy sensitive web sites use this double opt-in process to protect consumers.

How does Return Path make money?

While the Return Path service is free for you, your family and friends, it is not free for businesses. Return Path is paid by businesses that you reconnect with as a result of our service, when you give permission for the update to occur.

How do I activate my registration?

When you signed up for our service, you should have received an email at your new email address asking you to verify your information. To activate your account, you must click on the link in that email under the heading "Please click the link below to complete your registration". You can click on it if it is a hyperlink (blue and underlined) or just copy and paste it into your web browser. If you do not have the email, please go to www.returnpath.net and re-submit your email address change. You will then get an activation email sent to you. You must click on the link from your new email address to activate your service.

I only have one email address. How can I register?

The Return Path service is meant for people who are changing an email address. If you only have one email address, our primary services are not useful for you.

However, you can use our Return Path email finder directory without registering. This service allows you to find current email addresses for people with whom you have lost contact.

I don't want to receive your mailings. What should I do?

Return Path only sends Update Requests and quarterly Activity Reports to request your permission for updates and to share important information on your account.

You cannot stop your quarterly Activity Report without unsubscribing from Return Path completely. As our service grows, we feel it is important to keep you up to date on your account status and happenings with our service. We will only send you four of these mailings per year.

If you do not want Return Path to keep you connected at your new email address, you can click the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of the emails you receive from us, or you can go to your My Account page.

If you no longer have a saved email message from Return Path, please visit http://www.returnpath.net, click the "Already Registered?" button, and then enter your new email address in the space provided.

A new Access Message will be sent to your new email address. You can unsubscribe by clicking the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of the Access Message.

Why should I sign up for the Return Path Email Finder Directory?

Registering with Return Path is a good way to keep in touch with friends and online subscriptions that you may forget to notify of an email address change. When your email address change is entered into the Return Path system, you immediately become "findable" - but only to people whom you want to have your email address. In addition, Return Path offers other services that can help you manage an email change of address. Once registered, you are able to utilize our notification system and get guidance on topics surrounding your email change of address process. And, it's FREE and easy to use.

If you would like to register with Return Path, please visit www.returnpath.net to sign up.

I just registered with the Email Finder Directory, when will my service start?

We allow one week from the day you register before your service will begin. We do this to allow time to verify the accuracy of the addresses.

Your service can start more quickly, however, if you click the links in the verification emails that we sent to both your old and new email address.

How does Return Path work?

When you change your postal mailing address, you register the change with your post office. Similarly, when you change your email address, you should register with Return Path.

Return Path helps you reconnect with personal or business contacts at your new email address, if you provide permission for Return Path to update them.

For more information, visit How It Works.

I already registered, but haven't received my activation email, what do I do?

Please go to www.returnpath.net and submit the change of address again. Because you are already registered, you will receive a message saying, "You are already registered with our service, but have not verified your information". Submitting the change again will trigger another activation email to be sent to your new email address. When you get the email, please click on the activation link. If you do not get the email within 24 hours submitting the change again, please email us at support@returnpath.net. Include in the reply email that you have already tried to submit the change again, and we will look into it from our side.

Hint: Please verify that your new email address is spelled correctly when you register the change of address.

I am not receiving any confirmation emails to my new email address...

For some unknown reason our server has been unable to send the email to your new email address. You might want to check with your technical support group to see if there is anything set up that would block incoming email. The only thing we can have you do is to register again and see if the email gets through this time. To register again, please go to www.returnpath.net to submit your address pair. If you do register again, please let us know if the email is still not delivered within 24 hours.

What should I do if I think someone else tried to change my email address?

If you think that someone else may have tried to change your email address using the Return Path service, please contact us at support@returnpath.net, and we will respond promptly.

You can also take immediate action by permanently deleting the erroneous registration. To do so, click "unsubscribe" in the email you received from us and then choose the "permanently delete" option.